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tt0472399 | The Mechanic | The film opens following a man as his plane lands at a private hangar and he makes his way to his mansion with his armed guard escort. The man changes into his swimwear and proceeds to get into his private pool to have a swim. As he swims he notices his watch at the bottom of the pool and swims down to retrieve it. An unknown man grabs the swimming victim and holds him under until he dies. The assassin, Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham), then uses the chaos that follows to take a careful route out of the mansion and to a nearby river where he jumps in and makes his escape. Back home, Bishop meets with Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) whom Bishop regards as a friend and mentor figure. Harry pays Bishop for his work in Colombia and they discuss Harry's son Steve McKenna (Ben Foster) before parting ways.Returning to his house, Bishop checks for his new contract only to find that it is to kill Harry. Bishop phones his employer to verify that the contract is correct and upon confirmation he requests a face to face meeting. Bishop meets with Dean (Tony Goldwyn) who tells him about a failed mission in South Africa in which assassins of the agency Bishop works for were killed. Dean tells Bishop that only two people knew about the mission, Dean and Harry, and that Harry had received money in exchange for the contract details. Bishop reluctantly kills Harry and makes it look like a carjacking. At Harry's grave Bishop meets Harry's son, Steve. Steve tells Bishop that he's going to go out and find any carjacker and kill them as revenge. Bishop secretly follows Steve and interrupts him killing a carjacker that he had run into. Bishop recognizes the raw potential of Steve and decides to train him as a "Mechanic". He adopts a chihuahua and instructs Steve to take the dog with him to a coffee shop each day at the same time. As Steve settles in to his routine Bishop escalates his training by taking him on a contract to show him what it's like. After Bishop strangles the man with a belt and stages it to look like an auto-erotic asphyxiation accident, he shows Steve all the planning that went into that assassination.Bishop informs Steve that he has a contract of his own. The target is a mechanic for another agency named Burke (Jeff Chase), who frequents the same coffee shop Steve has been going to. Furthermore, Steve is told that Burke's only weaknesses are that he is interested in young men and small dogs (such as the chihuahua they adopted). Burke makes his move on Steve and invites him out to drinks. Bishop instructs Steve to slip a large dose of Rohypnol into Burke's drink to cause an overdose. Steve ignores this direction and instead goes with Burke to his apartment. As Burke begins to undress, Steve attempts to strangle him with a belt as he had seen Bishop do. They engage in a struggle, and Steve manages to kill Burke after much effort. Bishop is later contacted by Dean, who expresses his disapproval of Bishop's use of Steve for the Burke contract. Bishop replies that he was given that contract through Harry and not Dean. Angry at his indignation, Dean informs Bishop that he's on a short leash.
Bishop is given a new contract to kill the leader of a cult-like church, Andrew Vaughn (John McConnell). Steve and Bishop plan to inject Vaughn with adrenaline to simulate a heart attack, for which the paramedics would unknowingly administer a fatal second dose of adrenaline. As Bishop and Steve wait in the walls of Vaughn's hotel room, a doctor arrives and sets Vaughn up with an IV of ketamine. Realizing that the adrenaline overdose would be inhibited by the ketamine, they improvise and quickly suffocate him. When Vaughn is discovered by his guards, Bishop and Steve are found hiding in the walls of the hotel and are forced into a shoot-out with the guards. As the building is being evacuated, Bishop and Steve slip out and Bishop decides they should fly home separately.At the airport Bishop sees one of the men he was told was killed on the South African mission that Harry had allegedly sold out. During a confrontation with the man, Bishop realizes that his boss, Dean, had tricked him into killing Harry and that it had been Dean who engineered the failed South African mission to cover up his own shady dealings. Having been misled, Bishop begins to get things in order, only to be ambushed by a group of mechanics. After taking them out, he uses one of their phones and discovers that Dean was behind the hit. Racing home, Bishop calls Steve only to find that Steve has also been ambushed at Bishop's house. Bishop directs Steve to a hidden gun, which Steve uses to kill his ambushers. Steve is waiting for directions when Bishop arrives. Bishop has Steve gather supplies for their new mission, while Bishop prepares to find how to get to Dean. In the process, Steve finds his father's gun, and realizes that Bishop had killed his father and not carjackers.After working together to kill Dean, they decide to go to a gas station and during the way to the gas station, Bishop notice Harry's gun in Steve's jacket and realizes Steve has discovered the truth. Steve gets out to put gas in the car and adjusts the nozzle so it is pouring on the ground instead of in the tank. With Bishop still in the truck, Steve pulls out Harry's gun and shoots the gas, blowing up Bishop's vehicle and the gas station. Steve then returns to Bishop's house and plays a record on the turntable before going out to the garage and taking the vintage 1966 Jaguar E-Type coupe Bishop had been working on. As he is driving off, Steve notices a note on the seat of the car, which reads: "Steve, if you're reading this then you're dead!" Steve laughs and moments later the car explodes killing him. At the same time the record player has finished playing at Bishop's house and it activates a tripwire, which causes Bishop's house to also explode. Back at the gas station, a security video reveales that Bishop escaped from his truck moments before Steve blew it up, saving him. Bishop gets in another truck he had by the beach and drives away. | revenge, action, murder, violence | train | imdb | It was marketed as an action film, with good death scenes, mildly intriguing characters, and a simple plot and it delivered exactly on cue.
In the last decade, Statham has consistently delivered hard hitting B Action films and if your a fan of the old school, 80's/90's R rated action, the mechanic is a must watch.
Ben Foster gives a hard hitting performance giving an edginess and weight to the character of Steve McKenna and corporate bad guy Tony Goldwyn is notable.Some logic aside the Mechanic stands head and shoulders above the mass of recent cheap and big budget flicks due to it's 1973 source material, smart writing and Simon West's gritty direction.
The parts where Bishop and Steves goes after the big bad guy is quite well done with some quite cool stunts without being over the top.The ending was probably the only thing in the movie that was a bit unexpected.
I didn't have very high hopes for this movie, just went to watch a typical Statham's movie with lots of good action and violence.
Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham in similar role to Charles Bronson) is a very professional hit man , he is the number one killing people with a bullet whose reputation has caught up with him.
As hot-headed Steve McKenna want to off Bronson and attempts to assume the position of top hit-man.This crime thriller packs intrigue, suspense, noisy action-packed with grisly killings ,explosive excitement, thrills and lots of violence and sex .
Furthermore, appears a nice secondary cast as Donald Sutherland , Tony Goldwyn and brief performance of the gorgeous fashion model Mini Anden as Bishop's love interest, but the romance isn't what this movie offers , it is about action and violence and director knows his work .
Most people know Jason Statham movies involve high octane action with brilliant fight sequences, you will be happy to know that this film delivers this well, however I believe that a movie with no decent storyline or good characters has no reason being made, even if the action is good.
Nothing in the story is fresh or original, if you have a good idea of what Jason Statham says or does in his action movies he probably will say and do them in this one, you won't be surprised a lot in this film, one surprise element may pop up but it definitely isn't enough.
"The movie they based this on must suck to, I will never watch the original." That is pretty damn sad.I had different issues than the angry young man had with this film.
Nothing outstanding, it won't be getting any Oscars, I know what to expect when I see Jason Statham and he never lets you down (I think WAR is his best movie- outstanding), Ben Foster plays a good part too and so the supporting cast fulfil there role.
Jason Statham plays ice cool professional assassin, Arthur Bishop, in this testosterone-filled action thriller.
Ben Foster plays the wayward rookie effectively - the violent gay fight scene had me wincing.Some excellent stunts and solid acting make this a very entertaining film within its genre: clearly aimed at a predominantly male audience, sat down with a beer, pizza, and looking for some serious action!.
The choreography was awesome and the blood splatter, bullet wounds, looked very good on camera.The storyline and some other parts were average at best but I think overall with the quality of the acting and the action it was worth the watch.I look forward to big (bigger) things from Ben Foster.......hopefully..
Jason Statham stars as a "mechanic" or hit man caught in a tangle of deceit and revenge coming right down the line from his place of employment.Statham,as Arthur Bishop, reprising the role of the granite Charles Bronson in 1972, is indisputably the star, even with partner pro-tem, Steve, being played by the very competent Ben Foster.
Statham's scowl, punctuated by a slight smirk now and then, is the industry standard for good bad guy.Early in his career I saw Statham in a café at Sunset Plaza in Hollywood; I knew immediately the Transporter—-scruffy beard, balding dome, and signature scowl.The two hit men, not much like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (though when Statham and Foster jump from a building I couldn't help think of that romantic duo), are connected by the assassination of Steve's father (Donald Sutherland), who was also Bishop's mentor.
After a series of barely connected set pieces of explosions and bullets, Steve is ready to deal with his dad's murderer, and Bishop is there to teach and corral the blood-thirsty avenger.Although I enjoy Jason Statham's screen persona, with the lack of originality and a plot even I figured out early on, I am merely amused by this film's formulaic violence..
Jason Statham's Arthur Bishop takes under his wing Steve McKenna (Ben Foster), the son of his old friend/mentor Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) - who also happens to be his last hit.
(He was also my best performance of 30 Days of Night)Scene of the film: Steve McKenna blasting his way out of a pretty dire situation and thus convincing me of both the character's elite status in this film and of the young actor's potential to be a great action star (he can actually even act)Most outstanding or memorable feature: Brutality of the action.
the mechanic is about a hit man who does jobs for all kinds of people like assiantions making things look like accidents and others the hit man is Arther Bishop Jason statham(crank high voltage war the transporter)the whole film has tons and tons of action and its so addictive to watch and has amazing music that entertanied me and u cant miss this its one of Jason stathams best movies he is in like how lock stock and two smocking barrels and snatch and the crank and transporter series and others this came out in 2011 January 28th Simon west did this very very well i loved this from start to finish this is a must buy i give it a 10/10 and the brutal bits are good too.
Yes it is an action movie but the original had some quality acting in it by Jan Michael Vincent and Charles Bronson who gave nuanced performances with a certain bonding of the two characters which this one does not.
Along the way secrets behind the aforementioned murder are revealed leading these two to seek revenge on the company, while Bishop strives to keep his secret about Steve's father hidden.Ben Foster has a decent performance in the film for having to play a very one-dimensional character, however, he will be vastly overlooked because Jason Statham is the star.
It sets a very interesting and unique tone to undermine the expectations of the otherwise cliché film.The film strays away from relying on Jason Statham's action skills and instead tries to focus too much on creating a mysterious thrilling plot instead of sticking to the basics of action movie delight.
However, Statham's talents have grown far beyond the golden boy action hero and should bring him back to his "Italian Job" roots because films like "The Mechanic" are entertaining but not worth the hefty theatrical ticket price..
I had a really good time watching violent action, some blood, and Jason Statham being Jason Statham.This film is about a hit-man who teams up with a vengeance-happy troubled dude and they do what they do best: kill people.
This time, the hit-man, Arthur feels there are actually people who deserve to meet that fate.Well, I cannot say much about Jason Statham except he pleases me by being his normal self, racking up the body count.
It's full of fights , explosions and plot twists and at 90 minutes is great big bundle of fun.Ben Foster is great as is Tony Goldwyn but there is no doubt who is the start.The Mechanic far fetched and a little bit silly at times but you cant help but like it..
It's definitely worth your time if you like action flicks since there are some pretty decent fight scenes and as always Jason's character is always cool and collected no matter what the obstacle..
The scene where Donald Sutherland gets shot sure does make Statham the cold blooded killer he is, and as such he DOES excel in this movie and character.
"The Mechanic" is an action thriller film starring Jason Statham and Ben Foster.
Even though I am myself an action movie fan and I respect Jason Statham as an action hero, but nothing could deter from the fact that "The Mechanic" is a waste of time(88 minutes) and money(they didn't get enough profit).
Jason Statham is now the best action hero in Hollywood and hence his casting is natural.Ben Foster is good in his role as a trainee under the guidance of Statham.
For those who like action films with strong lead characters this is a movie that will entertain well.
This remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film of the same name appears at first like a typical Jason Statham film...lots of action and violence.
He portrays his role cleanly and excellently.An assassin type movie with a slight difference in storyline but I think the story could have been little bit more better.Ben Foster is good, however, he needs more perfection.
While I haven't seen the original movie this is based on (same name), I can imagine how Charles Bronson portrayed the character that Jason Statham is playing here.
This is a remake as you know but the actor Jason Statham and his side kick Ben Foster take the movie to new levels that make it look like oh wow don't remember that and this happening great action and it moves at a regular pace never letting you slip into boredom because you have seen it before the story is also not a direct copy so you are in for a treat.
Do not compare it to the original, that's only just a waste of time because it's impossible: in the end nobody CAN touch the cult status of ultimate revenger Mr. Bronson.(With some changes, e.g. the title it would even have been a better idea to just let this one stand on itself.) There we have a movie with no real surprises, some plot holes but overall a reasonable solid story, and a lot of action, good enough to entertain you for the 85 minutes it lasts a.k.a. all the ingredients I expect when I see 'Statham' on the cover/poster!So if you don't expect a fine art house movie with real special and surprisingly acting performances, as you should, you will like it.
It's more like "oh, i have to do a killing, let's do it together..." Everyone in this movie seems to know where Statham a.k.a Arthur Bishop is living and what he is doing for a living and he doesn't seem to care.
Well , this IS Jason Statham movie , so what could you expect ?Better watch the original with Charles Bronson.
This new version of the brilliant Charles Bronson original has some of that movie's scenes more or less copied into its plot, but without knowing its a remake, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were watching Transporter 4.Jason Statham is Arthur Bishop, a cold blooded hit-man who makes assassination attempts look like accidents and circumstance.
But the plot doesn't offer anything new, and Ben Foster struggles to make something of his psycho role despite being great in movies like Hostage and the recent remake of The 3:10 To Yuma.what is good about The Mechanic remake is the action and fight sequences, they are entertaining and thrilling, but afterwards you come away from the cinema with a kind of Seen It All Before attitude.
You got a story, dead dumb guys, bullets flying, Jason Statham, Ben Foster, and Donald Sutherland.
Based upon an action thriller from the 1970s originally directed by Michael Winner before he became better known as a restaurant critic THE MECHANIC surpasses all expectations from a Statham star vehicle and it's up to the individual if this is a good thing or a bad thing The original itself was no great shakes telling as it does a tale of a cold hearted and all too effective assassin showing a new kid on the block all the tricks of the trade .
Here in this remake the structure and feel of the original still remains while at the same time does retain the look of what you're expecting from a Statham movie all the way down to the cinematography having having a yellowish / orange tint and the action scenes being shot in quick edits and close up .
Well being a great Jason Statham fan we know that so far his action flicks has been able to deliver what an average audience usually expects.
The remake is a minor pleasure, a stripped down film with Jason Statham playing Arthur Bishop as a reclusive killer who performs hits for a mysterious organisation.His initial scene demonstrates his expertise as Bishop takes out a Colombian drug lord in a crafty manner.Trouble ensues when Bishop is tasked to take out his mentor, Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland) who is accused of being dirty.
Harry's partner Dean (Tony Goldwyn) shows Arthur some evidence of Harry's misdeeds and reluctantly carries out the hit without smelling a double cross, a flaw in the remake and I guess in the original as well.After Harry's death Bishop has to deal with Steve, Harry's estranged son (Ben Foster) and trains him as an assassin in order to stay close with him and also because he feels guilt about what he did to Harry.However this is a start of a cat mouse game as we reckon Steve although close to Bishop also suspects him and is biding his time to gain revenge, while Bishop figures out who the real behind the scenes manipulator was.Director Simon West goes for lean and mean action scenes and relies on Foster's nervy energy to keep things ticking along.
Statham's Bishop is painted too much of a nice guy and never comes close to Bronson's silent menace in the original.The film is an enjoyable and engaging action film that never strays too far as a B movie.
While no one would ever mistake THE MECHANIC for a great movie, for the most part it's a competently done hit-man/mentor film that makes good use of Jason Statham and never overstays its welcome.
I suppose that it's another genre trope that the more experienced professional starts to lose his touch a little bit once he takes on a student, but there are some truly ridiculous scenes between the two as they mow their way through all of the bad guys that are coming their way.Still, this was enjoyable enough due to Jason Statham's charisma and the levity which Ben Foster brought to the proceedings.
Harry's estranged son Steve (Ben Foster) wants to avenge the death, and Arthur takes the young man on as his apprentice.Jason Statham is once again playing the deadly assassin.
The one thing that bothers Bishop is that if Steve finds out that he murdered his dad will he use the training he gives him to murder him in revenge!The film has a certain style to it that the original doesn't have especially in it's ending scene which is a lot less effective as well as unexpected as the one that the 1972 version of the movie had.
One of them was the knock down and drag out slug-fest between the 5 foot 9 inch 160 pound Steve McKenna with the 6 foot 7 inch 275 pound gay arms dealer as well as hit-man Burk, Jeff Chase, that must rank among the most ferocious and hard knocking fight scenes in motion picture history.***SPOILERS*** In the end Steve discovers that his good friend and teacher, in killing people, Arthur Bishop did in fact murder his dad but as usual Bishop like with everyone else in the movie, including his back stabbing boss Dean, gets the drop as well as turns the tables on him.
It is a remake of the 1972 film starring Charles Bronson and Jan Michael Vincent, and written by Lewis John Carlino.As in the original, a hit-man takes an apprentice under his wing.
The two have pretty good chemistry, but face it, the only real reason to watch this movie is for action scenes and violence.Donald Sutherland has a fairly brief role as Statham's mentor and the film definitely misses him once he's gone.
I like Jason Statham, but this is not his best movie.
The plot takes it's slight twist by the addition of a sidekick of sorts in the form of Steve (Ben Foster).Arthur is a lone hit-man who is very good at what he does by eliminating targets whilst making them look like accidents.
It delivers on the action scenes but a film cannot be totally reliant on just action to see it through.I think this can be summed up as a typical Statham movie with lots of action, a story that is never going to blow you away and a girl or two thrown in for good measure.
Apparently, the designation of mechanic in this action movie is a sobriquet for contract killer, and not a comment on the exorbitant cost of parts and labour.After assassin Bishop (Jason Statham) executes his mentor McKenna (Donald Sutherland) on the command of his clandestine employer, he takes McKenna's willful son Steve (Ben Foster) under his wing and teaches him the skills to kill.Under his mentorship, Steve tethers his recklessness as he finds a father figure in Bishop.
The story was good (ish) the right actors were in place, the writing was OK ish too.The thing is this was an action movie and I'm sorry to say all the fight scenes were a cheap Hollywood camera trick.....
The Mechanic is a code name for CIA hit-man, Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham).
You can call it the 'set-up', but a movie like this should give the people what they came to see.Jason Statham. |
tt1213856 | Du saram-yida | A young girl is followed by a "curse" that is killing off many of her family and friends in the most brutal ways imaginable. Will she be able to discover the secret behind this murderous mystery before she too becomes it's victim?The movie begins with a child witnessing a woman's mysterious murder with her blood smearing over the television set. The child begins to slowly inch closer to the dead lady, and as he reaches out to touch the knife, her eyes open and she utters a hair-raising scream. At the opening credits newspaper articles about inexplicable murders taking place and the movie title appears on the screen.Ga-In (Yoon Jin-seo) is a full-time student in Korea with a talent for fencing. However while in school she is puzzled by a strange male student who Ga-In catches watching her. Ga-In and her family come to her aunt's, Jee-Sun, wedding. Before the wedding, Jee-Sun is pushed off of the third story balcony, and is immediately rushed to the hospital. After the rest of the family leaves the hospital, Ga-In stays behind and waits with her boyfriend, Hyun-Joong, while her aunt recovers. As they pass Jee-Sun's room, they witness Jee-Sun's younger sister, Kim Jung-Sun, repeatedly stabbing her.Kim Jung-Sun is arrested for the murder of Jee-Sun, and is held for questioning. It is soon revealed that the family believes that their family is cursed and at least one family member dies in incomprehensible ways. In this case, a hidden force possessed Jung-Sun and caused her to kill Jee-Sun. After the incident, Ga-In begins to have forewarnings, while dreaming, about a woman who was covered in blood who tells her she is next. The next day at school, Ga-In is resting in the nurse's office while another student visits her class room looking for her. He wants her to be in a PR video they are making, and explains it is important that she is the one in the video. The teacher suggests Eun-Kyung, the top student, instead, but the young man refuses. Ga-In sees a vision of a shadowy figure who frightens her with a misshapen hand. Later, Eun-Kyung visits Ga-In at the nurse's and attempts to kill her with a pair of scissors. During the struggle, Eun-Kyung is stabbed instead, and it is later revealed that she has transferred to a different school. Later that same day, while she opens the locker a deformed figure tries to grab her, Ga-In is confronted by her teacher, who then blames her for Eun-Kyung leaving and tries to kill her. Luckily, Ga-In is saved by a classmate.After a series of perilous incidents, Hong Suk-Min, an eccentric student who is rumored to have killed his own father, knows the truth about the family curse. He advises Ga-In to trust no one, including herself. After talking to Hong, she visits Kim Jung-Sun to ask her about the murder. She tells her that Jee-Sun's husband is Jung-Sun's ex-boyfriend, and she had required revenge on Jee-Sun. She tells Ga-In that an unknown force possessed her and coerced her to kill her sister.That evening, after a mysterious wind closed the gate after she received the invitation, the classmate that had saved her from the teacher has come to have his try at eliminating her by using a baseball bat. She gets away and runs inside only to find her mother throwing knives at her. Frightened, she then tells her father that she no longer feels safe inside her own home with her family, and is going to get away for a little while. Her father then tells her that there is a forgotten family member in a different village, named Hwang Dae-Yong. On the bus, Ga-In meets Hong again, and together they visit Dae-Yong.While at his home, Dae-Yong tells them that in order to not be affected by the curse that surrounds the family, Ga-In must not meet someone like herself. Dae-Yong begins telling them the story of when he learned of his wife's alleged affair. While waiting to cross the street, Dae-Yong was suddenly overwhelmed with jealousy and pushes his wife into the path of an oncoming bus. Upon being released from prison, Dae-Yong tries to find the unknown force that controls him. When Ga-in discovers a secret closet that contains past newspaper reports about savage deaths which were taking place, then while she's sleeping a deformed being try to haunt her.After Ga-In and Hong Suk-Min return home, Dae-Yong commits suicide in order to stay away from the curse. Later at school, Ga-In has an apparition of her best friend pushing her from a balcony, and glares at her with a sinister face. Ga-In realizes that she really can not trust anyone and leaves school. One night she mystifyingly wakes up in her bed and makes her way downstairs. However, recalling Suk-Min's warning, she turns around and sees her parents mysteriously killed. It is divulged that Hyun-Joong is the one who eliminates her parents, and that he had manipulated Ga-In to get close to her family to demand vengeance on Ga-In's father. Ga-In tries to fight off Hyun Joong, he stabs her for a short time as she tries to save her younger sister, and is making a scheme to set the house on fire and it will be turned into hell. Ga-In suddenly awakes and impales him. Just as he is about to strangle her, both sisters quickly regain consciousness, and finally defeats and stab him and leave him dead as the house begins to burn in a mass of flames.In the hospital, after the fire happened last night, Ga-In and Ga-Yun are placed in the same room. Ga-In is having nightmares of her aunt killed her comatose sister all the people who planned to eliminate her, and is woken by her sister Ga-Yun. Ga-In has a hallucination of Ga-Yun taking a knife from her pocket, and they both struggle and the knife ends up stabbing Ga-yun. Ga-Yun cries and asks Ga-In how she could do this to her own sister. Hong Suk-Min is then seen on the couch and exposes his true individuality, the curse. Only he can be seen by Ga-In and the people he controls. Ga-In looks down at Ga-Yun and realizes that it wasn't a knife in her pocket, but instead a burnt family photo. Hong Suk-Min then tries to eliminate Ga-In. Ga-In stabs Hong Suk-Min, but in reality she stabs herself because he is controlling her from the inside.In the epilogue, a boy is being verbally assaulted by his teacher. After the teacher leaves, Hong Suk-Min appears in a new body and asks the boy if he wants help to get back at the teacher.Credits to Wikipedia. | mystery, cruelty, gothic, suspenseful, murder, cult, horror, violence, haunting, flashback, good versus evil, psychedelic, romantic, tragedy, revenge, sadist | train | imdb | Pretty good K-Horror film starring Yoon Jin-Seo as Ga-in, a young lady who seems to have a good life.
She does okay in school, has parents, a younger sister and a good boyfriend.
The story begins unfolding when her aunt is thrown from a balcony on her wedding day by her own sister.
If you like horror check this out.
If you have never tried K-Horror, there are better films like "A Tale Of Two Sisters", but this is good also..
Korean horror thriller Voices offers up an interesting premise.
A young girl named Ga-In Kim plated wonderfully by Jin-Sen Yun finds herself the victim of several people as they try and murder her.
The film delicately plays on the concept of the people who are closest to you being capable of murdering you.
Voices is in fact one of the most disturbing and solid Asian genre efforts in quite some time..
Based on the cover of the DVD and the fact that it is a part of the '8 movies to die for' series, then "Voices" (aka "Du saram-yida") seemed promising and it was with a certain amount of anticipation that I sat down to watch it.And now that it is finished, I must admit that I have an empty feeling and a sense of having been cheated out of something potentially great.So why did "Voices" fail to deliver?
And director Ki-Hwan Oh failed to impress where it mattered.The acting performances in "Voices" were good, despite of the limitations imposed by the director and the lack of a proper script.And the absence of scares and spooky moments just made the movie even more mundane - to put it mildly.This movie scores a mere four out of ten stars from me solely on the production value and acting performances..
Most of the time, nothing really happens and as far as the plot is concerned, its confusing and makes little sense.What a shame, though.
South Korea usually produces some truly awesome films.
Since The Year 2008 I Discovered This on the Internt,I Only Watched the Original Trailer on Youtube,Since 2009 i re-discovered it and buy the DVD,When i watched it i,m not so scared,I,m braver in watching it,s scenes,This gives me more plot twists and plot surprises,The 2007 South Korean Supernatural Thriller was loosely based on a comic strip written by Oh-Ki-Hwan under it,s original title "Two Will Come",This is provided with buckets of blood and oceans of murder victims,No long-haired spirits,But actually demons(in human form)and hearing strange noises,The film opens with a ghostly sequence where a little boy witnessed a mysterious murder of a woman in his own home,Blood smears over the television set,As he gets closer to the dead woman her eyes are opened and utters a hair-raising scream,Then we see on the opening credits Newspaper Reports that reads "Jumps Off-Balcony" and "Kills Mother and Daughter"And other spectacular and horrible past killings which were taking place since the past few years,The scene moves on to the main protagonist Ga-In(Yun-Jin Seo)who is a normal high school teen who has a talent for Fencing,Has a Lovng Family,A Cool Friend,And a Tender Boyfriend,The next day she,her boyfriend by the name of Hyun-Joong(Lee Ki Woo)and her family attends the wedding party of their Aunt Ji-Sun,But soon her Aunt,s happiest day of her life was turned into an act of violence where she was accidentally pushed from the balcony which was done by her Groom(Ahn Shin Woo),She witnessed this terrible event,After the accident happened Ji-Sun was rushed to the hospital and is confined where she was gruesomely stabbed by another aunt of Ga-In,s Jung-Sun(Yu- Jeong Seo),Ga-In sees this violent event,What if ever the people around you ,love,support and cared for you now are out to kill you faster,Will you race against time to uncover a murderous secret?,After the horrible murder of her Aunt,She began to experience mysterious and weird events at her home and school,In the dream sequence while she is sleeping she saw an apparition of a girl who is covered in blood telling her that she,ll be the next victim of the so-called "Family Curse"But when a string of inexplicable deaths of one of her family members,relatives,loved ones and friends,I Think she holds the answers to all her nightmares,Then The Clinic scene my favorite was Ga-In sees a vision of a shadowy figure(in shape of a lady)frightens her with a deformed hand,Actually Ghosts or Spirits of Dead Persons are actually demons or evil spirits,Because These Demonic Creatures pretend to be the spirit of a dead person or a loved one,Ga-In herself is attacked by another murderous schoolgirl Eun-Kyung(Oh Yeon Seo)who plans to kill her with a scissor,Then she is watched by a Mysterious Student with a dark past by the name of Seok-Min(Park-Ki Woong)Well i know that he is a Mysterious Villain and his role is very creepy,He then warns her "Don,t Trust Anyone,Your Family,Friends,Relatives,Not even yourself"Seok-Min is a mysterious schoolboy since in the Dream Sequence he stabs the spirit of his Father,The Locker Room scene follows Where she is grabbed by a deformed creature who then sometimes haunts her in her visions warning her that more killings will increase,There is an additional inexplicable scene where she hears a mysterious wind blows by closing the gate after she have accepted the Invitation given to her by another student by the name of Sang-Kyung who then have his try to kill her with a Baseball Bat,Terrified for her life she flees inside the house and sees her Mother throwing a Kitchen Knife at her then picks up a stiletto and shouts at her "DIE" Her Husband stops her,Then she travels with Seok-Min to a mysterious place in order to look and search for the mystery Behind these strange murders,The stranger by the name of Dae-Young confesses his dark past to her of why did he killed his wife,Then the next day At School she sees a vision of her Best Dude attempts to push her from the Balcony,But she ignored her and leaves school,One Night as her parents slowly to get murdered,She wakes up and makes her way downstairs where she finds Hyun-Joong(who turns out to be the last villain)Then turns around and saw her Parents sitting dead on the table,She mourns out loud ,Hyun-Joong reveals to her that he killed them because he had manipulated her to get close to her family in order to get back at her Father,This Movie is a Giallo-Supernatural Slasher style!This is one of the Inspiring Serial Killer Films like that of Suspiria(1977),The Bird With The Crystal Plumage(1970),Deep Red(1975) and Trauma(1993)..
Sometimes I think that many reviewers are simply too lazy to understand films with indirect communication.
I've heard people complain that "Asian horror movies don't make sense", which is usually just a roundabout way of saying, "I'm too lazy to figure them out." However, there are some films that prove to be very difficult to understand (e.g., Spider Forest) or simply don't make the slightest bit of sense at all (e.g., Marronnier).
"Voices" (aka "Someone Behind You") is one of those projects that is most definitely a bit too vague for its own good, so it's understandable that many viewers have serious problems figuring this movie out.This is a shell game kind of movie that tries to bait the viewer into red herring traps from start to finish.
Don't be fooled, this is simply and solely about a demon (in human form) who is one gigantic scumbag that uses varying degrees of manipulation to coerce and/or control human beings for his own sick little games and perverted enjoyment.
If he was more forthcoming, he would say something like this: "I will coerce your friends and family to kill you.
If that doesn't work, I will force them into a state of temporary insanity to kill you." The only true escape from this disastrous situation is to simply move into a desolate, isolated area and live the rest of your life in seclusion, which isn't exactly a losing proposition for a scumbag demon who wants to see people suffer, both physically and/or psychologically.The psychological effects come into play when his victims prove particularly difficult to kill – and our lead protagonist is one tough cookie, eluding a number of attacks from friends and family members.
In cases such as this, the attempted murders will form an unprecedented pattern that points towards some supernatural, uncommon influence.
Why would every single friend and family member attempt to kill someone?
In addition, paranoia reaches its highest level, and the target will suffer greatly when attempting to reconcile these crazy events with their newly acquired mistrust and fear of their loved ones.
Just the kind of psychological games a sick, demonic scumbag would love to watch.
It also makes this film hella interesting.While somewhat obvious that the demon has added outside influence to every attempted murder, what makes this movie even more appealing during a second viewing is pondering just how much manipulation is required to push a particular person over the edge into attempted murder.
For example, the husband who throws his wife into the path of a moving bus is possibly the least influenced murder herein.
It is possible that the demon made the phone calls to his house, but I have no problems assuming that the character is wholly responsible for his actions and that the demon simply instilled some doubt into his mind regarding his love's possible infidelity.
To take a contrasting example, the groom who tosses his bride off the balcony had no identifiable motive for doing so, which leans more towards a demon-influenced state of temporary insanity.
Most of these are easily rectified with logical, common sense assumptions because there's very little (if any) blatant contradictions when one understands that a demonic scumbag is behind everything; and as we all know, demonic scumbags are not bound to follow a set or rules or guidelines.
Also, I knowingly confess that this film is flawed in terms of scriptwriting, so there's really no hard-hitting points to be made in that regard anyways.However, the blemishes in "Someone Behind You" are overshadowed by a number of positive qualities.
At the very least you'll get solid acting and a refreshingly different premise, which automatically elevates this film above most non-Asian horror fare.
The aforementioned murder attempts are well-executed (some of which are very bloody) and the sense of paranoia is most definitely highlighted at numerous points.
What you end up with is a flick that's pretty damn entertaining.The last few years have been fantastic for the South Korean horror/thriller genre.
"Someone Behind You" (2007) is a nice compliment to films like "Hansel and Gretel" (2007), "The Chaser" (2008), "The Return" (aka "Wide Awake") (2007), "Epitaph" (2007), "Muoi" (2007), "Bloody Reunion" (2006), "Loner" (2008), "A Bloody Aria" (2006), "Seven Days" (2007), "Cadaver" (2007), "A Good Wife" (2007), "Coma" (2006 miniseries), and "D-Day" (aka "Roommates") (2006).
Most of these have their own particular flaws (most films do), but this is a very good lineup of titles that would make an awesome weekend marathon.
There is a significant minority of movie buffs who like Asian horror, but more people need to see these movies.
In Sung-Nam City, the teenager Ga-in Kim (Jin-seo Yun) goes with her family and her boy-friend Hyung-Joong (Ki-woo Lee) to the wedding of her aunt Ji-sun and she sees the bride falling off a balcony.
Then she witnesses Jung-sun (Yu-jeong Seo) violently stabbing her sister Ji-sun in the hospital.
In school, the outcast Sung-min (Gi-woong Park) tells her that the events were not accidents and advises her to not trust anyone, friends, and family, not even herself.
Ga-in believes in a family curse and almost gets killed by the classmate Eun-kyung (Kan-hie Lee); then by her teacher; then by her mate in fencing.
When her mother attempts to kill her, Ga-in becomes completely paranoid and travels to visit a strange with Sung-min to seek answers for the curse."Du saram-yida" a.k.a.
"Voices" is an ambiguous and confused tale of manipulation and paranoia with a great potential.
Unfortunately the flawed and messy screenplay is never clear and it seems that Sung-min is indeed a manipulative demon or evil force that is visible only for his victims that pushes the characters to a paranoid behavior, culminating with a death wish.
I like Asian movies that usually requires interpretation of the stories; however, the subplot with Ga-in's boyfriend is ridiculous and the weakest part of the complicated screenplay.
I Don't Get It. The opening scene is of a young boy in shock, reaching out to his (apparently) recently murdered mother.
It isn't the brooding "new guy" in school- he murdered his father.
It isn't the boyfriend- his father tried to burn everyone to death.
Is the brooding boy a demon?
I don't know much about Korean culture, but I find it odd that the parents of a high-schooler didn't bother with at least finding out the name of her adult boyfriend, whom they we well aware of.
Decent film, with huge plot holes, well made but should have fixed those holes..
Production is well made, good actors, sets, cinematography, music, editing.
Basically, the kid is cursed, or there's a demon that pushed people to kill.
But the demon idea is completely thrown out the window when they somehow shoehorn the girl's boyfriend is out for revenge.
If they just kept it as a demon pushing people to kill others or commit suicide, then it would be a simple idea but it would work.
The idea of the boyfriend's family being wrong to or whatever that was and seeking revenge is nonsense.
But I think I got the point of the film.
And I believe if they went back in and edited out the boyfriend nonsense this film's plot holes would be less.
Everything else on how the curse or that strange boy (The demon) coming to the school and pushing people to death, is still a big plot hole.
And unfortunately we don't get that with most movies.In the beginning we see a woman stabbed and dead or dying in front of a little boy.
Then were introduced to the lead character and her sister in school.
They go to their aunt's wedding where the aunt is pushed or jumps off a balcony.
Ok. Then this woman's sister starts stabbing her.
So, next thing we know, the lead character is being attacked by her classmate, teacher, another classmate, her mother.
Where is the connection between her aunt who fell off the balcony, and her other aunt killing her sister, and now she is the target of death?
For about 90 minutes, practically everyone around Ga-in(Jin-seo Yun)wants her dead.
But, the very one she wouldn't realize is exactly the person that wishes to kill her the most.A little boy sees his mother topple over with a knife in her back and we later discover that his father went apesh#t due to stress and poverty.
This corresponds with Ga-in's family we later discover with the little boy seeking revenge for he blames them mostly for his father's eventual psychotic breakdown.
The film also highlights a young man who seems to follow Ga-in around yet no one seems to acknowledge him but her.
Ga-in's aunt presumably leaped off a balcony(..or was pushed by her fiancé)and was eventually stabbed to death by her sister as she lie recuperating in a hospital bed.
Ga-in later is sent by her father to an elderly man who tells her of a story concerning his decision to murder his wife out of rage towards her adultery.
He feels his action, fueled by a voice over the phone who warned him of her adultery, has perhaps set off a chain of events where some sort of curse is running rampant hypnotizing folks into killing people they wish were dead.
And, the young man who hangs around with Ga-in, like a little drooping, sad puppy with nowhere else to go, tells her to trust no one, not even herself.
Eventually someone Ga-in loves so dear will unleash a fury on her family, her having no idea that he harbors such harsh feelings.There are a lot of hallucinatory scare effects designed to make the viewer jump concerning a monster which resembles red raw hamburger meat in the shape of a man always reaching out to grab Ga-in.
She also sees this spooky young women, her face emerging from a pool of dripping blood, hovering over her bed, threatening that Ga-in would be next(..this happens after Ga-in's aunt stabs her sister in the hospital room).
The film seems to establish that a sinister figure representing a symbolic form of harbored desire(..the desire one has against another, out of jealousy, mostly)provides people with an option to violently rid themselves of their "adversary." Ga-in stands in the way, so to speak, of certain people's happiness.
The best friend jealous of her attaining the boyfriend she always wanted.
But, to be honest, I couldn't understand what happened at the end(..Ga-in's fate after a tragic murder of a relative)regarding Ga-in.
I thought I had a decent understanding of what the hell was going on, but, like a lot of these films, the filmmakers involved desperately needed to throw a wild twist at us..the heroine can't get off that easy can she?
That's the mentality of horror films these days.
showed different people all over the world, the boy in the beginning had nothing to do with the rest of the characters but, at some point they were all pushed by the demon that is behind you as the title states (Someone Behind You)to do something you wouldn't do.
Even a tiny bit of doubt, hate, jealousy..will trigger it, even if u just wished deep in ur head that hes dead, everybody does that like if for example your little sister steals your money don't u just wish her dead?
This sort of explains how evil gets in the way of people killing his family/loved one and pleading innocent or saying it was drugs/grudge that made him do it. |
tt0111257 | Speed | In a downtown office building, an express elevator's cables are blown, and 13 people are trapped inside. Los Angeles Police dispatch their men, including Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and Detective Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels). Capt. McMahon (Joe Morton) briefs the men on the situation: bombs have already knocked out the main cables. The only thing keeping the elevator from dropping to the basement is the emergency brake. The bomber has wired this with explosives, and has given a one hour ultimatum: pay him $3.7 million, or he blows the emergency brake.Both Jack and Harry use building access panels to examine the bomb, before Jack comes up with the idea to use a window cleaner's crane on the roof as a way to hopefully help get the passengers off. However, once they have hooked the crane, the bomber blows the emergency brakes, and the elevator begins to plummet.The crane cable stops the elevator for a short time between two floors, where Harry and Jack manage to get the passengers unloaded before the crane pulls free of it's base and the elevator plummets to the bottom. Harry notes that the explosion happened earlier than the time limit given, with Jack thinking the bomber must still be in the building. With the main elevators having been shut off, Jack assumes the bomber must be aboard a freight elevator in the building.Harry and Jack find the freight elevator, where they encounter Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), their bomber, although his name is not yet known at this point. Payne takes Harry hostage, and shows that he has wired himself with explosives. Payne attempts to take Harry with him to the building's parking garage, but Jack shoots Harry in the leg, preventing Payne from taking Harry any further and causing Payne to drop him. Payne makes a dash out the door, but before Jack can get to him, the explosives go off, knocking him back.Some time afterward, a commendation ceremony is held in which Jack and Harry are congratulated for their services. They go to a bar where they and their colleagues celebrate their victory. An inebriated Harry tells Jack to be more cautious in his work because his recklessness could get him killed.The next day, Jack stops into a small coffee shop for a drink. As he goes out to his car, a bus that had pulled away explodes and bursts into flames. A payphone nearby rings, and Jack is surprised to hear Payne's voice on the line. Payne explains that he had spent 2 years planning the 'elevator job,' and chastises Jack for ruining his 'life's work.' The bomber then goes on to explain that he has planted another bomb on a bus, which will be armed the moment the bus passes 50 mph, and then will detonate if the bus drops below that speed. Payne also explains that if any passengers are removed from the bus, he will detonate it himself, and asks for a ransom of $3.7 million (the same amount he'd demanded during the elevator kidnapping) by 11am. Payne gives the bus number as 2525, and Jack takes off to catch up to it.Jack manages to catch up to the bus en route, but when he frantically tries to get the bus driver to open the doors, the driver ignores him, thinking it's a prank. Jack then commandeers a Jaguar, and again catches up to the bus. After a mad struggle, Jack manages to relay to the driver that there is a bomb on the bus, and manages to board, jumping from the moving car into the bus' door. Harry is also alerted by Jack through the Jaguar owner's cellular phone.Jack attempts to calm the bus passengers, but an altercation with one man wielding a gun causes an incident to break out, and the bus driver is wounded. A young woman named Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) takes the wheel, planning to hit the brakes, and it is then that Jack explains about the bomb on the bus to the passengers. Jack opens an access panel in the bus floor, and finds the bomb. Relaying this to Harry, Harry is perplexed that the timer for the bomb is attached to a cheap gold watch. Harry's suspicions turn to the prospect that their mad bomber may be a former officer, and he has his staff start looking over information about officers who have worked with bombs or on bomb squads.Back on the bus, a traffic jam on the freeways forces Annie to divert the bus onto city streets instead. Eventually, a police escort and a LAPD helicopter with Capt. McMahon aboard guide the bus to the unfinished 105 freeway. Once on the freeway, McMahon and a number of officers board a flatbed truck that pulls up next to the bus. McMahon wants to get the people off, but Jack explains that the news helicopters in the air are televising the event, and that Payne will detonate the bus if anyone gets off.Jack soon receives a call from Payne in regards to what is being seen on television. Jack manages to get Payne to consider letting the wounded bus driver off, though Payne tells Jack that 'the wildcat behind the wheel' is not to slow down. However, a passenger named Helen (Beth Grant) gets edgy, and attempts to get off the bus. As she stands over the entrance-way stairs, a smaller charge is set off that destroys the platform. Helen falls under the bus and is run over by the wheels.McMahon is then informed that the 105 freeway is unfinished, and a stretch of roadway ahead contains a 50ft span that is missing. Jack is informed of this, but still refuses to take any passengers off. Jack then instructs Annie to increase the bus speed, figuring their may be an incline that will allow them to jump the bus over the gap. Miraculously, his plan works, and the bus makes it to the other side.Once over, Jack finds an off-ramp that leads to Los Angeles International Airport. Annie takes it, and enters through an airport exit, running over a pair of spike strips that destroy the tires. Jack's plan is to keep the news copter cameras from following them. Because the airport is restricted airspace, they can't fly over it. The long runways that are not in use will also allow the bus to circle and keep it out of civilian traffic.Capt McMahon soon shows up at the airport with some more cops, and Jack gets off the bus onto a vehicle with the Captain. McMahon feels they should be able to unload the passengers safely, but Jack is still convinced that Payne will know.Jack is then put onto a small-wheeled dolly attached by a cable to a small truck and sent under the still-moving bus, hoping to dismantle the bomb. However, the mechanism is too complex, and Jack is unable to stop it. Harry has been giving Jack the information to try and dismantle the bomb, when his associates come back with Payne's identity. Payne turns out to be a former member of the Atlanta Police Department's bomb squad. Harry and his associates rush off to apprehend Howard.Jack soon comes close to death when the cable towing the dolly he's on gives way, and he is almost run over by the bus. Jack clings to the undercarriage of the bus, but accidentally ruptures the fuel tank with a screwdriver. The passengers on the bus help Jack up through an access panel in the bus' floor, and he survives. With leaking fuel a new problem, Jack calls for a fuel car to pace the bus and refuel them.Meanwhile, Harry and some other members of the LAPD have staked out and entered Payne's home. They soon find he is not there, but realize this too late, triggering a bomb planted in the house that kills those inside, including Harry.After the bomb goes off, Payne calls Jack, and gloats over Harry's death. Payne then gives Jack instructions to deliver the $3.7 million ransom to a garbage can at Pershing Square downtown. Jack is unsure what to do next, when he notices the sweatshirt Annie had been wearing, which contains the logo for the Arizona Wildcats. Payne had called Annie a "wildcat" before on the phone, and now Jack realizes that Payne has been monitoring the bus through the security camera above the bus driver's seat. Though the camera can record video, it cannot record audio.Jack radios over to McMahon regarding his plan. McMahon gets all the news vans nearby to stop taping, and commandeers one to find the signal going into the bus camera. With everyone sitting still on the bus, the news team records them, gathering enough footage to run a video loop to fool Payne. However, Annie notes that the fuel is almost on empty, and McMahon is forced to have the tape loop with only a minute of footage having been recorded.An airport bus is brought alongside bus 2525, and the passengers are unloaded. However, the tires that had been punctured once the bus went through the airport's exits continue to lose their treads, and Annie and Jack are unable to get off. Jack affixes the steering wheel with some rope, and the two escape from under the bus using the access panel. The bus drives a ways off, before heading towards a cargo plane. As the speed drops below 50, the bus explodes, also destroying the cargo plane.After the passengers are treated by paramedics, the police receive a call from Payne wanting to know about the money. McMahon is about to tell off Payne, but Jack realizes that Payne does not know the bus exploded, giving them the advantage to capture the madman.A plan is made with the money placed in sacks, with paint bombs inside. A number of officers patrol Pershing Square, with Payne watching from an overhead building's window. Payne thinks he's won, until he notices the bus camera, and realizes that the tape is on a loop. Payne quickly puts on his uniform, and blending in with the other officers, walks over to Annie, and escorts her away from the scene.Jack and a number of officers are watching the garbage can, but no one has appeared. Jack suddenly demands they turn on the homing beacon with the money...and all of them are surprised to see that the money is in motion! Jack rushes out to the garbage can, and finds that there is a hole in the bottom of it, leading down to a level below the street.Jack finds an entrance to the area below street level, and is confronted with Annie strapped with explosives, and Payne standing nearby, holding a detonator. Payne chastises Jack a bit before making his way to the LA subway system, with Jack jumping aboard as it pulls away, crawling across the top.Payne handcuffs Annie to a pole, and kills the train driver. Payne the explains his plan to Annie: he intends to get off the train with the money, but leave her to explode, causing the police to think they both died on the subway.Payne's overzealous nature gets the better of him, as he hears Jack climbing on top of the train car. Playfully claiming he may be able to bribe Jack into letting him go, Payne reaches into the sack of money, only to set off the paint bomb, ruining the money.Payne then climbs up the side of the train car on the outside, and goes hand-to-hand with Jack. As they fight, Jack notices a low-overhanging light approaching, and holds Payne's head up while seizing the detonator to Annie's bomb from Payne. The light decapitates Payne, and his body falls over the side of the car.Jack then enters the car, and manages to get the explosives off Annie. However, he does not have the key to her handcuffs, and Payne's killing of the train driver has rendered the brakes inoperable. A railmap shows Jack that there's a sharp curve ahead. He speeds up the train with the intention of derailing it. The plan works and Annie is freed from the bar. The train barrels out of an incomplete stretch of track right in front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. It lands on its side and comes to a halt. Annie and Jack are both alive and as they kiss, a number of tourists and others whom the train has stopped traffic for, come over to look at the strange spectacle. | comedy, boring, mystery, murder, cult, revenge, violence, good versus evil, humor, action, claustrophobic, romantic, suspenseful | train | imdb | I just love this movie, alongside with The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic and Point Break is one of my favorite action film of Keanu Reeves.
Speed is simply similar to other sequel movie like are Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995) that come out one year later, when Sandra was handcuffed on the train and Keanu was saving her, the same cuffing scene was later used in Die Hard With A Vengeance.
I still love both of these movies, they are both great action films of the 90's and one of my all time favorite Keanu Reeves movies.
And since it revolves around the bus ride the entire time they do a good job with adding little problems they must overcome to ensure the bus does not explode, such as sharp turns and getting on an unfinished bridge so they can stay over 50 mph.Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), an LAPD cop on SWAT detail, has a fearless nature and a keen understanding of the criminal mind.
Poor Annie (Sandra Bullock) gets shoved into the driver's seat, while Jack does his best to save the day.That is the basic plot, it is a slick film about a young cop who must prevent a bomb exploding aboard on a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
Speed is one of my favorite action movies of all time, just a notch below contemporaries like Terminator 2 and Die Hard.
If ever there was a film I wished I had seen at the theater,this would be the one.It's a great combination of a well written story, great direction,and a great cast.It's one of those films that you want to like so much,and it does not disappoint.The only thing that bothered me about the film is perhaps is the insertion of ill timed corny remarks ("He lost his head"),and the ending could have been done better,but overall a great action film worth owning..
Not only do Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock do top work, but Dennis Hopper makes the most compelling villain of the '90s.It all starts with a revenge-driven extortionist letting authorities know he has planted a bomb on a bus.
What do you do?Beat the rush hour, run the red lights, stay above 50mph and make your way to your nearest video supplier to buy or rent Speed.This film is a definite MUST for those people who enjoy a good Action Thriller type film (and maybe even for those who don't).I have a lot of love for Speed and no matter how many times I see it; it STILL continues to deliver non-stop action and incredible stunts & special effects.
Jan de Bont did a fantastic job directing this and I can't believe that the same guy who made this also made such a dire sequel like Cruise Control (but that's another story).Keanu Reeves once more proves what a great actor he is and that he is well suited for these types of movies.
He makes a great villain.The main three stars of Reeves, Bullock, & Hopper is strongly supported by Joe Morton (Terminator 2) and Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber) and it's also nice to see supporting actors actually doing something.I am proud to say that Speed has a place on my DVD rack.
If you like the cast mentioned above and want to see Dennis Hopper in a great performance then I strongly recommend that you watch or even buy Speed today!.
Los Angeles SWAT daredevil cops( Keaunu Reeves, Jeff Daniels ) commanded by their chief (Joe Morton ) taking on extreme terrorist ( a bomber well performed by Dennis Hooper)who wires first an elevator and after that a public bus where a handful of characters (Alan Ruck, Carlos Carrasco, among others) face certain death .
Yeah, I know this was a huge hit, and I enjoyed it when I first saw it, too, but on the second viewing, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves - two of the dumbest-sounding actors in recent memory - made this too annoying for future viewings.Bullock, an airhead who has made very few, if any, good movies, must have majored in using God's name solely in exclamation, because that's about all she can say.
Dennis Hopper's villainous character also gives us the Hollywood cliché of talking- instead-killing to the maximum here - another insult to any viewer of any intelligence.Having said all of that, the film gets points for having a simple-but very involving and interesting premise and a few spectacular action scenes that got everyone excited about seeing the film back in the mid '90s.
They use their own plot up and cannot think of anything new during the film..I personaly think it should have been called...Busting Tires,Blowing up cars,And running out of road.The first time they said..."Jack,beware the road isn't finished".was slightly okay,but they had to use it again and when they should've just ended.I must admit though,this movie is good for a laugh,that is exactly how stupid it is.
I have to say that normally a Keanu Reeves movie is only sometimes enjoyable to watch, but this was a very exciting action movie, in fact one of the best I've seen.
They must go on a driving spree to make sure that everyone can stay alive with trying to figure out a way off the bus.Speed is a very great action movie that everyone needs to see, it's just one of those movies that really gets you excited and never lets you go.
*** 1/2 out of ****Keanu Reeves is a rarity: he's a second-rate actor (at least compared to other big movie stars like Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford) who has kept his career afloat courtesy of a critically and commercially successful film every now and then.
Bringing together a highly unlikely cast (Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels, and a then unknown Sandra Bullock) and first-time director Jan De Bont, it must have spelled a recipe for disaster.But by miracle or just pure filmmaking bravado (more the latter than the former, though if the film had been made yeseterday, I might be more inclined to agree with the former), they pulled off a great action film, one of the best in big-screen history.After beginning with what must be one of the most intense opening credits sequences, the plot quickly gets underway.
But his plan to extort $3.7 million is foiled by quick-thinking LAPD cop Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and his partner (Jeff Daniels, in pretty much the thankless role that really doesn't go anywhere).Out for revenge, Payne raises the stakes further in his ransom demands by rigging a bomb under a city bus.
Every strand related to story and script is merely a means to keep the action and suspense going; I've rarely seen films maintain such a high level of intensity and pure thrilling, crowdpleasing fun for such a lengthy period of time.Director Jan De Bont's work here is probably among the best feature film debuts out there (only Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead comes to mind, but was that even released in theaters in the U.S.?); he keeps the editing super-tight and the pacing frantic, but still putting the action together with crystal-clear comprehensibility.
Cast directors must also be applauded for all the extras and character actors they used to play the bus passengers; there's a genuine sense of teamwork and solid chemistry at hand.At no point does Speed ever crumble; its perfectly lean storytelling ensures that it never strays from the thrills on hand and it's so exciting only the biggest hard-hearted churl would try to nitpick the implausibilities.
And when the bus is circling the airport runway (with tires taken out by the entrance's spike strip), they can hardly keep the little cart Keanu Reeves is riding under the bus stable, yet, the bus turns round and round, with his cart following flawlessly, plus this somehow has to lead to him poking a hole in the bus gas tank.I also love the last action scene in Speed.
However despite these things in working order like with all machines there is that looming possibility that something can go wrong and usually does.This is one of my favorite action films of all time, it's just so thrilling and so much fun.
His character is a smart greedy psychopath who is menacing, a short fuse when things don't go his way, and he's got some charisma so he's got some really good lines.Protagonists are also good from the main one Jack Traven played well by Keanu Reeves, he's tough, knows how to keep his cool and be in control of an out of control situation, smart, and also has charisma he has some good lines as well as humorous moments like unintentionally giving a guy I call the Tuneman some grief.Annie Porter played by one of my favorite actresses Sandra Bullock whom I think is hot and has the persona to boot.
I love the way it's structured it's sort of like a video game you just can't afford to take a breath, where in this film you have three different situations which are the Elevator, Bus, and Train, much like how each level of a game is always a different challenge; and all require for everyone to constantly move if they stay still for even a mere moment then it's game over forever.Also as the action is going along there are constant obstacles whether it's something in the way or even time itself, I like how the protagonists have to think throughly fast on how to get though this or survive that.
Reeves plays L.A.P.D. SWAT specialist Jack Traven as a sweet, dedicated young guy who likely spends the weekend smoking bongs with his surfer buddies in between saving the lives of every hostage before an elevator is sent plummeting to certain destruction and using commandeered sports cars on Los Angeles freeways as his springboard to jump onto a bus full of people that may explode at any moment.
Same with Bullock, who plays essentially the same brassy, inadvertently heroic everyday gal with a warm soul, so putting her Annie, with the convenient revoked license for speeding, in the driver's seat where she is responsible for making the fifty-foot leaps in unfinished road and avoiding pedestrians and other oncoming traffic, we have a character who is put to the test of her own mental and physical endurance as well, in a shorthand fashion by a script that cannot afford to slow down.Now, the script does, nevertheless, interrupt itself when it leaves the speeding bus for five minutes or so at a time so that Harry, Jack's mentor/partner/best friend played by Jeff Daniels---yet another familiar actor installing behavioral abbreviation for a character---can compile clues to identify a culprit of whom we're already aware, as well as to elaborate superfluously on a far-fetched potential motive, or when Jack and Annie fall in love amidst a frantic life-or-death endurance trial that lasts under a day.
Keanu Reeves is Jack Traven, an LAPD bomb squad officer who, during the first hour, must try to save a couple of people trapped inside an elevator, while a mad (no, eccentric) maniac (played with real villainy by Dennis Hopper) awaits his demand of cash.When that's all said and done, he must now drive a bus above 50 mph to avoid the bomb in the bus from blowing up.
This is a fast paced, high action thriller.We have the usual lunatic mad bomber, this time played marvelously by Dennis Hopper, disgruntled and off his rocker, who plants bombs in elevators, buses and finally creates havoc on a train.Keanu Reeves is terrific as the cop who foils his plans at every turn along with Jeff Daniels.
This is the latter's best film since he played the ill-fated son-in-law of Shirley MacLaine in the 1983 Oscar winner "Terms of Endearment."Sandra Bullock turned in a fantastic performance as the woman on the bus who winds up having to drive it under such tense circumstances.If all action films were like this.
It turns up to be a cat and mouse game for Travers as he gets on the bus and tries to figure out how to dismantle the bomb and figure out how Payne knows everything in advance.What makes "Speed" such a fantastic movie besides the action scenes include it's top cast.
No longer do we need action heroes like Stallone or Arnold to show their huge muscles where we have young talented actors like Keanu Reeves proving that he can flex his acting abilities besides being in Bill and Ted. Dennis Hopper is one mad S.O.B., in which his character has more smarts and surprises than any villain I had seen in 1994.
Sandra Bullock plays Annie, one of the bus passengers, who would later be a successful actress in the big screens.Truly, one of the best action pictures of the 1990's..
Hyper-kinetic actioner which De Bont,after the tense bomb-in-a-lift scenario,builds swiftly to a breakneck pace and somehow sustains,while Keanu and Sandy generate real chemistry on a speeding,booby-trapped bus.Headlong multiplex entertainment,with Bullock never sexier,Reeves never cooler(WELL MAYBE IN THE MATRIX)and Hopper cackling maniacally in the background.I got a good idea lets make the sequel on a boat NOT!!!..
Speed is one of the best action films to have ever been made, and even if you see it or have seen it 10, 20, 50, or 100 times it still grabs you and takes you on the ride of your life.
Not everything is shiny in retroland.As for the few negatives: Reeves (whom I honestly love as an actor) is a bit wooden, Dennis Hopper is hamming it up like crazy and despite the great presentation the finale goes a bit too much over the top and thus loses a lot of the believability that made the rest of the movie so exciting.
Earlier in the film when we see Reeves just centimeters above the asphalt at breakneck speed we get a better sense of danger than can be achieved with the special effects shots of the ending.Still, a simple and entertaining movie that doesn't insult your intelligence, with relateable characters with enough nuance that they feel like people.
Of course this film, launched sexy Bullocks career, who unwittingly becomes, Reeve's right hand man on a bus set to explode, if the needle, falls under or goes over 50 miles a hour, and I mean hey, it's that a great intense premise for a movie.
Sure, the third act seems out of place and like an unnecessary repeat of what came before, the flick is occasionally a little too cheesy for its own good, Dennis Hopper sometimes gets a bit too hammy and Keanu Reaves, ever so often, shows just how far his acting talent has come since 1994, but this is an incredibly entertaining, wholly engaging and breathlessly exciting action-triller that takes its relatively simple, slightly 'Die Hard (1988)' like premise and does wonders with it.
Howard Payne (the late Dennis Hopper), the maniacal bomb expert trying to secure his retirement and Jack Travin (Keanu Reeves) the relentlessly will powered maverick cop who won't stop until he gets his man.Speed is one of my all time favourite action films.
"Speed", with bad actors Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, poor dialogue and a plot that is completely pointless and nonsense, on top of the fact the bus making a jump...
You're going to say one thing after watching "Speed," and that will be "Whoa." This is an action film as exhausting as "Die Hard" and as exhilarating as the "Terminator" movies.
All good action films have comedic relief, and "Speed" - apart from occasional witty remarks between Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves and/or Dennis Hopper - has Alan Ruck and Jeff Daniels.
There are few movies that can be considered 'timeless' and, although 'Speed' may be an unlikely name to be added to that list, I truly believe it deserves its place among the 'action greats.' Even though it was filmed in the nineties, it looks as good today as it ever did.
"Speed" is a very entertaining movie, about cop Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) who must prevent a bomb from exploding on a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
Dennis Hopper gave a very ruthless performance as terrorist Howard Payne and Sandra Bullock gave a touching and stirring performance as Annie Porter.The action and urgency gets right to the point from beginning to end, giving this entire movie an edge-of-your-seat ride, which would surely keep the audience glued to the screen.Every scene inside the bus gives a heart-pounding experience, letting us wonder what would happen to the people inside and what plan Traven have up his sleeves to save them before the bus explodes or runs out of gas.
Dennis Hopper is a terrific villain, rivalling Alan Rickman in "Die Hard," though Hopper is more psychotic, or in his own words, "eccentric." Also noteworthy is the terrifically lovable Sandra Bullock who uses her comic aptitude to great effect, and she also allows herself to be vulnerable, which makes her more three-dimensional.Like in de Bont's later film, "Twister," composer Mark Macina creates a memorable theme that complements the film to perfection.Flaws aren't really a problem here (I dare anyone to name an action movie that hasn't given into temptation and gone over the top at least a little).
'Speed' is a symbol of 90's action movies and one of the best masterpiece that Keanu Reeves starred.
With exciting and fast paced action sequences from beginning to end, characters that are charismatic and fun to watch and a simple but grabbing plot that manages to make itself all the more interesting as it goes on by upping the ante with even crazier stunts and even bigger explosions, "Speed" delivers a two hour long thrill ride that will keep
He's the catalyst for what makes Speed memorable: the action sequences.The elevator is a well executed scene but the true meat is in the bus sequence, introducing Sandra Bullock's character of Annie. |
tt0331811 | 11:14 | The film involves a series of interconnected events that converge around two car-related accidents at 11:14 p.m. The connections between the events are not apparent at first, but are gradually revealed by a series of progressively receding flashbacks:
=== Part 1 ===
11:13 - 11:33
Jack (Henry Thomas), who has been drinking, is seen driving along a road at night talking on his cell phone. The clock on the dashboard reads 11:14 p.m. Suddenly, as he drives under an overpass, something smashes across the windshield, causing him to skid off the road. He stops by a deer crossing sign and gets out to inspect the damage, and finds a human body with a badly mutilated face lying close to his car. When he sees another car approaching, he panics and drags the body out of sight. The car pulls up next to him, and the driver, Norma (Barbara Hershey), assumes that he hit a deer. She offers to call the police over Jack's protests, insisting that it is no trouble because she has a new cell phone that she "never uses" and because she is friends with the Chief of Police. Norma offers Jack a ride to her house to wait for the police, but he declines. When she drives off, Jack decides to hide the body in the trunk of his car. He gets back into the car to pull away, but a police officer pulls up behind him. Officer Hannagan (Clark Gregg) speaks with Jack and, noting his odd behavior, asks him if he would submit to a breathalyzer test. Jack requests a sobriety test instead, which Hannagan administers, getting him to recite the alphabet in reverse from Z to A. When the officer checks with dispatch, he finds that Jack's license has been revoked for driving under the influence. Hannagan tells Jack that he is under arrest and that his car will be impounded. When he finds the body in the trunk, Hannagan handcuffs Jack with a cable tie and tells the two people already in the back of the cruiser, Duffy (Shawn Hatosy) and Buzzy (Hilary Swank), to move over so that Jack will fit. While Hannagan argues with Buzzy, who refuses to move over, Jack is able to pull clippers out of his pocket, cut the cable tie, and escape. Hannagan pursues, leaving the cruiser door open, and Duffy and Buzzy also escape. Jack runs across a property with security lights and a dog, causing the owner, Norma, to come out. She is obviously upset and is looking for her husband Frank (Patrick Swayze) because she just received a phone call that their daughter, Cheri (Rachael Leigh Cook), was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Hannagan catches up to Jack at this point, and Norma angrily strikes Jack with a flashlight, assuming that he is responsible for her daughter's death. He flees again, into the cemetery where he trips over a bowling ball and is again taken into custody.
=== Part 2 ===
11:09 - 11:29
Teenagers Tim (Stark Sands), Mark (Colin Hanks) and Eddie (Ben Foster) are driving around causing trouble by throwing things out of the windows of Mark's van (which actually belongs to Mark's mother), including a jelly donut (which hits an oncoming car) and a book they have set on fire. Mark, distracted by Eddie urinating out the van's window, runs into and kills Cheri, who was crossing the road while on her cell phone. They stop, but flee the scene when Duffy comes toward the van with a gun. As Duffy fires on the retreating van, Tim realizes that the accident also caused the van's window to snap shut, cutting off Eddie's penis. Eddie insists that they all go back to the site of the crash because he doesn't want to live without his penis; feeling sorry for Eddie, Tim volunteers to go back in an effort to find the penis. Tim is accosted by the paramedics, Leon (Jason Segel) and Kevin (Rick Gomez) at the scene, but manages to escape and get the severed penis back to Eddie.
=== Part 3 ===
11:04 - 11:24
Frank is walking his dog late at night and discovers his daughter's (Cheri's) car keys next to the dead body of Aaron (Blake Heron) in the cemetery. Thinking his daughter is responsible for the death, Frank packs the body in the trunk of Aaron's car, accidentally locking the keys in with the body. He uses a rock to break a window and get into the car, then drives to a bridge. He has to hide from a car driven by Duffy that passes by, but then disposes of the body by dropping it over the side of the bridge, where it lands on Jack's car (as seen at the start of the film). His dog runs off with the blood-soaked jacket. He chases the dog, eventually catching it. He sees the burning book that the teenagers threw on the sidewalk, and uses it to set his jacket on fire. His wife, Norma, sees him and gives him a ride home, where she sends him out to look for the deer that Jack supposedly hit.
=== Part 4 ===
10:59 - 11:19
Buzzy is working at a convenience store late at night. Her friend and co-worker Duffy arrives and they begin discussing Cheri's pregnancy and money needed for an abortion. Mark and Eddie arrive after the store is closed but Duffy lets them come in. They are there to buy items to throw out the van windows. After they leave, Duffy tells Buzzy his plan to steal from the store the $500 required to pay for the abortion. Cheri arrives and she and Duffy go into the cooler. Meanwhile Buzzy is playing around with Duffy's revolver (the one he plans to use to rob the store) and she accidentally shoots a bullet through a glass door of a refrigerator, barely missing Duffy and Cheri. Cheri leaves and Duffy asks Buzzy to allow him to steal the money from the convenience store's cash register. Buzzy objects, fearful of losing her job, but relents, while insisting that Duffy shoot her in the arm to make it look like an authentic robbery. He shoots her in the arm and then dials 9-1-1 for her, leaving while she is on the phone. Duffy looks for his keys, barely escaping the police who are arriving more quickly than he thought they would. While driving away, he passes by Aaron's car, where Frank has parked it preparing to dispose of Aaron's body. Duffy then sees Cheri parked and tells her he got the money for her abortion. When she gets out of her car, he witnesses the teenagers' van knocking down and killing Cheri, and he shoots at the teenagers. He is then arrested by Officer Hannagan for shooting at the van and for the store robbery, based on the description someone phoned in (later revealed to be Cheri). Buzzy is arrested as an accomplice when she refuses to identify Duffy and admits to conspiring with him.
=== Part 5 ===
10:54 - 11:14
Cheri leaves her house to have sex with Aaron at the cemetery. Aaron is reclining against a tombstone that has a stone angel on top. The angel's neck is damaged and the heavy stone head falls onto Aaron's face, killing him instantly and mutilating his face. Cheri runs away from the scene, not realizing that she has dropped the set of keys that Frank found in the earlier scene. Cheri borrows her father's car and goes to the convenience store to get Duffy's bowling ball, intending to replace the angel head with the bowling ball and implicate Duffy as killing Aaron. As she drives away from the store, she sees the shooting and reports a description of Duffy to the police. When Cheri arrives back at the cemetery, she drops the bowling ball when she sees that Aaron's body is gone. She tries to leave, but her car is again having trouble starting. Her cell phone rings, and she begins talking to Jack. This is the phone conversation the movie begins with, continued to inform the viewer that Cheri's "pregnancy" is actually a scam to get money from both Duffy and Aaron, so that Cheri and Jack can leave town together with the money. In the midst of the call, Duffy calls out Cheri's name from across the street to tell her that he got the $500 she wanted him to get. Cheri hangs up quickly, and while she is crossing the street, the cell phone rings again, and, distracted, she stops in the middle of the road, where she is hit by the van containing Mark, Tim, and Eddie. The camera pans to Cheri's cell phone, which reads 11:14 p.m. | mystery, violence, comedy, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | It's actually 5 stories that all take place in a small town in middle America at around 11pm on a random night.Characters keep running into each other and bad bad things happen, but the stories are all strung together in really clever, often darkly funny ways.
We haven't seen Crash, but it looks like we should, and while I thought that 11:14 was not quite as terrific as Memento, I felt it was definitely in the running with it.I came to IMDb to see what else this guy, Greg Marcks, has done and was surprised to see that the only other entry is a 19 minute short film.
We see the accident, which occurs at 11:14pm, from different perspectives, as the puzzle slowly comes together.Sure, the story works a lot on coincidence, but it's still a great build up and interesting ending, despite it being somewhat of a let-down.The very black humour includes two sections which might just be some of the most cringing moments for men in cinema history one of them in particular had me cowering fear.Good performances from Patrick Swayze and Hilary Swank make this a good cinematic treat..
Patrick Swayze utilizes his intensity and tendency towards the dramatic to comedically portray the world's most overprotective Father, while Rachael Leigh Cook's character, Cheri, wreaks havoc on Middelton, Anywhere, USA.The film opens with a car crash, a botched arrest and a few nasty head injuries that set up the film beautifully.
The movie tells us the partial stories of each of the parts involved, how the actions of each of them lead to what happens at the beginning and end of the film.
The opening story involves a roadkill (which is not his fault), second involves the decapitation of a penis and another roadkill (which is definitely the driver's fault), the third story involves getting rid of a body by the father of a hot girl, the fourth involves a robbery, the fifth revolves around a cheating hot girl.This film has Colin Hanks, Rachael Leigh Cook, Hilary Swank, Patrick Swayze, Jason Segel ('How I Met Your Mother', he is totally unrecognizable here) and several other good actors.
Good casting and acting help keep your attention as the sometimes mundane lives of all the characters come together one piece at a time over a 24 hour period.
Destined for sleeper status on DVD (and given a slightly higher profile by Hilary Swank's subsequent Oscar-winning performance in Million Dollar Baby), the audacious debut of writer-director Greg Marcks boasts a fantastic cast in a smartly constructed comedy/thriller, partly inspired by Blood Simple, in which a fatal traffic accident is examined and re-examined from multiple perspectives.
They include Rachael Leigh Cook (whose bad-girl behavior sets the chain of events in motion); Patrick Swayze and Barbara Hershey as her worried parents; Swank and Shawn Hatosy as would-be criminals with a dimwit plan; Henry Thomas as a drunk driver whose involvement is deeper than we realize; and Colin Hanks as one of three teenage vandals on a fast track to trouble.
But unlike Crash and Babel, 11:14 is more of a dark comedy/ thriller-noir then a drama per se.Unfortunately, the plot isn't that interesting and in the end the film comes trough as a bit pointless.
Perhaps then, it is fitting that newcomer-director Greg Marcks, who's only previous work was a short film about a man who reads to cigar-rollers, via radio, has created a tremendously entertaining if, at times, rather gruesome tale about five intertwining stories revolving around a couple of car crashes at 11:14pm.Story one involves a young man who, obviously after intoxicating himself, attempts to drive himself home when, low and behold he hits what appeared to be a dear.
Good movie.I agree with most other comments, kind of a wild roller-coaster of bad things happening.A bit disappointing ending however, the movie basically tells the story of 30 minutes around 11:14 in 90 minutes.
However, after a little over an hour in the movie the story is clear already...Instead of preparing you for an interesting ending, the director decided to keep telling the by-now-very-obvious story for the kind of people that usually miss half the film by getting beer popcorn, talking or other reasons..This movie is worth the money nonetheless: Good fun to watch..
Marcks had me so taken by trying to figure out what answer lay beneath the intersecting stories of these desperate small-town idiots that part of the entertainment intended through shock value and perverse turns of events never sunk in.The film begins with the character played by Henry Thomas (the kid from "E.T.") driving drunk and out of nowhere hitting someone at exactly 11:14 and then panicking because the police are coming and he has a drunk driving record.
The sheer ridiculousness of the behavior of some of these senseless small-town characters offers an entertainment all its own, but the film is so convincingly serious that what's coming next commands more of our attention than letting it actually soak in that Ben Foster's character's penis is lying on the street somewhere.However, credit to Marcks for making a film that rounded up a killer cast of vets and up- and-comers from Hilary Swank, Patrick Swayze and Barbara Hershey to Ben Foster, Colin Hanks, Rachael Leigh Cook and Jason Segel.
The film is like pulp fiction in were the story is all mixed around and you see the events that unfold from different perspectives.Every one does a great job in the movie.
The idea that 5 different stories converge in one is not a new one, but it works pretty good in this little, independent movie.
But the characters are all so despicable, you don't really want to know what happens to them.I love movies like "Crash" and "Magnolia", because while they do have lots of story lines that are crosscut across each other, they connect on a thematic level.
After I watched this adventure for the first time, I read through a batch of IMDb reviews, and was amazed at the variation of opinions on this movie, which in itself is not a bad thing; few films can please everyone.
I call this film an "adventure" because it moves, every second, every minute, and if you give yourself to it, you're along for a major cinematic rush, a ride that starts when a drunken driver hits a body and the driver attempts to hide the evidence...the high rating is given simply because I was involved in the film from the initial moments, and stayed that way because of the outstanding ensemble work, the dedication to dazzle the viewer with plot twist after plot twist, weaving threads that will somehow come together.I know this isn't Citizen Kane or Tokyo Story or Lawrence of Arabia--it's not important in any way, except as a thriller, and I was thrilled with a movie without attitude, without silly violence (eyeballs popping for the fun of it, that sort of thing), without an agenda.
Henry Thomas puts his E.T. days far behind him as a drunk driver, Colin Hanks displays some of the convincing talent that made his dad a star, and Ben Foster has one of those outlandish/OTT roles (like the one in HOSTAGE) before he hit the big time.I'm guessing this is a 'love it or hate it' type of film.
This twisted dark humored comedy reveals that things are unpredictable and strangely funny, but this can only work perfectly if 1) you've never seen so many films in your life or 2) you have a great sense of humor to all kinds of things no matter how painful or strange as it might seem.Henry Thomas, Rachael Leigh Cook, Hilary Swank, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Foster, Patrick Swayze, Colin Hanks, Barbara Hershey, Clark Gregg and others play the characters connected by strange accidents and they try to get out of the hurly-burly, making mistakes, making their worst to avoid problems and creating other problems.
with some nice performances by the already mentioned casting.It is the perfect film when you don't have patience to do anything, when things are not so great in your life or whatever, just watch it, it'll bring some help, some smiles and it's good to pass the time.
Must film for guys of age between 16-30.All characters are not full white are not full Grey.All resemble upon the circumstances.Good continuity.Only thing bother is music.Thats not up-to the mark for the film like this.could have been better.Must watch for bored people No second thought about giving 10/10.
Rather than offer an overview of the plot; needless to say lots of off the wall colourful "stuff" happens to a glut of disparate people ranging from Hilary Swank's store working Buzzy; to Patrick Swayze's concerned father named Frank; to teenager troublemakers Tim (Sands), Mark (Hanks) and Eddie (Foster); right through to the vampish Cheri (Cook).
On separate occasions, both guilt and immorality are elements or reactions born out of the coming across of the item of death, only evident when the body or the item of death has been 'successfully' dealt with, with one character being a little allured by it as they utilise the death to ruin someone else's life whereas another offering us a grossly varied state.The problem here is that these thematic elements are for display only, the film showing us Swayze standing there in his garage when it transpires he has gotten away with whatever foul narrative has wormed its way into his life; the three kids in the van haring along the road realising what they've done in hitting a pedestrian and one other character sitting in the back of a police car having been arrested, but cutting away and therefore onwards to the next wacky encounter it can cook up.
In fact, rarely is the film ever bothered with how the characters feel and what they think of the situation they've just created and the action they've just taken; these moments limited to fleeting reaction shots rather than drawn out observations.The tale that garnered most of my interest than the others is the story of an organised shop robbery by a young man whom is friends with the girl behind the till, the plan to take the money and feign that a theft has taken place in the shooting of the clerk making itself rapidly apparent.
But, unlike Memento, if you were to watch this movie in sequential order it would be like listening to that "boring person" telling a story at a party that had the potential of being interesting, but when they get to the end you want your hour and a half back.
Then, the scene featuring Duffy, Buzzy and gunfire is hilarious.Finally, the cemetery hook-up between Cheri and her boyfriend is a big laugh coming down the highway because we've already seen the puzzling outcome, and now we get to see how something so ridiculous could possibly happen.All good things to Greg Marcks, the young writer-director.
Hillary Swank was also good.The plot is simple and starts with an accident that occurs at 11:14pm and from then on the story unfolds in a wickedly brilliant way.9 out of 10..
I slight Swayze a bit as he tends to overplay his character, but his role as the harried father allows for some latitude.Greg Marcks has done an excellent job at writing and directing a tight, fast-paced, highly energetic film.
There's also the creative plot, used in movies like "Rashomon," "Vantage Point," and "Pulp Fiction." If you like those kinds of movies, you'll enjoy this.The performances were all great, although there was one or two lines throughout the film that were entirely laughable and dumb.
A good cast, including Patrick Swayze, Barbara Hershey, Hilary Swank, Henry Thomas and Clark Gregg star in "11:14," the story of a fatal car crash from five points of view.
this movie was really good to watch, i love these kind of movies where the characters go through different problems and then you can see that they all connect at some point, 11:14 is exactly like the films Babel and Crash, with a different story line of course, it was an O.K. cast Rachael Leigh Cook is my favorite actress, her role in this film was a good role, shes beautiful anyways and i like when she goes for different kinds of characters, shes a really talented actress.
It's an indie American film, made in 2003, which starts with a drunk-driver hitting, what he thinks is a deer, but it's a person (dead or alive before he hit it?), then while he's trying to stash the body in his boot, a police car rolls up, but the officer's got other problems to deal with, like two suspects in the backseat of the car, involved in a store robbery at the same time as the crash, and yet somehow there's a connection between the crash and the robbery, and a few other bizarre incidents all around 11:14 pm.Through four flashbacks, we see four events that happen the same time as the crash, all are inter-related, by event, or by some of the same characters, it's a jigsaw puzzle of a film, be patient, you'll be confused at first, by the time the end credits roll, you'll be grinning from ear to ear.
It's a dark, dangerous, delirious black comedy/thriller.Hilary Swank, Barbara Hershey, Henry Thomas, Patrick Swayze are the familiar faces to regular cinephiles, but there's some great performances too from the other morally dubious characters.Check this film out, it's a real blast!.
and that is only starters.The exceptional cast includes Hilary Swank (with braces), Patrick Swayze (with body padding), Barbara Hershey obsessed with opera, Rachel Leigh Cook as the promiscuous round robin girl, Henry Thomas as a drunk driver, Ben Foster as the genital loser, Blake Heron, Shawn Hatosy, Blake Heron, Stark Sands, Colin Hanks, and Gregg Clark as the revolving police officer who tries to keep up and make sense of the mess.The cinematography is beautifully handled by Shane Hurlbut who manages to keep the nighttime ambiance all centered on the 11:14 PM restrictions of the action.
This is a sleeper of a hit; really well written, superbly acted, and filled with funny/weird circumstances that take the audience on a fun ride through the lives of seemingly unrelated people.If you're tired of wading through the quagmire of movie sequels and TV show remakes masquerading as films, rent "11:14" and sit back and watch a really well crafted, thoughtful film.
Each new set of characters then goes some way to shed light on the questions you're left with from the previous story, until - finally - all loose ends are tied up by the time the credits roll.Plus it has an excellent cast.
It uses its time mechanic well, it has a good cast, and characters that you like to hate (love to hate would have made it 1 star better.) I had fun watching this movie and that's all that really matters..
Another non-linear story but an entertaining one!This is the kind of movie you should watch on DVD because you've often got to stop and go back.The plot is rather complicated .The story unfolds,develops,rolls back on itself,leaving the viewer panting for breath.You cannot summarize the story cause it would mean writing spoilers,but my favorite scene takes place in Hilary Swank's shop.There's a lot of black humor and a good use of songs (particularly "these boots are made for walking").It's 11.14 and you want to stay alive.Do not go out tonight,do not drive your car!.
The movie will keep you interested until the end.Good acting performance from everyone involved.
You very early in the movie begin to realize that everyone is somehow connected in one way or another to each other and that the time 11:14 is what ties them all, for better or for worse, together.Very well structured film that works beautifully by it putting, like in a chess game, all the people involved in Jack's car accident in the movie together by the same event.
Unfortunately the story isn't that special - actually it's just not interesting.It feels like the script is just not good enough to carry this movie and the decision to show events from the end to the beginning is done just to cover the weakness of the actual story.Acting is OK, but you won't be remembering this movie 10 minutes from watching it.Memento is so much better in every aspect..
there where some moments where it got better, but not enough.I liked Hilary Swank's roll in this movie it wasn't a big role but the character she made was funny.Patrick Swayze did not do as good as we are used from him but then, what can you expect for a movie this scale, the story was difficult to act on i think.
His character wasn't played out as it should have been.The rest of the cast did a good job.The story is portrayed in the same way as pulp fiction.
Hillary Swank stands out as a defeated store clerk, also including Barbara Hershey, Ben Foster, Henry Thomas, Jason Segel, Colin Hanks, Shawn Hatosy, and a shout out to the dog.The movie takes place in a small, sleepy, US town at around 11pm and follows the lives of several seemingly unrelated people as they intersect because of a car accident.
This is the first of several interconnected stories from that night taking place at 11:14.There are some great actors in this little movie.
It's an interconnected-path movie similar to films like Pulp Fiction and Crash.
The cast involves young people , but there are some stars too (Hilary Swank and Patrick Swayze) .The movie is worth watching once , when you don't know it's secrets .
The story is good, but not that great, the idea is not that original, but what makes this film worth seeing is that it is very well directed.11:14 is a thriller/mystery movie who goes forward and backward in time to focus on a series of unfortunate accidents that happen between 10:50 and 11:14 PM. |
tt0381061 | Casino Royale | The movie begins in a black-and-white sequence in the city of Prague, Czech Republic, where James Bond has tracked down an MI6 section chief, Dryden, who has been selling information to enemies for profit. They chat about what it takes to be a 00- agent (one of the requirements is making two confirmed kills) and Bond casually tells Dryden that his espionage contact, Fisher died, and "Not well." Intercut with the conversation are black and white scenes of Bond and Dryden's contact fighting in a men's room. Bond finally pushes the man's face into an overflowing sink and holds him there until he drowns.Dryden points a gun at Bond. "Shame. We barely got to know each other." He pulls the trigger, but James has removed the ammunition from the weapon. "I know where you keep your gun. I suppose that's something." Dryden continues to taunt Bond, asking him if he felt any remorse or guilt over killing Fisher. Bond remains passive, his face expressionless. Dryden says that Bond "needn't worry, the second is--" at which point Bond kills Dryden, before Dryden had a chance to say the word "easier". Bond puts his pistol away saying, "Yes, considerably." (Though not said explicitly, Bond found the killing of Dryden, his second such kill, "considerably" easier than the first.) In flashback, Fisher recovers from Bond's attempt to drown him and picks up his pistol. The frame instantly shifts to the series' iconic "gun barrel" sequence as Bond spins around and shoots Fisher. Blood runs down the frame, prompting the opening titles.We cut to Mbale, Uganda where a group of freedom fighters, led by Steven Obanno, are arranging a meeting with Le Chiffre, a private banker to terrorist groups around the world. Obanno is not sure whether or not to trust Le Chiffre with his money, but Mr. White, the man brokering the meeting, explains that he's only the guy making the introduction.Moments later, a convoy of Land Rovers arrive, one of which carries Le Chiffre. Le Chiffre explains to Obanno that he invests their money and manipulates stocks so they get a 100% return on the investment, and guarantees them access to their money anywhere in the world. Obanno agrees to allow the money to be taken for Le Chiffre's nefarious purposes. While Obanno's money is being loaded in to Le Chiffre's vehicles, Le Chiffre calls his stockbroker in London and has him short-sell a massive number of Skyfleet stocks, despite the broker warning him that he's betting against the market and all forecasts only call for Skyfleet's stocks to increase in value.In Madagascar, Bond, on his first mission as a "00", is working with another agent, Carter, doing surveillance on a terrorist, Mollaka, who is gambling on a match between a cobra and a mongoose. Bond's inexperienced partner agent is exposed after Mollaka gets a cell call and the terrorist bolts from the scene. Bond chases the man, who is an experienced "free runner" (parkour) who leads Bond through a construction site, onto several sky cranes and finally to the Nambutu embassy where he seeks asylum. Bond charges into the embassy, in direct contravention of international law and his orders, and catches Mollaka in the ambassador's office. Bond fights his way thru the halls of the embassy and finally finds himself surrounded by armed guards. The ambassador appears and orders Bond to let Mollaka go. Bond shoots the terrorist and a nearby gas tank and escapes in the explosion. He also steals the backpack Mollaka was carrying. Searching through the backpack, he finds a bomb and Mollaka's cell phone. Bond examines the bomber's messages briefly, seeing one with an American phone number and the word "ELLIPSIS." Bond keeps the phone.Back at MI6, M is furious that 007's violent actions were caught on tape at the Nambutu embassy. Bond later breaks into M's home and hacks her top-level clearance so he can trace where the cell phone call originated from. When M enters she's startled and lectures him on proper protocol and conduct, stating she think it may have been a mistake to promote him to 00 status. Bond assures her that "the life expectancy of a 00 is brief, so your mistake will be short-lived." M tells him that "arrogance and self-awareness seldom go hand-in-hand" and she wanted him to take his ego out of the equation when on a mission. She also tells him to go on a brief vacation until she can decide how best to deal with him. Bond has discovered that the call to Mollaka originated at a posh beach resort in the Bahamas and so Bond goes there to investigate who made the call and why. He ends up finding a middle man, Alex Dmitrios, who happens to be a henchman used by Le Chiffre, hired to find someone who could carry out a task for Le Chiffre. Bond meets Dmitrios and plays poker with him, winning his 1964 Aston Martin.Bond uses the Aston to finagle a romantic evening with Dmitrios' spurned wife, Solange, to get information about her husband. She tells Bond that Dmitrios is going to Miami. Bond follows him there where he confronts Dmitrios, after seeing him put a bag away for someone to pick up later. Bond kills Dmitrios when he's held at knifepoint, however, the bag goes missing and Bond follows the man, Carlos, hired as Mollaka's last minute replacement.Bond follows Carlos to Miami International Airport, where he pulls a security uniform out of the bag and puts it on. He slips into the secured area of the airport and Bond follows him, having figured out "ellipsis" was the security code to get through the door. M calls Bond to tell him Le Chiffre will have Carlos destroy the prototype for a large airline named Skyfleet. The prototype is the largest passenger aircraft in the world and destroying it will bankrupt Skyfleet. Carlos sets off the emergency sprinkler system in the building to cause a diversion and slips out onto the tarmac. Carlos attaches an explosive charge to a refueling tanker after killing the driver (a cameo by director Martin Campbell) and starts driving it towards the plane. However, Bond manages to leap onto the tanker. The two have a vicious fight around the runways while being chased by the Miami-Dade Police. Eventually, Carlos leaps off the truck, and Bond is barely able to stop the tanker from hitting the plane. Carlos smiles as Bond is arrested and activates the charge. However, Bond has already discovered Carlos' small explosive device & attached it to Carlos' belt during the melee, and Carlos ends up killing himself.Returning to Nassau, Bond discovers that Solange had been tortured, killed and trussed up in a hammock. M explains she was tortured and killed by Le Chiffre because she was the only one left alive and he assumed she talked. Le Chiffre's plan was to "short-sell" hundreds of millions of dollars in Skyfleet stock and, in destroying their prototype, cause their stock to plummet and send them into bankruptcy so he could buy the shares back at cheaper value. Thanks to Bond, Le Chiffre has lost over $101.2 million. Now a marked man, Le Chiffre must find another way to earn the money back so his investors will not kill him. In fact, word is that he's just set up a high stakes Texas Hold 'Em poker match at the Casino Royale in Montenegro for 10 players, with an entry fee at $10 million each plus a $5 million buy-back should they lose all their money. M arranges to place Bond in the game as a replacement for a syndicate member, since he's the best poker player in MI6. M also has a homing device planted in Bond's left wrist so she can track him anywhere.The British government will be putting up the money and, while Bond is on the train to Montenegro, he is met by a young woman named Vesper Lynd, a Treasury agent who has been sent to monitor Bond and give a go, no-go should he lose the money. They converse over dinner, Vesper commenting on his cold nature and Bond remarking on how Vesper is retentive.Upon arriving they pose as a married couple, with Bond posing as a professional gambler named "Arlington Beech" and Vesper as "Stephanie Broadchest" (a name that Vesper is offended by). They meet with Rene Mathis, their contact in Montenegro, who explains that Le Chiffre probably doesn't know he's under surveillance because the only person monitoring him is Mathis himself. He's spent the time establishing his old relationships with such people as the local police chief, whom Mathis has already arranged to have busted on bribery charges.Before the game begins, Bond also purchases a purple backless dress for Vesper to wear, to supply a distraction during the game. That evening, he heads to the casino and the private parlor, where he is introduced to the other players, including Le Chiffre. A representative from the casino, and another representative from an international bank, explain that each player has deposited $10 million dollars for their initial buy-in. The buy-back fee of $5 million can be made by electronic transfer. Their money is being held in a Swiss bank in escrow for the duration of the game and each one has a password to keep the money secured. At the conclusion of the tournament, the winner will enter his password into the encrypter, which will automatically wire the money to any bank account in the world of the winner's choice. Vesper has the account number but only Bond knows the password.On the first hand, Bond deliberately makes a misjudged call to figure out how Le Chiffre bluffs (his physical "tell" involves him placing his left hand on his forehead near his wounded left eye), however Vesper is not at all impressed, thinking Bond is inept. After a lengthy round of hands, a break is called. Bond places a tracking device in Le Chiffre's asthma inhaler and takes Vesper back to their room.Le Chiffre is called back to his room by his girlfriend, Valenka. However, he is confronted by Obanno and his henchman, demanding his money back. They threaten to cut off Valenka's arm, however, Le Chiffre doesn't acquiesce. Out in the hallway, Bond hears Valenka screaming. He quickly grabs Vesper and they kiss in the stairway entrance to cover themselves. Obanno's henchman notices Bond's earpiece and attacks them both. The fight takes them into the stairwell, where the henchman gets thrown off the stairwell to his death, and James and Obanno have a knock-down drag-out fight all the way down the stairwell, Obanno wielding a machete. Finally landing on the bottom, Bond gets Obanno into a choke hold. Obanno tries to reach for Bond's pistol, but Vesper smashes it out of his hands. Bond finally kills off Obanno and orders Vesper to contact Mathis, who sets up one of Le Chiffre's associates to take the fall for the dead bodies by placing them in the man's car trunk. Bond finishes the poker session, but he returns to the room to find Vesper shaking uncontrollably in the shower from the fight. He holds on to her and comforts her.The next day, during the continuing poker game, Bond loses all his money to Le Chiffre after misreading a bluff and admits to Vesper that he made a mistake. Vesper won't give him the buy back money saying he's going to lose it. Furious, Bond goes after Le Chiffre but is stopped by one of the other poker players, Felix Leiter, the CIA's representative sent to the poker match to catch Le Chiffre for the same reasons MI6 has sent Bond. Leiter tells 007 that he's doing poorly himself in the game and that he'll back Bond to re-enter the game; Leiter believes that Bond can beat Le Chiffre. In return, Bond will give Le Chiffre to the CIA.Bond slowly builds his bank again and once again becomes a threat to Le Chiffre. Le Chiffre has Valenka poison Bond's martini with digitalis, causing Bond to suffer severe tachycardia. Bond goes to his car distressed and, communicating with medical specialists at MI6 headquarters, is about to use the defibrillator when he sees the the connection isn't plugged in and passes out. Vesper arrives, fixes the defibrillator kit and shocks him back to life. Bond, shaken, returns to the game. The final hand of the game is down to four players, including Bond and Le Chiffre, who go "all in", betting their remaining money, driving the "pot" well over $120 million. One man has a flush, while another has a full house. Le Chiffre has a higher full house and is about to take the entire pot when Bond reveals he has a straight flush and wins the game.Bond has dinner with Vesper, who receives a call from Mathis stating that Le Chiffre has been apprehended by the CIA. Vesper leaves the dining room; seconds later, Bond realizes she's in danger. Vesper is kidnapped by Le Chiffre. Bond races after them in his Aston Martin, but has to swerve violently when he sees Vesper lying bound in the road. The car rolls several times, destroying it and injuring Bond, rendering him unconscious. Le Chiffre and his cronies take him, removing his homing implant. As Bond fades from consciousness, Le Chiffre tells him that Mathis was allied with his enemy.Bond and Vesper are taken to a nearby tramp steamer and separated. Bond is stripped and bound to a chair with the seat removed, leaving his testicles exposed. Le Chiffre uses a large knotted rope, striking Bond's scrotum, demanding the password for the account the winnings have been secured in. Bond refuses, despite Le Chiffre's threats to kill him and Vesper. Through the pain inflicted on him, Bond tells Le Chiffre that his investors, who are already hunting him, will find him and kill him. Le Chiffre counters, saying that even if he murders Bond and Vesper, that MI:6 will still welcome him because of the knowledge he possesses about his terrorist clients. Le Chiffre finally draws a knife and is about to castrate Bond when gunshots are heard outside (implied to be the sound of Valenka getting killed). The door opens and in walks Mr. White, the broker who introduced Obanno to Le Chiffre, pointing a silenced pistol directly at Le Chiffre. Le Chiffre, suddenly frightened, pleads with him, saying he'll secure the money, to which White replies, "Money isn't as important to our organization as knowing who to trust." White then fatally shoots Le Chiffre in the forehead.Bond wakes up in a hospital bed during a haze while he recovers. He talks to Mathis, whom he believes was responsible for his and Vesper's capture by Le Chiffre. MI6 agents appear, taze Mathis and drag him away.Vesper visits Bond and they confess their love for each other. The Swiss banker in charge of the winnings account visits and Bond gives Vesper the password to key in; the password is her own first name. Bond resigns from the service to go away with Vesper, and they sail to Venice, Italy where Vesper says she'll get the money and Bond will get the supplies for the trip. When M phones 007 about his resignation, she says that they'll discuss that later but they need to talk about the money being returned to the British government first, which tips off 007 that Vesper was using him all along.007 follows Vesper to a secret meeting where she turns the money over, in cash, to a man named Gettler. Gettler and a few of his men retreat to a building being renovated and a gunfight ensues. Bond shoots and ruptures the flotation bags that hold the building above water-level and kills the men. He tries to save Vesper, locked in an old elevator, but is unable to after she commits suicide by drowning herself. Bond recovers her body and takes her above water but is unable to revive her. Mr. White, who'd been watching the scene, is seen leaving with the suitcase full of money.Sitting on the sailboat he and Vesper had been vacationing on, Bond talks to M, who informs him that Vesper had a boyfriend who was being held by Le Chiffre's organization. She had intended to pay off Le Chiffre's associates with the money to secure her boyfriend's release. M believes that there are no further leads, that the "trail has gone cold." Bond examines Vesper's cell phone and finds the phone number of Mr. White, which he theorizes she left for him purposely.At Lake Como in Northern Italy, White arrives at a palatial estate. After he exits his car, he receives a phone call from someone telling him they "need to talk." Asking who the caller is, White is suddenly shot in the leg by a sniper. He falls to the ground and crawls toward the house. As he tries to climb the stairs and the familiar Bond theme music begins to play, Bond appears carrying a cell phone and a silenced HK rifle. As White looks up defiantly, Bond says "The name's Bond. James Bond." The closing titles roll immediately. | mystery, murder, realism, violence, cult, intrigue, plot twist, flashback, action, romantic, suspenseful | train | imdb | null |
tt0068716 | Tower of Evil | The movie opens with a boat cruising through heavy fog, on a spooky night. The boat lands on a rocky island (Snape) and two older seaman go on shore. Soon they find a severed hand with a large spider on it. After they see the male body it was attached too, they decide to go into the lighthouse to investigate. Sure enough, they find a female body with a severed head. They split up and find another murdered body. Then they find a live, young woman, Penny, hiding in a closet. Traumatized to an extreme, she stabs the older of the men who finds her to death. The other man (the captain) of the boat survived.
Next, she is being examined by Dr.s who talk about her state of shock and how she and her friends made it to Snape Island. After running tests they try to find out more of what happened.Penny starts to talk and remember how her friends arrived. And then she starts to scream as the flash backs disturb her.
After hearing about this, a group of scientists decide to venture to the Island. They also know that the Island is loaded with gold and Phoenician treasures. Eventually, the team of 7 ventures out to sea to investigate the Island, on the Sea Ghost. This is captained by the seaman who survived the opening scene, and 2 women and 4 other men are his crew.
They land and immediately start to see strange things, like a lack of sea gulls, other forms of life, and a mystery. No one believes that Penny killed anyone but the old man. They suspect that the island has another inhabitant.
As the men empty the boat, the women argue over the men. Jealousy and love triangles are apparent and the head of the expedition(Dr. Simpson) breaks away to look at a stashed away sack.Mean while the captain sees a picture of his brother in the mansion.He explains to the others that his brother, sister in law and their child all died on this God forsaken island.
Then the movie cuts back to the main land where the Dr. is hypnotizing Penny. She is seeing the past. The murder of her friends by a large, laughing, bearded, psycho. The disturbing scenes show what really happened to her 3 friends. Penny comes to and scream violently. Back on the island, the team is discussing the island's history when all of a sudden a strange noise can be heard. They all split to see what it is. Two of the team bump into each other. Though the woman is terrified she learns that some of the team members have been to the island before and are keeping that quiet.
Afterward they are all shown together. Dr. Simpson decides to check on the boat, or so he says. But before he goes, he says that the 3 young people must have been murdered by a mad man, and he believes the mad man is still on the island.
While two people go upstairs to have intercourse, the rest of the men go out to look for the Dr. They find that someone has blow up the boat. The young man having sex with the lovely Nora, runs down to the boat. Nora, alone, wanders and is stalked by the murderer. Before he gets her he sees a decomposing body in a rocker. She screamed and passed out. After the others came running and found Nora and the body they demand answers from their captain. He admits that he has been lying and keeping secrets. He tells of how his sister in law, the corpse, died and how his brother Saul is still there, living in the caves under the house.
The madmen has also destroyed their radio. The men decide to go in pairs to find Saul. The women stay inside and talk about the story they have just heard. Though the the captain and his search partner have found Saul's cave, Nora's friend Rose, hears a man weeping. She investigates, looking through a wall. She finally sees Saul, rocking the corpse of his dead wife. He hears her and stalks. Instead he makes it into Nora's room. Terrified, she runs to the top of the lighthouse where Saul throws her over, onto the rocks below. Seeing that she is dead, the remaining female and the 2 other men go into cave together. Meanwhile the Dr. who is near a coffin has found the treasure. He hears that strange sound again, like a flute, and peruses it. Then, after he leaves the captain's search partner finds the treasure. As soon as he looks it over, he hears Saul laugh, and the Saul cashes in on him.Shortly after, the remaining 5 meet up in the cave. The Dr. explains that fired his gun at Saul and has been stalking him all night.Then the creepy flute music starts. Rose and Dan, one of the men, stay at the treasure while the captain the Dr. and the other man go looking for Saul. At the treasure Rose is looking at a gold lantern and Saul, from out of nowhere attacks. Dan comes to help, but the large Saul breaks his neck. With all of the screaming the 3 men reappear, and shoot Saul dead.
The Dr. later admits that he came to the island before and left a boat and supplies on the other side of the island. The captain stays with Rose and the 2 men left go to get the boat and some of the artifacts. Then Rose and the captain go inside and talk about Saul and his diseased family. The captain says that Martha never wanted his brother Saul to be reported. Then he encouraged her to get some sleep. She decides to wait up and he goes upstairs. Then the captain comes back down bleeding to death. He says the name Michael, Saul's son, and dies. Then the deformed son of Saul, Michael attacks Rose. She throws an oil lamp at him and sets him on fire. As he burns to death the whole house and cave catch on fire as Saul had it rigged to. Rose narrowly escapes and the 2 surviving men get out of the cave to watch the house and it's mad dwellers burn to ashes. Thank you for reading! blogmonstermike.wordpress.com | good versus evil, violence, murder, flashback | train | imdb | As early 70s horror flicks go, Tower of Evil (a.k.a Horror of Snape Island) has a greater-than-expected amount of sex and gore.
Once there, the archaeologists soon learn that their lives are in grave danger, as they are picked off one by one by an unknown killer.Tower of Evil has become a cult film, probably because it's so bad that in some ways it's perversely good.
I can't imagine this film being of particular interest to most viewers, but if you like 70s British horror, or are interested in how sex and gore have evolved over the years in horror cinema, then it may be worth catching..
It is exactly in the middle between old-fashioned 60s Hammer horror and 80s splatter movies, which means there are still traces of gothic atmosphere like the lighthouse in the fog, but already a few effective, vicious shock effects, too..
TOWER OF EVIL Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: MonoWhilst searching for ancient treasure on a lighthouse-island off the British coastline, an archaeological expedition becomes isolated from the mainland and is stalked by a monstrous assassin.A trash classic from the heyday of British exploitation, TOWER OF EVIL was helmed and written by Jim O'Connolly, a journeyman director whose career peaked several years earlier with THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1968), one of Ray Harryhausen's best films.
Thrown together on a microscopic budget, and based on a script by novelist George Baxt (responsible for such memorable British thrillers as CIRCUS OF HORRORS, THE CITY OF THE DEAD and NIGHT OF THE EAGLE), "Tower..." hedges its commercial bets by emphasizing a couple of high profile cameos (Dennis Price and Anthony Valentine) and foregrounding liberal doses of self-conscious nudity and gore.
The opening scenes - in which crusty sea dogs Jack Watson and George Coulouris visit the eponymous lighthouse and stumble on a series of mutilated corpses - sets the tone for much of what follows, and while the main cast are pretty colorless, their mutual antagonism (borne from a convoluted history of infidelity) adds much-needed shading to the basic narrative outline.Mounted on sparse but effective studio sets (designed by THE Italian JOB's Disley Jones), and photographed by veteran cinematographer Desmond Dickinson - a major player in the glory days of British cinema, whose resumé includes everything from Olivier's HAMLET (1948) to THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (1952), HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1959) and A STUDY IN TERROR (1965) - the film is cheapened at every turn by amateurish dialogue and threadbare visual effects (no attempt is made to disguise back-projected elements during scenes on the 'open sea', for instance), but these cut-price elements have simply contributed to the film's enduring appeal.
Besides, the movie makes few pretensions to 'Art', and O'Connolly stages the major set-pieces with real technical savvy, culminating in a 'twist' ending which seems to have inspired a similar plot development in Tom De Simone's superior HELL NIGHT (1981).The cast is toplined by Bryant Haliday (a favorite of producer Richard Gordon), former Broadway actress Jill Haworth (THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR), Mark Edwards (BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB) and Derek Fowlds (TV's "Yes, Minister"), while the younger players include Robin Askwith (already a movie veteran, long before his appearance in the "Confessions..." films), physique model John Hamill (a familiar face in UK exploitation movies of the 1970's, and later the co-writer of Bob Clark's TURK 182!), Candace Glendenning (SATAN'S SLAVE) and the late Anna Palk (in her last screen appearance), all of whom are featured in various states of undress.
There's a lot of "whose been sleeping in my bed" antics before the truth about the island is uncovered.The underground worship chamber is by far the funniest horror set I have ever seen.All in all for film history's sake and a nice slice of 70's nudity mixed with chills and thrills, this is the best of it's kind.Did I mention hot men and sweet women are starked naked most of the time?
Folks investigating a strange series of murders on a tiny island are being attacked and killed by an unseen presence.This moody British horror film was made several years before the "stalk 'n' slash" genre kicked off, yet this atmospheric chiller possesses a number of elements that would later become popular in the modern horror genre.
At the same time it has the sense of an old Gothic horror film as well, with its gloomy atmosphere and dark setting.
The twists in this film are truly fun and surprising and the musical score adds a real sense of unease to the well directed carnage and misty vistas (hats off to Jim O'Connolly!) So what are you waiting for--this is now out on DVD and looks crisp and vivid.
A group of sex-starved,pot-smoking and constantly quarreling archaeologists travel to a lighthouse-island called Snape Island,where three American teenagers were butchered by unknown killer.It's reported that there is a treasure hidden in the Phoenician tomb on wind-swept isle.When they reach the shore of Snape Island they quickly become hunted and murdered by elusive killer.Ugly and gory British shocker set on an abandoned island with creepy looking lighthouse.The characters are often unpleasant and irritating,so I had fun watching them die.There is plenty of sex and nudity and the gore is quite nasty."Tower of Evil" aka "Horror on the Snape Island" will surely creep you out.8 out of 10..
Pretty creepy opening shot of a fog shrouded lighthouse on a rocky island lets you know there are some thrills on the way.This is a little ahead of its time as far as the old hat "have sex and die" plotline goes.
A private investigator joins a museum group to Snape Island.They are looking for Phoenecian treasure.He wants to clear the name of the only survivor of the massacre.The two avenues for the trip eventually tie into each other.But not before a few more brutal murders spices up the pot.
The sets are creepy enough,especially the light house and the island itself.Many nasty looking corpses with crabs skittering around(hey get the butter!)on them are unnerving.There is a real overwhelming sense of claustrophobia to this movie.A slice & dice above average.Give it a 6..
We are forced to watch a bunch of promiscuous stoners lumbering about the poorly designed sets, and despite the fact that this is supposed to be brainless 'fun'; staying awake soon becomes a major problem.I make a habit of seeing obscure horror films, and usually this turns out to be a fruitful endeavour, which makes films like this even more of a nuisance.
It's unoriginal, it's dull and although most films like this aren't life-affirming experiences; this one doesn't even manage to lampoon the 'fun' element that most B-movies get right on.
It didn't become truly comical most of the time--and at some points, there was actually a feeling of suspense, and the atmosphere was pretty good for a trashy horror film.
But this movie still work to collect, if you are horror film's big fan.IN LAST, JUST NEVER GET IN TO THE EVIL ISLAND!!!
But, this film here is just a VERY basic, simple British Gothic Horror film, somewhat like Hammer's movies, just not quite as good.
I also did appreciate that too, since I generally love films with lots of mood and atmosphere, especially ones that are set in a real Gothic area like the moors for example, where 'THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES' takes place.
But, honestly, other than a real nice looking island and a sort-of castle (tower...?) and a pretty good creepy atmosphere, and admittedly some nudity and some semi-graphic violence for the time, still when all is said and done, there really isn't that much to the story, at least in my lowly and wretched opinion.One thing that does help greatly is that the acting is pretty decent throughout; I mean, it could have been a HELL of a lot worse for such a low-budget film.
And, everyone at least takes the story seriously and seems like they are trying their best.It's just at the end you are kind of going, 'That's it...?' I pretty much guessed what was going on, and even when you do find out for sure, it really isn't that big of a deal.
I think that even with the story as it is, if they could have somehow built up more about the family who had been staying on the island and given us some depth and background, that might have gone a long way toward involving us more in the story, I don't know...Well, going by most of the reviews, I guess what will help you decide whether you want to take the time to see this or not, would be if you REALLY love the old Hammer films or old British Gothic Horror stories in general, then you might have a good chance of liking this movie.
I have a LOT of Blu-rays, and even compared to many films that are 20 to 30 years newer than this one, this one looks SO damn detailed and sharp and real, that you feel like you can literally just walk right into the screen and onto the island.
Usually I really like a film more than I think most others will, so I feel that I should temper the rating and give it 1 less than what I feel personally it merits...So, I hope that that gives you enough to go on and will help you somewhat in deciding whether you want to watch this atmospheric Gothic Horror story or not....
Horror fanatics should be able to appreciate the film "Tower of Evil" from producer Richard Gordon and screenwriter / director Jim O'Connolly; it's as good - well, maybe not "good", but certainly it's as much fun - as a midnight movie can get.
It gets a lot out of its main location, a gloomy looking island off the British coast where a sailor is butchered by a naked American tourist who's clearly gone mad; other dead bodies are found, and the police assume the tourist did it...but others aren't so sure, and when ancient Phoenician treasure is also found on the island, an expedition is launched not only to find out what the big mystery is, but naturally to obtain more treasure.
A capable group of actors does their best with the material, and it certainly doesn't hurt at all that all of the ladies present are real lookers - Jill Haworth as Rose, Anna Palk as Nora, Candace Glendenning as Penny, and Seretta Wilson as Mae. Bryant Haliday of "Curse of the Voodoo" and "The Projected Man" fares well as stoic hero Evan Brent, and William Lucas, Anthony Valentine, Jack Watson, Mark Edwards, Derek Fowlds, Dennis Price, George Coulouris, and Robin Askwith (of various "Confessions" comedies) round out the cast.
An old sailor and his son Hamp (Jack Watson) travel to fog-bound Snape Island where they discover the mutilated bodies of three young Americans, before encountering a deranged naked girl who attacks and kills the father with a dagger.
Knocked unconscious by Hamp, the girl, Penny (Candace Glendenning), is taken to a secure hospital in a catatonic state where a doctor uses a large set of disco lights to try and unlock the secrets of her mind.Meanwhile, a team of archaeologists with complicated love lives pay a visit to the island to try and locate the rumoured 3000 year old burial chamber of a Phoenician captain; they are joined by private investigator Brent (Bryant Halliday), who has been hired by Penny's parents to prove their daughter's innocence, and Hamp, who brings along his randy nephew Brom (Gary Hamilton).
Once on the island, the group find themselves in mortal danger, hunted by a cackling unseen madman.What Tower of Evil lacks in logic and finesse, it sure makes up for with gore, gratuitous nudity and atmosphere.
Penny's flashbacks offer up further nudity, as she remembers frolicking outside in the raw with her boyfriend (despite the clearly inclement weather) while Askwith takes yet another opportunity to show us his bare ass.With a really eerie location at his disposal, director Jim O'Connolly (The Valley of Gwangi) achieves some genuinely suspenseful moments, wisely keeping his killer heard but not seen, and maintains a decent pace throughout, even when the action is limited to characters wandering aimlessly around the rocky island and its network of caves.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for the delectable Anna Palk as Nora, who has a gratuitous sex scene with Brom, and for the wonderfully icky putrefying corpse of Hamp's dead brother's wife Martha..
The recovery of the girl allows the flashbacks to plenty of nude dealings here with the different couples being stalked and killed off while usually engaging in amorous activities that display plenty of flesh throughout so there's a lot to like with that being done while apart of the film's best parts of utilizing the setting to maximum effect.
The third story involving the research team is a little clichéd as it deals with the eventual appearance of the hermit-like creature as a total surprise even though it was used as a reveal back in the second one so the numerous stalking scenes here come off quite lame and counter-intuitive of what it's trying as it goes about doing all this set-up for a payoff already given earlier.
It's all quite fun and really makes better use of it's screen-time than the rest of the segment as well as the first part of the film, which is just quite lame and confusing as it deals with the arrival of the hermit on the island and does nothing really enjoyable with it.
Great atmospheric British horror film..
The film opens to shots of a very fake looking model of a run down abandoned lighthouse on Snape Island, the credits appear over this sequence.
The island and run down lighthouse reek of atmosphere, the creaking sets look great.
This film also contains one of the worst special effects I've seen in a long time, as the group travel from the mainland to Snape Island the filmmakers used a boat in a studio and a back projected sea, which looks and feels awful.
A solid British murder mystery horror film with a great atmosphere that's well worth a look.
I enjoyed watching this, despite reading bad reviews about it.A group of young Americans drop off at a deserted lighthouse to spend the night there but all but one of them are bumped off, the survivor being a girl who kills a sailor, thinking he was the murderer.
He is killed at the end but his even more mutated son then appears, kills a man and the whole place then burns down.Tower of Evil is British made and is rather scary once on the island, where most of the scenes are shot in the dark.Quite a few familiar stars are in the cast: Bryant Haliday (The Projected Man, Devil Doll), Robin Askworth (Horror Hospital, Confessions of a Window Cleaner), Dennis Price (Twins of Evil, The Earth Dies Screaming), Derek Fowlds (Oscar Blaketon in Heartbeat), Anthony Valentine (To the Devil a Daughter), George Coulouris (Citizen Kane) and Jill Haworth.If you are a fan of 1970's horror, this is for you.
Snape Island, containing a lighthouse, with caves underneath containing artifacts/treasure(..basically a few necklaces, ancient sword, sarcophagus, & idol statue) of a Phoenican god, is the setting for this horror film(..which also goes under the title, "The Tower of Evil")from director Jim O'Connolly(The Valley of Gwangi).
After their boat has been dynamited and radio smashed, the group are in dire shape, needing to survive first and then find a way of getting off the damned island.I was startled at the sexually frank dialogue and overall nature of the film.
This is very much like a Hammer Horror flick (which are usually boring), with the difference that sex plays a big part in the script; almost every character is either talking about it, doing it, or trying to sort out their complex love-life.
While some parts are enjoyably cheesy now, you won't be disappointed if you see this under-rated chiller which plays a bit like a slasher film, with teenagers being killed in violent ways.
Oddly, the nudity made little sense because the film was set on an island in Britain (and you DON'T want to run around naked there--especially at night--it's just too cold!).
What I would like to know, though, is how this lady not only knew what she and her boyfriend were doing (this mostly involved getting naked and her saying 'she wasn't THAT kind of girl' when he later wanted to have sex?!?) but she also detailed what the other couple was doing on another part of the island at the same time!!
Oddly, no one in the group that then heads back to the island appears to be an archaeologist or anthropologist--just a motley crew of adventurers who look nothing like the sort to investigate--particularly the slutty lady whose only interest in life is sex.
Something is loose on the island and starts to hunt them down...A pretty dull horror film.
This movie is somewhere between a slasher flick and a Hammer Horror movie.The plot is that some dead teens are found on an Island, and are followed up by some museum people looking for a lost treasure of an ancient idol of Baal.
The whole Baal subplot is silly and doesn't really belong there, other than a device to get people on the island to be picked off by a rather pathetic killer.There is copious amounts of nudity and sex scenes you'd never see today because we are all too stuffy about that sort of thing.The makeup is cheap, and when you get to the money shot at the end where the monster is revealed, he looks just kind of silly..
Also the fake looking sets and the pointless many sex- and nude scene's make this movie a poor entry in the horror genre.
Lot's of horror fans of '70's movies will be disappointed by this also because it isn't really an entertaining one to watch.
People go to investigate a murder and look for treasure on Snape Island. |
tt0088206 | Supergirl | Kara Zor-El lives in an isolated Kryptonian community named Argo City, in a pocket of trans-dimensional space. A man named Zaltar allows Kara to see a unique and immensely powerful item known as the Omegahedron, which he has borrowed without the knowledge of the city government, and which powers the city. However, after a mishap, the Omegahedron is blown out into space. Much to the distress of her parents, Kara follows it to Earth (undergoing a transformation into "Supergirl" in the process) in an effort to recover it and save the city.
On Earth, the Omegahedron is recovered by Selena, a power-hungry would-be witch assisted by the feckless Bianca, seeking to free herself from her relationship with warlock Nigel. Whilst not knowing exactly what it is, Selena quickly realizes that the Omegahedron is powerful and can enable her to perform real magical spells. Supergirl arrives on Earth and discovers her powers. Following the path of the Omegahedron, she takes the name Linda Lee, identifies herself as the cousin of Clark Kent, and enrolls at an all-girls school where she befriends Lucy Lane, the younger sister of Lois Lane who happens to be studying there. Supergirl also meets and becomes enamoured with Ethan, who works as a groundskeeper at the school.
Ethan also catches the eye of Selena, who drugs him with a love potion (which will make him fall in love with the first person he sees for a day); however, Ethan regains consciousness in Selena's absence and wanders out into the streets. An angry Selena uses her new-found powers to animate a construction vehicle which she sends to bring Ethan back, causing chaos in the streets as it does so. Supergirl rescues Ethan and he falls in love with her instead while in the guise of Linda Lee.
Supergirl and Selena repeatedly battle in various ways, until Selena uses her powers to put Supergirl in an "eternal void" known as the Phantom Zone. Here, stripped of her powers, she wanders the bleak landscape and nearly drowns in an oily bog. Yet she finds help in Zaltar, who has exiled himself to the Phantom Zone as a punishment for losing the Omegahedron. Zaltar sacrifices his life to allow Supergirl to escape. Back on Earth, Selena misuses the Omegahedron to make herself a "princess of Earth", with Ethan as her lover and consort. Emerging from the Phantom Zone through a mirror, Supergirl regains her powers and confronts Selena, who uses the Omegahedron's power to summon a gigantic shadow demon. The demon overwhelms Supergirl and is on the verge of defeating her when she hears Zaltar's voice urging her to fight on. Supergirl breaks free and is told by Nigel the only way to defeat Selena is to turn the shadow demon against her. Supergirl quickly complies and begins flying in circles around her, trapping her in a whirlwind. Selena is attacked and incapacitated by the monster as the whirlwind pulls Bianca in as well. The three of them are sucked back into the mirror portal, which promptly reforms, trapping them all within forever. Free from Selena's spell, Ethan admits his love for Linda and that he knows that she and Supergirl are one and the same, but knows it is possible he may never see her again and understands she must save Argo City. The final scene shows Kara returning the Omegahedron to a darkened Argo City, which promptly lights up again. | good versus evil, cult, psychedelic, violence, romantic | train | wikipedia | I am forced to scream at the screen however; Why the hell do you wear a camera if you aren't going to use it when a major news piece flies into your lap?I remember being dismissive of Supergirl when I was younger; due in part to the use of magic which has no part in the Superman films, but mainly I suspect due to the ludicrous man-eating excavator scene.
It isn't scary, its stupid.Apart from that scene, Supergirl is good gentle viewing and a nice counterpoint to Superman.It is hard to describe my exact feelings, but I do feel that standing on its own Supergirl should be considered a success and I deeply regret never having a chance to watch the sequels that were never made..
While it is by no means a great movie, it IS a good film which makes a comic book story come to life.
While not an epic like "Superman: The Movie", "Supergirl" is an enjoyable movie and it has a special place in my heart just like the first Superman movie.The beautiful Helen Slater is fantastic in the title role of Supergirl and she easily carries the film.
This scene has always made me wish I could fly, a desire that was created when I saw the original Superman movie.The music, which was composed and conducted by the great Jerry Goldsmith, is also one of the film's best aspects and I love it very much.
The Director's Cut is the best version of the movie as it provides better characterisation and some explanations for plot holes that are present in the US theatrical and domestic cuts."Supergirl" is one of my favourite movies despite it's flaws and I find it to be a much better film than "Superman 3" and "Superman 4: The Quest For Peace"..
It would be interesting to see a remake that perhaps didn't stray so far from the source mythology (was the omegahedron in the comics?), but on the other hand, the eighties was a different time, and perhaps today's climate (whether the world could use a super-hero or not) is not right to relaunch the poor girl to Earth.
If this film was marketed the way it should have been and released the way it should have been (some countries got a seriously bad edited version wich effected the charactors allot) then this would have been the success everyone thought at the time and still deserves to be This is a great movie and its one of my favourites.
I think its not what many people wanted ot see back then though...they wanted explosions, action and they wanted Superman to fit into this film.I think the fact that Supergirl arrived on earth in the supercostume without no actual logic was bad.
Apart from the witchcraft, I LOVE this movie!This was the first time I ever saw Helen Slater, and rightaway I knew she was the most beautiful lady in the world!
And I would've liked to see how Argo City was torn away more or less whole from Krypton as the planet detonated, and wound up in Inner Space, trapped in a warp that only Kal-El's little spaceship was equipped to navigate and exit.I don't think it's over for Supergirl, her story could be REtold (a la Batman), but I'd only be interested in a remake if the filmmakers would remain true to the style of THIS movie (Supergirl (1984), rather than opting for a trendy, dark, angst-ridden "hero" (I use the term loosely) in a demented action "adventure".
naturally, Supergirl - The First Adventure.This is a beautiful, dream-like jewel of a movie, a real Pink Panther (I refer, of course, to the diamond).That breath-taking, emotional moment as Supergirl arrives on Earth, and discovers her powers and her new environment, in my humble opinion, is unmatched in all the Super-movies.Jerry Goldsmith's score, especially the Supergirl March and the Love Theme are stirring and moving respectively, and easily equal to John Williams' contributions to the Superman movies.
The film focuses on Supergirls adventures when she arrives on earth, from her FANTASTIC ariel ballet entrance, to her final battle with the witch Selena, portrayed by a darn-good-fun-loving Faye Dunaway.
What difference does it make if we cannot answer all the questions, so what if it wasn't the film this country wanted...it was NOT supposed to be an identical superhero movie with flying missiles and plots to destroy the world!
People who do see it for wonderful movie it is, are the real ones who know the true heart of a beautiful superhero, and will not cease to be satisfied by what a film of its kind has to offer.
Helen Slater, Faye Dunaway, Peter O'Toole, Brenda Vaccaro, Hart Bochner, and every one else on the film have every right to be proud of this masterpiece!
Anyway, this movie is very stunning, with powerful effects, and even better acting by Helen Slater as "Supergirl".
It is one of my all-time favorite movie themes.Having the opportunity to watch the limited edition DVD, which has both the international release version and the director's cut, made the film even better.
Both versions add a new dimension to the film which round out the characters far better than was shown in the United States domestic release.All in all, if you are a fan of superhero movies, then this is one you don't want to miss.
After a mistake goes awry within the peaceful walls of the city of Argo, Kara(Helen Slater, in probably her best performance.) must go to earth and retrieve the omegahedron, a power source that ArgoCity needs to live.
Like Superman/Superman II, the greats were hired to take this film flight: Faye Dunaway(Network), Peter O'Toole(Laurence of Arabia), Brenda Vaccaro(Midnight Cowboy-Once is Not Enough), Maureen Teefy(Fame), Mia Farrow(Rosemary's Baby), Peter Cook(Bedazzled), and of course, Helen Slater, turns in such good acting that one is right there in the front row shouting for her to win!
Helen Slater is an ideal Kara, aka Supergirl, and, as the wicked witch Selena, arch-diva Faye Dunaway spoofs her high-camp Mommie Dearest Joan Crawford persona.
This film to me, gets too many bad Reviews, I cannot fault it in any way, even the music that is composed by Johnny Goldsmith is beautiful I would not of minded a Supergirl 2,3 and 4 like my SuperMan DVD'S I have also in my collection.
I thought the story was really cool, very appropriate and comic book like, a new direction from the first 2 superman movies.
Helen slater is perfectly cast she is Supergirl,OK some or the dialogue was lame but name a film that does not have any bad lines.
Helen Slater is the most beautiful woman on earth, and it shows as she portrays the title role with such balance and grace, and her arch nemesis, Selena, is played out real fine by a wicked Faye Dunaway!
This is one of the great movies of the 80's in MY collection that I think about all the time.Supergirl is an excellent film that in My opinion is one the greatest of all time.
The film stars Faye Dunaway, Helen Slater, Peter O'Toole, Mia Farrow, Brenda Vaccaro, Peter Cook, Simon Ward, Marc McClure, Hart Bochner, Maureen Teefy, and David Healy.
If you like Faye Dunaway, Helen Slater, Peter O'Toole, Mia Farrow, Marc McClure, the rest of the cast in the film, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Fantasy, Action, Comic Book Feature Films, and interesting films then I strongly recommend that you do what I did and buy this astonishing film today!
I'm now 26 years old and still love it.She is a superb actress and i think one of the most beautiful ever.I think the storyline was very good shes seems so innocent when she arrives on to earth which is a completely different galaxy from where she is from.Still to this day i would love to meet her in person.Her costume is really great and her figure is fantastic,i love her blond hair and shes so pretty All i can say is very well done to Helen Slater your my heroLouise XXX.
And then people wanted to use it as a benchmark to measure other films in the same category).Supergirl, not only promoted the delicate side of a super heroine (to say that she has all the good and faltering human feelings) it publicized Helen Slater's name and acting capability as well.
The film, a Superhero's story, is about Kara-El, Superman's cousin, who must go to earth and save mankind from a witch who is going to take over the world, to save millions and most importantly, to do what's right.
Helen Slater, Faye Dunaway, Peter O Toole, Jeannot Szwarc, Jerry Goldsmith, and Ilya Salkind all did their absolute best to make sure that this film is a thrilling experience, and I think they have done their job.
This is therefor, my way of explaining that this movie is just as good as "Superman".Helen Slater is glorious and righteous, and her equal Faye Dunaway is a manipulative witch with a mega-force of a temper.
I think it was the most wonderful movie to escape to and to really believe in women as heroes, for example modern day police officers really do protect you and they are women, so supergirl was like my hero in the 80s and Faye Dunway did an excellent job as the wicked witch.
Most people, however, don't know what to think, so they go with their instinct, and reject the unfamiliar, and because of this, "Supergirl" is unfairly deemed a 'bad movie.' The goods that this film brings are rich and plentiful.
We see a plethora of special effects, most of which still hold up to this day; we see Faye Dunaway, Brenda Vaccaro, Peter O Toole, Peter Cook, Mia Farrow, and Simon Ward have fun and play around with their acting chops; we see Helen Slater look beautiful, and prove she was worthy of working with her co-stars; we hear one of Jerry Goldsmith's finest marches; and we get Oscar worthy cinematography by Alan Hume.
Supergirl, instead of setting a trend for the high flying Superhero, told more of a coming of age Superhero story, wherein our hero (heroin) must learn things about herself, about how to adapt *as* as superhero in a new place (LONG before that 'X-men' Crap.) Once she has done this, she is tested by the villain, and learns something more, and must gather herself for her next 'test.' Hmm...Something we only *assumed* Superman did in the opening scenes of S:TM.
Well, be it flawed or not, it deserves the love it has, and from the looks of things, people do like this film a lot, I know I do..
And I do mean all (even the now dreadful 3 and 4) simply because I was a child, and believability and good writing had no impact on me, so long as Superman was flying around kicking the crap out of bad guys.Supergirl was an altogether different kind of character for me.
Chances are that movies like G.I. Jane and Alien would also have flopped at the box-office if they was released in the early 80's.Supergirl was and still is a great film for people of all ages, despite what the critics may have said..
Helen Slater was perfect as Supergirl (I had a major crush on her), Faye Dunaway was campy as the evil witch Selena and Peter Cook was rather amusing as her boyfriend Nigel.I first saw this movie in it's director's cut form when it aired on UK TV as a Premiere in the late 80's (yes, the director's cut "was shown" in the UK, regardless of what fans may have read on various websites.
Jerry Goldsmith's score, while not as classic as John Williams Superman is still a great music score and I have never met anyone who did not name the main title music as either Superman or Supergirl to this day.The reason this movie flopped at the Box-Office in the US was mainly because of poor-marketing, cuts to the US version by it's second distributor Tri-Star (Warner Bros.
It's a shame because this is clearly the only reason this movie never had any sequels made."The movie actually did very well overseas" which isn't a huge surprise to me at all because Supergirl had actual decent marketing there, they also got a different "superior" cut of the movie which was released in countries outside of the US, this being the "international version" which is now available in the US via both a separate DVD and a 2-disc DVD set which also includes the even longer "director's cut".This movie is a fun, enjoyable movie that does not deserve the reputation it has received over the years, the DVD is also one of the best releases I know of, giving the movie the justice it deserved unlike the poor handing of Superman II by Warner Bros., "Anchoy Bay are one of the best DVD handlers out there for Special Editions!"7/10.
The hardest thing to swallow about how bad this film really is, is the talent on hand such as Peter O'Toole and Faye Dunaway - what on earth possessed them to put their genius into this appalling production is beyond me.Helen Slater's acting is as cardboard as it gets.
Some of the effects don't exactly look great, although I can't hold that against it - the film was made over 30 years ago.But Helen Slater was pitch-perfect - and gorgeous - as Supergirl (it's a shame she never got to repeat the role), Hart Bochner was spot-on as the himbo/'dude in distress', David Healy was entertaining as the headmaster, and Peter Cooke (always a favourite of mine) was funny.
The acting is hit and miss, and unless I was not paying attention, it was not really explained how Supergirl magically gets a costume as soon as she hits earth...But this is a fun film, and that makes up for any shortcoming, because it is actually enjoyable to watch.
Helen Slater is good in her starring role, but at times seems dazed and confused.I haven't seen the Director's Cut or the International Cut, but I heard it makes the film make more sense.
Helen Slater is beautiful and talented but she is wasted in a bad script dragged down by an unrealistic plot and the over-acting of Faye Dunaway and her co-horts of Mia Farrow and Peter Cook.
Right there the movie loses gravity and coherence.Huge holes large enough for a train to go through sideways are throughout the script as in why does Supergirl waste time getting enrolled in school when her family's life is in the balance and how in the world did she know about her cousin as Superman.
Supergirl seemed like the answer, but to no avail.The good: Helen Slater in the title role seemed to bring to life Kal-el's cousin and fellow Krypton denizen, Kara with grace and natural beauty.
Some wizard dude called Zaltar (Peter O'Toole) shows Kara Zor- El/Supergirl (Helen Slater) a baseball-sized object known as the Omegahedron which powers the city but can also be used to make cheap looking jewelry or big butterflies (??).
Ever.I don't know if there is a Supergirl porn parody movie but I think it has better acting, plot and special effects then this piece of utter garbage.
I wasn't able to see it it in theatres then, but I still wanted to watch it one day.I didn't know too much about who was in the movie or what the plot was either, except that Helen Slater was Supergirl.Faye Dunaway makes a dastardly villain.Really enjoyed the movie..
Helen Slater has never been more beautiful and endearing, and Faye Dunaway's campiness, wardrobe and dominance is the stuff drag queen's fashions and performances are made of, to be tons of fun.I wish director Jeannot Szwarc would have been more careful in hiding the cranes and cables that made Supergirl fly, they are all too visible in this clean, THX-certified transfer.Jerry Goldsmith's music score is delightful and invigorating, the same way he did it for 1993's "Rudy".Thank you Anchor Bay for giving this movie, and its fans, the chance it deserves to be seen like this..
I think that "Supergirl" deserved a better film, but I have loved this one since the first time I saw it.I admit that when I was a child I didn't understood it well, and it seemed to me a little long and boring, but I have recently re-discovered it and it is full of details of the Superman Universe Mythology.Helen Slater is just correct in her role, but Faye Dunaway is simply great, as also Peter O'Toole and Mia Farrow are.In my opinion, it reaches the quality of Superman II, and firmly surpasses Superman III and IV.Supergirl: The Movie needs three times or more to be fully understood; maybe it is better for fanatics than the main audience...(Don't lose the OST, Jerry Goldsmith composed a great score, one of his best works ever).
This came only a year after Superman III, but resembles the 1978 more than anything else, with it's epic sci-fi tone, but the inclusion of black magic into the plot is a little odd.Helen Slater is perfect casting for Supergirl, and she displays fine talent in showing the character's vulnerability and wonder at experiencing an entirely new world.
In fact, there's more stuff out-of-place in this movie than not; a cameo from Marc CcClure (Jimmy Olsen) to make sure we know who's series this really is, Selena's partner in crime Brenda Vaccaro is just unecessary comic relief, while Peter Cook gets far too much screen time for absolutely no reason whatsoever.The script is a little too much like that of Superman to be comfortable.
Personally, I do not like Helen Slater too much, but for 19 years old girl in her first serious role, she did a great job playing Supergirl.
Supergirl (1984) * 1/2 (out of 4) Superman's cousin Kara Zor-El (Helen Slater) comes to Earth after a powerful orb lands on the planet. |
tt0036244 | The Ox-Bow Incident | The Ox-Bow Incident takes place in Nevada in 1885 and begins with Art Croft (Harry Morgan) and Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) riding into the town of Bridger's Wells. They go into Darby's Saloon and find that the atmosphere is subdued, in part because of the recent incidents of cattle-rustling (the stealing of livestock) in the vicinity. Everyone wants to catch the thieves.Gil learns that his former girlfriend left town at the start of the spring and drinks heavily to drown his sorrows. Art and Gil are possible rustler suspects simply because they are not often seen in town. The townspeople are wary of them, and a fight breaks out between Gil and a local rancher named Farnley. Immediately after the fight, another man races into town on horseback, goes into the saloon and announces that a rancher named Larry Kinkaid has been murdered. The townspeople immediately form a posse to pursue the murderers, who they believe to be the cattle rustlers. The posse is told by the local judge that they must bring the presumed rustlers back alive for trial, and that their deputization by a deputy is illegal, but little heed is taken of this. Art and Gil join the posse as well, as much to avoid being its target as to participate. Davies (Harry Davenport), who is vehemently opposed to forming the posse because of its capacity for "mob rule," also joins. Among the other people in the posse are "Major" Tetley (Frank Conroy) and his son, Gerald (William Eythe). The major informs the posse that three men with cattle bearing Kinkaid's brand have just entered Bridger's Pass, and therefore shouldn't be too difficult to catch.On their journey, the posse encounters a stagecoach. They try to stop it, but the stagecoach guard assumes that it is a stickup, and shoots, accidentally wounding Art in the left shoulder. In the coach are Rose Mapen (Mary Beth Hughes), Gil's old girlfriend, and her new, obviously rich husband, Swanson (George Meeker).Later in the night, in the Ox-Bow canyon, the posse finds three men sleeping on the ground, with what are presumed to be stolen cattle nearby. The posse interrogates the men: a young, well-spoken man, Donald Martin (Dana Andrews); a Mexican named Juan Martínez (Anthony Quinn) who claims to be unable to understand English; and a delusional old man named Alva Hardwicke, portrayed by veteran Hollywood character actor/silent film director Francis Ford (brother of famed film director John Ford). Martin claims that he purchased the cattle from Kinkaid, but that he received no bill of sale because the sale took place out on the range. No one believes Martin, and it is therefore decided that the three men are to be hanged at sunrise.Martin, as his last wish, writes a private letter to his wife and asks Davies, the only member of the posse that he trusts, to deliver it. Davies reads the letter, and, hoping to save Martin's life, gives it to the others to read. Because of the letter's eloquence, Davies believes that Martin is innocent and does not deserve to die. However, Martin finds out that his letter has been read, and becomes angry at the betrayal of his privacy.During the argument, the Mexican, who is actually a gambler named Juan Morez, tries to escape and is shot. The posse discovers that Juan is able to speak "American" and ten other languages and that he has Kinkaid's gun. Major Tetley wants the men to be lynched immediately because he does not want any of the rustlers to escape through the courts. A vote is taken on whether the men should be hanged or taken back to face trial. Only seven of the group (of approximately twenty-five people), among them Davies, Gerald Tetley, Gil and Art, vote to take the men back to town alive; the rest support immediate hanging. Gil tries to stop it, but is overpowered. The group must choose three people to hit the horses out from under the condemned men. Farnley and Jenny Grier (Jane Darwell), the only woman in the posse, volunteer, and Gerald Tetley is ordered by his father to be the third. While the others hit the horses of the old man and Morez, Gerald Tetley does not, and the horse therefore simply walks out from under Martin. Farnley shoots Martin to kill him.After the lynching, the posse heads back towards Bridger's Wells. On the way, they meet Sheriff Risley (Willard Robertson). They tell him with pride of their actions, but the sheriff replies that Lawrence Kinkaid was not killed, is under the care of the doctor in Pike's Corner, and that the men who shot him have already been arrested. Risley strips the deputy of his badge and asks Davies, whom he knows would not have supported a hanging, to tell him who was involved. "All but seven," Davies replies. "God better have mercy on you," the sheriff tells the posse. "You won't get any from me."The men of the posse gather back in Canby's Saloon and drink in silence. Major Tetley returns to his house and locks the door so his son cannot come in. His son yells at him through the door, telling him what he thinks of him. Major Tetley walks into another room and shoots himself. In the saloon, Gil reads Martin's letter out loud to Art while the other members of the posse are listening. In the closing scene, mirroring the initial scene, Gil and Art ride out of town to deliver the letter to Martin's wife and family. | cult, murder | train | imdb | Too many filmmakers these days think that a long running time is what makes a great film; but Wellman has proved that tight plotting and an important story are the far more important aspects.
Henry Fonda is quite good, as usual, in the closest thing the movie has to a main character, but it seems pointless to single him out in what is obviously such an ensemble effort, and in a movie that only lasts a mere 75 minutes or so and has such a large cast, each actor manages to color his/her character with delightful details, sometimes with no more than a single line of dialogue or one reaction shot."The Ox-Bow Incident" is a fantastic film.
However, over the years it has become an artistic success with fans who appreciate good movie-making when they see it.The performances are all first rate--particularly HENRY FONDA as the not too bright drifter who opposes the lynching mob, Harry Morgan as his rather slow witted sidekick, Frank Conroy as the General with the weakling son (William Eythe), and most importantly, DANA ANDREWS, who has the most riveting role in the whole film and makes the most of it.
Afterwards, the knowledge that the man they allegedly hanged is not dead, comes as a twist that drives home the senselessness of what their mob mentality has done.Mary Beth Hughes has a decorative role as the only feminine interest in the film--except for an uncredited bit by Margaret Hamilton and an unusually grim and unsympathetic role for Jane Darwell.Well worth watching, a message picture that delivers without being preachy.
Henry Fonda as Gill Carter is perfectly sedate and compassionate, even though he is far from being a flawless character, Dana Andrews as Donald Martin is heart achingly real, while others like Frank Conroy as Major Tetley are suitably full of ignorant bluster.
Miller's cinematography is an asset for the picture.This film brought to mind another Henry Fonda film: "12 Angry Men", in which a more or less posse is trying to decide the fate of a young man accused of committing a heinous crime.
In this film, we get a similar idea, in that the mob group that is formed will end up bringing the wrong kind of justice to the three unfortunate men that are deemed guilty and will be lynched; for all practical purposes these men would be proved innocent in a real court of justice.Henry Fonda does an excellent job as Gil Carter.
The issues of mob psychology and the miscarriage of justice which can occur when passion overcomes reason and logic were not new even at the time of the filming of the movie, but even then, few were willing to listen to such a sobering tale of morality and justice while America was at war.
The classic elements of unity of time, space and action are used here with great effectiveness and emphasize the dramatic nature of the story and its ultimate, almost inexorable outcome, in the great tradition of Greek or Shakespearan tragedies.Indeed one of the most surprising moments in the film does not occur in the middle or at the end of the movie, but at the very beginning, as the main character and his partner enter the saloon in the small town which is the center of the drama.
One may draw for example some quick conclusions regarding the infamous Major Tetley or his son, but the true villain may be in fact the judge, who even as he realizes a gross injustice is about to be committed, choses to do nothing out of laziness and indifference.The movie was never provided a big budget, which accounts for its set location and the size of its cast, limited in number but of epic proportions in talent (featuring a young and great Anthony Quinn, Dana Andrew at his very peak, a surprisingly unmotherly Jane Darwell, and a powerful Harry Morgan).
Although writers have called the film version of Walter Van Tilburg Clark's grim condemnation of vigilante justice,"The Ox-Bpw Incident," a "faithful adaptation," it diverges significantly from its original source in three important instances.In the novel the two fair-minded, affable saddle tramps played by Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan ultimately vote with the mob to summarily hang the trio of unfairly accused rustlers without a trial.
Zanuck obviously would not allow a valued contract player such as Fonda to besmirch his screen image by making such a choice, so Lamar Trotti's screenplay has Fonda's character and his partner vote against the mob and even physically resist them to no avail.A second major shift is the reading of Dana Andrews' farewell letter to his wife at the end of the film.
Although I've seen the movie dozens of times and once owned a 16mmm print, which I showed annually to my students, I've always found the actual reading of the letter preachy and anticlimactic although I agree Wellman deserves great style points for the exquisite framing of Fonda and Morgan in the shot.Finally, the narrative in the novel is told by the Art Croft character (played by Harry Morgan) and the action is filtered through his perceptions.
Not only is Croft's point of view abandoned for this film adaptation, a lot of his lines are delivered by his partner Gil Carter This is understandable as Henry Fonda was a star while Morgan was not, so this change in perspective is not surprising.Perhaps couching weighty philosophical concepts like justice in specific terms narrow and limit it for the audience, even trivialize it.
He resisted Darryl Zanuck and Fox's suggestion to cast Mae West in the Jane Darwell role to boost the film's meager box office prospects and had to agree to direct "Buffalo Bill" for Zanuck, a film and character he personally abhorred in order to get "Ox-Bow," a movie he believed in, made.In order to do "The Grapes of Wrath" Henry Fonda had to agree to a lengthy Fox contact in 1940 and because of it had to do some pretty lousy films.
The only one he was proud of was "Ox-Bow." Although Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, Jane Darwell and the rest of the cast give expectedly fine performances, it is many of the usually anonymous character actors who do the best work of their long careers in "The Ox-Bow Incident." Frank Conroy (as the sadistic Major Tetley), William Eythe (as his weakling son Gerald), Harry Davenport (as the gentle storekeeper Mr, Davies), Leigh Whipper (as the sincerely religious, dignified former slave Sparks), Paul Hurst (as Smith, the boozy, loudmouth town drunk), Dick Rich (as the obnoxious, bullying Deputy Butch Mapes), Matt Briggs (as the unctuous, vacillating Judge Tyler), Victor Kilian (as Darby the cynical, laconic saloonkeeper), and Francis Ford (as the demented, senile Civil War veteran Dad) all vividly remain in the memory.
Shall we call this western?This is so moving,so harrowing and so tragic it would be a sacrilege.With a running time of 75 min,William Wellmann's work runs the whole gamut of emotions:hatred,contempt,madness,despair,indifference,you name it.Besides,the script is wonderfully written,depicting with a gutsy realism the supporting characters :the old man,the terrifying shrew,the renegade officer,his coward son -but who 's the real coward in the end?-,the Mexican,all are unforgettable.Between the lines ,there are secret plots which could provide the substance for at least four other movies.Oddly,star Henry Fonda is nothing but a witness-except for the last sequences -and it's Dana Andrews' extremely harrowing performance which will haunt the viewers -as well as his hangmen- long after the ending.Andrews' portrayal is so moving that he almost outshadows the rest of the stellar cast,not a small feat:a western hero has rarely shown so much despair and dignity and his letter will move you to tears .It's anyway the sequence when he writes it that climaxes the movie,when most of the guys are guzzling or drinking ,with the horrible fat woman 's shrill chuckles as a sinister soundtrack.As Neil Young sings "would fade away so young/with so much left undone/remember me to my love I know I'll miss her" (Powderfinger)Do not miss this film !It's a timeless classic..
But for all the obviousness of its meaning , including a simplistically liberal message , which once made it seem a landmark in the adult Western , the picture is really intriguing , not merely because William A Wellman's tersely economic narration of his material , but because 20th Century Fox made a decission to cut budget and reducing costs by filming it utterly on a studio set .This is a decidedly uncelebratory portrayal of the badness , of the angry crowd and the wrong and merciless desire for vengeance .
Indeed , it influenced in Noir Film genre , as its affinity to ¨Noir¨ is extremely evident and not only in the dark shadowy cinematography , but in the gallery of sombre roles and grotesques that populates this provoking portrait of the frontier spirit .Though a long time of the movie being shot at an only location , it never lacks for taut , suspense , intrigue and inspired direction .
William made very good films , as Wellman directed all kind of genres as Wartime : ¨Alas¨ , ¨Battleground¨ , ¨The story of GI Joe¨ , ¨Lafayette Escadrilla¨ , Drama : ¨Nothing sacred¨, ¨Blood Alley¨ , ¨Good my lady¨ , ¨Magic Town and the Oscarized ¨A Star is born¨ , his greatest success , Adventure : ¨Beau Geste¨ , Gangster movie : ¨Public enemy ¨, and Western : ¨Buffalo Bill¨ , ¨, ¨Joaquin Murrieta¨ , ¨Across the wide Missouri¨ , ¨Westerward the woman¨ , ¨¨Yellow sky¨,and this¨The Ox-Box incident¨, among others .
However in my opinion, the "Ox-Bow Incident", of 1943, was the first real "adult western (the previous "Stagecoach", though an excellent product in the genre, still maintains the original standards).Director William Wellman obtains here a fantastic grey and sort of sordid atmosphere to display a story of men taking justice by their own hand and making an unrepairable mistake.
The final sequence at the saloon when Henry Fonda reads in a loud voice the letter to his wife left by one of the innocent men hanged is most disturbing but at the same time rewarding for us viewers who get the feeling that justice has been done: the executioners will have to live with their terrible crime in their consciences for the rest of their lives.Fonda and Andrews are very good in their parts and the supporting cast is excellent mainly with the always accurate Jane Darwell and a young Anthony Quinn."The Ox-Bow Incident" stands as a little classic among westerns, or dramas if you prefer..
It's an effective little gem with nice direction, good performances (with a standout being a young Anthony Quinn) and a telling study of human weaknesses.I had a very minor quibble regarding Henry Fonda's characterization early in the movie, and how so much time was spent on crafting it to no real advantage.
Soon after Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Harry Morgan) arrive in a western town, news arrives that cattle rustlers have robbed and murdered a local rancher.
It was especially nice to see Anthony Quinn in an early role, when he was still being in his 20's.Don't watch this movie expecting a typical Henry Fonda western with shooting and all of the other typical genre clichés.
Overall The Ox-Bow Incident seems to be far ahead of its time in the western genre, the script is superb and the on location filming is beautiful..
The events portrayed in "The Ox-Bow Incident" shows not only that, but could represent real things that have happened throughout world history.The movie portrays drifter Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and his friend Art Croft (Harry Morgan) riding into an Old West town.
Since this film was released in 1942, it may have been one of earliest times this theme was put on film, so I can't accuse them of copying an old storyline.What sets this apart and makes it a good movie was the great dialog, especially in the early moments when "Gil Carter" (Henry Fonda) and "Art Croft" (Harry Morgan) enter a bar.
Fonda was most interesting of the lead characters, along with Frank Conroy as "Major Tetley" and Dana Andrews as "Donald Martin." Jane Darwell was a hoot as one of the more bloodthirsty of the mob members.
Fonda reads a letter one of the accused men wrote but that turns out to be very preachy, not really a note someone in his position would have written to his wife but a sermon about law and justice.Overall, it's okay but generally petered out after a good start and, like many classic westerns of the 1940s and 1950s, is too talky and melodramatic.Still, it's a powerful story, well-acted, well-directed, nicely shot (the DVD looks good) and the message is one to remember.
This is one the best westerns and better films I have ever seen and features a very fine, almost understated, performance by Henry Fonda and excellent work by a host of familiar faces, most notably early work by Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn.
This is simply one of the finest westerns ever made and at only 75 minutes, it gets right to the heart of the story without a lot of lolly-gagging (nice western-talk, eh?).The heroes of the story are Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan who are two strangers that happen into town just as a posse is being formed to locate some killers who rustled some cattle.
Wellman's earnest film from Walter Van Tilburg Clark's book is more somber than moving, though it does have a good central performance by Henry Fonda, here playing a righteous man attempting to stop a small town lynch mob from acting as judge and jury with the lives of three men fingered for a murder.
I knew the basic story outline, that it was about a lynching, but figured it was going to be just another run-of-the-mill forties western, perhaps a little dourer than usual.It turns out to be a good deal more than that, an unusually paced and immaculately staged work of art, that could be set in any age, but works quite startlingly well in the overly-familiar settings of the old west.Many things stand out: for starters, more than half of the whole film takes place one dark, long, very cold night outside, accompanying the lynchmob as they go after their prey.
Don't know if anyone else has pointed that out before.In its relentless magnification of mundane bloodthirstiness, and also small moments of courage, it seems to me very much the 12 Angry Men of westerns - I'm sure a lot of people would claim High Noon for that position, but I consider The Ox-Bow Incident a much better made, if lesser known, film..
But, since Henry Fonda gets first billing, he doesn't wait around while the angry mob tracks down the killers; he and the Harrys go with them to try and talk them out of it.While he'd have to wait another ten years before winning his first Oscar, this movie marked a turning point in Anthony Quinn's career.
Director William Wellman wastes little time (75 minutes) in depicting the lawlessness of vigilante justice in the emotionally charged, socially conscious western The Ox-Bow Incident.
Wellman's occasionally heavy handed with some over the top buffoonish minor character portrayals and one major scene in which Carter briefly reunites with his now married sweetheart in the middle of the pursuit is forced and a minor distraction but overall The Ox-Bow Incident is probably the best film he ever made.The powerful dialog is delivered by a formidable cast.
"The Ox-Bow Incident" episode felt like a special Twilight Zone set in the Old West.After watching the original film last night for the first time and knowing my love for Henry Fonda I wish I would have viewed the film before the episode.
This is not a fun little western, its a deep psychological drama about justice in the wild west.Henry Fonda plays a wondering cowboy who enters a town setting out to find a murderer.
First he helps you identify perfectly with him as an outsider who wanders into town at a bad time, and then his character provides a perspective through which to watch the lynch mob as things get increasingly out of control.For such a classic, this movie has something of a low-budget look to it, especially in the settings, but if anything that only enhances its strengths and keeps the focus on the story where it belongs.
Nice cast, and with Henry Fonda there were times it was like watching 12 Angry Men. But often the movie was slow moving with many scenes that seemed to drag on.
While out- of-town cowboys Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Harry Morgan) are in the bar, word comes that a beloved rancher has been killed by cattle-rustlers and a mob gathers to seek vengeance.
William Wellman directed this memorable and unusual western that stars Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan as two drifters passing through a town that is in an uproar because a local farmer was murdered, and his cattle stolen.
A black and white classic western from 1943, The Ox-bow Incident opens with Gil(Henry Fonda) and Art(Harry Morgan) walking into a saloon where the talk of the town is the recent cattle thefts.
And it is my second-best classic western.Thematically it is somewhat similar to Fonda's another great film "12 Angry Men".
The Ox-Bow Incident was regarded by Henry Fonda as one of his best, and it is certainly a powerful film even by today's standards.
Fast-moving and really intense western that has drifters Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan caught up in a wild lynch mob who wonder upon three men (Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn among them) who they decide are the ones they are looking for.
More than a decade before Henry Fonda purchased the rights to and produced Twelve Angry Men, he starred in The Ox-Bow Incident, another film about possibly innocent men accused of murder and up for execution. |
tt0081114 | Maniac | A young couple are lying on a beach, being watched by an unseen man lurking on the dunes. The woman asks the man to fetch some wood for their fire. While he is gone, the unseen man approaches the woman and suddenly slits her throat with a razor. After gathering some driftwood from the surf, the guy returns to the campfire where the killer attacks him from behind and wraps wire around his neck and pulls, practically decapitating him.Sometime later, the killer, Frank Zito (Joe Spinell) sits up in his bed screaming. He lives in a small, one-room apartment which is full of bizarre paintings and artwork. There is a framed picture of a woman in a corner of the room decorated with candles and trinkets. There are a few mannequins in the apartment, one of which, wearing the beach girl's clothes and bloody scalp, is lying on the bed beside him. Frank takes off his pajama top and examines some old scars on his chest. He dresses, puts on a heavy winter coat, cloves, takes a gym bag, and leaves into the cold winter night of New York City.Somewhere in downtown Manhattan, Frank passes by a seedy hotel where two prostitutes are standing outside and one of them asks him if he would like a date. The two of them go inside and Frank checks into a room. In the room, Frank asks the woman if she ever modeled and tells her to show him some poses like the models in the fashion magazines. After she dances a little bit, the hooker and Frank kiss, and she relaxes him after he stops. When they resume kissing, Frank suddenly becomes angry and begins choking her until she is dead. He gets sick and throws up in the nearby bathroom and begins crying and asking "why did you make me do that?" In a very gory and nauseating sequence, Frank pulls out a utility razor and, very slowly and carefully, scalps the woman.Frank then goes home to his seedy apartment building somewhere in the Brooklyn region of New York. He is carrying a new mannequin to his basement apartment, and tells a passing tenant coming from the building that he is Christmas shopping. In his small one-room apartment, Frank wraps the plastic folding off the new mannequin, puts on the hooker's bloody clothes, and nails the bloody scalp to the mannequin's head, while hearing his own voice telling him that beautiful women whose beauty are crimes punishable by death. Frank pauses and looks at a newspaper headline detailing about the murdered couple at the beach.Sometime later, Frank dresses up to go out again, this time as a hunter. He disassembles a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun in a violin case, with some buckshot shells and the utility razor. He puts on his gloves, winter coat, and he tells the mannequins in the room that he will "be right back".Driving around the nighttime Brooklyn and the Queens area in his beat-up Buick Electra, Frank spots a couple outside a local disco getting into a car and driving off. The man (Tom Savini) and woman park in a lot beside the Brooklyn side of the Verrazano Bridge overlooking the narrows towards Staten Island. The woman from the disco wants to go home, but her pick-up date wants her to stay and view the sight. Frank pulls up near the couple's car, gets out and begins to spy on them as they climb into the back seat to make out with each other. The disco woman stops when she sees Frank by the car window. Upset, she asks the disco man to drive her home. The man climbs in the front seat, starts the car and turns on the headlights and Frank is standing right in front of them. He jumps on the hood of the car, and fires the shotgun through the windshield at the man literally blowing his head apart. The woman ducks in the back seat of the car as Frank approaches, points his shotgun at the woman and fires.Later, Frank is back in his room with another mannequin made to look like the murdered disco woman as he watches a TV news report about the latest double murder. Frank begins talking to himself and the other mannequins. He mentions stopping the fancy girls and he says they must stop or "they'll take you away from me". Frank then goes to bed and cries himself to sleep.In Central Park the next day, Frank is walking around when he stops a little girl riding on a bicycle near a playground who accidentally rides into him. He sees a woman (Caroline Munro) in the distance snapping a photo of him beside the little girl. Frank follows the woman, pauses to take a sneak peak at her bag and sees her name and address. The woman is Anna D'Antoni. Frank then walks off.Later that night, two nurses are leaving the Roosevelt Hospital after their shift and one of them mentions about a killer being on the loose. One of the nurses is picked up by her boyfriend, leaving the other nurse alone outside the hospital. Frank, standing nearby from across the street, begins to follow the nurse. She soon realizes that he is following her and she ducks into a nearby subway station. She gets through the gate, but when she arrives on the platform, the train leaves without her. Seeing Frank approaching, she runs and into a nearby restroom and hides in a stall. Frank walks inside, looks around, and after a minute of tense silence, leaves. The nurse comes out of hiding, looks around the empty and silent bathroom and calms down a bit. Happy that she is okay, the nurse walks to a sink to wash the sweat off her face but when she looks back up, Frank appears standing behind her and stabs her in the back with a bayonet, killing her. Frank washes the blood off the blade. Frank now has another mannequin resembling the nurse as he decorates up the figure while he is play-acting as a hairdresser.Some days later, Anna is in her darkroom of her apartment developing the photographs she took of Frank when the doorbell rings. Frank is at the door and tells her that he's the man whom she took his photograph in the park. Anna lets him in and they begin to talk about Anna's work as a photographer. He notes that all her models are women, and she tells him that she hopes to sell some of her photographs of the models. Frank tells her that she should keep them to preserve their beauty (it is implied, but never fully explained, that Anna might be a lesbian or bisexual due to her appearance and nature of her photography work). Frank asks Anna out to dinner, and she accepts. During dinner, Frank shows Anna a small photo of his mother in which he tells her that he and his mother lived in Queens until she died several years ago in an automobile accident. Anna reveals that she is from Italy but has done photography work mostly in England. Frank asks Anna if she would like to go out with him again and she invites him to an art gallery show for her photographs on Thursday.Another few days later, Frank arrives at a studio where Anna is taking photos of three models at a photography session. After taking a break, Frank gives Anna a teddy bear as a gift and she introduces him to one of the models named Rita. Anna and Rita go back to shooting, and Frank eyes the two women casually talking and holding hands together (again implying, but not fully revealing, that Anna and Rita's friendship is more then that). Frank impulsively steals a gold necklace that Rita set aside and leaves.Later that evening, Rita arrives home at her West End Avenue apartment, looks through her mail, and begins to run bathtub water to take a bath. Rita answers a buzzing at the front door and it is Frank who returns her necklace (claiming that he found it at the studio). With Rita distracted for a second, Frank slyly pushes in the door's lock, and leaves. Rita goes into the bathroom to take her bath. A little later, Rita is making tea for herself when she is grabbed by Frank who jumps out of a closet. When Rita wakes up, she finds herself gagged and tied to her bed. Frank then rambles at Rita saying that her hair is different, but he knew he could find her. He begins talking to her about abuse and leaving him, implying that he is talking to his mother. He tells Rita that he is going to keep her so she will never go away again. Frank then pulls out a switchblade knife and after a minute, stabs Rita in the chest, killing her. Frank then begins to scalp her as well and adds her hair and bathrobe as another trophy to his growing number of mannequins he keeps in his apartment. In his apartment, Frank sits in front of the woman's picture, which is his late mother, and talks about hiding in the closet when his mother said so.Some days later, Frank calls Anna and invites her to a show and picks her up. Anna thanks Frank for sending flowers and attending Rita's funeral. Frank drives Anna to a cemetery and says that he wants to put a reef of flowers on his mother's grave which she died on Christmas Day. At the cemetery, Frank lays the reef beside the headstone of his mother, Carmen Zito, and begins to cry. He says that Rita knew about him and he suddenly grabs Anna by the neck. Anna hits him and runs, and Frank chases her through the cemetery. Anna wounds Frank by jumping out from behind a gravestone and hits him in his left arm with a shovel and flees out of the cemetery. Frank screams out in pain and calls out "Mother!" Frank then begins to hear voices in his head and the voice of a young Frank. He is pleading with his mother not to lock him up in the closet. It is fully revealed here that Frank was abused and neglected by his own mother, leading him to go on this killing spree. Frank returns to his mother's grave and kneels at the headstone crying again until suddenly the rotting corpse of his mother bursts out of the ground and grabs him (shades of the movie 'Carrie'). But it was all just a hallucination, and Frank sits back alone at the grave and cries some more.Frank goes home to his apartment and lies on his bed with his wounded arm crying over his mother. As he looks around the room, the mannequins suddenly turn into the bloodied murdered women they represent and they all approach Frank with weapons they pick up off his table. In the most goriest and horrific scene, the mannequins/zombies attack him, one stabbing him in the stomach with the bayonet, one chops off his right arm with a machete, and two of them literally rip off his head from his body in a ghastly flow of blood and gore, splattering all over everything.The next morning, a police car arrives outside the apartment building where Frank lives. Two plainclothes police officers, having obviously been called upon by Anna, get out, pull out guns, and burst into Frank's apartment. They find Frank lifeless on his bed (with only a knife in his bloody stomach), with all the mannequins standing around the room. Apparently the whole supernatural event was nothing but Frank's horrible nightmare which resulted in him committing suicide. The two cops leave the room, and Frank continues to lie motionless on his bed... then his eyes open... | realism, murder, violence, cult, horror, sadist | train | imdb | This guy has a lot of heart, and it shows.Maniac isn't the fastest paced movie, but it has some of the most awesome graphic violence that 80's horror produced (thank you Tom Savini!).
I'd first like to applaud Tom Savini for his work here; MANIAC contains some of the most realistic and unrestrained gore fx I've seen; possibly THE best up until the time of its release.
Here you get explicitly bloody murders and scalpings, plus a show-stopper head-being-blown-off-with-shotgun murder and a man being ripped apart nightmare and it all looks pretty damn convincing to me.Aside from the effects, director William Lustig does an OK job with color schemes (especially considering the budget) and the grimy, sleazy underbelly of New York is brilliantly exploited to give this film a truly nihilistic and seedy feel.
Reliable character actor Joe Spinell (from TAXI DRIVER, THE GODFATHER, etc.) also offers an effective performance as the sweaty, overweight, emotionally- scarred killer.On the down side, a plot would have been nice and it's unforgivable to waste British actress Caroline Munro on such a poorly scripted nothing role.
Along with Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, Mardi Gras Massacre, and Don't go in the House; Maniac offers something refreshing, by giving the killer characterisation and making him more than just a loony in a mask with a machete.The plot portrays the life of Frank Zito, an insane and stammering psychological mess of a man, with more than a few severe problems upstairs.
Jay Chattaway provides a superb score to accompany the visuals, and Lorenzo Marinelli's editing is equally impressive.Although you could never call Joe Spinnell a fantastic dramatic performer by any of his pre-Maniac work, Frank Zito (named as a nod to Joseph Zito the director of The Prowler and friend to Lustig and Savini) was undoubtedly the part he was put on this planet to play.
It's worth noting that the pair were reunited two years later for Fanatic (aka The Last Horror Film), which lacked the gritty edge and invitingly sleazy surroundings of its predecessor, but attempted to cash-in on the fame that Lustig's film had earned from its gruesome reputation.Maniac was filmed on super 16 mm and like the best slashers from this period, it was shot for the most miniscule of budgets ('under a million dollars').
But that aside, MANIAC is neither the best horror film of all time or most enjoyable, but damn is it intense.Joe Spinell is absolutely strong in his portrayal of Frank Zito, a real man who has a nasty habit of slaughtering random individuals, mostly female ones so he can dress up mannequins with their scalped hair and clothes.
From the amazing performance of Joe Spinell to the Brutal Make-up FX of Tom Savini, this is perhaps the mother of all Horror Slasher Flicks...Written to be "Jaws on Land"...this film captures to wonderful vibe on New York City in the late 70's.
"Maniac" is one of the most visceral examples of the horror genre.Along with Romano Scavolini's "Nightmare"(1981)it is one of the most disturbing horror films ever made.The killings presented here are cold-blooded,extremely brutal and gory."Maniac" in its almost pornographic depiction of violence makes any "Friday the 13th" film look tame.Joe Spinell is perfect as a maniac killer Frank Zito,who graphically murders and scalps his victims.Caroline Munro("Kronos","Slaughter High")is really hot as a young fashion photographer.The gore effects made by Tom Savini are simply spectacular-the head explosion scene has to be one of the most amazing moments in cinematic history.The amount of gore splashed in this sequence is incredible.The direction by William Lustig("Maniac Cop" series,"The Violation of Claudia")is well-handled,the acting is fairly convincing and the atmosphere is really ugly and disturbing.Definitely one to avoid if you're politically correct,but if you like confrontional stuff you can't miss it.10 out of 10.See it now!.
But the most disturbing aspect to the film was the sense of psychosis that the killer is experiencing."Maniac" is surely similar to "Psycho", which makes me wonder whether or not the writers of this film were basing the plot on the real life serial killer Ed Gein, who also grew up with an abusive mother and suffered psychological problems later on as an adult, which ultimately drove him to grave-robbing and murder.
Spinell gives a bravura performance as Frank, a deeply disturbed individual haunted by childhood memories of his mistreatment at the hands of his mother.As a result of his lousy upbringing, Frank is now a first-class loony tune; he slaughters women (although the occasional man gets in his way and ends up dead too) and removes their scalps, taking them home to place upon the mannequins that he keeps in his apartment.When Frank has his picture taken in a park by photographer Anna (played by the gorgeous Caroline Munro), he tracks her down and almost manages to pass for normal for a while, wining and dining the sexy snapper and being quite charming.
But it's not long before the real Frank emerges, and has a go at adding Anna to his long line of victims.The direction by William Lustig, whilst not exceptional, does the job it was supposed to do; the film never drags and there are one or two edge-of-your-seat moments and a couple of nifty scares.'Maniac's gory death sequences, by legendary horror make-up legend Tom Savini, are real showstoppers, and include ultra-realistic scalpings, amazing exploding heads and vicious bloody stabbings.
The majority of Savini's work on the film is stunning, with only the final decapitation being less than perfect.'Maniac' is a great example of low-budget 80s splatter and will appeal to all those who enjoy their horror down and dirty with buckets of gore..
New York looks suitably barren, from the time before the makeover when people would walk down streets as bleak as in this film to see movies like it in dingy fleapit cinemas down 42nd street.
So by way of a kind of basic artistic daring it created a provocation, which leads to:2) the framing is what counts here, and Lustig and Spinell took as many serial killer tropes and types (from mommy issues to Ted Bundy and Gacy to Son of Sam, this last one seemed like the major influence to me, ie replace the dog with mannequins) and stuffed them into this one gutter-bag of a man, but again it is ALL from his POV.
While Lustig cuts to showing what the women are doing when they are in Frank's cross-hairs (and Tom Savini in one iconic horror scene), we don't get to know them really as people really outside of these scenarios entirely - not even Caroline Munro's photographer who Frank befriends, who gets to have the closest to a character arc of a sort - so this is ultimately not unlike one of those intense character studies that Scorsese did before (Taxi Driver) and after (King of Comedy) ...
So for example in that Savini scene, he gets the giant explosive death - sort of a next-level-of-Dawn-explosion - but he cuts away from the woman's demise just before it happens.A lessor director would show everything, every last one of them, but that leads me to the key point with this: this is a piece of pure, uncut 100% pure Grindhouse moviemaking, but what makes it emotionally disturbing is that the direction is so assured isnt sloppy or boring.
Finally, Frank's delusions get the better of him...MANIAC is a rare film amongst the typical 80's slasher trash, as you actually get a look into his (warped) mind.
It garnered the ultimate accolades for an exploitation film- it was HATED by Siskel and Ebert (Gene Siskel said he made it to the shotgun murder then had to leave the preview screening as he couldn't stomach anymore!) and it was picketed by feminist groups.The film centres around serial killer Frank Zito who likes to scalp his victims and place the scalps on top of shop mannequins in his apartment.
He also stars in the film with explosive results!Maniac isn't just a great piece of sleazy horror cinema but is also a snapshot of a time when New York really was run-down, dangerous and crime-ridden.
It feels more like a gritty documentary than a film made for 42nd Street.The movie also places actor Joe Spinell centre stage in the role of Frank.
In fact the film seems more like a giallo, an opera of blood, splattered brains and strands of hair.The first time I learnt of the film was when I saw the poster for the movie in a copy of the French horror magazine Vendredi 13 in the mid-80s- a close up of the killer's midriff and crotch (which leaves nothing to the imagination), the words 'I warned you not to go out tonight!' written in spiky font, a knife in one of the psycho's hands and a severed woman's head in the other.
Although "Maniac" pretends to assume a sort of artistic gravity and a seriousness of intent, it's a Hershell Gordon Lewis movie at heart.The film itself consists of almost nothing more than a prolonged series of suspense-building set-ups, each of which climaxes in a beautifully executed and lovingly presented piece of state-of-the-art special makeup gore.
The part of this movie that sets it aside from the rest of the pack for me is when Spinell's character forms a relationship with a female photographer that's handled in a completely real and genuine way, mainly thanks to the decent script and good performances, as it then soon becomes clear that this guy is much more than just a brainless, on the loose madman, but something much more dangerous.
But because of the low-budget nature of the film and the fact that there was too much gore, Spinell didn't even get a Golden Globe Nod. It's so uncomfortable to watch Frank's horrible apartment and his pathetic living that it's a welcome sight to see beautiful, sweet Caroline Munro.
Even today, 29 years after its release, Joe Spinell's performance as the deranged Frank Zito stands out as the most effective, nausea inducing rendition of a serial killer in cinema history.
Maniac killer Frank Zito kills one person after another and finally the film ends.
Maniac (1980) **** (out of 4) William Lustig's disturbing, bleak and at time disgusting tale of a serial killer (Joe Spinell) who kills women (and men) due to being abused by his mother as a child.
If anyone has read any of my reviews the past couple years then they'll know that I'm a big fan of this movie, which I feel is one of the best horror films of the decade and it's certainly got a lot more going for it than your typical slasher film of the era.
He sees a woman, thinks of his abusive mother, and suddenly he has to kill someone.Frank, played by Joe Spinell, is the main (and insane) character as well as the killer in Maniac.
But the sadistic disciplinary methods of his mother prove once again to make Frank's wish an impossibility.While MANIAC is not quite as serious as James McNaughton's brilliant (and far more disturbing) HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, it is more than just a sleazy exploitation film.
They portray the brutal result of Frank's rage in all their blood-drenched horror.MANIAC is a very good movie, and a classic of the horror/exploitation genre, well worth reconsideration.
Joe Spinelli plays the role of the killer very well and Tom Savini's gore effects in this movie are great as always.
With its off the charts creep factor and brutal violence, the low budget 1980 slasher "Maniac" was an early classic in a decade of memorable horror films.
What makes this film so utterly disturbing is the performance by Joe Spinell as Frank aka the Maniac.
Maniac (1980) is a very hard hitting/disturbing movie about a seriously deranged man called Frank who had a terrible childhood and now lives in New York City.Frank is a terrible messed up individual and with the voices in his head controlling his actions, he stalks and slaughters young women!!!
This film is notorious and was banned for years, you can understand it because it's very realistic and creepy and has some brutal gore scenes, i rate this movie one of the best of it's kind, all horror movie buffs past and present should see this or OWN it, classic stuff!!!
But actually after having watched it again just now I found it quite boring and not half as gory as I thought it would be after having read some of the comments on imdb.The film is about a man (Frank Zito) who walks/drives through New York City and kills people, mostly women, scalps them and puts the scalps on manikins he keeps in his room.
And more: presented in a leading role a familiar face from the 1970's of whom we've seen in films like "The Godfather" and "Rocky", character actor Joe Spinell, and this was the perfect project for him to show his acting skills, haunting us with a memorable performance proving that he could be a main star.
Fine, it's an underground movie in a way but those who love horror films definitely know this and probably love it more than I do.Frank Zito, the character played by Spinell, is one of those raised in the Norman Bates tradition.
Frank Zito (The late Joe Spinell) is a crazed serial killer, who kills innocent woman and then he scalps them for his mannequins.
nothing is normal for him.Directed by William Lustig (Maniac Cop, Relentless, Vigilante) made an gruesome effective horror film with some moments of gore and black comedy.
Back in a time before Horror films became uninspired, self-referential teen oriented crap, William Lustig directed this sick little number about a psychopath, Frank (played superbly by the late, lamented Joe Spinell) brutal murdering various young women (and some guys) to get in good with his long deceased mother who abuse him as a boy.
At the time of the film's release it seemed like everyone and their mother hated the film with a passion, which is a shame since the movie is horribly misunderstood and is actually a rather good film if you're a true horror fan.
It is here, in his personal work via his attributes of starring, screenplay writing, story and Executive Producer that this 1980's classic slasher / splatter film Maniac came to represent one of the most disturbing and shocking serial killers on screen since Norman Bates back in the early sixties.A hater of women, or more to the point a man who has had the misfortune to be the miss-interpreter of women, and with a deep seated hatred fuelled by his mother, this is a mind that has taken upon itself to reek havoc, vengeance and inherited blame onto his victims.
It wasn't as gory as many people led on and it did drag in places but other than that it was a good movie.Joe Spinell is Frank Zito, a guy with mother issues and a serious problem.
Tom Savini did a damn good job with this movie.Joe Spinell's gritty and excellent performance is also worth praising.
Universally trashed by elitist film critics, MANIAC is the story of Frank Zito (Joe Spinell), a psychopath who randomly murders women, scalps them, and then uses their scalps to dress up his mannequins.
Although it´s too surface to be a real portrait about a weird man as we have seen it impressively in "Henry"(the film that comes closest to "Maniac" is "Nightmare (in a damaged brain)" in my opinion..!), William Lustig´s slasher does not being stingy with suspense and shock values!Joe Spinell, who also wrote the script and had some supporting roles in mainstream productions like "Rocky" or "The Godfather" is giving the most memorable performance of his career with playing the mentally disturbed serial killer Frank Zito, who was tortured physical as well as psychical by his dominating mother, a woman that used to earn money by selling her body.
The acting is excellent, especially towards Joe Spinell, who played the killer.He truly is a maniac and it's evident while watching the film.
Set in New York City and starring the late great sleazball Joe Spinell who plays Frank Zito a schitzo/sicko maniac who kills women, along with their boyfriends whom get in his way, he then scalps the women and uses their hair and clothes to dress up female department store maniquins that he keeps in his tiny apartment.
MANIAC is the story of Frank Zito (Joe Spinell), a psychopath who randomly murders women, scalps them, and takes their clothes and then uses their scalps and clothes to dress up his mannequins.
After every killing he starts moaning.The MANIAC is almost the only character in this film and Joe Spinell he portrays him very well.
I've always been a fan of low-budget 80's horror flicks, and I've seen my fair share of "crap", but this film really defines the word.A homicidal maniac who had childhood issues with his now dead mother goes on a murdering spree, killing and mutilating random women, and nailing their scalps to mannequins in his house.
Finally after all these years just watched the cult classic horror slasher film 1980's "Maniac" I must say it was well done with blood and murder scenes straight to the point with blood and gore.
His psychology leaves a bit to be desired (the film is hazy regarding the mother issues driving him to kill) but Joe Spinell is solid in the lead role and there are several great graphic moments - like a head blown off through a windshield - that resonate due to Tom Savini's expert makeup effects.
Frank Zito (Joe Spinell)is homicidal maniac with schizophrenic moods, who stalks and brutally murders young women in abominable ways, in order to handle the loss of his abusive prostitute mother.
The supporting cast includes gore icon Tom Savini in a small role."Maniac" may not have the best plot, and the killer's motivations may not be the most original, but it is a movie that is able to shock like hardly another. |
tt3044882 | Nasha | The story is set in Panchgani, a hill station. Saahil and his gang of friends are a bunch of teenagers in school who have their share of fun and pranks. Saahil has a girlfriend called Tia. During the summer break, he and his friends are introduced to Anita, the new dramatics teacher. She decides to make them do a play. All the boys in the group fall for her beauty and persona. But its Saahil who gets the most intrigued by her. Slowly, he realises he cannot think of anything but her. As rehearsals of the play go on, he innocently starts to fantasize about being with her.
One day while rehearsing for the play, Anita's boyfriend Samuel turns up at home and surprises her. Anita and Sam are a happy couple which makes Saahil envious and unhappy. Later one night, while returning from a movie, seeing Sam and Anita cuddle in the car makes him uncomfortable and he tells Sam to stop the car and walks back home. Sam seeing Saahil's emotions tells Anita that Saahil loves her which Anita laughs over it. Over the next few days, Sam to prove his point starts teasing Saahil which makes Saahil angry and one day while having a race, Sam purposefully pushes Saahil who gets hurt. Anita scolds Sam for behaving like a child. Saahil's friends now realising that Saahil has some feelings for Anita starts teasing him by passing comments about Anita and Sam. Saahil gets offended when he hears them say that Sam and Anita having sex every night, and gets into a physical brawl with his friend. Angry and suspicious, he goes to Anita's home in the night and enters the house through the window. He's shocked to see Anita and Sam having sex. Heart broken, he is about to leave when he accidentally pushes a table which makes a noise. Anita comes out to check and is shocked seeing Saahil while Saahil sees Anita nude. The next day morning, Saahil comes to Anita's house for the rehearsal. Anita, extremely angry with him for what he did last night, scolds him and tells him to get out of the play. Because of this incident, Tia also has a very emotional break up with Saahil.
A few days later, Anita gets a phone call from the police station. There she comes to know that Sam had taken one of her students (who also is Saahil's friend) to a rave party. Police had conducted a raid where she was caught, and Sam somehow escaped. Anita and Sam have a fight, and Sam being drunk, slaps Anita and leaves her. Saahil comes to know about the fight and goes and meets her. Both reconcile. In the evening, he takes some home-made biryani to Anita's place to make her feel better, only to find Sam there, talking to Anita. He is again hurt, and leaves. Anita sees him going. The next day, Anita goes to Saahil's place and meets his uncle and father. Upon seeing Saahil as he comes out to check who has come, she apologises to him and takes him out for a cup of coffee. Here, she tells him that things are finally over between her and Samuel, which turns Saahil's mood around.
A few days later, Anita along with Saahil's friends come to his house to celebrate Saahil's birthday. After the party, he goes to her house with a wine bottle. They celebrate together, drink, and happen to kiss. But Anita realising her mistake, stops him and asks him to leave. Anita now knows that she has begun to love Saahil, who is heartbroken upon being literally thrown out of the house. Later, Saahil's uncle and father meet Anita to ask her what the matter with Saahil is, and Anita simply assures them that things will be back to normal in a few days. Anita then resigns from her job at school and informs Saahil. Saahil reaches her house in a desperate attempt to stop her, where a highly emotional showdown takes place between them, and they finally make love. She also confesses her love for him.
Later, after Anita leaves Panchgani, Saahil reads her letter to him stating that they have to part ways as what happened between them is not right. And in the future, if they're meant to meet again, they would meet in another time and place, as different individuals. She tells him to forget her. Saahil breaks down with a sense of finality as he finishes reading the letter. Later, he goes to meet his friends where he reconciles with all of them including Tia, as he looks back at this entire experience of his with a new, mature perspective. | pornographic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0046931 | Dragnet | On Saturday April 9, 1954, Miller Starkey, a small-time hood who works for West Coast mob second-in-command Max Edward Troy, is palling with Troy in a field when he sees hitman Chester Davitt appear over a nearby hill, sawed-off shotgun in hand. Starkey turns but is pushed by Troy and is promptly shot by Davitt.Sgt. Joe Friday, working out of the LAPD's Intelligence Division, gets information on the killing from forensic scientist Ray Pinker as Pinker briefs division chief James Hamilton and other officers. Hamilton suspects Troy and several of his close associates, such as Lee Reinhardt, Wesley Cannon, and Davitt, and after a meeting with chief of police W. H. Parker the detectives arrest Troy and his associates and a low floor of the Crown Regent Hotel is appropriated by the police to allow mass-interrogation. Davitt cannot be found but his wife Belle is brought in and angrilly calls out Friday and company, to no avail.Friday and his partner Frank Smith interrogate Max Troy, but after four hours they get nothing out of him. As he is taken to jail they get word that an eyewitness has been found. It is a museum curator named Jesse Quinn, who positively identifies Chester Davitt as being near the field at the time of the crime.Friday and Smith check out The Red Spot Grille, a restaurant secretly owned by Troy, and find nothing. They then decide to infiltrate a policewoman, Grace Downing, into the bar with a primitive wire to record conversation between Troy and his pals. After 36 hours habeus corpus kicks in and despite the reluctance of Deputy DA Adolph Alexander, Troy and his pals are released. Friday and Smith, however, get information from Roy Cleaver, an informant and jazz musician; he tells them that Starkey was seen weeks before his death sporting heavy bandaging from a beating. When Friday and Smith question Starkey's widow, she tearfully confirms this and gives Friday a copy of her husband's work book, a collection of gambling debtors.Friday and Smith question 22 of the names in the book but get no information until they question theatrical agent Fabian Gerard, who explains that he paid back a gambling debt but was confronted by other mob enforcers claiming he didn't; when he showed them proof they left him alone.Now the two officers figure out why Starkey was killed - he'd been pocketing debts he'd been collecting. They learn more from one of Grace Downing's recordings - Troy tells the bartender to take a package in his car's glove box and dispose of it; the bartender loaned the car to his nephew for a fishing trip and it won't be back until Wednesday, and he'll get rid of whatever this package is then.The police, however, find and arrest Chester Davitt, and a grand jury is summoned to investigate Troy and his pals. Friday goes to get Jesse Quinn, but Quinn suddenly gets cold feet about testifying; he is supoendaed but tells the grand jury nothing substantial. The jury members question Friday in their investigation, and in the end the jury votes not to indict Troy.Captain Hamilton angrilly orders Friday and Smith to tail Troy day and night, and they do, constantly searching him wherever he goes. It goes too far when they tail him to a gin game and several toughs attack Friday and Smith; the two policemen win the ensuing brawl but get a mild reprimand from Hamilton for it.More pressing is a call from Grace Downing that she found something from the bartender's car at The Red Spot, but that Troy may be on to her. Friday and Smith arrive at the bar and escort her safely out, then she takes them to the back alley where they find a box of shotgun shells - with four missing.Eventually a wiretap is installed at The Red Spot, and one of Troy's pals, Wesley Cannon, gets a call from Cleveland, and informs the bartender that Chester Davitt has been killed to keep him quiet - permanently - about the Starkey murder. Friday and Smith reluctantly confront Belle Davitt with the resulting tape, and she tearfully changes her tune, showing the officers the toolbox where Troy and Chester sawed off the shotgun barrel, and she reveals that the gun was thrown into Echo Park Lake.With a signed affidavit from Belle Davitt and the resulting evidence, DA Alexander has enough to convict Troy, but Troy pulls the ultimate fast one that ensures he'll never be arrested. | murder | train | imdb | Jack Webb is fantastically straight as Joe Friday; he never had a better role.
Everyone in the movie is great, but the standouts are Virginia Gregg as the murdered man's alcoholic and handicapped wife, Stacy Harris as Max Troy, insincere head of the crime syndicate, and Richard Boone as the police captain, who says to his men with angry authority "all right, bumper to bumper tail; get up with em in the morning and put em to bed at night"..
I really enjoyed the Dragnet television shows back in the 1950s with Jack Webb and Ben Alexander and later Harry Morgan.
I wouldn't watch it again.Oh, it started off with a bang as a man was murdered in a field, but then the rest of it is mostly detail work which gets pretty boring after 40 minutes!
I agree with the other comments that it is somewhat disappointing that we already know the identity of the killer at the beginning, but it is obvious that the killing was shown so that we know Friday and Smith aren't harassing an innocent man throughout the movie.
Because we know the killer, we can laugh they way Friday and Smith do when they frisk him four times a day and tailgate his car.
The main problem with the movie is that the story just isn't as interesting as most of the stories of the television episodes were, and, as someone wrote, Friday is a different, tougher man, not as likeable as before.
Another unfortunate thing is that in making the movie in color to attract audiences who had only seen "Dragnet" in black-and-white, the movie loses the stark film noir feel that many of the television episodes had.
The early episodes had a lot of dark humor, but not silly humor like this movie does, such as the scene with the big-busted singer, and the scene in which the bystanders watch Friday and Smith frisk Max Troy.
Webb directs with a nice pace and the big production gives it a grand atmosphere that the television show can't capture.
However, this is a good crime movie and Webb at least gives it a kind of watchable uniqueness.
"Dragnet" was the first theatrical feature to be based on a successful television series.
Too bad its script bears little relation to the elements of that show.In the 1952-59 series, viewers never saw the crime being committed.
"Dragnet" was a mystery program; Sgt. Friday and Officer Smith would be called in to solve a crime, then locate and arrest the guilty party/parties.
(As Webb put it, "This makes YOU a cop, and you unwind the story.") "Dragnet" (1954) begins with the actual crime, so that we KNOW who's guilty even before the titles appear.
The movie is no mystery, merely the depiction of a murder investigation, in toto.Worse, the Sgt. Friday in this film is not the quiet, dedicated cop of the radio and TV original.
Great Film of Dragnet Fans.
Every time I see this movie, I find something else about it that makes me like it all the more.
Simple interrogation from Friday with smart-mouth answers from the bad guys and the snappy, emotional responses from Joe. It kind of gets you, right where you live, you know?
The mind boggles.Moviegoers in 1954 got excited when they heard that one of their favorite TV shows, Dragnet, had been made into a feature film.
(I remember because I was one of them.) One now stares in wonder at this icon of the strange and far-off 'fifties, an era that was Eisenhower-sunny on the surface and dark and menacing just beneath it.Dragnet the movie (eventually there was a second, on TV), now largely forgotten, was nothing more than an extended television episode made in color, while home sets were still black and white.
Many of the actors were frequently unemployed second-string players whose work did not make a deep impression.In the intervening time since it was made the film has largely gone unseen and although it made it to video, it is little viewed in this form.
That 'fifties audiences accepted the actors' rigidly stylized, robotic impersonations of police officers as representing the way they actually spoke in real life says something about Americans' willingness to uncritically accept virtually anything they saw in movies, and especially on TV.
(Remember actors posing as doctors extolling the pleasures of smoking during cigarette commercials?) Dragnet's cops' signature manner of speaking---a flat, semi-technical, bureaucratic argot, spoken in low, monotonal voices---Webb's cops rarely if ever snarled---was one of the most memorable things about the show.
(On the other hand, to Webb's great credit, virtually all modern-day cop shows stemmed from Dragnet, untold imitations of which have been launched on television over the past five decades)For more evidence of the film's antiquated point of view, watch the scene at the jazz club where Friday and Smith, seeking information about a criminal they're pursuing, converse with a musician who's one of their informants.
This is followed by a three-way conversation during which the script clumsily has the musician work his way through an A to Z litany of now-moldy, 'fifties hipster clichés (`How's that chick?' `Really flipped, huh?' `Oh man, that's a drag,' `He was really nowhere,' `I've been diggin' it in the papers,' `He was jumpin' pretty steady with that Troy mob,' `Dig ya.') by way of what the screenwriter apparently must have regarded as establishing a well-rounded character.Not only was the film disappointing in how little attempt was made to `open it up' for the big screen, but in some ways its narrowly focused two-for-a-nickel script was decidedly less interesting than what was shown on the television show.
For example, it missed interesting possibilities for character development, especially as this pertained to Webb's Joe Friday and Ben Alexander's Frank Smith.
(Some time after the film's debut, Webb finally recognized that television viewers yearned to know more about Joe Friday in his off-duty hours and so gave them glimpses of this law enforcement automaton's meager social life, including intriguing little dabs of romance.)The film version also completely wastes the participation of Ben Alexander, the warmest and most appealing of all Joe Friday's sidekicks, leaving him with nothing to do except dutifully tag along with his superior officer and occasionally asking suspects or witnesses the odd question or two.
The inspired daffy non sequiturs that his character, Frank Smith, regularly voiced in conversations with Joe Friday on the television show, which viewers loved and looked forward to, were almost entirely absent from the film.
The one exception, which occurs during a brief back-and-forth with Webb about their individual food preferences, is so brief and isolated that it comes off as a self-conscious sop to audiences whom the screenwriter knew would be looking for it and falls flat.Webb also was the film's director, and he went about most of these duties with a notable lack of imagination.
The scene where as Joe Friday he interrogates the crippled woman whose small-time crook of a husband has just been killed is mawkish, and the actors playing police officers are directed to be so deadly serious that scenes like this were subsequently lampooned to great effect in the Dan Aykroyd satire made in 1987.
It's a wonder Webb didn't direct him to gnaw on a table leg.Dragnet was a film that was mired deeply in its time and seems to evidence a disturbing subtext that relates to the American mindset as it was during the bland, conformist, and frightened Eisenhower/McCarthyite fifties.
The cops in Dragnet are not merely grim, intense, obsessed defenders of the law, they often border on being zombie-like.
One of Dragnet's most explicit messages---brought home to audiences several times---was how, if only we didn't have so many laws and that darn Constitution, we could put a heck of a lot more criminals behind bars where they belong.
So popular was Dragnet proving to be on the small screen that producer and star Jack Webb decided to expand it into a feature film.
So what we got here is a television episode of Dragnet expanded to 90 minutes and in color.Webb and partner Ben Alexander are assigned to the homicide of Dub Taylor whose familiar face and voice are hardly seen on the screen before he gets cut down with both barrels of a shotgun.
Altogether quite grisly and gruesome.So the rest of the film under the command of their captain in gang intelligence Richard Boone, Webb and Alexander try to gather the evidence to nail the bad guys.
No way that would happen today except in some real right wing heaven.Interesting film, nicely done in Dragnet's famous crisp, staccato style and be happy if you're a criminal you weren't operating back then..
Dragnet never dealt with Mr. Big, it was always these awful little two bit people, con men, purse snatchers, etc.
I knew that Jack Webb had written, produced and directer it, and that's usually a pretty good prescription for a failure.
This motion picture was made only because "Dragnet" (the TV series) was popular enough to draw in an audience, or at least, I'm guessing that the folks putting up the money thought so .
What the movie audiences got for their money was just a thirty minute TV show that had been blown up -- filmed in color -- and little more.
"Dragnet" was like a lot of films or TV shows that caught on at a particular time.
Well, actually this film reflected Jack Webb, and his conception of movie making.
This was based on the popular show "Dragnet" and it's too bad seeing as how I have never seen the original show.
Dragnet is an interesting Crime Drama film released that was released in 1954.
It is about 2 detectives, Sargeant Joe Friday played by Jack Webb and Officer Frank Smith played by Ben Alexander, assigned to investigate a shotgun murder.
The acting, the cinematography, and the dialogue are the best parts of the film.Ben Alexander and Jack Webb play their parts incredibly well.
1954's DRAGNET is well-cast with Jack Webb's stock company, plus a pre-PALADIN, Richard Boone and pre-CHESTER on GUNSMOKE, Dennis Weaver.
The crisp, clean pace of Webb's radio and TV DRAGNET episodes is lost in this full-length treatment..
Those looking for elements of the Red Scare in this movie may be overlooking an aspect of life in the 1950's that was closer to the everyday lives of Los Angelinos: that the LAPD was one of the most corrupt departments in the country, and Webb was polishing apples for police chief William Parker by presenting his cops as honest dispensers of justice.
We may accept Friday's "bumper-to-bumper" harassment of a suspect because he "knows" he's guilty, but at the same time, the cops were doing this and much worse to ordinary citizens, especially blacks and Latinos.
Instead, we're left with 85 minutes of erratic police interviews, gleeful harassment of a known felon, and one very unnecessary, but carefully choreographed brawl that does add action but also points up the street-fighter inadequacies of the rail-thin Webb and the paunchy Ben Alexander.
(Some of the frames appear set up for 3-D, so be prepared to duck.) The film's climax comes across as ironic but unfortunately Webb can't resist rubbing our nose in it.Don't get me wrong-- I was and still am a fan of the series, which occasionally produced some pretty powerful melodramas involving ordinary people and their day-to-day travails.
However, stretched over 90 minutes, Webb's exaggerated style becomes pretty tiresome, as does his endless parade of smart-alecky toppers.That same year, 1954, Lucy and Desi spun off from their own wildly successful series to make a movie, The Long, Long Trailer.
Joe Friday Takes On Mob Boss Guilty Of A Gangland Hit. Contains Spoilers With the success of his television series, Jack Webb extended the working territory of Sgt. Joe Friday into widescreen color cinema with the first Dragnet motion picture, scripted by Richard Breen from an actual LAPD case file - complete with realistically detailed rap sheets on the perpetrators involved.Miller Starkey, White Male American, aged 44 - in LAPD lingo WMA 44, with an LA prison number of 106484; bookmaker, gambler, procurer, with no known legitimate occupation, and debt collector for Vegas bookies.
Upon hearing George Fenneman's announcement of the truth of the story with name alteration to protect the innocent, we witness the actual commission of the crime in a field near Loma Vista, Third, Wentworth, and Rachel Avenues, as Starkey is gunned down in cold blood by hit-man Chester Davitt and West Coast mafia second-in-command Max Edward Troy (Stacy Harris).
This dramatic device was comparatively unused in film at the time, predating by nearly two decades the formula made standard by one of Joe Friday's fellow LAPD detective lieutenants, a man named Columbo.Starkey's record is such that suspects in his killing are fairly easy to identify.
The department rounds up Starkey's mob associates, and Friday and Frank Smith have the task of interrogating Max Troy, who despite four hours of often bitter questioning, refuses to admit to anything.Joe and Frank are given 36 hours to find evidence against Troy and his pals or they will have to walk.
Friday and Smith, though, continue the investigation, assigning Policewoman Grace Downey (Ann Robinson) to infiltrate a swanky nightclub at which Troy and his pals hang out (and which is covertly co-owned by Troy), and eventually finding Starkey's "work book," a diary of names and addresses of gambling debtors.From their sources the two officers learn that Starkey was badly beaten up and also that gambling debtors visited by Starkey were revisited by other enforcers who never got paid.
Hamilton (Richard Boone) enough that Friday and Smith are assigned a bumper-to-bumper tail - which humiliates Troy and leads to a brawl with several toughs.Grace Downey then comes up with a major clue, and wiretap recordings of the nightclub lead Chester Davitt's wife, who has furiously refused to cooperate with police, to suddenly change her mind and finger Troy and her husband, all of which gives the DA's office ample evidence to send Troy and company to the gas chamber.
I originally saw this movie as a child in 1954 and still remember how scared I was watching the opening scene before the main credits.
I was shocked.This feature film is based on the series from the 1950s.
It's tougher than the stories that we're used to from "Dragnet 1968" and in some ways not nearly as good.
Friday and his partner, Ben Alexander, don't bump into quite so many loopy characters.
I think we'd ALL like to know more about THAT part of Joe Friday's life..
First, I need to point out that there is hardly any similarity between this film and the television series (both the original of the 1950s and the late 1960s versions of Dragnet).
Yes, Jack Webb is playing Sgt. Friday but this film NEVER would have been shown on TV when it was first made--it was way too violent and the dialog was repulsively cool.
Snappy dialog is THE reason I watch film noir and this one is among the best.
When Friday appears later to investigate the crime scene he says: "The first shot cut him in half--the second made him a crowd".
When Friday completely ignores the Bill of Rights (and all good noir cops MUST ignore the 4, 5 and 6th amendments) by harassing the man he KNOWS committed the crime,he has MANY snappy one liners.
Cool, man.Finally, after badgering this guy through almost the entire movie, the prime suspect literally DIES from being harassed!!
Jack Webb and Ben Alexander, the two television icons of "Dragnet," made this 1954 film.
This film was made as if it were for television.There are two very good supporting performances by Virginia Gregg, as the widow of the murder victim.
Also noteworthy was Georgia Ellis' portrayal of the murderer's wife, hard-boiled and abusive to police, she soon changes her ways when her husband is knocked off.We have the usual elements of police harassment, but this time it's more than justified, a witness who is scared off, thereby making the case harder to get to the guilty.When the head of the mob falls victim to cancer at the end, we can all say, "He deserved it."Speaking of the latter dread disease, the film is marred in a way by Joe Friday's (Webb's) chronic smoking.
***SPOILERS*** It's when mobster Miller Starkie, Dub Taylor, is blown to pieces in an open field in L.A proper that the Homicide as well as Intelligence divisions of the LAPD is brought in to not only find out who murdered Starkie but why.The murder investigation headed by the tough talking and take no BS Sgt. Joe Friday, Jack Webb, and his partner and faithful Tonto-like companion Officer Frank Smith,Ben Alexander, soon find an eyeball, or eye, whiteness to the murder Jesse Quinn, James Griffith.
This makes it almost impossible to have a grand jury indite Davitt as well as the person who hired him big time L.A mob boss Max Troy, Stacy Harris, who's reportedly dying of stomach cancer.Sgt.Friday together with Officer Smith in trying to break down Troy hound the dying man unmercifully day and night like a bulldog chewing on a bone until he almost cracks under the pressure.
The two law enforcers go so far as interrupt a card game that Troy is participating in where they end up getting black and blue, you should see what the other guys looked like, all over in a knock down drag out fist fight with some of Troy's card playing buddies!
Your left wondering if it was the cancer or Sgt. Frday and Officer Smith's constant hounding and harassing the guy, sometimes for 24 straight hours in two 12 hour shifts, that finished Troy off!
"Dragnet" the movie has the distinction of being be the very first TV serial to make it to the big screen. |
tt0444653 | Keeping Mum | In the opening scene, as pregnant young Rosie Jones (Emilia Fox) rides on a train, her very large trunk starts leaking blood. When questioned by the police, she calmly reveals that the two dismembered bodies inside are of her unfaithful husband and his mistress. She is then sentenced by the judge (Roger Hammond) to a secure unit for the criminally insane for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Forty three years later, in the village of Little Wallop, Walter Goodfellow, the vicar (Rowan Atkinson) is very busy writing the perfect sermon for a convention, having no idea about the problems in his house, which include the unfulfilled emotional needs of his wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) who subsequently starts an affair with her golf instructor, Lance (Patrick Swayze); the sexual desires and growing maturity of his teenage daughter Holly (Tamsin Egerton) who constantly picks up new boyfriends; and son Petey (Toby Parkes) who is bullied by schoolmates. Then everything changes with the arrival of the new housekeeper Grace (Maggie Smith).
Grace is installed into their lives and learns about some of the problems in the house – neighbour Mr Brown's nuisance barking Jack Russell terrier, Clarence, who consistently disturbs Gloria's sleep; the bullying of Petey; and Gloria and Lance's affair. Grace resolves to solve these problems in her own way. She first kills Clarence the Jack Russell, and when his owner finds out that his dog has been killed, she kills him, too. She sabotages the bullies' bicycles, injuring one of them and thereby making Petey very happy.
She catches the golf instructor outside the house one night, videotaping Holly undressing, and kills him with an iron. While Walter is preparing his sermon for the conference, Grace introduces him to having a sense of humour to his religion and also teaching him that he can still love his wife as well as God by drawing his attention to the erotic references in the Song of Solomon. As the problems in the household seem to be gradually clearing, Walter leaves for his convention.
Grace is discovered when Gloria and Holly see her picture on the television in a news item mentioning her release and previous offences. It is then that Grace reveals that she is Gloria's long-lost mother, Rosie Jones, explaining why she came to Little Wallop in the first place. Gloria argues that when having a problem with someone, one cannot just kill them. Grace remarks that this is the one thing she and her doctors could never agree on. Despite their disagreements, Gloria tries to help Grace remove Lance's body, but cannot face up to it. Over a cup of tea, the three women decide not to tell Walter or Petey any of what has happened.
When nagging congregant Mrs Parker (Liz Smith) comes over to discuss the problem of the church flower arranging committee, Grace, under the impression that Mrs Parker is about to turn them in, attempts to hit her over the head with a frying pan, but is prevented by Gloria. Mrs Parker, shocked by the murder attempt, has a heart attack and dies. Walter returns from the convention just then and sees Mrs Parker's body, but doesn't realise she is dead. Soon after this, Grace leaves the family when order seems to be restored among them.
At the end of the film, Walter is talking to Bob and Ted, the water works employees, about the pond at the Vicar's house. They say that there is too much algae and the pond needs to be drained. Remembering that Grace disposed of her victims in the pond, Gloria, with a disturbingly cheerful expression, offers the two men some tea. The film closes with an underwater shot depicting the bodies that had been placed in the pond, including the recently added bodies of Bob and Ted. | comedy, revenge, dark, murder | train | wikipedia | The rest of the cast play their archetypal characters or in the case of Patrick Swayze's caricature well.Though I was able to predict the overall plot, the story is entertaining and there is a gentle message about marital problems, the generation gap and hypocrisy.
I chuckled all the way home - think I'll go see it again tonight, as I have an "Unlimited" card, so can see as many movies as I like for 11 pounds a month.Seriously, this is not a "sweetness-and-light" comedy - it has a dark side, which is evident from the beginning, but that aspect drives the humour, because it touches feelings in us which we must restrain, but in watching the film we are allowed to indulge them.
It is not a film for belly laughs but the comedy is there, but not from Rowan Atkinson who plays the role of vicar with as straight a bat as one could wish.
highly entertaining, good black comedy.What seems like a perfect setting in middle england, with Rowan Atkinson who plays the local vicar.But all is not perfect in the family, with his wife yearning for more fun in life & his daughter getting too much fun & his son being bullied at school.The vicar has lost his sense of humour over the years.Things all change with the arrival of the new housekeeper, played by Maggie Smith.A surprising role for Patrick Swayze as the local gold pro but played well.Good fun film.
Then into her life walks an angel in the form of a new housekeeper, Grace.Thomas does very well with the central role in the film, Rowan Atkinson is absolutely brilliant as the mild-mannered clergyman Walter, and Maggie Smith is amazing as always as Grace.This is not a side-splitter comedy but it is certainly a comedy, as it deals with a number of serious issues of religion and morality with a light touch.
Real class.Kristin Scott Thomas is wonderfully funny and Rowan Atkinson is surprisingly brilliant as the ditzy, bumbling vicar because somehow he's never quite kicked the traces of "Mr Bean"!You'll be missing a truly wonderful experience if you don't hire or buy this movie - you won't be belly-laughing, but it'll certainly keep you tittering all the way through to the closing credits!.
To be honest, anything featuring Maggie Smith or Judi Dench can't fail at the Century and, as expected, Maggie steals the show as usual in this picture, with a very restrained but humorous portrayal of the mysterious new housekeeper to pastor Rowan Atkinson and his errant family.
She plays a sweet old homicidal maniac, who comes to work as a housekeeper for a set-in-his-ways vicar (Rowan Atkinson) in the parish of Little Wallop (a dinky little English village).
From that moment on the comedy is subtly woven into the plot, seamlessly lightening the melancholy mood of the characters.Rowan Atkinson is Walter Goodfellow, a genuine and lovable priest from the parish of Little Wallop.
Atkinson injects a very real sense of warmth and likability to the character, refraining from adding his usual style; while still keeping the character deliciously amusing.Kristin-Scott Thomas is Gloria Goodfellow, the frustrated and sleep depraved wife of the parish clergyman; she does a great job of capturing the inner turmoil of her character, keeping her genuine and easy to relate too, and she delivers some hilarious and sentimental dialogue perfectly.Tazmin Egerton is their daughter, she is dealing with her adolescence while her family is falling apart around her, and she performs very well, i'm quite surprised her career hasn't escalated from here?Patrick Swayze is Lance, Gloria's golf pro, he's a slimy character that you will hate with a passion, but Swayze plays him well.Finally Maggie Smith is Grace, and she was an inspired choice for the role, she captures the madness of the character subtly and forces the audience to like her no matter what she does; she really does excel in her performance.All in all the movie is consistently funny throughout, and it succeeds in feeling quite gloomy yet heartwarming at the same time, the script is brilliantly written and the characters are truly believable.
Keeping Mum. Rowan Atkinson, Kristen Scott Thomas In the sleepy little English village of Little Wallop, Reverend Goodfellow goes about his unrewarding church life totally oblivious to the problems of his family.
Other than church fete's and Sunday service nothing much happens in Little Wallop until the arrival of the Goodfellow's new housekeeper Grace Hawkins, who embarks on a mission to make everything alright in her own inimitable way.The cast is magnificent, Kristen Scott Thomas is superb as the long suffering frustrated wife and mother.
Atkinson is supremely crafted as the oblivious Walter Goodfellow, a role in which he's so natural you feel it was written for him and Maggie Smith is the epitome of a classic English comedy actress as Grace.
Keeping mum is a nice comedy which I had a good time watching it.It is not nothing memorable,but it kept me very fun.The actors fit well into their characters.But Maggie Smith steals the show.The film made me laugh on some parts and I was never bored and this film is way better than the craps of ''comedies'' Hollywood makes(for example,You,me and Dupree).Keeping mum is not the best comedy in the history of the cinema.But with its porpoise of entertaining the audience,it goes out winning.I recommend this movie as a good option if you wanna have a good time.Rating:7.
Comedy is harder than other plays, the reason why many great actors usually select to play at a mature age and both Maggie Smith and Kristine Scott Thomas support it excellent.
On the contrary, the cruel reality is that they may be encroaching many families even in a vicar's home and not only in the UK: dysfunctional but supposed religious family or figures, sexless marriage, the affair of a vicar's bored wife, the physically weak (the pregnant English Grace Hawkins and also her aged version) killing the physically strong (Lance the American) by drowning, sending a murderer to help is God's mysterious way, a murderer mother whom you have never met suddenly appears at your doorstep
Mostly these are of some heaviness in life, yet they are dealt lightly or casually in the story.
The humor is very dark but very funny as she uses her insane ways to solve the family's problems.This was a very enjoyable little film that easily could have been a lot better had they just cleaned up the language a bit and removed all the gratuitous shots of breasts.
Kristen Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Rowan Atkinson, and Patrick Swayze all appear to be trying like crazy, but they have nothing to work with.
The film's not for children but adults will enjoy it if they like British humor and if you love Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Schoot Thomas or Maggie Smith this is a must see for any fan!
To see her perform again, I would endure the risk of cringing to Rowan Atkinson on the big screen.As it turned out, Atkinson just acted well, Swayze was on Donnie Darko form and Maggie Smith was just as magnificent as ever in a role so typically easy for her.To Grace, the problems were obvious and the solutions no less so.This movie is easy to watch, nostalgic English country village life combined with "Death Wish".
I'm not sure that this film can really be classed a "black comedy." It's more like an episode of one of those saccharine family drama/comedies, "Seventh Heaven," maybe, with a little black comedy thrown in.Rowan Atkinson is actually playing a dramatic part and the closest thing we get to laughs from him is stumbling over the word "God" at a vicars' convention.
Maggie Smith (it's AMAZING how she is able to reference her earlier incarnation as Rosie Jones) is perfect, and Kristin Scott Thomas demonstrates what she could do - if this film were consistently plotted as a comedy!
It had to be thought of that way because of the uniqueness of the story.Basically the story is about a noisy dog, an oversexed daughter, a wife with having an affair, and a totally sanitized priest who has no passion, humor or what is going on with the family.A housewife comes to solve the day, but not in a manner you will expect.While the ending, I won't spoil you is not as surprising.
The family of the retiring and oblivious Reverend Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) is falling apart: his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) is lonely and looking for solace with the golf instructor (Patrick Swayze), his daughter is running wild, and his son is being bullied at school.
i went into this movie not knowing what to expect, but i like Maggie Smith and Kirsten Scott Thomas, and i am aware that Rowan Atkinson is one of England's top comedic actors.
i am also a huge fan of British black comedies, no one does it better.first off i like to say that Rowan Atkinson did a fine job playing the straight man instead of his usual, Kirsten Scott Thomas was her usual self, solid and dependable if not great actress...but the revelation in this movie is Maggie Smith.
Patrick Swayze in one of his final if not final role was a delight, this is the first time i believe where he isn't in his typical good guy roles.Rowan Atkinson is the head of his family, his wife Kirsten, and his two kids and he is also the vicar of his parish.
His wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) is having an affair with her golf pro (Patrick Swayze), his daughter (Tamsin Egerton) is a nymphomaniac and his son (Toby Parkes) is being bullied at school.
Maggie Smith is superb of course in this unusual role, as is Rowan Atkinson with his perfect comedic timing but I think that Kristen Scott Thomas was comedy gold as the wayward, bored housewife, Gloria, who's husband (the local vicar - Atkinson) had lost his way a little bit.
This was fun,the movie stands out distinctly amongst British comedies.I am very fond of comedy flicks especially British ones and i have to say that keeping mum was a great addition to my list of comedies so far.The subject touches the day to day lives of few people in a small village where the whole movie is based.The acting is superb and the story even better,British comedies show us how a film can be made to succeed with a simple background and no unusual stuff and so this film is all about that.I enjoyed watching this one & especially MAGGIE SMITH's performance which was top of the class.Never miss movies like this and so i recommend this one to all the fans..Real good stuff!!!.
Forty years later, the lives of a diffident vicar, his sexually-deprived wife and their children are turned around by the presence of their housekeeper, an elderly woman with a murderous approach to problem-solving.'Keeping Mum' resides in the populous waters of safe, feel-good middle-class British comedy films typically frequented by Hugh Grant.
Still, this is a film that doesn't like surprises - we know precisely who Maggie Smith's housekeeper (a kind of psychopathic Nanny McPhee) is from the outset, and thanks to the convention of the genre, any possible conflicts and plot twists can only have one ending - a happy one.Still, fans of feel-good cinema are not there to be drawn by originality or depth.
Keeping Mum is a 2005 comedy/crime/thriller/family drama/mystery but first and foremost, a British black comedy at its finest, subtle and the bizarre that stars Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rowan Atkinson, and Patrick Swayze.
That's when I discovered Maggie Smith and when I fell in love with her - yet every film I've seen her in, she shines in such a special way - I recall vividly the scene in that American film where she played Michael's Caine's wife and she was in LA for the Oscars and she wondered why they had to have them at 5 PM when no one looked good at 5 PM - I'm still laughing over that one!
Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith and Rowan Atkinson do very well to make an average screen-play more interesting than it deserves.
Wife of a reverend, Gloria finds her marriage boring and seeks help in the arms of another man, Lance (Swayze).Keeping Mum is a typical British film, focusing on serious issues such as marriage, religion and families.The British genre is one of my favourites.
It's a family with many issues and these issues are portrayed well, quite dramatically at points to, but as usual British cinema doesn't shy away from making its point.Maggie Smith's (Harry Potter) role is interesting and a good character for the plot.
i absolutely loved it i loved Rowan Atkinson and Maggie smith was great like always i thinks the film was great the ending was super but i would not spoilt it 4 those how haven,t watched it.
The vicar's unhappy wife, Scott-Thomas, brings an emotional flood to a almost dry desert that is Keeping Mum. The whole family is going through problems, each member with a specialty of their own, that seem to be mysteriously extinguished by the eloquently execrable new house keeper, Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith).
(Anyhow can a film with Maggie Smith and Kirstin Scott Thomas be anything but delightful?) To analyze this heavy handedly would be totally the wrong approach, its just good fun, in a way an old fashioned murder mystery is.
Whether this is considered black comedy or dark comedy, the film is absolutely awful and an insult to anyone's intelligence.When Maggie Smith leaves prison after 40 years for the murder of her husband and his lover, she goes to work for a vicar and his wife that are having problems.The vicar is an absolute bore, dull jerk.
Why people with the talent of Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas and Patrick Swayze would play in this junk is hard to imagine.
His wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas), however, is unsatisfied by her marriage and starts an affair with a smarmy and sleazy golf instructor, played by Patrick Swayze (strangely enough, he was perfect for the part).Along comes the new housekeeper, Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith), a tender and caring addition to the household, who's also a convicted murderer.
She's sort of a psychotic-but-sweet Mary Poppins who makes all the family's dreams come true
by means of murder, mayhem, and manslaughter.Atkinson hasn't been this good since Mr. Bean, and Smith is so classy and so funny that you can't help but love her, no matter how demented her character may appear.
Years late in Little Wallop, Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) is the long suffering wife of reverend Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson).
His wife Gloria (Kristin Scott-Thomas) is considering an affair with slimy golf instructor Lance (Patrick Swayze), his daughter Holly (Tamsin Egerton) has a succession of unsuitable boyfriends and his son Petey (Toby Parkes) is being bullied at school.
But Grace has plenty of dark secrets of her own and soon, her unusual methods of keeping the peace create more problems for Gloria than they actually solve...There aren't many actors who are happy to play up to their usual characters but the cast of "Keeping Mum" all do a fantastic job, adding a worrying authenticity to proceedings but the star of the show is Smith who is simply wonderful as the naughty nanny with a mysterious trunk "full of memories".
Johnson along with his fellow screenplay writer Richard Russo won the well deserved film discovery jury award for screenplay for this 90 minute wonder.It excellently en-capsules the average British family life, (but with a slight twist) ; a nymphomaniac teenage daughter with a bullied, naive younger brother, a well-meaning vicar father and a mother who is having an affair with her American golf pro and on top of dealing with all of that, trying and failing at 'Keeping Mum' out of trouble.
Maggie Smith acts her character out perfectly and keeps the humour intact and rolling well, nonetheless, she plays the same old role as most of her other films; a fragile old woman with an innermost gut and determination.
The minister, Walter (Rowan Atkinson) is a forgetful person, preoccupied with his work -- so preoccupied that he's stopped having sex with his wife Gloria (Kristen Scott Thomas) who is contemplating an affair with her golf pro Lance (Patrick Swayze).
Walter's and Gloria's beautiful older daughter (Tamsin Egerton) is a nympho and knows her mom isn't getting any, and their son (Toby Parkes) is the object of bullying at school.Grace sets about making things right for the family, but sometimes her methods are a bit questionable."Keeping Mum" is a wonderful English comedy, and the performances are superb.
The problems upsetting the family start to fade away after Grace Hawkins, the new housekeeper arrives and starts tending to matters as an older, and rather darkly mysterious version of Mary Poppins.Keeping Mum isn't a movie I'll add to my collection, but I certainly enjoyed its dark, unique style, and the cast looked to be having a blast with it.
Ah, that British sense of humour which I so miss....I honestly believe that the top billing of the film should go to Maggie Smith, and not to Rowan Atkinson.
Rowan Atkinson makes a brilliant appearance as the Reverend, although it is unusual to see him play a rather normal role and leave the funnier parts to Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas.
Remember also, it's British.Reverend Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) has what looks like a perfect, model family which however has its share of little problems - a fashion-model-looking 17-year old daughter "with a libido", a still younger son who is perpetually bullied at school and a lovely wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) who is "not getting enough".
They hire mysterious housekeeper, Grace Hawkins, (Maggie Smith, who just steals the show) who has a very interesting yet effective way to solve all of their problems...Anyway, great film, highly recommended, go see it!. |
tt1220628 | I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell | Two police officers are called to report to a domestic disturbance, with the possibility of a severe case of animal abuse. Neighbors are reporting noises which sound like an animal being cruelly abused. The police barge into the apartment and find Tucker Max (Matt Czuchry) having rough sex with a girl doggy style. The girl is screaming like an animal. The officers, assuming that Tucker is raping her, throw him onto the floor. The girl, who was just denied her orgasm, yells at the cops who shake their heads in disgust when they realize that she was making the noise because she was deaf and cannot hear her own voice.The next day, Tucker arrives at his college and meets his friend Dan (Geoff Stills) in their law class. Dan is getting married next weekend and Tucker will be throwing Dan's bachelor party along with their friend Drew. He tells Dan about how the cops burst in and interrupted the sex, while Dan notes that since Tucker screwed a mute girl last semester, he is one disabled person away from a 'Helen Keller'. Tucker laughs at that and his law professor calls him out on the fact that he isn't paying attention. Tucker boldly states to his professor (and the class) that he wasn't since he was telling his friend about how he slept with a deaf girl. The professor thinks he's joking and then begins to grill him about whether or not people suffering from dwarfism should be protected by law. Tucker easily counters the professor's argument by pointing out that midgets already have protected status. The professor then mentions a midget stripper he represent pro bono to illustrate a further point, but once Tucker hears about the midget stripper he begins making arrangements. Tucker immediately leaves to go to Drew.Meanwhile, Drew (Jesse Bradford) is in his room playing the video game 'Halo' online in his special chair when Tucker calls him. Drew continues to play, barely reacting to the fact that Tucker is coming over. Tucker arrives at Drew's door and sees a box with his ex-fiancé's belongings with the label "Take what you wish since her box is open to all." Drew was recently dumped by his slut of a fiancée, whom he walked in on "giving a blow job to Paul Wall, the Grillionaire". As such, Drew has become embittered and spiteful toward women. Tucker tells Drew to come out with Dan for his bachelor party, and Drew reluctantly agrees.At a local bar, the 'Loathsome Lothario' Tucker hits on an attractive waitress and she flirts with him back. When Dan arrives, Tucker smacks the waitress' butt and rudely tells her to leave for he says that its time for man talk. The bartender is disgusted by this and tries to cut Tucker off, but Tucker just uses the waitress to get more booze. He insults the bartender, and when the bartender tries to go and beat him up, Dan steps up and intimidates the bartender with his imposing figure. Tucker then starts to persuade his friends to change the venue of the bachelor party. He wants to go to a strip club where "there are no limits, and you're allowed to touch the strippers". Tucker tells them that it is in Salem, a town three hours away from where they are. Dan is reluctant but Tucker talks both Dan and Drew to go through with it. As they leave the bar, Tucker gloats to the bartender and yells that he fingered the waitress.Tucker drives Dan to his house where Dan's fiancée Kristy (Keri Lynn Pratt) is going through the seating chart. Kristy mentions that her mother is coming in that night which upsets Dan because Dan thinks that Kristy's parents make everything incredibly lame and wouldn't allow him to have a bouncy castle at their engagement party. He then packs to go to Salem for the bachelor party, which upsets Kristy. She asks why he always puts Tucker in front of her, which Dan points out is untrue. He lists all the things he sacrificed to be with Kristy and that he wants to have fun for once. The situation gets tense, and Tucker decides to go into the house. He notices the couple fighting and times his entrance. He makes it sound like Dan was lying about going to Salem and then promises Kristy that they wouldn't be going. He promises to have her back before she wakes up. However, as soon as they leave the house, Tucker starts driving to Salem.As they drive, Dan expresses the fact that he is uncomfortable lying to Kristy. Tucker dismisses it and the trio continues their drive. As they randomly converse, Drew starts to complain about his hunger and demands a pancake-wich. Tucker scoffs at Drew and Drew delivers a rant about how tasty the 'Pancake-wich' is. They stop and get them and continue off to Salem.When they arrive, Tucker's first attempt at finding the strip club takes them to a crappy bar. Tucker shrugs off asking for directions by stating he was drunk the last time he visited the strip club. This assuages Dan's discomfort and the trio goes to a different bar. They quickly find another bar where a bachelorette party is being held. The trio makes friends with the group of ladies, but an uptight prude consistently annoys Tucker. Tucker insults her to the point where the other ladies become offended. That, combined with Drew's constantly misogynistic remarks, drives the girls away.After leaving the bar, the trio finds the strip club. A stripper goes over to Drew, but Drew easily scares her away with his casual comments about rape, murder and child abuse. As the trio drinks and engages in debauchery, one stripper named Lara (Marika Dominczyk) impresses Dan and Tucker by not only keeping up with Drew but brutally trumping Drews misogynistic insults with her own. Dan and Tucker are so impressed they pay her $200 to keep insulting Drew. After further rounds of insults, Lara challenges Drew to Halo, and goads him into leaving the bar with her. As Drew is preparing to leave, Kristy calls Dan. She and her mother are shopping for a bouncy castle and Kristy wants to know how the bachelor party is going. As they are talking, the announcer introduces the best stripper in Salem which Kristy hears and alarms her. She asks where they are and when Dan lies, he asks Tucker to back him up. Tucker instead has Drew take the phone and Drew flat out tells Kristy they went to Salem before leaving. Dan tries to do damage control, but it is clear Kristy is pissed off.Dan starts drinking out of anger with Tucker doing nothing to help. Tucker sees a girl and goes to hit on her, leaving Dan alone. Dan starts drinking when the proprietors of the club call him over since he is the bachelor of the night. Dan drunkenly stumbles over to the stage and a bunch of girls are about to give him a special dance. They grab his pants and Dan, shocked, elbows a girl in the nose. She bleeds and pushes him off the stage and he lands on a table with glasses. The bouncers throw him out of the club and Dan walks around in a drunken stupor. He eventually gets arrested for peeing on a dumpster and mocking a policeman.Meanwhile, Lara drives Drew to her place. Before they go inside, she tells them that she has a kid. They continue to trade insults, but Drew is visibly moved when he meets Lara's 10-year-old son, Jack. He teaches him how to set an L shaped ambush and the two bond. After Jack goes to bed, Lara beats Drew thoroughly at Halo. Drew tells her that she's doing a good job raising her kid by herself. Drew explains that as a child he was sent to his room and ignored by his parents. They come to understand one another and end up having sex.Dan, in the drunk tank, rants and raves about how he shouldnt be there. In his drunken state, he tries to organize a prison riot with the pendejos. Two cops enter the drunk tank and knock him out (giving him two black eyes to match his cut face). When Dan comes to, he has crusty vomit in his hair and most of the pendejos are gone. He tries calling Drew and Tucker, but they are both sleeping after getting laid. Dan calls Kristy, but Kristy's mother picks up and when he tells her that he is in jail, she just hangs up on him without telling Kristy what happened.The next day, Tucker picks up Drew and both find voicemails from Dan. They bail him out of jail and take him to get breakfast at a local diner where Tucker regales them with the tail of how he seduced the midget stripper and went to her place and had sex with her. When Tucker lets it slip that he had never been to the strip club before, Dan loses it. He expresses the fact that he may not even be engaged anymore because of Tuckers desire to sleep with a midget. Dan attacks Tucker, but Drew breaks up the fight. Dan takes a bus back to Kristy while Drew and Tucker drive back themselves.Dan begs Kristy for forgiveness and tells her that he's sorry. She takes him back and helps him clean up, but when her mother expresses disapproval, Kristy takes a stand and dismisses her mother. With the wedding a week away, the two get right down the business. Drew asks Tucker if he has apologized yet, but Tucker says that he will do it at the hotel before the wedding.One week later. Tucker, Drew, and Dan all prepare for the wedding separately and fly out to an Embassy Suites hotel before the wedding. Drew brings Lara and Jack as his guests. Tucker goes stag.. hoping to pick up and have sex at the wedding. Tucker goes to Dan and Kristy's room to apologize but Dan doesn't think its sincere. Dan shrugs it off with a whatever and leaves the hotel room. Kristy scolds Tucker and tells him that the apology wasn't sincere and that's why he was uninvited from the wedding. Tucker asks why she's uninviting him, but she makes it clear that she doesnt care if he's invited or not. This makes it clear that Dan is the one who doesn't want him at the wedding for what happened in Salem.Tucker, clearly a bit down, calls Drew to ask to go out drinking but Drew declines in order to see if his relationship with Lara can last. Tucker goes to a bar to drown his misery. He goes to a bar where he sees a young woman talking to a turtle. He asks if it is telling her to kill the fat girl by the bar, but when she gets upset, he says: "why are you angry, fat girls arent real people?" The girl by the bar hears that and Tucker and her get into an argument. When Tucker turns his back on her and places his drink on the bar, she puts eye drops into his drink (a la 'Wedding Crashers'). The fat girl and her companion leave, while Tucker takes his drink and heads to the bathroom.While waiting in line, he notices a very attractive woman in a red dress who introduces herself as Connie (Traci Lords). They flirt and she mentions that she is married, but Tucker doesn't care and lets her drink some of his beer. They hook up in the bathroom and Tucker takes her back to his hotel room. However, before they can have sex the tainted beer takes hold. Connie goes into the bathroom and clogs the toilet with her massive diarrhea. She abruptly leaves, leaving Tucker with a desperate need to take a dump of his own.Tucker takes the elevator to the lobby and asks the manager for the bathroom. He runs in the large lobby and can't see where the bathroom is. He runs to what looks like the mens room door and sees the janitor in her office. She points him in the direction of the bathroom. He waddles toward it but only makes it half way as he starts to crap himself. He craps all over the floor until he makes it to the bathroom and clogs the first toilet. Once he moves over to the next stall, he sees that there is no toilet paper, so he uses his shirt to wipe himself. He leaves the bathroom naked and sees the janitor with tears in her eyes, looking at the crap spread all over the floor. Tucker then goes to the elevator and stares at his reflection, hoping that they serve beer in hell.The next morning, Dan gets married to Kristy. At the ceremony Dan's brother (played by the real Tucker Max), Dan's best man, gives a speech congratulating Dan. Tucker listens and then goes over and takes the mike from him and delivers a speech. He recounts the events in the lobby, and tells the crowd that he realized then that he never cleaned up his own shit before until the night before, when the maid went upstairs and made Tucker literally clean his own shit. He tells the crowd that Dan was his best friend and that he had been cleaning up Tucker's shit for a long time. He apologizes and brings the wedding parties outside to look at the large bouncy castle he ordered for Dan.Dan accepts Tucker's apology and he, Tucker and Drew jump into the bouncy castle. Afterwards, Drew calls "bullshit" on Tucker's story and Tucker tells his friends the real short story which is that instead of helping the janitor clean his shit, he just gave her money instead. Tucker then sees a hot blind girl and goes to seduce her and attain the Helen Keller. Dan says "That's my cousin" and he and Drew follow him. | comedy | train | imdb | Having read the book a couple of years ago, I followed the movie's production blog with great excitement.Tucker mentioned possible Oscar nomination for the script, more than $200M at the box office and revolutionizing Hollywood.I walked into the theater with 2 other male friends in late 20s - both lawyers, one of whom actually went to Duke.
It hints at redemption but instead sees the opportunity as a chance for another half-wit joke.On the plus side, a movie like this can serve as a useful metric for people you know and/or have just met- If they like this movie, or Tucker Max, then you'll know said person is a douche-bag..
I had a chance to hear Tucker Max talk about the movie at a screening and he seemed quite confident that it would surpass Wedding Crashers as the highest grossing comedy of all time.
If you are a huge Tucker Max fan and feel the urge to see the movie, just re-read the book.
All the clever diatribes and snipes one after another just seem like things you wish you'd said after the fact.Movies are supposed to be about escape and I just couldn't relax into a world where this guy gets away with so much crap and basically walks away unscathed, having learned nothing..
"I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" is a poorly scripted R-rated fratboy comedy based on Tucker Max's book of the same name.
The movie is based on the so-called "true" stories of Tucker Max's book.
The problem is that it is now coming out that these stories are likely not that true (and heavily exaggerated) and cinema exposes the weak storytelling of mishmashed comedic moments shoehorned into a script that is designed to glorify Tucker Max - the character and the author - at the expense of drama, comedy and internal logic.The one positive note would be the quality of the acting.
Having personally only had the "benefit" of skimming the book picked up from a bookstore clearance table, I can only judge this product as a standalone product: and it's awful.I'm tempted to blame the actors, but it's only because almost every character in the movie is just so unlikeable.
I have never seen a movie where anyone that has an ounce of integrity or shows a sign of a moral compass is depicted as the bad guy and gets brutally shot down every time.I can appreciate a good antihero; it's just that even the "worst" of them usually have some kind of vulnerability or we at least understand their motivation or there is a foil to their character to show them the way or there is a "real" bad guy to root against.
Unfortunately, the Tucker Max character is so irredeemable that by the end of the movie there is nothing he can reveal about himself that justifies his malice.This is in addition to the fact that the movie is ugly to look at, lacking the production values of most straight-to-DVD movies (which I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell should have been)..
Remember when Alan accidentally gave his friends roofies thinking it was Ecstasy
oh Sorry about that, I was accidentally reviewing "The Hangover," which is what "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" is without the funny, wit, good writing, and personality.
I read somewhere that the writer of the screenplay of this movie (and author of the book on which it was based) claimed that this film was going to be better than "The Hangover." That made me laugh more than any part of this movie did!
I have to wonder though how some guy that looks and acts like he just rolled out of bed thinks he knows how to become a screenwriter after reading books for 6 months.
My one friend who came with me to the movie said, "It wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be." I would be embarrassed recommending this film to anyone.
I still think Tucker's web site and book are pretty funny, but if you want to be entertained, don't bother with the movie version of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell..
I thought Dan's character was spot on and well drawn, while Drew's attitude may have been a little extreme, and Tucker just seemed slightly "off" somehow but overall a good representation.
If I was the director I would have spent more time telling other stories from the book to help establish the characters, and then move into a condensed version of the film as it is for the second half.
I enjoyed "The Hangover" very much and thought it was funny, but some of things that happened in it really took me out of the movie.
The story was pretty good, although I can see where people are saying it was like the hangover -- but what I don't agree with is when they said it wasn't funny.
This is not a terrible movie, but it's not very good either.I have not read the book but I have read and enjoyed the stories from Tucker's website in the past.That said I was expecting more from this movie.
I honestly think this could have been made better but cutting about 15-20 minutes out of the film - of course by then the whole thing would have been about 45 minutes long.There are some funny scenes but the rest just seems to be filler material.
The guy who plays Tucker does a great job, he's very likable and a very good actor.If you like your movies a little more intelligent than The Hangover, then see this one, it doesn't disappoint.
I read the book and was slightly more than pleased of what I had read, all while thinking "what a great movie this could be" and "maybe if a movie comes out, it may end up being one of those extremely popular, high grossing cult films that every college kid has in their DVD collection!" Pleased, the movie comes out and I have a beer in hand and ready to watch what could be the best comedy ever.
If the movie character Tucker Max is a reflection of the author then he really should get into therapy - not funny, nor a good writer.
The lighting or some of the acting may come off as very cheesy, but the exchanges between Tucker Max and people that stand in his way are quite funny.
"I hope they serve beer in hell" portrays Tucker Max the way he was meant to be portrayed ignoring what a Rotten Tomato reviewer may find funny.
Despite the guy who played Tucker being a seemingly likable guy in reality, he is so utterly repulsive in this movie (due to the script and the things he's forced to do in it) that about a quarter of the way in you don't even want to follow him around anymore.
I could go on forever about all of the reasons why this movie was terrible and simply didn't work on any level, but for the sake of the 1,000 word limit, I'll just say that by the time I was done watching this movie I actually felt bad for Tucker Max-- And then I read his last post on his blog in which he sourly admitted that the movie was not financially successful at the box office but then turned around and said that it's going to become a classic on DVD, make tons of money and "spawn sequels".
The acting is solid, nothing spectacular but the actors did a great job portraying regular characters in crazy situations.Those who disparage the movie most likely hate Tucker Max and either did not see the movie or are completely blind to a smart humor.
Even though in reality Tucker Max may be a pretentious git and 'I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell' is by no means among the best in comedy, I actually enjoyed the film.
For me the best scenes were with Drew and I enjoyed watching his love story with Lara unfold.The acting is quite good.
From Tucker Max's website; he gets excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregards social norms, indulges every whim, ignores the consequences of his actions, mocks idiots and posers, sleeps with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally acts like a raging d*ck-head, and I loved every second of it.This movie should be compared with The Hangover.
I've seen Judi Dench movies that were funnier than this.I wanted to walk out but the flight attendant wouldn't let meObnoxious, unlikeable characters with a stale, unoriginal thin plot line, and a lot of alcohol does not make a comedy.
'I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, based on the "fratire" books by Tucker Max is a parody of douchebags: the tall, good-looking, tanned meatheads who assumes every girl wants them and acts without consequence.Tucker is such a person: a self-centered idiot who uses his friends to fulfill his desires.
When Tucker abandons his friends for his own selfish needs, he is finally forced to evaluate his true nature.While 'Hell' is a fairly conventional take on the books, it's the characterisation which makes it worth watching.
This along, with the angst wit and angry humor that is often shown in the book, makes him the unintended focal character of the film.But seriously, I feel that everyone must see this movie.
Even if I ignored the horrible production values, the characters were totally unlikeable and the jokes were either out-of-date, fell flat or were just crude shock talk someone tried to pass off as envelope-pushing edginess.I loved the book, and I really wasn't expecting this film to be even half has good.
What bothers me about a well-crafted film such as this one is that audience members are so caught up in their sheltered, private worlds that they are not able to comprehend the difference between "mainstream" characters and characters that are actually realistic in their depiction.Though Tucker's character was slightly over-played, I've known quite a few people like him.
His two friends, their lives, and their attitudes also closely resemble people I have known throughout my life.Though I didn't receive consistent laughs from this film, I ended up watching it as a simple drama, and on that note, I enjoyed it quite a bit.There is a lot of attention to detail that will simply fly right over the head of the average viewer.
Everything that came out of Drew's mouth and his later love interest absolutely shocked me - I never thought a movie would actually get the real-world "geek lingo" right on the money.Of course, the average person would not understand such a fine touch as Lara saying "fear the pink mist", or Drew's use of the incredibly vulgar REAL underground slang "c**dumpster".Long story short, this was one of the best and most accurate portrayals of the real-world people it was alluding to I have ever seen.
Well I can only assume that the people who bash this movie and any other stupid humor flick are ones that can't pull themselves out of their mothers basements long enough to cry at the outside world how stupid everyone is and then directly step down off of their self righteous pedestal, and return to their self-loathing positions as the trolls guarding their morbidly obese, over protective mothers bed pan.Get off it douches, is it that hard to enjoy something without having to justify the worth of the person who's work you obviously don't and will never like.
Considering the script was written by Tucker Max, that's not right.Jesse Bradford's Drew is the highlight of the movie.
It's so hard to praise a movie that is shamelessly sexist and gratuitously dirty in its content, but somehow, some conceivable way, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is very funny.
It works on a level almost not possible because every character is fully developed, packs in urgency, and is heavy on their wit because of the great writing put behind them.The novel of the same name was written by Tucker Max, who serves as the main writer on the film.
That makes it somewhat acceptable.The story is centered around Tucker Max and his quest to give his pal Dan (Stults) a great bachelor party by going to a strip club in Salem where the "no touch" rule is not enforced.
It was as if the movie had been butchered.Loosely adapted from "The Austin Road Trip Story" in Tucker Max's book I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, the movie centers on Tucker Max (Matt Czuchry) and his buddies Dan (Geoff Stults) and Drew (Jesse Bradford).
Tucker must work to make things right with his friends so he can attend the wedding.The movie was unfunny, disgusting, bland, and overall extremely bad.
Basically I liked it all around and can't really think of a worth while fault.It's good if you want an easy going laugh, if you're going to compare it to other movies, and constantly critique every scene, then you probably won't enjoy it.
I am a big fan of the American Pie movies and while this is not up to the standard of the first 3 of those it is still worth watching.Like one of the previous reviewers I cannot understand why this has such a low rating and like her, I now rarely trust the IMDb ratings anymore.A good movie that made me laugh and I recommend it to others who want something that takes no brain power but still entertains.I found this much funnier than almost all of Will Ferrell's movies..
For many guys (especially those of college age), Tucker Max's book, "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" is something of a Holy Bible.
I had read a few of Tucker Max's writings and, whilst funny, I couldn't imagine a movie being made.The minute the character Drew opened his mouth, I knew I was going to love the movie.
I had never heard of Tucker Max when I watched this movie OnDemand.
This is basically a shock comedy with a lot of crude humor, which is fine but the dialogue is poor although it tries way too hard to be witty, although ain't going to really complain about the plot for these types of film, just wasn't good, the acting is mediocre and none of the three main characters were likable.
I do not want to give away the whole film, only suffice to say Tucker was not a good friend or even human being for that matter.
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time.
As a big fan of Tucker Max's bestseller of the same name, I decided to throw caution (a 4.8 rating on IMDb) to the wind and went to see the movie adaptation of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell this afternoon.
I figured that the movie probably was not as bad as people were saying, and that the rating on that site was probably inaccurate between the many Tucker haters/fanboys who voted (which is definitely the case, over 50% of the votes on that site are either a 1 or a 10).However, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.The movie does not do anything groundbreaking with the storyline, Tucker (Matt Czuchry) drags his best friends Dan (based on book Character Goldenboy, played by Geoff Stults) who is getting married, and Drew (based on character SlingBlade, played by Jesse Bradford) 3.5 hours away to a strip club in Salem the night that Dan's devoutly baptist mother-in-law is coming into town to finalize the last of the wedding plans, for the event that is only a week away.
I actually think he overacts at spots that makes the delivery of some of the jokes a tad awkward (an example of this is his line in the trailer where he says "if it doesn't have a price, it's probably worthless"), but most of the time he's spot on.Geoff Stults is probably the most consistent actor of the three, as Dan. He is very solid throughout, and his seen inside the jail is very, very funny.The two lead actresses, Keri Lynn Pratt as Kristy, Dan's fiancée, and Marika Dominczyk as Lara (a stripper who ironically develops into Drew's love interest) both play strong roles and help balance out the male leads, and reel in their personalities.The movie is definitely not flawless by any means.
Max's co-writer, Nils Parker, also makes a long cameo as the strip club's emcee.Overall the movie might not be the best comedy of the year, I thought that The Hangover was better, and I laughed more as I watched Transformers 2, both about how bad the movie in front of me was, and at myself for actually paying to see that pile of crap, but it was definitely worth the price of admission.
The reviews are severely underrating I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, the movie deserves much better rating as well as ticket sales compared to what it is getting.7/10..
I haven't seen a good comedy(laughing movie) in a long time.
As in reality, it takes some time to understand these kinds of people and get to know them (due to their inability to open up and make themselves vulnerable to others) - but the characters do develop and we learn a great deal about their pasts and who these people really are.You will pick out characters in this movie as people you know in your own life - the three main gents are very stereotypically boxed in their personality flaws - the intellectual too smart for his own good that can't relate to anyone - the misogynist that isn't, but can't communicate his real feelings - the narcissist that can't think of anyone but himself.
I thought was great cause I know a few people that could of been in that movie in real life.i liked the Drew characters intelligent comedy. |
tt2562232 | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) | In the opening shot, what appears to be booster rockets from a space shuttle shoot through the sky.Note: Almost everything from here until the final scene is designed to look like one continuous shot -- long takes by a single camera, edited together to look like one seamless shot, similar to Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 experimental film Rope.Interior: St. James Theater, New York CityRiggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), seen from the rear, is sitting cross-legged and floating a few feet above the floor in his dressing room. He's wearing only tighty-whities. The voice of Birdman, seemingly coming from a Birdman movie poster, taunts him. The voice tells him he's a has-been and should never have quit making Birdman movies. He hates it in this small, dirty dressing room that smells like balls.Riggan is a washed-up actor trying his hand at live theater after walking away from a superhero franchise playing Birdman. Riggan gets a video call from his assistant/daughter Sam (Emma Stone). She's at a flower shop and they don't have the kind of flowers her dad wants. He tells her to get something that smells good. She reaches for some roses as the call cuts off and he says not to get roses; it's not clear whether she hears him. Over the PA, Riggan is called to the stage for rehearsal.On his way to the stage, Riggan talks to his manager, best friend, lawyer, and play producer Jake (Zach Galifianakis), who voices concern about Riggan starring in, writing and directing a play based on Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" (a real short story). Ralph (Jeremy Shamos), one of the other actors, isn't very good. Riggan joins three other actors in a kitchen scene. They are Lesley (Naomi Watts), Ralph, and Laura (Andrea Riseborough). During the scene, Riggan looks up to the lighting grid and then one of the lights falls right on Ralph's head, knocking him out of consciousness and the play.They need to find a replacement and Jake is worried because time and money are both very tight. Lesley suggests famous actor Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), who is known to be difficult (he's available because he just quit/was fired from another project), but he'd be a big draw. She assures Riggan and Jake that Mike is interested, and when they ask how she knows him, she says "We share a vagina." Riggan goes back to his dressing room and Jake tells him to prepare for an afternoon of interviews. The interviewers are more interested in gossip and Riggan's lapsed career than they are in talking about the play. Later that night, Riggan goes back to the stage to meet with Mike.Mike is a very intense method actor. He surprises Riggan by already knowing his lines -- he learned them by helping Lesley. Mike breaks down several lines of dialogue with Riggan, makes some good suggestions that Riggan accepts, and agrees to do the play. Sam takes Riggan to costuming where he strips naked in front of her. Lesley comes in, doesn't realize Sam is behind a rack of clothes and tells Mike to put on clothes because Sam might come back and he shouldn't be naked in front of Riggan's drug addict degenerate loser daughter. Sam reveals herself and leaves. Lesley is embarrassed and yells at Mike.Laura tells Riggan that she's missed two periods and believes she's pregnant; he fakes (poorly) being happy. Then he asks if she's sure it's his. She leaves in a huff. Jake tells Riggan that Mike is way over their budget, but Riggan says he'll pay for him himself. Jake is helping the production avoid a lawsuit from Ralph by threatening to tell the press about odd porn Ralph is into.The play starts its preview performances. Mike drinks real gin on stage. The stage manager tells Riggan just as he's about to enter, so Riggan casually switches the real gin with prop gin. During Riggan's monologue, Mike realizes his gin was swapped out and he breaks the scene in front of the packed house to yell at Riggan for not committing to the performance and the characters.Riggan calls for the curtain to drop and he and Mike get into an argument. Riggan tells Mike that his heart went into this production and he "doesn't need him fucking it up." Mike tells Riggan that he's just a movie star and has no right to be on Broadway in the first place. Riggan storms off the stage and tells Jake that he wants Mike fired, but Jake points out that since Mike was brought on, pre-sell tickets have gone through the roof. Mike can't leave.Riggan's ex-wife Sylvia (Amy Ryan) was in the audience. She goes to Riggan's dressing room to see how he's doing. He tells her that he wants to refinance their Malibu home to help pay for the play. She's upset because that was supposed to be Sam's home one day. But she grudgingly agrees.Riggan tells Mike he wants to talk to him outside. Riggan says he has a lot riding on this play and he feels that Mike resents him because he's popular. Mike tells him that popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige.They walk to a bar and Riggan tells Mike that he decided to become an actor because when he was much younger he did a play and afterwards Raymond Carver sent him a complimentary note on a napkin, which Riggan shows Mike. Mike points out that it's on a bar napkin and surmises that Carver was drunk at the time, so it doesn't mean anything. Mike also asserts that previews where the actors get to know the work -- just rehearsals that some suckers are willing to pay to see -- so it doesn't matter that the previews haven't gone well. The only show that matters is opening night and the only opinion that matters is at the end of the bar. He's referring to Tabitha (Lindsay Duncan), the theater critic for the New York Times. Her review will make or break a play. On Broadway, no one cares about a washed-up movie star like Riggan Thomson. On cue, a family asks Mike if he'll take their picture with Riggan because they're huge fans. They don't recognize Mike.On his way out, Mike stops to taunt Tabitha. She asks if he's worried she'll give him a bad review. He says he knows she will if he ever gives her a bad performance. Mike also tells Tabitha that he feels that Riggan is legit.During the second preview things go better until they get to the finale, where Riggan's character catches Mike's character in a hotel bed with Lesley's character. Unfortunately, as they're about to do the scene, Mike tells Lesley that he has an erection and proposes they have sex for real on stage in front of everyone. Over her objections, he tries to have sex with her as the scene begins. Riggan's character bursts on stage and points a gun at them. Mike jumps out of bed and reveals to everyone a massive erection. Riggan continues with the scene and delivers his final monologue as the audience laughs at Mike's penis. He tells them that he realizes he's nothing now and then he shoots himself in the head. Everyone cheers and the play is finished. The cast bows and it's a success.Lesley is upset and on the way to her dressing room is heard to mutter that Mike hasn't been able to get it up in months. Riggan goes to her dressing room and tells her that she's brave and wonderful. Laura is there and afterwards tells Lesley that she's hurt that in all the time she's been with Riggan, he's never said anything nearly that nice to her. Laura and Lesley end up kissing.Riggan is still angry at Mike. Mike tells Riggan to get a better gun because the prop gun has a red tip and he doesn't find it realistic enough to intimidate him. Mike goes to the roof to smoke and runs into Sam. They play truth or dare. She comes on to him, but he reveals that the erection on stage was the first he's had in a long time. He doesn't think he could perform sexually even if he wanted to. She asks what he would like to do to her if he could. He says he'd like to pop out her eyes and see the city through her young, naïve eyes. She goes inside.The next day the newspaper runs a piece about the play. There's a front page interview with Mike where he takes ownership of the story about Raymond Carver seeing him perform and sending back the note. There's a tiny story deeper in the paper mentioning Riggan. Riggan trashes his dressing room and the Birdman poster using telekinesis. Riggan is pissed and goes to Mike's dressing room where he finds Mike tanning. He drags Mike into a cafeteria area and they fight.They do the play. Riggan sees Mike and Sam canoodling. He decides to go outside for a cigarette before his final scene. Unfortunately he locks himself out of the theater and his bathrobe gets stuck in the door. So he has to walk around the block to the front of the theater, through the crowds in Times Square, dressed only in his underwear. He reenters the theater and takes the stage from the back of the house (still in his underwear) and walks through the audience pointing his finger like a gun. A crew member hands him a prop gun and they finish the scene.After the show, Riggan goes to the bar again and runs into Tabitha. He takes a drink over to her and starts to tell her the story of the Raymond Carver napkin. She says she doesn't care. She's going to bury his play tomorrow because she has no respect for movie stars who want to pretend to be real actors. He tells her he is an actor and she corrects him by telling him that he's just a celebrity. She leaves and he downs the martini he bought for her and walks out, leaving behind the cocktail napkin with Carver's note.Riggan gets drunk and passes out on a stoop, with his head on a bag of trash. The next morning he wakes up and starts walking down the street with conviction. The voice of Birdman has now taken form as the Birdman character walking with Riggan. It tells him that he doesn't need this play. He should go back to Hollywood and make another Birdman movie. Everyone would love it and he'd make a fortune. Riggan imagines the city street turning into a scene of a big blockbuster action movie with explosions, helicopters, and giant robots. He returns to reality and goes up to the roof of a building. A man comes out and asks him to come away from the ledge. Riggan does. The man asks if he's okay and if he has somewhere to go. Riggan says he is ok and knows just where to go -- then he turns, runs and jumps off the building. He flies through the city like a superhero, goes back to the St. James Theater, and goes inside.On the way in he passes a cab and the driver is mad that Riggan didn't pay him. The driver follows Riggan inside and comes out a minute later.Riggan runs into Sam, tells her she's doing a great job and asks her how life is treating her. They have a heart to heart talk. She puts dashes on toilet paper and explains that they taught her that in rehab. Each dash represents 1000 years. One sheet is the span that humans have been on earth. The rest of the roll represents how long the planet existed. It puts it all in perspective. He tells her that this play is his chance to finally do something that's important. She tells him that he doesn't understand. This isn't important. He's not important. None of this is important. They're a dash on a sheet of toilet paper.Laura tells Riggan that he doesn't have to worry because she's not pregnant. Sam and Mike have sex in the rafters above the stage.It's opening night. Riggan's dressing room is full of flowers, but they're almost all roses, which he dislikes. Sylvia stops by to wish him luck. Riggan reveals to her that on the night she caught him cheating on her, he went out to the ocean to try to drown himself, but kept getting zapped by jellyfish, so he dragged himself back to the shore. (She remembers that at the time he told her he got sunburned.) He says he has to do this play tonight because it's a chance for him to finally do something right.After she leaves, Riggan pulls a real gun out and goes to the stage. He delivers his big monologue about how he realizes hes nothing and then he shoots himself in the head for real. The audience is in shock and then everyone except Tabitha gives it a standing ovation. Tabitha slips out, presumably to meet her deadline.The rockets fly through the air again.Jellyfish lie on a beach.In Riggan's hospital room, Jake tells Riggan and Sylvia that the play was a huge success. He has Sylvia read from Tabitha's review, which says Riggan has inaugurated a new era of theater called Ultra-Realism. It's suggested that Riggan didn't know the gun was real -- Tabitha's review is headlined "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance" (the subtitle of the movie). Jake says Riggan shot off his nose but now has a new one.Sam brings Riggan lilacs, flowers he likes, but he can't smell them. Sam takes a picture of Riggan and says she's posting it on his Twitter account, which she just created for him. She leaves to get a vase. The bandages on Riggan's face cover the same area that the Birdman mask covered. He goes into the bathroom, takes off his bandages, and looks at himself in the mirror. His nose is bruised and swollen and he has two big shiners. He goes back into his room and sees birds flying outside the window. He opens it and stands on the ledge. When Sam returns, Riggan is gone. Sam looks out the open window to the ground, but apparently doesn't see him. She looks up into the sky and smiles. | comedy, dark, psychological, violence, alternate reality, magical realism, psychedelic, satire | train | imdb | It seems to me that the majority of moviegoers who have chosen to review here are only capable of viewing a movie at face value.This movie is clearly a satirical look at Hollywood and the constant need to remain relevant in the entertainment industry.I will admit that the film does appear unnecessarily "artsy" in places, but some Hollywood actors love being unnecessarily artsy as they think it gives them depth.That was the entire point of this film, for Hollywood to turn the camera on itself and expose all of it's own crap.What I took from this film is what I have always felt about Hollywood, which is also what I love about it.
Whilst viewing 'Birdman', I spent the first hour of the film trying to decipher my emotions and opinions towards it, what I was watching was a weird, yet wonderful work of art.
Michael Keaton has generally been undermined as an actor (despite a few notable roles as Batman or Beetlejuice) and has instead faced Hollywood picking more acclaimed and popular actors, 'Birdman' however might just be his ticket to an Oscar nomination, and possibly even a win, his performance is mesmerising.
Alejandro González Iñárritu has created a truly spectacular character study that arguably features this year's strongest acting performances, alongside a well- executed script, booming soundtrack and a monumental achievement with cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki in which he attempts a Hitchcockian approach, reminiscent of 'Rope', and displays the story through a seemingly single and unbroken sweeping shot.
Not to mention some of the transitions and dolly shots are just damn impressive.Even though many movies are yet to come out this pre-Oscar season, I feel it is safe to say no other casting ensemble will come close to the performances given in Birdman.
Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Stone, Ed Norton, Amy Ryan, and every single other actor in the production execute their roles with professionalism that most movies are lucky to see in just one of their actors.
If you step into a movie theater once this year, let it be to watch this film.
Alejandro's clean smooth directing really states a new canon in the way a movie is conducted, I was blown away with Michael Keaton's perfect performance and the rest of the cast did well around him.
I had never seen this kind of genre called "Magical realism" as well as in this movie, it really submerge you inside the head of the main character and the brilliant drum-based score helps to explain the situation by the minute.
I know that this kind of movie is not for everyone, some people said that it is boring, pretentious, over-the- top, strange, difficult to understand, hideous.
I think we've all been exceptionally good this year because Christmas came early with Alejandro González Iñárritu's masterful "Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)," an experience that you won't soon forget.
From its pristine writing (by Iñárritu, Armando Bo, Nicolas Giacobone, and Alexander Dinelaris), to its carefully constructed direction and cinematography, to its genius casting and performances, "Birdman" is just a dream of a movie.The movie tells the story of Riggan (Michael Keaton), a washed up actor who used to play a superhero icon called Birdman.
With problems from one of his very method actors (Edward Norton), assistant daughter (Emma Stone), emotional co-star (Naomi Watts), overly sexual girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough), flamboyant producer (Zach Galifanakis), and loving ex- wife (Amy Ryan), Riggan prepares for the breaking point of his career."Birdman" is so damn enjoyable and one of the most entertaining films in years.
At a time where movies feel like they have to choose to between comedy and tragedy, Iñárritu's beauty works on us from the inside-out.
The story of an actor persecuted by the role that made him popular, "Birdman", and pressured by the willing of proving himself on stage with his new play.The characters in the story are all struggling with something: Sam (Emma Stone) with her drug addiction, Mike (Edward Norton) with his sexual problems, Lesley (Naomi Watts) with her self- realization and Michael Keaton with love.
The originality of the cinematography, though, may have sacrificed the storyline."Birdman" certainly needs to be seen more than one, but likewise certainly it's going to be one of the greatest movies of the year.
The film is centered around a play (an adaptation of Raymond Carvers short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love", if you haven't read this: it is great).
Above all, Birdman's all star cast featuring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Zach Galifinakis propel this film to greatness, telling the story of a has been actor, Riggan, who was once known for a comic book franchise from yesteryear as he struggles to regain the stardom he once had through an off Broadway play.
I fully expect the film's Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki to score a Best Cinematography nomination come Oscar time.
With that being said, Birdman features amazing performances including a jaw dropping turn from Michael Keaton, along with some of the best cinematography I've seen in years.
It is sad but commercial cinema rarely takes chances anymore and art films are now usually more into the experimental and shock factor than actually trying to innovate a way to tell a story.
He is a genius and I feel privileged to be able to enter his mind if even for a couple of hours.All in all Birdman is astounding to watch and a movie that MUST be seen in cinema if only to appreciate the art of its film-making even more.
I don't know what type of film the preview was trying to make "Birdman" seem like, but it's not anything like I thought it would be.Inarritu, the editors, and the cinematographers incorporate a style of editing which would have been impressive without any plot whatsoever.
That's when I thought "oh, so that's it really?"In short, nothing much happened in the story and this movie was just a huge disappointment, don't waste your money or time.Oh and another thing, the scenes shown in the trailer were mostly the only interesting scenes in the movie, other than that it was very lame.
There's a wife, there's a daughter, there's a movie critic, there are some fellow actors and there are some incidentals including Keaton's "best" friend.
This is basically the story of a Hollywood actor who is perceived to be the "shallow celebrity" type proving himself to be a true stage artiste by giving up everything and fully committing himself to his "craft." The movie's filled with self- referential, unfunny inside jokes about the film industry.
If you like imaginative, challenging, and visually stunning films that deal with ego, passion, love, weakness, insecurity and redemption, this is worth your time.Unfortunately some subplots are completely forgotten and character arcs begun but not finished, but there is so much rewarding here to be found these are mostly forgiven shortcomings.
It was Hollywood's overindulgence to itself.I am glad Michael Keaton got a chance to star in a movie but his acting was so over the top.
What the whole world keeps forgetting is that the Oscars were created as an "inside joke" where Hollywood could promote itself and congratulate itself and the rest of the world would watch because of the stars.Boy do we love those stars.More recently Hollywood has spawned a new tradition of awarding films which are teeter-tottering at the box office, knowing the Oscar will drive them into profit.It is all about the money.
This movie is full of great actors doing a good job at performing a terrible, boring, and offensive script.
Now Birdman is Iñarritu at his best: one of the most irritating directors of all time.Worst movie I've seen in a few years.
The lesbian scene is thrown in there for no reason at all, Norton's character doesn't develop enough and we never really find out the background of the relationship between Keaton's character and his wife and daughter (I can't remember any of the character's names, that's how much I cared about them).As far as I can see, the reason for the rave reviews must be down to the unique filming technique with all the long takes which is different to anything I've seen before, (even though there is more than one occasion where somebody fluffs their lines but it was left in the final cut anyway), and the acting which, to be fair, is very good.
Going viral is everything, right?People giving this flick high ratings are hipsters that think they 'get it' and who are afraid their peers won't like them anymore unless they love this film written and directed by an 'exotic' new voice.
If you haven't worked in the field of the Arts, this would be like watching a plumber install a toilet in a single take, 2 hour film, while showing you all the day to day problems a plumber might face.
Its an exercise in powdering the collective b@lls of the Academys voting panel, and will no doubt be the talk around the dinner tables of the industry elite and Film Noir intellectuals , while they consume copious amounts of fair trade espresso.The next installment will be about the day to day battles of the AA voting panel, and the mental agony involved in voting for a winner each year.If you really want to watch a movie that shows you the agony and ecstasy of working in the arts, submerse yourself in a mighty film called - Whiplash.As for Micheal Keaton - watch Johnny Dangerously.
Like me for instance, I'm no actor, but this film makes me want to fly (and not in the RedBull way).
Like that moment, _Birdman_ consists largely of hyperdramatic dialogue, delivered caustically, and without an obviously redeeming purpose.That doesn't mean I'm blaming the actors; I think they work at a high level in fulfilling the director's vision.
You felt the realism of the emotion.I couldn't help think this was more of a showcase than a film.It like someone got a really dire script and challenged the actors to try and make it into a good film.As so many people have voted this film on the acting I am voting on the entertainment value.1 - awful.When you find yourself appreciating the fact that they skillfully removed the camera from the mirror shots, I think it's time to admit the film is just not that gripping.Sorry guys.PS: Pioneering technique with a single fluid shot?
The film critic scene alone.., describes the entire reason for this movie in regards to the director.
There is a scene in "Birdman" where Riggan Thompson (played by Michael Keaton), who is trying to direct and star in his Broadway adaptation of the Raymond Carver play "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love", walks towards the front of the stage and talks about love, what it is to be loved, and how we all crave that.
These really emphasise how good the acting is in this film, be it a monologue by Emma Stone as she rants at her dad, a take that involves Michael Keaton walking in just his underpants through Times Square, or a scene where Keaton and Edward Norton rehearse on stage.
I waited until I could watch the movie for free, because I was very reluctant to waste money on yet another "Academy-worth" piece of crap and I am very happy I saved my hard-earned money.The joke is twice on the audience, because the other theme explored by Birdman, besides narcissist actors, is audience stupidity.
Not being the sort of person who cares about superheroes movies, I was nevertheless annoyed by the fact that the public of said movies is vilified by this piece of elitist crap.It is difficult to point out what I disliked most about Birdman, since I hated everything: the overbearing drum soundtrack, characters shouting their lines, the smugness of the whole concept, the patronizing dialogs, etc
I do not even think Keaton was so great in it.Finally, it is depressing to notice that the number of movies I want to walk out from is increasing exponentially.
Before seeing the movie I'd watched all of Keaton's interviews about it on YouTube and I have to say I saw an actor pleased with his part and acting.
It was about doing something meaningful.I liked the idea of actually fighting our dreams and figuring out our own way of doing things, and how our lives are all beset by regret and lack of support until we actually come to peace with ourselves.Keaton's performance is amazing and he took the role at the right moment.
Films like this is why the Movie industry is having a hard time to get the viewers .
Birdman's strong albeit bizarre dialogue and impeccable slapstick timing on one hand hark back to the works of the American screenwriter and playwright David Mamet, particularly Glengarry Glen Ross, while on the other, it strongly reminds of the films like Barton Fink and The Player in that it deglamorizes Hollywood while exposing its hypocrisies.The movie tells the story of a washed up Hollywood actor—once famous for playing an iconic superhero called "Birdman"—as he battles both his inner demons and outer enemies in a desperate attempt to reinvent himself as a Broadway director by staging a new adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story called "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love".Birdman offers a nice blend of realism, surrealism and magic realism.
At one point in Birdman "or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)", Michael Keaton as 'celebrity turned serious actor' Riggan Thomson rants at a vicious New York Times critic Tabitha (the excellent Lindsay Duncan – – "About Time"; "Dr Who: Waters of Mars") about how all critics lamely fall on "labels" and "comparisons" to describe their subjects, never getting to the guts of how the art made them actually FEEL.
'Birdman' exits the guy with an "accident", but unfortunately that introduces a cuckoo into the acting nest in the form of famous actor Mike (Edward Norton), who risks completely upstaging Thomson with his theatrical brilliance.This introduction leads to one of the best laugh-out-loud lines of dialogue so far in 2015: "How do you know Mike Shiner?" asks Keaton; "We share a vagina" replies Watts.Again with this introduction, we see art imitating life, since Norton's performance (particularly in the first reel of the film) genuinely does risk outshining Keaton, despite all of his Oscar hype.
Any of the things that were potentially good about the film were utterly wasted on a pathetic story and characters I couldn't care less about.
I kept waiting for something to happen and redeem the film but when it was all over I just felt like I had been covertly forced to read People magazine for two hours after avoiding it my entire life.Best picture?
I must admit that I decided to give this movie a chance mostly due to some good actors starring in it, plus I assumed it would be kind of like a parody about the superhero genre.
and you, common people, must watch this movie standing up and applauding all the time, because if you don't, then any self-important movie critic will tell you that you don't understand art cinema!" The old story of "The Emperor's New Clothes" keeps happening again and again.
So, if you watched this pretentious crap of a movie, then don't be afraid to admit that it made no sense, that it wasn't any kind of art, that you actually wasted time.
Really another movie that makes you trying so hard and waste your time trying to get into the head of a director with an idea that just him and some pretending Reviews(5 stars and more)can understand ..
I just have to warn people out there, please do not watch this stupid movie, actors like ed Norton are wasted can you believe that ?
Thing is IT WAS NOT FUNNY!If you like this art-house pretentious type of movie (anything with Edward Norton in basically), you will like this garbage.I half expected one of the Wilsons & Bill Murray popping up in cameos as they are want to do in this genre of film.I'd contain spoilers, but there is NOTHING to spoil, as spoiling implies there are good bits!Instantly forgettable Prententious GARBAGEAVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.
But not really his fault, I suppose -- his character was much like the movie: boring and annoying.I want movies to entertain me and/or make me think about life.
This film is full of great actors doing a good job of acting, but they're in the middle of a story that goes nowhere.I wanted the movie to explain itself but it never did.
Michael Keaton, who was known for playing Batman in the late 80s and early 90s, is cast here as Riggan Thomson, a washed-up Hollywood actor, once famous for playing a superhero Birdman character in the movies, now making a comeback on Broadway, acting in an adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story.The entire film is shot as if it's one long take in a cinema verité style.
The only reason I give this film one star is because of a short scene between Keaton as actor and Lindsay Duncan as Broadway theatre critic were she attacks him as a Hollywood invader of the "High Art" of Broadway and he attacks her for just being a labeller of theatrical types.
great performances by all actors ,Michael Keaton is pushing the limits here (in a good way), Emma Stone and Naomi Watts are sharp and enigmatic , and Norton is kicking like it's 1999.
Well done Hollywood for making a trailer look like this could be a good film, great way to get people into the cinema.
A piece of art, but not a good movie to watch..
It appeals to the life of actors, producers, directors and people in the film and theater industries. |
tt1692504 | Wir sind die Nacht | The film opens with several images of three young women. The images date further and further back until ending in the late 18th century.In a private airplane, the people and the pilots are dead. The only survivors, three young women, are the obvious killers. The leader of these women finds an air-hostess still alive. After examining her eyes, she breaks her neck and the women jump out of the plane, allowing it to crash into Berlin, Germany.The next day, somewhere in Berlin, a young 18-year-old drug addict and petty criminal, Lena, lurks near an ATM cash dispenser. Just as her victim has used the machine she pickpockets his credit card only for the victim to be arrested by the police. A police officer, Tom, chases after her and eventually catches up with her on a bridge. After a short conversation, he tries to arrest her but Lena hits him in the face, kicks him between the legs and jumps off the bridge onto a passing boat. Lena returns to her home, a large high-rise apartment block where she lives with her drug-addicted, alcoholic mother who is flirting with her parole officer.Later that evening, Lena goes to a nightclub. Everyone in line for the club is being examined with a hidden camera by one of the women from the beginning, Louise. Upon seeing Lena, she orders the guard to let her in. Inside the club, Louise dances with Lena and offers her a drink. She asks where Lena's friends are, but Lena replies she does not have any. When Lena goes to the bathroom, Louise follows and bites her on her neck. Freaked out and seeing that Louise casts no reflection in the mirror, the terrified Lena runs home. When she awakes in the morning, the sun burns her, forcing her to stay inside. That night, Lena returns to the club to confront Louise about what has happened. She meets Louise's two companions, the silent brunette Charlotte and the cheerful redhead Nora. Although the word is never said in the film, it becomes clear that Louise, Charlotte and Nora are vampires.The girls sell the angry and confused Lena to a Russian pimp as a prostitute. Louise plans for Lena to kill the wicked man to ease her transformation. Lena is locked in a room. When the pimp comes in to rape her, she is overwhelmed by vampiric blood lust and attacks the pimp. In the struggle, she stabs him with a broken light bulb and tries to escape but another pimp shoots her with a shotgun. The three other vampire girls return to kill the pimps before setting them ablaze. They fail to notice one mobster hiding in fear. Before leaving, Nora steals one of the mobster's Lamborghini.When Lena awakes at the hotel, Louise gives her a glass of what appears to be blood. As Lena drinks, she feels her strength return. Louise takes care of Lena, removing her dirty and torn clothes and showing her to a bathroom where a bath is waiting. After closing the door for some privacy, Louise tells Lena the story of how she was changed 280 years ago at a masked ball. At first she hated her maker (a woman), but grew to love her after traveling throughout Europe and getting to know all the benefits of vampire life. After her maker was burned (killed by sunlight), Louise wanted to commit suicide to join her, but instead began searching for a new companion. Louise then settled with and turned Charlotte and Nora as her two new companions/lovers. As Lena bathes, her short hair grows and returns to its natural color, her ear and nose piercings fall out and she loses all scars, bruises and wounds (including a tattoo on her belly).Now fully embracing her new life as a vampire (mostly due to finally leaving her life of poverty behind her), Lena spends a night shopping, partying and having fun with her three new vampire girlfriends who give her the stolen Lamborghini as a gift. As they party, Lena notices that Charlotte longingly staring at a pair of baby shoes. Charlotte also exhibits several signs of depression and engages in acts of self-harm, among other things burning her own eyeball (which immediately heals).During a dinner at a local restaurant, (the vampires can eat and taste food, but it does not satisfy them), Louise tells Lena that there are no male vampires currently in existence, because as the male vampires grew arrogant, the females grew tired of their superiority and killed all of them with the common promise to never turn a man into a vampire. Nora also reveals to Lena that she first met Louise at a Gay Pride Love Parade of 1997 where, after a one-night stand, Louise bit and turned her. As the night comes to an end, the four vampires return to their hotel to perform their morning ritual: allowing the first rays of sun burn their skin but retreating inside before any lasting harm can be done. Charlotte stays outside longer than the others, but retreats before catching fire. As they settle into their individual coffins for the day, Louise deeply and passionately kisses Lena, which startles and confuses Lena who bites Louise's lip in response. Louise interrupts herself and goes to her own coffin, where she begins cursing her hastiness.Meanwhile, Tom uses a file on Lena to find her home address. The next night, Lena returns home to visit her mother who has not even noticed her absence. As Lena leaves after saying goodbye to her mother, Tom sees her, but almost does not recognize her due to her different color hairstyle and new fancy clothing. He tells Lena that she could go to prison for violating her 18-month probation for auto theft if he arrested her for stealing the credit card, but says he won't because her victim (Wasja) used women. The two have coffee and talk, but when Lena suddenly sees Louise approaching, she uses her Lamborghini to retreat to the vampire's nightclub.At the club, Lena finds Charlotte in a private room where Charlotte (finally speaking for the first time) tells Lena that she was a silent movie actress in the 1920s and that she had a husband and daughter. However, Charlotte was ashamed at herself for she was a closeted lesbian in denial of her sexuality until she first met Louise who turned and encouraged Charlotte to abandon her family to settle with her new life. Louise enters the room and asks Lena why she is acting different. Lena lies that she misses the sun, so Louise takes the girls to an indoor swimming pool area called Tropical Islands Resort that has artificial sunlight allowing them to have a pool party "in the sun". Two night watchmen find the girls and ask how they managed to get inside. Nora convinces the men to join them in the pool where she quickly kills off one of them, but as water slows the vampires down, the other tries to escape. Charlotte kills this man in a sadistic manner, slicing his throat with a piece of paper which causes him to die slowly and painfully. Lena flees the scene in terror.Meanwhile, Tom and his partner, Lummer, interrogate the surviving Russian mobster van Gough who says that "the devil" killed his friends and stole his Lamborghini. As van Gogh describes it Tom realizes that the stolen car is the car he saw Lena drive.Nora awakes with a bellboy she had flirted with (making it known that Nora is actually bisexual). She tries to wake him, but realizes she killed him when they had sex. Nora breaks down in tears as the other girls come into the room. Louise shows her that the SEK (German SWAT unit) is invading the building. Charlotte says she will stall them while the girls make their escape. The vampires have special cars with tinted windows to protect them from sunlight if they ever had to escape during daylight. Lena and Louise take one car while Nora drives alone. The police, who think the girls are simply dangerous criminals, are slaughtered by Charlotte. Tom enters the room looking for Lena and manages to shoot Charlotte before she attacks him, causing her to fall out the window and to the ground. As the sun starts to burn her skin, Lena and Louise manage to get her inside their car. Nora crashes into a car and is thrown into sunlight. Police open fire at the other car letting in sunlight on the vampires. Unable to save Nora, they drive away as Charlotte looks back at Nora burning to death and screaming in agony. The roof of the car is ripped off by a roadblock and the girls crash into a subway to escape the scourging sunlight.The three remaining vampire girls (Lena, Charlotte and Louise) hide at the abandoned Teufelsberg (The Devil's Mountain) where Louise has kept cash. Louise angrily blames Lena for leading the police to them and for Nora's death. Now wanted by the police, the girls prepare to escape to Moscow to make their new home there. Before leaving, Charlotte demands to see her elderly daughter.At a local retirement home, Charlotte sings a lullaby to her dying daughter whom in her last moments recognizes her mother. With a whole day before their departure flight to Russia, the girls return to their hideout to perform their morning ritual. As the sun rises, Charlotte locks Lena and Louise inside and allows the sun to kill her. Louise screams at Charlotte to open the door as she and Lena break down into tears as they hear Charlotte's dying screams.Lena goes to Tom to say good bye and show him who she really is (She forces him to shoot her and the wound heals in front of his eyes). Lena begins to cry while Tom holds her and they fall asleep. Lummer, who has suspected Tom of having some involvement with the girl since the hotel attack, has the SEK invade the building. Lena almost kills the policemen but is stopped by Tom's plea, leading to their arrest and incarceration.Louise goes to the watchmen while they're in the shower and kills them (director Dennis Gansel plays one of the cops getting killed). After that she asks Lena how she will manage to live with Tom, a human, because he will die in 60 years or less while she will never age and then she'll be alone. Louise kidnaps Tom, and Lena follows her. The sun is rising when they meet and Louise finally says to Lena, "I love you". Lena (who is really straight) tells Louise that she loves her back. Louise says that that's the most beautiful lie she's ever heard and shoots Tom. Louise and Lena have a fight and Lena throws Louise out a window into the sunlight, where she dies with a peaceful smile on her face. Lena runs to the wounded Tom and wants to bite him to make him a vampire like her so they can live together forever, but stops, kisses him and begins to cry.In the final scene, the SEK troops arrive with Lummer. Lena and Tom are both gone with no trace other than Louise's gun. Lummer looks outside and sees something the other policemen and the audience don't. Lummer whispers "good luck" and walks away from the scene. | dark, gothic | train | imdb | null |
tt2908446 | Insurgent | Picking up shortly where the first film, 'Divergent' ended, Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) sends a message to every faction in the city. She says that after the war, peace seemed unattainable. Now, she feels the opposite way, and that peace can be achieved so long as they purge the city of their one enemy - the Divergents. At the same time, Jeanine's men go to the Prior home in Abnegation and retrieve a box with a symbol of each faction on it, holding what is believed to be a message from the founders of the city. They need a Divergent to unlock it.Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley) runs back to her home in Amity with her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) and lover Four (Theo James). She approaches the residents of Amity, but they all stand away from her. Tris sees her parents Andrew (Tony Goldwyn) and Natalie (Ashley Judd) bloodied, and Natalie says that Tris killed her and all of the people around her. This is only a nightmare. In reality, Tris is adjusting to Amity with Caleb, Four, Peter (Miles Teller), and Four's father Marcus (Ray Stevenson). Four remains distant from Marcus, despite how much he wants to talk to his son.During lunch, Tris talks about wanting to go back to Erudite and kill Jeanine to prevent more deaths from happening. Caleb argues that this is a bad idea. Peter makes a comment on not getting Caleb killed, just like how Tris got her parents killed. Enraged, Tris attacks Peter with a knife, cutting his cheek. The leader of Amity, Johanna Reyes (Octavia Spencer) calls Tris to her office, saying that her presence in what is supposed to be a peaceful community is distracting and that they may be asked to leave. Johanna warns Tris not to let her want for revenge get ahold of her. Then, a team of vans, led by Eric (Jai Courtney) and Max (Mekhi Phifer), comes bursting through the gates, hunting for Divergents. Tris, Four, and Caleb hide in the office, but Peter rats them out, forcing them to make a run for it. The soldiers aim their guns at them, and Marcus stands in their way, leading to him getting knocked out as Four watches. The three evade the soldiers and make it down to the traintracks. Four holds the soldiers off and just manages to jump over the tracks before the train hits him.The three hop the train and encounter a large group of Factionless people led by Edgar (Jonny Weston). They violently attack the three after Edgar almost pushes Caleb off the train. In self-defense, Caleb ends up beating one Factionless to death, horrifying him. They stop attacking when Four says his name is Tobias Eaton. Knowing who he is, the Factionless take the three to their leader and Four's mother, Evelyn (Naomi Watts). She explains that she faked her death when Four was six because Marcus was too abusive, but she regrets leaving her son behind. Her plan is to unite the Factionless and Dauntless to fight back against Jeanine and her forces. Four refuses to have any part in his mother's plans.That night, Tris is sleeping with Four, when Evelyn appears in the doorway. She sits by the bed and asks Tris if she thinks he will still love her when he realizes what she really is - deadly. Tris then sees Four bloodied by her side. It's another nightmare.The next morning, Tris and Four head to Candor, but Caleb heads in another direction. In Candor, Tris and Four reunite with the surviving Dauntless, including Christina (Zoe Kravitz) and Tori (Maggie Q). Christina asks Tris if she's heard from their friend Will, unaware that Tris had to kill him in his hypnotic state. Tris says she hasn't heard anything. Tris and Four are then apprehended and brought before the Candor leader Jack Kang (Daniel Dae Kim). He doesn't believe that they are truthful in what they say about Jeanine issuing the attacks and then framing them for crimes she committed. Four convinces Jack to let the two of them stand trial.Four is injected with a truth serum and stands before the Candors. He tells them how he joined Dauntless to escape his father's abuse and that he planned to join the Factionless until he fell in love with Tris. Tris goes up with the serum in her, but the more she resists telling the truth, the more it pains her. She then admits that she was responsible for the deaths of many, including her parents and Will, to the shock and anger of Christina.Back in Erudite, Jeanine is testing Divergents out to see who can unlock the box. She has a girl put in a simulation, but the girl dies. Jeanine determines that a particularly special Divergent must be brought to complete the task. Peter comes in and swears loyalty to Erudite. He tells Jeanine the best way to get Tris to give herself up is to play to her humanity.Tris stands on a rooftop where she is approached by a young man named Uriah (Keiynan Lonsdale). He engages in pleasant conversation with Tris when Eric and his soldiers invade and start shooting the Candors with a sim serum to the neck. He has people lined up and starts to scan them to see which Divergent it is that they need. Eric scans Uriah and sees he is 10% Divergent, and he executes him. Eric then scans a little girl who is 40% Divergent. Before he can shoot her, Tris pushes him over. Max comes over to scan Tris and sees she is 100% Divergent. Four shows up and fights Eric, bringing him to his knees with a gun to his head. Eric asks if Four can live with killing someone the way Eric already has. Four shoots him in the head.The sim serums activate on Christina, a young boy, and a girl named Marlene (Suki Waterhouse) as they stand over a ledge. They chant in unison for Tris to turn herself in or more will die. The three of them move closer as Tris and Tori run to rescue them. Tris grabs Christina and Tori grabs the boy, but Marlene falls over to her death.Four returns to Factionless to join his mother's cause against Erudite. A guilt-ridden Tris decides that she must turn herself in to Jeanine if she wants to prevent anymore deaths. Once she gets to Erudite, she is immediately taken in and brought to the sim room.Caleb, having rejoined Erudite, meets Tris in the sim room before it commences. He claims it is selfless of him to allow his sister to risk herself for the good of many. Tris is stuck with multiple wires and must go through a simulation of every faction to unlock the box. Her first test is a Dauntless sim. She is in the ruins of the city where she sees her mother in a building. The building catches fire, and Natalie calls Tris for help. Tris runs to her as the building starts to float into the air. She grabs a pipe and climbs to the top. She falls off briefly but manages to catch up and climb into the home to grab onto her mother. After she passes this, she must go through the Candor sim, which involves a sim of Four breaking her out with others behind him. Tris gets a gun and faces Peter on the floor. She spares his life and keeps going. She then realizes that Four isn't real, and she passes the sim. She also passed the Abnegation sim by sparing Peter's life. Tris starts to lose energy, and Jeanine reluctantly allows her to rest up before continuing.When the tests continue, Tris is put in the Erudite sim, which puts her in a building as it explodes. She flies and falls back several hundred feet and smashes into the ground. This causes her to appear dead, to Jeanine's frustration. Peter brings Tris's motionless body to Four, who reacts angrily toward Peter. Tris then gasps a breath of air, and Peter leads Four to attack the guards, now helping the heroes out.Peter gets into the computer system and lets Tris complete the final sim, Amity. She is forced to fight herself, as she is the one person she hates more than Jeanine. Sim-Tris taunts Real Tris over the deaths of her loved ones, but Real Tris knows she will eventually be able to forgive herself. After she passes this, the box is unlocked. Everyone sees what the message is - a woman (Janet McTeer) says that everyone in the city was part of an experiment to see if humanity can continue to thrive, and that the true saviors of this world would be the Divergents, so if one were to unlock this message, it would mean everyone is ready to go beyond the walls of the city. Knowing this would eliminate her power, Jeanine orders the box to be hidden from everyone, and for Tris and Four to be executed. The Factionless army then invades, seizing Jeanine and the box.The message is played throughout all the factions. Everybody starts heading toward the walls and outside the city. Tris is seen as a hero for leading them to a new discovery. Meanwhile, Jeanine watches from the window in her cell as everybody advances beyond the city. Evelyn comes in behind her. Jeanine says that after 200 years since the city came to be, she wonders what could be out there. Evelyn tells her she'll never find out, and she kills Jeanine with a bullet to the back of the head. | suspenseful, murder, stupid, violence, revenge, flashback, good versus evil, action, romantic, sci-fi | train | imdb | And after seeing Insurgent, that sadness was justified.Robert Schawkle or whatever his name is did an awful job making the 2nd book into a movie.
This movie strayed so far from the story in the book, title should be Insurgent Undone.They even had a bigger budget for this film, yet made it shorter in length, cramming scenes in with minimal creativity and almost zero character development.
This movie is so terrible that it inspired me to write my first review on IMDb. Which is saying something, being that I also saw After Earth and this is my 1st review.The dialogue hurt my ears, Woodley and James acted as if acting as actors who had no idea what acting was, the action sequences were weak at best, and then they wrap it all up with a predictable safe ending.Basically, if your IQ contains 3 digits, run from this movie.
The good old days where if you went to see a movie set in a dystopian future where a corrupt government put its citizenry in peril on a whim, it was rated R because it contained great special effects, gritty foul language laced dialogue, and contained adult themes.
At its lead is a young man or woman who bears unique traits, like or ; they are the only hope for a democratic future as the ruthless government will do everything they can to deter change.If you haven't guessed it already, I have just written the formula for creating a brand new Hunger Games/Divergent series (or run-of-the-mill video game at worst).
The Hunger Games films smash the box-office along with audience and critical expectations; the Divergent projects, on the other hand, limp along in comparison, looking like a crowd of Jans attempting to be one big Marcia.As much as I knew the first Divergent was manipulative formula that told me that things were more urgent than they actually were, I liked it.
The first time around, we were just starting to get used to this new (yet somehow familiar) dystopian world, but in Insurgent, we've adjusted ourselves, and like someone who's lived in the same house for thirty years, flaws become much more apparent than they were before.Divergent ended with leading heroine Tris Prior (Woodley) hastily escaping the murderous government after a violent confrontation that left the Divergent hating villain Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) with a knife in her hand (a constant reminder, as Winslet dons a distractingly large bandage).
Now in hiding with love interest Four (Theo James), her brother (Ansel Elgort), and a recent ally (Miles Teller), Tris is trying to regroup; as a rose in a sea of white daisies, she is Public Enemy #1.Meanwhile, Jeanine finds herself in the possession of an ancient box that was hidden centuries ago by the creators of the Faction system.
This is a film for young teenage girls (I went with my 14-year-old sister, after all), and if I look or act anything like a teenage girl than I sincerely apologize.Insurgent doesn't quite suck, but boy is it dull.
It makes me feel sorry for all the people who spent their time on the special effects, which look great, but unbelievably poor plot just destroys the whole experience, especially after so great first movie Divergent.
Although the special effects are traditionally on a very high level, the poor plot together with the shallow adaptation of potentially very dramatic and epic scenes makes me feel like I should have skipped this movie and rather consider Divergent as one complete story without any follow-up..
Beatrice "Tris" Prior (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James), Caleb (Ansel Elgort) and Peter (Miles Teller) are hidden at the Amity facility but out of the blue, Eric (Jai Courtney) and his men arrive to hunt them down.
"Insurgent" continues shortly after the events of the first movie, having Jeanine finding a box that can only be opened by a Divergent and searching for all the Divergents (Which was previously shown in the trailers.) and also discovering that not all Divergents are equal as some Divergents are better than the others and obviously, the latter was Tris.Honestly, I was surprised that I liked this better than the first since I knew that I had lower my expectations for it because I knew that the first one was horrible and also because I had no faith for the new director "Robert Schwentke" who's known for R.I.P.D which was absolutely awful.
I know that movies don't follow the books very well, but I enjoyed Divergent and could not wait for Insurgent.
Their safety is not to last for long as Jeanine commences a thorough search of the land combing for Divergents, as one Divergent is the key to opening a mysterious box that holds profound answers to their society.As a narrative, Insurgent reeks of plot filler and seems completely lacking in merit of beings its own novel and film.
Insurgent is fine but will most likely end up being the weakest film in the franchise, at no fault to the actors or director who all do an admirable job.Please check out our website for full reviews of all the recent releases..
Kate Winslet owns every scene she is in with her strong screen presence.A new director Robert Schwentke (known for previous mainstream hits like "Flightplan" and "RED") took over from Neil Burger (who directed "Divergent").
"Insurgent" is the 2nd Movie in the "Divergent" Series based on the popular trilogy of dystopian future novels.
Like a number of recent film series based on novels, the last book, "Allegiant" will be split into 2 movies, released in 2016 and 2017-I hope for better- 2 ½ out of 4 Stars, 7 out of 10 Stars..
It's faster and more action-packed than ever, filled with thrilling chases and inventive visuals."Insurgent" follows Tris (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James), and the others on the run from Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) who is hunting divergents (you'll need to see the first one to know more).
Miles Teller, Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, and Ansel Elgort brought light to characters as best as they could in their restricted time frame.Now the film wasn't perfect.
At least you felt like you were getting a complete enough movie in itself here not chopped off when things started getting interesting.Naomi Watts is attractive as a brunette and though she looks too young to have a son of Theo James's age, it's just so good to see her on screen.
This time I'm impressed with Shailene Woodley's work and the fact that the movie seems to be better than most YA book to film adaptation that I've been experienced lately.
However, something I've realised with book to film adaptation whether it's Divergent, Twilight, The Mortal Instrument, Hunger Games or even 50 Shades of Grey; all of those come with a very strong and opinionated fan base.
Some of my friends who read the books told me that there are a lot of things happening in the movie that are not in the book which can be viewed as a little chaotic but don't worry if you're already a fan of the book you're going to enjoy the film as you'll be already pumped for it.
Overall the best part of Insurgent is Shailene Woodley, her character and the emotion she gives to her, how good her performance is and the fact that the director did a really great job at filming the action scenes..
It's an exciting mix of action, romance, and politics, well put together by the writers, and even if you haven't seen the first movie or read the books, you will still enjoy this thrilling ride.
Tris (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James) and the gang are now outlaws and on the run from Jeanine (Kate Winslet), leader of Erudite faction.
She ends the first film on the run with her brother, Caleb (Ansel Elgort), Peter (Miles Teller), who is her Dauntless classmate and bitter rival, and a young man who calls himself "Four" (Theo James) and is her Dauntless instructor and newfound love interest.The "Insurgent" story picks up just days after the story in "Divergent" ends.
All this is a way of saying that this second film of "The Divergent Series" builds very well on the story of its predecessor and doesn't waste any time establishing an identity of its own.As great a job as the first film did highlighting the importance of being yourself, "The Divergent Series: Insurgent" writes that message as if with lightning.
It's pretty much an action film and one that looks great.Once more, the lead character, though a very good actress, is not very believable when she floors men twice her size in hand to hand combat.
Following the events of Divergent, Tris is on the run with Four(Theo James), Caleb(Ansel Elgort) & Peter(Miles Teller) from Jeanine(Kate Winslet), who is the twisted leader of the Erudite faction.
I will say it didn't bother me at all later in the movie, but it was quite funny and awkward to see Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, and Theo James all with Shailene Woodley on screen together, considering they have each been a film love interest.The main problem with Divergent was the screenplay.
Insurgent is the follow on from the film Divergent based on the books by Veronica Roth.
Insurgent is the follow on from the film Divergent based on the books by Veronica Roth.
As a fan of the books I have always stood by them, however I loved this idea of 'The Box'.The basis of the film is that Jeanine (Kate Winslet) is trying to find all the Divergent to try to open a box that is believed to contain a message from the founders of the faction system.
While she's doing that our main characters Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) are on the run from the whole system, staying in the other factions trying to keep safe.
in the book there is also no mention of 'the box' but in an interview, Veronica Roth stated that the idea of 'the box' combines most of her favourite scenes within the book.Don't get me wrong I really did like the film, I think it is amazing and I love the whole story but, I just came out of it feeling confused because I had already read the books and they are nothing alike.
"The Hunger Games" was lightyears ahead of "Divergent," and every film in the "Hunger Games" series to date is still better than "Insurgent," but it seems like this Shailene Woodley led series is heading in the right direction.
The main characters are Beatrice "Tris" Prior (Shailene Woodley), Four or Tobias Eaton (Theo James), Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet), and Caleb Prior (Anslet Elgort) who is Beatrice's brother in the movie.
But I hope in the third one Tris doesn't die like she does in the book.I think that they did an excellent job with insurgent.
I don't know what it is but I feel like Hollywood is trying to make her the new Jennifer Lawrence and I don't endorse that idea.But....I had to see the sequel and let me say, this movie does not disappoint.
Aww, but it is a pity that they cut her beautiful hair short for the movie!All in all, Insurgent is a must-see if you liked Divergent and a good follow-up to it, but only gives you what you "should" expect instead of what you really expect..
I do like good movies worth re-watching though, and this film does not leave me wanting more.
Insurgent continues right after the ending of the first movie, with Tris and her companions looking for refuge from the attacks of the Erudites commanded by Jeanine.
Like they are showing off so you feel good about spending money to watch this in a movie theater.
I will start by saying that i'm a absolute fan of the books, Insurgent being my favorite, so I was very excited about the movie, which I wouldn't say is bad but definitely not what I was expecting.
We all know that movies are never going to be exactly like the book and you can understand some stuff has to be left out in order to fit it into two hours, but that doesn't mean change everything.
It's not a bad movie at all, I actually enjoy it and my friends who haven't read it found it to be great, but as a fan of the book I couldn't stop comparing and was kind of disappointed because I expected to be more truth to it....
I like hunger games but lets be honest, the last one was so not that great.I love Theo James and shailene woodley chemistry so much and their acting its spot on, this is was a fantastic film...
haven't read the books, so cannot say what it supposed to be like.Don't listen to the critics, but lets face it if our job was to "critic" movies, then we would be always looking at ways of how to criticize something HEAVILY just because we can.Don't over analyse it...
I think I like the first director more because this one throw out some really important scenes and the end is a lot different and I hate thing that the relationship between Tris and Four in the movie is perfect but in the book it has its ups and downs.
'divergent' was such a great movie because it properly balanced action with the story.
My wife wanted to see "Insurgent" now, even though I tried to persuade her that it's never a good idea to watch a sequel in a series where the original is already just so-so.
This is not a bad sequel, I quite enjoyed it, but I think I liked 'Divergent' better.
Here we go again , having another science fiction movie that based from the best selling novel just like The Hunger Games and Maze Runner.Honestly i don't know what to expected from Insurgent and that's from a lot of reason , first off the Divergent ( 2013 ) movie last year is not exactly a good movie i mean it's not bad but it's not good or memorable either , second is the director which now is Robert Schwentke personally i really like his RED ( 2010 ) movie but i'm also really really hate R.I.P.D ( 2013 ) i mean i don't even know why Lionsgate decided to choose him , since his latest movie is really terrible.Insurgent is a movie that has a lot of problem for sure but there's three positive thing about this movie that i have to say.first is the CG of this movie is pretty good , second is Shailene Woodley is still giving us a great performance and the last one is director Robert Schwentke himself looking pretty okay with his directing.But in the end Insurgent has too much problem that just drag this movie down a lot and that problem is the screenplay which is terrible.I understand the reason they have to change stuff from books to movie but this screenplay is really really bad , first off the movie is really over the top i mean our main character is basically she can jump slide smash thick glass without putting much effort and that's making the movie kind of a meaning less because the main character can do pretty much anything she wants without much of a problem.the second problem and probably the biggest , is the repetitive of the plot and screenplay especially if you watch this science fiction movie lately like The Hunger Games or Maze Runner ( 2014 ) you can pretty much guest everything about this movie especially the ending which is really really predictable and it's not even that smart either.I mean i don't even sure that the Insurgent movie problem because this problem is a lot about these science fiction movies that came from novel , it is just so similar in a lot of ways that just makes me kind a boring about these type of movie and i don't think Hollywood will stop this train soon (especially the next movie of Divergent series is separate into two parts) so we will have to hope for a better science fiction that based from best selling novel movie.To be fair Insurgent is not a bad movie but it's just so repetitive so predictable and the characters is too powerful that just make everything in the movie meaningless ..
I am not going to say too much about it actually, because if you have not read the books like me, you won't know the plot until you see the film.
With bad casting and story, nothing is left for viewers to watch.This movie has great CGI works.
I really wish, great CGI works come along with great memorable story, like in "Life of Pi", but not this kind of worthless film.So, movie makers, time to get new ideas..
This second installment of the Divergent series is an action packed film with a great display of emotions from the entire cast.
In the end, Insurgent was much better than the first movie but still had bad dialogue and a complex plot.
I am such a big fan of Shailene Woodely that I was actually looking forward to "Insurgent" despite not liking "Divergent".
Let me start off by saying that I was very skeptical when I bought the tickets of insurgent because their were a lot of bad reviews for insurgent on IMDb and I thought that divergent was bad because they couldn't get tris' character right, anyways, I went to the cinema and I got the tickets and I watched the movie, and I think they did a better job of it then the book deserves.
Shailene Woodley and Theo James returned for the sequel and again, they played the characters to tee, I really felt like these two were meant to play Tris and Four before the book was even set to be released on the big screen. |
tt0454824 | Flyboys | World War I began in Europe in 1914, but by 1917, the United States had still not entered the war. However, many brave young American men went to France to fly and fight for the Allied powers. They joined the Lafayette Escadrille fighter squadron. The Germans had better planes, weapons, and pilots. The average life expectancy for a fighter-pilot was three to six weeks. Why did these Americans volunteer to fight in France with certain death when their own country was not at war? This was a time when men were idealistic, but naive to embark on a great adventure. Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) was forced to leave his home in Texas after the family ranch was foreclosed by the bank. Blaine sees a newsreel of fighter-pilots in France and decides that he has nothing to lose. Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) can't do anything right and is shamed into joining by his rich father. African-American boxer Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) had been living in France, a racially tolerant country, for many years, wanted to give something back to his new country. These Americans were under the command of French Captain Georges Thenault (Jean Reno) and American Squadron Leader Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson). Douglas Young (the-movie-guy) | revenge, romantic | train | imdb | These men had a sense of adventure and romance of war, and they believed in "dying with honor." The movie uses a composite of these qualities of the actual pilots, and yes, there really was a black pilot in the squadron.
I think the writers could have used the real pilots' stories and names, and it would have been a better movie by giving credit to those young men.
The film makers could have added a red scheme to the planes but left a portion olive drab and blue underside, it still would have made the Germans distinctive without being clones of Manfred von Rictoffen.The dogfights are fun to watch and are fairly exciting, however the planes fly highly unrealistically at times.
In the end, that's what this story is about, and the love story, the individual pilot lives fade into the background.Still, it's worth noting, one of the movie's best moments is the denouement where we learn what happened to the Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille, those who survived.
(It probably would have cost nothing to do it right.) A short list would include: Nonexistent aircraft in 1916 such as the Fokker Triplanes (all of them red except the black one!), Sopwith Camel, SE-5, and Bristol Fighter.The concept of training pilots to fly in a combat squadron is of course absurd but the director apparently thought it necessary as a plot device.French airmen learning to fly in a British airplane (Sopwith Strutter) is equally absurd.For the real hair splitters, the Gotha and some triplanes have the straight-edged Balkan crosses that appeared two years later.
In 1916, a group of young American volunteers join the French Air Force under the command of Captain Georges Thenault (Jean Reno) to fight the Germans in World War I.
This sets you up with anticipation that the filmmakers have developed this film aiming for authenticity, recreating what it was like to be the first fighter pilots in the first modern war.
For the first time films makers have the tools with CGI to truly accurately portray the visceral effects of WWI dog fighting to put the audience right back into the thick shell smoked 1916 western front.However they fall VERY short of the mark because through their obsession with their aerial money shots, they seem to have forgotten the human story of the true horrors of combat and what it does to the human soul.
The filmmakers have also made no effort to research their period, without creating any spoilers there is some truly ludicrous almost James Bond like action set pieces that take away all sense that you are watching a realistic war film.
The bi-planes might as well have afterburners and laser beams and fly into space, the film wouldn't be any less believable and probably a lot more interesting.This is nothing more than a boys own story; where the first casualty is truth or realism.
This isn't one of them.Don't know why I'm posting this as it coming this late no one will be reading this, but I've got to get this off my chest because I've heard so many people say great things about this movie and I'm not just a little disappointed.
The young men who flew them became the first fighter pilots and a new kind of hero was born." The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Among them , Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) , Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) , William Jensen (Philip Winchester), Beagle (David Ellison) and Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson , Reed was mainly inspired by Raoul Lufbery whose personal insignia is an eagle's head surrounded by the words "Je Vois Tout" meaning "I see all") , the leading flying ace of the Escadrille Squadron (similarly to film , the real Lafayette Escadrille actually had a pair of lion cubs as mascots).Spectacular dogfighting , colorful scenario , all-star cast and memorable acting .
Special mention to Abdul Salis whose character of Skinner is based on the Escadrille-pilot Eugene Bullard, an American who has gone to France and worked as a boxer there, he was also a son of a slave, just like Skinner .Rousing aerial scenes spectacularly staged , though in excessive use of digital effects , being the first movie to motion capture planes.
Seriously, this movie is just a piece of expensive trash.Only thing really worth looking is probably the beautiful scenes of nature and nice places & people around.
In this movie, it doesn't matter if pilot rises or drops plane, it doesn't lower or raise his speed a bit.And there's a terribly stupid scene with protagonist's gun jamming while enemy is at gunpoint.
But why is the chosen topic war and why not skip all that lousy plane thing, just make another movie about nice nature and love?And why, oh why did director do strange attempts at discussing something serious, like racism, social classes, mourning, war refugees, etc?
It seems to me that in my past readings of world war one German aircraft that the Fokker triplane was a plane that was given only to the better aces ( or those pilots who were very wealthy ) because they were difficult to fly ( but could out turn allied planes).
A truly exciting movie from the standpoint of action and special effects.An older film called The Blue Max starring George Peppard was very authentic to the aircraft used in World War One..
I was curious to see how a World War One flying film would benefit from CGI, but I was unprepared for the sheer sloppiness of historical detail and lack of dramatic imagination that afflicted FLYBOYS.
To see where all the clichés came from -- and to see them portrayed much more convincingly -- I would suggest checking out the three finest World War One flying films ever made: (1) Howard Hughes' HELL'S ANGELS, which contains some horrid acting but is breathtaking for its sheer spectacle and 1930 technical achievement; (2) Edmund Goulding's DAWN PATROL, from 1938, with Errol Flynn and David Niven as the quintessential, stoic flying dead men of the RFC (and with incredible aerial footage from the first DAWN PATROL, directed by Howard Hawks in 1930); and (3) John Guillermin's THE BLUE MAX, from 1966, an imperfect but gorgeously photographed film with interesting characters, some impressive aircraft reproductions and flying sequences, and a great Jerry Goldsmith score..
Flyboys is set in the area of the Great War 1914 - 1918 and the hope of getting historical information presented in a nice movie with detailed characters was very high on my side.
Sadly the 'flying scenes' which were billed as amazing were less than an early version of a basic flight simulator from the 80's with lazy animation, every German plane being a red tri-plane (easy to copy for the cgi boys I guess) flying in ways that defy the laws of physics let alone the ability of the aircraft of the time.Save your money, I could go on about the romance but it's too bad to mention, how anyone funded this script is beyond me, even more sadly this film was released, which shows what a terrible situation there must be in the US industry at the moment.Watch something else instead..
Despite the knowledge of knowing that the Germans had better planes, weapons, and pilots, as well as the life expectancy for a fighter pilot being only three to six weeks, they trained for two months under the command of French Captain Thenault, played by Jean Reno and the guidance of veteran Reed Cassidy, played by Martin Henderson.
Half of the movie is about war and screen time is spent on the fighting scenes and training camp.
Let's be real, people mainly go to see these war movies to be awed by the combat scenes; that's what will really grab the audience's attention.
It is hard to imagine someone making a bad film about the world's first fighter pilots, but they managed to pull it off with Flyboys.
It has all of the textbook ingredients of a disastrously botched war film cheap special effects, moderately talented actors (except for the wasted talents of Jean Reno, who towers over the rest of the cast as though they were children), a stupid, stupid love story, and a director who could theoretically design exciting dogfighting scenes if he had the right special effects department and technology (which he doesn't) but who can't direct actors to save his life.I say that he can't direct actors, by the way, because every actor in the film seems to deliver a performance distantly below his or her potential (most notably Jean Reno and James Franco).
The movie as a whole is a disjointed mess, alternately swapping from intense aerial fight scenes to moody, contemplative in between scenes, where soldiers get drunk and mourn their fallen friends and sometimes discuss the meaning of life and death and battle and war and camaraderie and love and whatnot.What is really disappointing about the movie is that the dogfight scenes are by far the best thing that the film has going for it, but they screw it up by allowing pilots to fly alongside each other and give congratulatory nods to each other after each kill, and of course the leaders of each side have time to fly in circles and give each other dirty looks before trying to shoot each other down.
And it doesn't help that they try to force this preposterous romance between Franco and a French girl, whose 9-year-old nephews try to teach her English, yet all she can get out is "How you are?" Maybe it's because I'm an English teacher myself, but it always drives me crazy when I see movies that feature characters who don't speak a word of English, then after a few shots of them practicing a line or two or reading from a book, in the next scene they speak nearly perfect English, they just keep their accent.
At least the movie attempts to right the romantic wrong in the closing credits, but that doesn't change what we've seen so far.The film does have its moments, the first 30 minutes or so are fairly entertaining, but overall it is a big-budget B-movie, at best.
My only real criticism is for people who made movies like Pearl Harbor, and Alexander who have an agenda of putting their lifestyle into the characters so we end up with a effeminate Alexander eying what looks like Howard Stern in drag or a couple of Jet setters out of the bar circuit in Hollywood acting like they are 1955 teenagers in a 1943 war movie as in Pearl Harbor with a leading lady who is right off the real TV date shows, juggling 2 Bo's.
It reminded me of the classic silent movie, Hell's Angels.As for the planes themselves, I was thrilled to see an S.E.5a, all the Nieuports (11's & 17's), Gotha and Hanley-Page bombers and even Bleriot's flying machine in the introductory scenes at the aerodrome, though why the plane that Louis Bleriot made the historic first crossing of the English Channel with in 1909 would be found at a combat airfield seven years later I have NO idea.
I have been a pilot since I was 16, and flying is something quite important to me, and I was so hopeful that this would be a decent film about some incredible young men on both sides of this terrible war.
But, as luck would have it, my wife brought it home for me one night so I thought I'd give it a go.As everyone knows, the story surrounds members the Lafayette Escadrille who volunteered to fly for France before America's entry into WW IYep, it's full of all the usual clichés and stereotyped characters, but I'm here for the planes so I don't care; I'll put up with it.
Sometimes, the film is even better than I anticipated....and that's the case here.I thought it was a classy film: beautifully photographed, with interesting characters, excellent action scenes in the air with the World War I bi-planes and tri-planes, and a subtle and sweetly-told romance.
However, he was still the main target.The aerial-battle scenes are very good, probably the best-ever shown on film but with today's ever-improving cameras, techniques, special-effects with computer knowledge, it's no surprise the flying scenes looked so good.
Later on, events with her (I don't want to give details away for those who haven't seen it) allow us to see how the movement of ground troops is affecting the people, and changes the type of action.Therefore, while the romance itself lent a greater depth of empathy to our main character in several ways, the character of his girlfriend enables the film to move in directions it would otherwise have been unable to explore.So there :-b ;) Liana.
Since the movie is historical in nature, getting some of the history right would have been nice.The biggest problem I saw was the German Air Force.
According to the movie, however, every plane in the German Air Force was the Red Baron.There is tremendous literature on this, including the Journal of Richthofen himself, his brothers' writing, even Goerring, who commanded the squadron at the end of the war, explained this.There are other problems, including the performance abilities of the planes, which look good on film, but would not have happened in the air..
I'm sorry that this film was not successful at the box office, for director Tony Bill and his massive crew do a fabulous job of storytelling, and I am proud and unashamed to add it among my favorite war movies of all time.
Flyboys is a WWI action/drama inspired by the Lafayette Escadrille, a French Air Service squadron comprised largely of American Soldiers.
But the way it's put by him and in the newsreel at the beginning of the movie (the scene is complete with women tearing up at the carnage on screen, but apparently not horrified at the idea that their own men could be dragged into that foolish and horrifying war) makes it sound like an unarguable, everybody-knows-that-now point.
As a pilot of 27 years experience and an avid aviation history and aviation movie viewer, I had to cringe at the "Hollywood-ized" treatment of the story of the Lafayette Escadrille...meaning that historical accuracy takes a back seat to special effects and old-formula war movie routine.
Many of the events in the film do reflect, in fact, episodes from the history of the Lafayette Escadrille, a fighter group of volunteer American pilots formed at the time of the Battle of Verdun (early 1916) to fight for France.
Rather than preach one way or the other about atrocities or necessities of war, Flyboys simply sets out to give us a brief glimpse at a forgotten group of heroes from a war that Hollywood has neglected for the past 40 years, all while entertaining audiences with a unique look at the aerial combat that military and aviation historians have come to call "the last gentleman's war." If you want a more in-depth historical study regarding the events portrayed in the film then I'm sure there's a documentary or two out there.
Not to mention the 1950's Hollywood Indians, dressed up to represent the German Army in this case, and nearly every stereotypical war movie dialogue cliché that you can think of.Add to that really good looking CGI aeroplanes that, however, perform impossible manouevres; a story that's so poorly written that it's flatter than Norfolk; no character development whatsoever; acting so poor that it's laughable (especially James Franco who has the dramatic ability of a spoon); a complete disregard for anything historical about the Lafayette Escadrille except the name, and a complete lack of historical research then you have this terrible mess of a film.I gave it 2 out of 10 because at least they tried to make a film about a neglected subject, but this film falls so far short of any of its objectives, especially that of being entertaining, that it's as if the last 50 years of film-making had passed the director and crew by without being noticed.
Especially for us men who enjoys a good war film.
First of all, it makes you feel like a little boy again, when you nudged your friend beside you, and said, "that is my favorite fly-boy".The movie doesn't have that usual Hollywood crudeness, and it actually lived up to its historical counter-part..
I can imagine what this film might have been...however, I sadly saw what it actually did become.Not sure why every German fighter plane was red....or was a Fokker Dr.I. Cliché-ridden interactions between underdeveloped characters followed by often silly, and improbable action scenes - ie.
Prior to the US entering WW I (The Great War) it appears there were some Americans who went to France to fly bi-planes against the Germans.
They are part of a fighting unit new to the whole world - the aerial combat unit.From the very first scene to pretty much the last this is a movie that is good for entertainment.
The plot of the movie is quit exciting, but the end can be guessed, if you are fond of military films and war history.
Flyboys is the story of some pilots in the Lafayette escadrille, WWI, and their exploits, with historic and flying accuracy..
"Fly Boys" is an exciting movie portraying the flying exploits of volunteer American pilots in the Lafayette escadrille of France during WWI.
After you start the first air combat scene, you really get a feel for what these pilots went through.Basically I really like the action.
FLYBOYS is a pleasure to watch - going back into World War I history that deals with actual events yet takes the time to introduce unforgettable characters and romantic situations while giving the viewer a spectacular view of the first flying fighter planes. |
tt0020668 | The Bat Whispers | The Bat has struck again, making off with a priceless necklace even after warning the police that he would rob the safe at precisely 1 a.m., after which he intends to go to country in order to give the police a rest. On his way through the village of Oakdale, the Bat notices someone robbing the Oakdale bank. Intrigued, the Bat follows the robber, who leads him to the old Fleming mansion.Inside the Fleming mansion, Cornelia van Gorder [Grayce Hamptom] and her ditzy maid Lizzie Allen [Maude Eburne] are discussing Cornelia's decision to rent the house for the summer. The big old house is a scary place, and Lizzie doesn't like the strange sounds, the strange caretaker [Spencer Charters], and the strange stories he tells about seeing ghosts in the house. Add to the fact that the Bat has taken to the country, and Lizzie is terrified of everything and anything. She's even gone so far as to set a bear trap outside her bedroom window, just in case the Bat decides to pay a vist. When Cornelia's niece Dale [Una Merkel], who works at the Oakdale Bank, returns home with her boyfriend Brook Bailey[William Bakewell] and tries to pass him off as a gardener, Cornelia is immediately suspicious (Cornelia: Any experience with alopecias? Brook: They dry up if you don't water them.), but Cornelia hires him anyway, at least until she can find out why Dale has brought him home.A rock suddenly comes crashing through the window. A note on it reads: Get out of the house now while there is still time. Immediately thereafter, Dr Venrees [Gustav von Seyffertitz] drops by to inform Cornelia that the Oakdale bank has been robbed of a half million dollars and that Fleming, Sr, the owner of the mansion, is returning from Europe so Cornelia will have to vacate the house. Then, a heavy painting moves, and a voice from behind warns them to get out of the house. Becoming concerned, Cornelia phones the police. When Detective Anderson [Chester Morris] shows up, Cornelia explains her suspicion that Fleming, Jr [Hugh Huntley] is trying to frighten her out of the house, possibly because he rented it to her while his father was out of the country. Nowthat his father is returning, she thinks he may be trying to frighten her into leaving.Soon everyone begins acting suspiciously. The doctor unlocks the broken window and "forgets" to relock it until Cornelia relocks it herself. Alone in the parlor for a few moments, Venrees unlocks the window again. Brook starts going around the house pounding on the walls. Dale phones Fleming Jr and asks him to come over. When he does, he brings a blueprint of the house so that they can locate a hidden room. Before they can find it, he is murdered, and Dale hides a piece torn from the blueprint under a tray. A storm is approaching, and the lightning knocks out the electricity. Someone phones from the garage, but when Det Anderson goes out to check, there is no one there. Detective Jones [Charles Dow Clark] arrives to help with the investigation. Dr Venrees finds the torn piece from the blueprint showing that the hidden room is behind a fireplace, but Det Anderson forces him to hand it over. When Anderson is poring over the blueprint, Venrees clobbers him with a heavy statue and locks his body in a closet. In the lightning flashes, the silhouette of the Bat can be seen peering into the window.It gets even more intriguing. Brook turns out to be a cashier from the bank and the primary suspect in the theft. Fleming Sr is seen walking on the roof when he's supposed to be out of the country. Dale finds the secret room behind a fireplace and gets locked in, along with the Bat, Mr Fleming Sr, and the money. The Bat shoots Fleming Sr. Dale escapes and leads Inspector Jones, Cornelia, and Dr Venrees to the secret room. Just as the fireplace swings open, Venrees blows out the candle, allowing whomever was in the room to escape. Finally, Inspector Anderson figures it out. Dr Venrees and Fleming Sr robbed the bank together and hid the money in the house. Anderson arrests Venrees and locks him in a closet.A strange man suddenly stumbles into the room. He's been hit in the head and is suffering from amnesia. He remembers only that he tried to phone from the garage. As they search the secret room for the money and find nothing, Cornelia thinks that she sees someone out on the roof and Anderson goes outside to catch him. Shortly thereafter, the garage is set afire. The amnesic man grabs a gun and orders everyone to be silent. The fire was set to get everyone out of the room, he explains, and the person who set that fire will be back shortly to get the money. They blow out the candles and wait. The Bat enters the house. The amnesic man points the gun at the Bat and orders Inspector Jones to disarm him. Just as they prepare to remove the black hood from the Bat's face, the Bat creates a distraction by knocking over a chair and escaping...right into the bear trap that Lizzie set so many hours ago.The Bat has been captured. They remove his hood to see that it's Detective Anderson. The amnesic explains that he is the real Detective Anderson, but he was clobbered in the garage by the Bat, who took his IDs. But the Bat isn't ready to be captured. While he extols his great intellect, he pulls out a gun he found on the ground and forces everyone to put up their hands. Only Cornelia refuses. I took the bullets out of that gun only ten minutes ago, she says. Everyone jumps on the Bat, and the gun goes off. Cornelia was lying!As the movie closes and the curtain falls on the stage, the Bat drops down from the ceiling. Chester Morris, who played Detective Anderson and the Bat, then addresses the audience. He asks them not to reveal the identity of the Bat to anyone and promises that, if they keep the secret, the Bat will not haunt their homes, steal their money, or frighten their children. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl] | melodrama | train | imdb | West filmed The Bat in 1926 as a silent, with great success.
(Being willing to "go with it" is pretty much a necessity in general for this film, which was a wild and unrealistic ride in its time, and deliberately so.) The photography benefits from a number of technical innovations, including a lightweight camera dolly invented for this production that allowed the camera to be moved 18 feet vertically in a matter of moments.
She had made one previous film in 1916 and made numerous subsequent ones, usually in bit parts, until she was nearly 80.) Her no-nonsense dowager centers the film perfectly, keeping the other characters (and performances) from plunging completely off the deep end.The plot?
It's an excellent Old Dark House movie, complete with thunderstorms, secret passageways, a mysterious creature named "The Bat," comedic elements, a large old house, several murders, etc.
This is pure pulp from start to end.The Bat Whispers, is in many ways, a forerunner to today's gigantic comic book movies.
Everyone behaves as though they had a case of first night stage jitters--and the supposedly comic moments are painfully obvious and tainted with smokehouse ham.But aside from the theatrics of some of the cast, this is an entertaining and truly spooky old dark house kind of comedy-mystery that was so popular during the '30s and '40s.
It is worth seeing alone for the atmospheric sets and photography, especially considering that this was filmed in 1930 when sound itself was only two years old.Only Chester Morris among the performers delivers a really credible performance acceptable by today's standards of acting.
The others are way over the top--including Una Merkel and just about all of the supporting players with the exception of William Bakewell.If you're a fan of Mary Roberts Rinehart stories, you'll enjoy this version of her successful play.
Some remarkable photography (in 65mm, no less) in the disappearing silent gothic tradition makes this movie a link from the newly emerging horror scene to the old "haunted house with criminals" genre into which it more properly falls.
Roland West first filmed the story of the Bat, a killer that steals money and jewels for their value as well as for adventure, in 1926.
He then made The Bat Whispers in 1930, which is a sound version of his silent film.
That said this is probably the best version of the story.A fiend known as The Bat is lurking around the mansion of a rich family and its up to an intrepid detective to prevent him from getting the goods.This movie is a lot of fun, with several wonderful performances especially by Chester Morris as the detective.Interestingly the film was filmed both in the standard aspect ratio and in an early wide screen process (Both are on the DVD).
Retitled THE BAT, in 1920 it took Broadway by storm with its mixture of crazy characters, corny situations, and spooky atmosphere, and in 1926 film director Roland West brought the play to the screen.
Not so West: THE BAT WHISPERS would be noted for a remarkably fluid camera that made the most of detailed miniatures and lavish sets.
Planck's widescreen version is both visually beautiful and innovative--but Planck and director West were pretty much working without any precedent and they weren't quite sure of what do with the effect once they had it.
Both versions of THE BAT WHISPERS find the cast struggling in the gulf between old and new.
Part of the charm of the novel, the 1920 play, and the 1926 film was the use of already old-fashioned plot ideas that had not yet worn out their welcome--but by 1930 the whole thing was wearing very thin, and it emerges here as overworked and lacking the necessary light touch.
Every thing about the story had become very clichéd, and two years later director James Whale would wickedly spoof the entire genre with a film aptly titled THE OLD DARK HOUSE.
Although the Rinehart story received one more major turn before the cameras in 1959 with Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead, the type of plot involved is now more often done tongue-in-cheek, with such films as MURDER BY DEATH and CLUE cases in point.So what, exactly, is the value of THE BAT WHISPERS for a modern, casual viewer?
The answer, rather sadly, is "not much." Hardcore fans of early 1930s film will likely enjoy the film, and film students interested in the history of cinematography cannot afford to miss it--but few others will be able to see beyond the awkward acting styles and now-absurd plot to experience the charm this film--in both widescreen and standard versions--had in 1930.The IMAGE DVD release is a bit problematic.
The film does feel creaky, the humor is laid a little too thick for my tastes at times (much like Paul Leni's THE CAT AND THE CANARY [1927], in fact) and Maude Eburne as the cowardly maid IS unbearable
but this is more than made up for, in my opinion, by the film's dazzling cinematography, atmospheric sets and deliberate theatricality (complete with asides to the audience in the finale).
Although hardly as well-known today or as easy to find, THE BAT WHISPERS is by no means West's only notable feature; as a matter of fact, based on the minute information I've managed to find on them in my reference books, I'd be very interested in watching THE UNKNOWN PURPLE (1923; an intriguing-sounding precursor to James Whale's THE INVISIBLE MAN [1933]), THE BAT (1926; the original Silent-film version of THE BAT WHISPERS), the gangster drama ALIBI (1929; which even earned Chester Morris a Best Actor Academy Award nomination) and CORSAIR (1931), his last film.
As for myself, the only other Roland West film I've seen is the atypical and rather unsatisfactory Lon Chaney vehicle THE MONSTER (1925), which also happens to be a bizarre 'old dark house' melodrama.Elliott Stein, in Richard Roud's indispensable tome, "Cinema: A Critical Dictionary The Major Film-Makers" described Roland West as "one of America's supremely original visual stylists, the director of a series of stunning thrillers." He also names ALIBI "one of the most oppressive films ever made
the distorted sets, odd angles and restless camera make it West's most Germanic work
this claustrophobic little nightmare would be fully at home in a retrospective of the American avant-garde film." Furthermore, he acclaims THE BAT WHISPERS as "a pictorial knock-out" and CORSAIR "a visual treat"!
Neighbors heard them quarreling the night before the morning she was found in her garage overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning; though a suspect, he was never arrested but, of course, he could never work in Hollywood (or elsewhere) again.I've only watched THE BAT WHISPERS (twice), in Widescreen, on VHS and I've been meaning to pick up Image's DVD edition (comprising also the 'alternate' full-frame version, shot simultaneously by a different cameraman!) for the longest time.
When you hear the Bat whisper, you don't know whether to smile at the dated melodrama or admire some classy scenic set ups and camera work.
The film was shot in an early version of wide-screen as well as a standard release version, using different cinematographers, cameras and set-ups.
The thing that makes The Bat Whispers of interest is the use of miniatures, especially at the beginning, the use of camera tracking shots that pull us away while walls slide back or that take us from a clock tower down to a street.
Like `The Cat and the Canary', `The Bat' has been filmed many times and is a highly influential example of the `Old Dark House' type of spooky murder mystery popular in the 1920s and 30s.
The opening scenes of this version, `The Bat Whispers' are said to have greatly influenced the Batman cycle and Bob Kane.One can see why The gloomy 30s expressionist art-deco architecture, the shadowy figure of a man-sized, bat-like figure seen against walls and windows, and the way in which the character of the Bat is built up to give the master criminal an almost supernatural aura are very well done.
Unfortunately, the film's early promise is let down somewhat as it drifts into what amounts to little more than a filmed version of the stage play, somewhat hammily conducted y some of its stars.The plot big-time crook the Bat takes time to haunt a mansion rented to a retired gentlewoman for the summer while other mysterious events are going on keeps one generally entertained.
The high points of the film after the opening scenes establishing the exact nature of the Bat's criminal activities, featuring a daring robbery and murder, lie in the performance of star Chester Morris and some imaginative photographic tricks.
Certainly, director Roland West and his team were able to use tricks like this to their benefit at a time when few other directors had even grasped the effective use of sound (also used imaginatively in `The Bat Whispers').
Overall it is too talky and some of the performances, particularly Gustav Von Seyffertitz as Dr Venner (whose English is almost inaudible), occasionally make the film hard going.However, lovers of the old dark house genre will revel in it and the performances of Morris as slick city detective Andersen and Una Merkle as the love interest more than make up for the deficiencies of others.Certainly an unusual film and one many will want to come back to as each reviewing brings previously unseen images into the mind..
Some of those who have seen "The Bat Whispers" claim that it's dated - well, they should keep in mind that it's a REMAKE (and in fact, very true to the original concerning the plot) of the silent movie "The Bat"; if you're not a great friend of silents and don't like the 'hammy' acting style silent actors HAD to use to convey their feelings and intentions without words, then you might call "The Bat" dated.
But "The Bat Whispers" - despite the absolute faithfulness to the original, and to the stage play on which both movies are based - has got quite an innovative style for its age.Contrary to the silent film, which was shot largely in the traditional style regarding camera techniques and other technical features, "The Bat Whispers" introduces to the mystery genre of the 30s, which had just begun to thrive at the time of its making, new camera angles which confuse and scare the audience even further; and of course the sound that was 'missing' in the original version provides us with all kinds of creepy noises like bats screaming, wolves howling, thunder - and of course the housemaid's constant screams of terror!
Sound also made it easier for the scriptwriters to convey the rather twisted plot to the audience; and the dialogs are in NO way old-fashioned, neither do the actors overplay (except maybe for Chester Morris, who at times seems to take his role TOO seriously).
In fact, besides Grayce Hampton as the wacky, but enormously courageous lady writer who becomes the heroine this time, Una Merkel as her niece surprises everybody who has seen a certain number of movies from the era in a most positive way: instead of the silly, squeaking little girl she usually was cast as, here she plays a sensitive, even clever young woman who only breaks down when things really become TOO horrible to bear...And, of course, the dialogs also give more room to the comical element - the way the lady and her maid quarrel and tease each other all the time isn't only hilariously funny, but also pretty modern for the time!
And yet, those elements don't take anything away from the tense atmosphere and the suspense - because all the time you feel that any moment a thunder might crash or a shot might be fired, or a mysterious shadow might appear menacingly on the wall...So, the balance of comical relief and moments of extreme suspense is held perfectly, the direction is supreme and the technical quality of the picture very high for the standards of the early 30s.
Now, regarding the 'old mansion mystery' plot - that may not be 'en vogue' at the moment (but it's almost sure to return someday; Hollywood screenwriters are slowly running out of new ideas...); but the audience DOES seem to be very fascinated by 'escapist' movies: today the fashion are ghost ships, resurrecting mummies and vampire love stories; compared to that, "The Bat Whispers" is a VERY realistic crime movie with a VERY real killer!.
The Bat Whispers is filled with such effects.Yes, the film is static, despite all the goings on.
Roland West teams with star Chester Morris once again to give us "The Bat Whispers" a year after the same team gave us "Alibi", one of the very good films from 1929, and a Best Picture nominee from the 1928-1929 season.West uses some of the same photographic techniques that were ground-breaking in "Alibi".
It came before Batman and Universal's old dark house sound films, so it actually is more original than the modern viewer might give it credit..
What really shocked me is that a lot of these early sound films are quite horrid and hard to understand but that's not the case here as everyone from the director to the cast seem perfectly normal working with the sound.
The actors really take off and know how to work their dialogue, which again is something I wasn't use to seeing in such a early sound film.
Some might find the story or settings full of clichés must one must remember that this is the film that influenced everything that would follow, which is saying quite a bit for director West as his 1926 film influenced all the future silent old dark house films.
After the film we also get a quick "warning" from The Bat telling people not to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it.The 65mm version features the exact same story and cast but of course it's shown in an early widescreen format and features all new shots by a different cinematographer.
While West's "The Monster" is a clever horror comedy in its borrowings from Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Buster Keaton, having now seen some of the director's other work, I suspect the reason that film works is due to its theatrical origins and to the effective mugging of Chaney, because the rest of West's slight oeuvre that I've seen are unexceptional, including this one.Paradoxically, two of his early talkies, this one and Best-Picture nominee "Alibi" (1929), are more daring in some of their camerawork and staging than his silent films "The Monster" and "The Bat." Right off the bat, so to speak, this one was filmed in both a 35mm and an experimental 65mm format, as well as another 35mm print for foreign release.
Both also feature phantom-ride type shots of traffic from the front of police cars, and there's also a phantom-ride shot here from the front of a train.While there are a few other impressive techniques employed throughout this one, including tracking shots and silhouettes and shadows standing out in low-key lighting, when "Alibi" and "The Bat Whispers" delve fully into their talkie sequences is when it becomes clear that West wasn't a great filmmaker, especially with a hack like his pal Chester Morris as the star.
In both silent and talkie versions, the play is all mystery plot and no characters--just caricatures.
Lastly, one could argue that much of the conflict in this film, along with many thriller and mystery movies, is based on a faulty personality by the characters, such as an extreme naivety in their surroundings and the ability to trust even the most suspicious- looking individuals without hesitation.Overall, The Bat Whispers is a fun film.
Moreover, he doesn't really "whisper" in this re-make of Mr. West's popular and influential silent version of "The Bat" (1926) - he talks.
For the re-make, Chester Morris (as Anderson) takes center stage, as part of an uneasily altered story development.While West's technical skill is brilliant, but the sound of "The Bat" whispering is startlingly inferior - with the thunder sounding more like a foghorn from "Anna Christie" (one of those films with that talking Swedish actress).
Both films are worth seeing - in any order; the endings are different, but the mystery never mattered.******* The Bat Whispers (11/13/30) Roland West ~ Chester Morris, Una Merkel, William Bakewell, Grayce Hampton.
Bad. A criminal called "The Bat" roams around the mansion house of Cornelia (Grayce Hampton) looking for a secret room with hidden money.
so, who is "The Bat"..?....The film starts well but unfortunately, it goes downhill when the action switches to the mansion house.
The only good things about the film are some of the camera shots and Grace Hampton who plays her role well.
Truly awful early talkie, which plays like something out of an amateur dramatics society.The story revolves around a masked super criminal who terrorises an isolated mansion in the search for some stolen money.The action and script are virtually incomprehensible, and the multitude of characters seem to make things up as they go along, hamming it up as and when they like.Film does have a point of interest in its use of miniature sets, allowing the camera to make some impressive sweeps.
In the late 1920s until about the mid 1930s, Hollywood produced quite a few 'old, dark house' films.
"The Old Dark House", "The Cat and the Canary" and "The Black Cat" are just a few examples of these films--as is "The Bat Whispers".
Jewel was married to Roland West and Bat was her final film.
"The Bat Whispers" boasts striking, spacious sets and some remarkably (for 1930) fluid camera-work, but it still can't completely shake off its staginess, and it includes not one, not two, but three unfunny comic relief supporting characters (the maid's squealing is absolutely insufferable).
The room had pretty much the same old dark house atmosphere of the mansion in this movie, and with very little lighting, the thing just scared the bejeezus out of me. |
tt0074156 | Assault on Precinct 13 | The story takes place on a Saturday in Anderson, a crime-infested ghetto in South Central Los Angeles. Members of a local gang known as 'Street Thunder' have recently stolen a large number of assault rifles and pistols. The film begins at 3 a.m. that morning, as a team of heavily-armed LAPD officers ambush and kill six members of the gang. Later, the gang's four warlords swear a blood oath of revenge, known as a "Cholo", against the police and the citizens of Los Angeles.
During the day, three sequences of events occur parallel to one another: First, Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), a newly promoted CHP officer, is assigned to take charge of the decommissioned Anderson police precinct during the last few hours before it is permanently closed. The station is manned by a skeleton staff composed of Sergeant Chaney (Henry Brandon) and the station's two secretaries, Leigh (Laurie Zimmer) and Julie (Nancy Loomis).
Across town, two of the Street Thunder warlords, along with two other gang members, drive around the neighborhood looking for people to kill. One of the warlords shoots and kills a little girl (Kim Richards) and the driver of an ice-cream truck. The girl's father, Lawson (Martin West), pursues and kills the warlord, upon which the other gang members chase him into the Anderson precinct. In shock, Lawson is unable to communicate to Bishop or Chaney what has happened to him.
Just before this, a prison bus commanded by Starker (Charles Cyphers) stops at the station to find medical help for one of three prisoners being transported to the state prison. The prisoners are Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston), a convicted killer on his way to Death Row, Wells (Tony Burton), and Caudell, who is sick. As the prisoners are put into cells, the telephone lines go dead, and when Starker prepares to put the prisoners back on the bus, the gang opens fire on the precinct, using weapons fitted with silencers. In seconds, they kill Chaney, the bus driver, Caudell, Starker, and the two officers along with Starker. Bishop unchains Wilson from Starker's body and puts Wilson and Wells back into the cells. When the gang members cut the station's electricity and begin a second wave of shooting, Bishop sends Leigh to release Wells and Wilson, and they help Bishop and Leigh repel an attempted invasion, though Julie is killed in the firefight.
Meanwhile, the gang members remove all evidence of the skirmish in order to avoid attracting outside attention. Bishop hopes that someone has heard the un-silenced police weapons firing, but the neighborhood is too sparsely populated for nearby residents to pinpoint the location of the noise. Wells is chosen to sneak out of the precinct through the sewer line and hot-wire a car, but is killed by a gang member hiding in the backseat. However, two police officers responding to reports of gunfire find the dead body of a telephone repairman hanging from a pole near the police station, and soon begin to call for backup.
As the gang rallies for an all-out final assault, Wilson, Leigh, and Bishop retreat to the basement, taking the still-catatonic Lawson with them. Protected with a large durable sign, the gang then storms the building and rush the survivors. Bishop shoots a tank full of acetylene gas, which explodes violently and kills all the gang members in the basement. The remaining gang members soon retreat as more police support arrives to secure the station. Venturing down into the basement, the police officers find dozens of badly burned and killed gang members strewn about the hallway, as the only survivors remain are Bishop, Leigh, Wilson, and the comatose Lawson. As the others leave another officer tries to cuff Wilson whom Bishop waves off but ignores the order. Bishop angrily stops him and asks Wilson to walk out of the station with him rather than be led away in chains. | comedy, suspenseful, neo noir, murder, violence, cult, good versus evil, claustrophobic, tragedy, revenge, sadist | train | wikipedia | Set in gang-riddled Los Angeles in the 1970s, director John Carpenter was inspired to make a film that was basically a combination of Rio Bravo (1959) and Night of the Living Dead (1968) with rookie cop Ethan Bishop in John Wayne's Rio Bravo role/Duane Jones' Ben, a recently vacated police precinct as the small town jail/farmhouse, and with gang members in place of Night of the Living Dead's zombies/Nathan Burdette's men.For some viewers, that premise alone may be enough for them to not be able to grant this film a 10, but Assault on Precinct 13 is yet another example of why quality isn't correlated to having unprecedented ideas.One of the first striking things about Assault on Precinct 13 is that it looks beautiful.
The police station also reflects the suburban wasteland look in terms of its spaces and their relationship to each other, its sparseness and its colors.The low budget nature of the film forced a very successful straightforward, brutal and realistic approach to the action, especially the violence.
Carpenter and company create the perfect scenario with just a couple ingenious moves, and the unending threat, combined with the unusual pacing of the zombie-like menace make Assault on Precinct 13 as frightening as any horror film could be..
Carpenter self-consciously uses Hawks' 'Rio Bravo', adds a touch of Romero's 'Night Of The Living Dead' and comes up with arguably the most exciting siege movie of all time.
Relative unknowns Austin Stoker ('Abby') and Darwin Joston ('Eraserhead') are both outstanding as the stars of this taut and unpredictable thriller, and the supporting cast includes Laurie Zimmer (sadly her only movie), Nancy Loomis ('Halloween'), Kim Richards ('The Car' - in the movie's most controversial and memorable scene), and Carpenter semi-regular Charles Cyphers ('Escape From New York').
I long for the days when John Carpenter was ingenious enough to make such excellent films as his classics like Halloween, Escape From New York, and of course, The Thing.
"Assault on Precinct 13" deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as "Dawn of the Dead," or perhaps the overrated "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," as a very low-budget horror/thriller that takes a cast of unknowns, places them together, doesn't really delve into their backgrounds, but lets everything just work itself out like clockwork.
But it still has an addictive sense of urgency and frantic pacing that makes the movie feel like one long, non-stop, brutal assault - even though the setup for the film takes over forty minutes.
Basically it's a faint mish-mash of other movies, the dialogue is reminiscent of great westerns as a black policeman and a white convict battle against gang members in a Night of The Living Dead re-working.
It's also tempting to draw Vietnam allegories (as with many American movies of the mid 1970's and after); the faceless, nameless gang members die in the droves but keep attacking the besieged police station and the lawmen and the lawbreakers, black and white, must unite to defeat them and escape with their lives.The real joy of this movie, however, is the playing of the two virtually unknown leads, Austin Stoker and the late Darwin Joston.
Because there are no 'stars', there are no real expectations, and the shocks when they come (including the famous ice cream sequence) are more shocking for it.The representation of women leaves a little to be desired (the two female characters obviously shop at the same sweater store!) but the character Lee shows some inner strength and resolve, and even has time for some kind of upper hand in terms of sexual tension between herself and Joston's Napoleon Wilson.If you haven't seen this movie I urge you to watch it; in terms of B movies and cult thrillers it's the yardstick in my opinion; simple, stylish, violent, witty and not remotely sentimental..
This is possibly one of Carpenter's best films,with the exception of The thing.It is one of the great siege films of all time.The scene with Kim Richards(escape to witch mountain) is one of my favorites.This movie proves you don't have to have a multimillion dollar budget and big name stars to make a great movie.The performance by Laurie Zimmer was incredible.I can't believe she was never cast in another film(but thats Hollywood for you).If you like action and thrillers this film is definitely worth a look.Its not perfect, the plot has some holes, the premise is at times shaky, but all of the actors produce believable performances,especially Austin Stoker,Darwin Joston, and of course Zimmer..
This is one of the definitive "siege films," a deft, low-budget blend of the American Western (let's say '3:10 to Yuma (1957)') and a zombie movie ('Night of the Living Dead (1968)' being an obvious influence).
In modern-day Los Angeles, the lone inhabitants of a closing-down police station – among them police officers (Austin Stoker), secretaries (Laurie Zimmer), and prisoners (an ice-cool Darwin Joston) – are affronted by dozens of armed gangsters, who are waging a bloody war with the authorities as payback for recent gang-member deaths.After an extended prologue, in which disparate story lines fatalistically converge on each other (and featuring one particularly nasty moment than nearly landed the film an X-rating) the siege scenario begins
and the tension rarely lets up.
This effective delivery is also aided by Carpenter's own score that is nicely pulsating and still sounds great even if it is dated the important thing is that it still fits the film and therefore works.The dialogue is trashy but this fits the slight b-movie feel the film has.
It's quite clear where the visual style would end up lending itself to in later years too (i.e. Reservoir Dogs).When taking aside the occasional misstep, like an unneeded (suggested) sub-plot (not that Joston or Laurie Zimmer are bad actors, but they lack chemistry), Assault on Precinct 13 comes out without many scratches at all.
`Assault on Precinct 13' shows Carpenter in the fine creative form of his earlier days, when he produced such thriller and horror gems like `Halloween', `The Thing' and this little movie.
As usual he eschews a complex plot in favour of a great little central concept - in this case a group of civilians, prisoners and police trapped in a deserted police station under siege from a mysterious gang who want to get at one man inside.The acting in these movies is generally bland, but Carpenter at least breathes some dimension into his characters.
The last block of film itself plays like George Romero's "Night Of The Living Dead," only with thugs rather than zombies cornering our beloved characters.Cast: Austin Stoker plays the wholesome hero officer, in sharp contrast to the self-assured and cool-as-a-cucumber alpha-criminal, as played by Darwin Joston.
John Carpenter's no-budget pseudo-remake of "Rio Bravo" (with heavy doses of "Night of the Living Dead" thrown in--the zombies replaced by inhuman hordes of street toughs) set in a besieged 1970s LA police station scheduled to be closed the next day, is a flawed but worthwhile 90 minutes from a flawed but worthwhile filmmaker.The best thing about "Assault" is its bare-bones construction.
There's precious little backstory, no real explanation for the heinous actions of the gang members, no extraneous "character development" for the protagonists, no scenes where they talk about how they have a wife and kids at home or are retiring tomorrow, and very few cutaways from the main action once it gets going (the lone exception being a few sequences with couple of clueless cops patrolling the neighborhood who keep missing the siege on the supposedly abandoned precinct).
This is my second favorite film from my favorite movie director John Carpenter, it's also one of my favorite action movies and films in general.This was his first silver screen film, I'd say it was one helluva start and has aged well over the decades, yeah there has been many movies and TV shows that have utilized this formula but this film, does it with perfection and I still feel is the best.I love the fact that it's done on a low budget which is fine by me because that helped give the film the right look and feel, it also feels like the filmmakers really put effort to their work.
John Carpenter is, without any doubt, a filmmaker capable of making tense and suspenseful films that are straight to the point, and "Assault on Precinct 13" (1976) is one of the best examples for the man's talent for action-packed, hard-boiled excitement.
Though arguably best known as a master of the Horror-genre ("Halloween", "The Fog", "The Thing"), Carpenter is just as great when directing Action films as films like "Escape from New York" and this gem prove.
Carpenter's second feature-length film (after the 1974 Sci-Fi parody "Dark Star"), "Assault on Precinct 13" is a fantastic action thriller that was apparently done on a modest budget.
The entire cast delivers good performances, Austin Stoker is very good as the hero whereas Darwin Joston fits equally well in the role of the Death Row convict Napoleon Wilson, one of the anti-hero characters that have sometimes earned Carpenter comparisons with Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns.
Laurie Zimmer is great in the female lead, I have no idea why she has only appeared in three other films; Tony Burton, Martin West and Charles Cyphers also fit well in their roles.Overall, "Assault on Precinct 13" is one of Carpenter's most effective and greatest films, and should by no means be missed by any fan of suspenseful, violent and hard-boiled action cinema.
John Carpenter is the master of the B-Movie genre, making well-liked films such as Halloween (birth of the slasher film), Big Trouble in Little China and Escape to New York.
The gang lays siege on the station, and the cops and criminals have to work together to survive.It's a simple premise and plot, and works as a suspenseful horror like film.
Darwin Joston, for example, is totally lacking in the wit his character's dialogues seem to imply he has; Austin Stoker and Laurie Zimmer are also bad, and only Tony Burton is salvageable among the main actors.I would like to know if Carpenter (or anyone who worked in this film) has ever used a silenced weapon.
The movie takes its time in the beginning, sure, but Carpenter knows how to create a mood; the assault is quite tense (despite its silly moments and sometimes out-of-place dialogue), as well as some earlier scenes (even if they, too, make no damn sense, like the killing of the girl).
Made on a shoestring budget, it was unfairly gnawed at by critics and yet eventually cemented itself as a cult classic (which is a sentence that can be attributed to half of Carpenter's filmography) The plot, like all the best Carpenter movies, is a simple one – A group on inhabitants in an abandoned police station find themselves under attack from an unstoppable street gang.
For all the outing's B-movie shroud, Carpenter's Panavision propriety, with accent on intermingling space caught in hermetically sealed halfway points, demonstrates a lucid severity to bring into disrepute many costlier, more "highly regarded" films, a hammering of conceptual, strangely expressive effects squeezed out of people chucking guns to each other, a bullet popping through a braided tyke's ice cream cone and into her chest, a police station cut to garlands throughout a hushed shooting gallery.
This thin premise of a police station that, the night before its shutdown, is beset by a mystifying band of hooligans identified as Street Thunder, Carpenter's young career accomplishment is at the same time a unsentimental and bracing action film and an able, finely hinted parable of 1970s ethnic frictions.
The Assault on Precinct 13' main theme tune is dark, menacing and awesome in it's simplicity while the other major tune still remains menacing but adds a hint of despair therefore fitting the movie perfectly.Borrowing aspects from George Romero's Night of the Living Dead' (1968), John Carpenter is able to create a nightmarish setting with his own unique brand of suspense.
Smart-ass over the top characters with big brass balls, excellent cinematography, creepy but easily recognizable music, and no shortage of memorable lines ("Got a smoke?") This movie was made on a shoe string budget with a majority of unknown actors and actresses (Laurie Zimmer being the ultimate "What happened to her" actress of the 70's) Despite that, the story is solid, the focus is simple, the cinematography is killer, the action is great and the ladies are all babes.
Suddenly the precinct is under siege and violent attack of street gangs."Assault on Precinct 13" is one of the first good movies in the successful career of John Carpenter as director and musician.
In my opinion it is John Carpenter's masterpiece of course Halloween (1978) is a huge masterpiece but Assault on Precinct 13 is my personal favorite 70's action film.
The remake with Ethan Hawke was a okay action movie in my mind until i saw the original Assault on Precinct 13 directed by John Carpenter i'm now completely hate the remake cause it ruin all the stuff make the original so special.The movie very intense very atmospheric and fill with strong performance thought out the movie make it a classic action movie of the 70s.The bad guys is human but this movie portray them in a very sinister way that give me the creep everytime they appear on screen with the hollow eyes and zombie movement.
While Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) who is leading a prison bus has 3 prisoners named Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Jotson), Caudelle (Peter Frankland) and Wells (Tony Burton) on their way to a new prison driven by bus- driver Starker (Charles Cypher) as one of the prisoners is sick and needs a place to stay for the night at the nearly closing down police station known as Precinct 13 for medical help.
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) is a classic John Carpenter's action horror movie that still scares me today.
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) combines elements of the classic western and modern thriller to create a cult favorite-one John Carpenter's best films.What stands out is the dialogue and subtleties.
The relatively unknown cast and music work very well.Before he hit the big time with the classic Halloween, writer/director John Carpenter gave us Assault on Precinct 13 a story about a cop with a war on his hands with an army of street killers and his only ally is a convicted murderer.
Assault on Precinct 13 is a 1976 American action thriller film written, directed, scored and edited by John Carpenter.
It's all set to an incredible score by John Carpenter, who also directed, edited and wrote the film.When I first saw the movie, I didn't really know what to think.
Written, directed, edited & scored by John Carpenter, it is one of the finest works of his career & arguably the most transparent reflection of this director's filmmaking style.Set in a crime-infested ghetto in South Central Los Angeles, Assault on Precinct 13 covers a series of events taking place within the same day & begins with covering three plot lines which later merge into one.
On a superficial level, it tells the story of a police officer who, with the help of convicted prisoners, defends a nearly decommissioned police station against a ruthless attack by a seemingly unstoppable criminal gang.Written & directed by John Carpenter, the film is gripping from start to finish and never loses its steam even in the moments that has no action.
The gang is out for blood and a lone cop (Austin Stoker) must defend the station with help from two prisoners (Darwin Joston, Tony Burton) and a secretary (Laurie Zimmer).John Carpenter's urban Rio Bravo is a low-budget classic.
Virtually ignored on initial release, it was not until its success in Europe that American critics decided to take another look at this low-budget update of Rio Bravo, and sure enough, they realized it was actually a pretty good little flick...John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 gives us a few separate plot threads, which eventually collide for one stunning night of suspense and thrills.
Assault on precinct 13 can be easily defined as the movie that put Carpenter on the map.The movie itself was his tribute to Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo and George A.Romero's ahead of it's time horror classic Night of the living dead.Assault has all the basic elements we love to see in a Carpenter movie;Carpenter's magical low budget creativity,non stop action,a tight script full of memorable dialogues,a dark and witty atmosphere,great characters including an anti hero and a great Carpenter score with his unique storytelling as a director.The movie is about a group of unfortunates led by a lieutenant stucked in a police station on it's closing night and surrounded by a powerful street gang called street thunder seeking for revenge.The plot may seem simple but the movie's definitely not.
With the help of lots of fresh ideas coming out from Carpenter's mind,Assault on precinct 13 became one of the greatest action movies ever made and even thirty years later,it's still looking great!That's an experience you shouldn't miss..
It's not really a horror film like you'd expect from Carpenter, but it is a really good action movie.Assault On Precinct 13 is about a police station that's closing down after many years.
Stoker and the rest of the staff must not only rely on their own expertise, but the ability of the prisoners (including Darwin Joston and Tony Burton), to strike back and beat off the gang bangers.As is often mentioned, ASSAULT was written and directed by Carpenter as an urbanized reworking of director Howard Hawks' 1959 western classic RIO BRAVO (to the point where he also edited the film under the pseudonym of John T.
John Carpenter's 'Assault on Precinct 13' is a simplistic, low budget but very effective action movie. |
tt0056443 | Tsubaki Sanjûrô | Nine young samurai, including his nephew, believe that the lord chamberlain, Mutsuta, is corrupt after he tore up their petition against organised crime and argued that maybe he himself was behind the crimes. One of them tells the superintendent of this and he agrees to intervene. As the nine meet secretly at a shrine and discuss their problem, a ronin (Mifune) emerges from another room where he has been resting. The ronin has overheard their plans, and suggests that the superintendent is in fact the real corrupt official. While at first the samurai are insulted by his claims, they soon find themselves surrounded by the superintendent's men, proving that he was correct. Initially, the samurai want to fight, but the odds are overwhelming, so the ronin hides the samurai, confronts and hits a few of the attackers and bluffs their leader into leaving. The grateful samurai ask what they can do for the ronin and he asks for only a small amount of money to buy food because he is starving; however, after realizing that Mutsuta and his family must now be in danger, he decides to help the samurai bring down the corrupt officials.
When the samurai go to Mutsuta's house, they find that he has been abducted and his wife (played by Takako Irie) and daughter (Reiko Dan) are imprisoned in the house. Following the ronin's suggestion, a servant from the house gets the guards drunk, allowing the samurai to free the women. The group hide in a house next door to the superintendent's compound, which contains a large number of (camellia) trees. Mutsuta's wife asks the ronin's name; looking out of the window at the 椿 tsubaki (camellia) trees, which he can see over the fence separating the two properties, he declares his name to be 椿三十郎 Tsubaki Sanjūrō, adopting (just as he had done in Yojimbo) something he sees close by as a pseudonymous surname. The lady chastises Sanjuro for using his sword too frequently and insists that he refrain from unnecessary killing, noting that the best swordsmen keep their weapons in their sheaths.
The Superintendent's henchman, Muroto Hanbei (Tatsuya Nakadai), and several other corrupt officials address a plan to outsmart the chamberlain's followers. First they post an open notice that the chamberlain has been arrested and charged with being involved in organized crime. Afterwards, they try to lure out the samurai by sending out the officials' empty palanquins, assuming that the samurai will think the corrupt officials are in them and attack. This backfires on them, however, when a posse of people from the town, inflamed by the open notice, ride out to protect the palanquins, just as the samurai are preparing to attack. The samurai then retreat to their hideout.
Sanjuro decides to get closer to Hanbei's master by going undercover as his henchman. Mistrust causes several of the samurai to believe he is switching sides. The samurai agree that four of them will follow him: two who believe in him and two who do not. However, Sanjuro realizes he is being followed and the four are easily captured by Hanbei. When Hanbei leaves to request reinforcements, Sanjuro frees the four captured samurai, at the expense of having to kill all their guards. He demands that the four tie him up, and is found in that situation by Hanbei. Sanjuro tells Hanbei that they were attacked by a large number of samurai, so Hanbei declares Sanjuro cannot be hired after being defeated. To make amends, Sanjuro insincerely promises to find the attackers.
The next day, Mutsuta's wife and daughter find a piece of a petition in the small stream that flows from the superintendent's compound to their hideout. The samurai realise that this could only have come from Mutsuta, who must therefore be imprisoned in the compound. While at first they consider a full-on attack on the officials, they soon realize that the compound is full of the superintendent's forces, so that such an attack would be futile.
Sanjuro hatches a plan to get the army out of the compound, by telling Hanbei that he saw the rebellious samurai at a temple where he was sleeping. He says he will then send a signal for the samurai to attack by floating large numbers of camellias down the stream. The first part of the plan works, with the superintendent's forces rushing off to the temple; however, Hanbei becomes suspicious after catching Sanjuro trying to drop the camellias into the stream, and ties him up. Just as Hanbei is preparing to kill Sanjuro, the remaining corrupt officials realize that Sanjuro has tricked them - his description of the temple was incorrect. They convince Hanbei not to waste any further time over Sanjuro and instead to catch up with the superintendent's forces and have them return to the compound as soon as possible. In a comedic scene, Sanjuro tricks the officials into making the signal for the samurai to attack. It works and they manage to rescue Sanjuro and Mutsuta. Hanbei returns later to find he has been made a fool once again.
Mutsuta is restored to his position as chamberlain, and the superintendent commits hara-kiri, much to the chamberlain's chagrin as he wished to avoid such a public affair, instead wishing only to force the corrupt officials to retire. As Mutsuta, his family and the loyal samurai are celebrating they discover that Sanjuro has slipped away. The nine samurai race off and find him with Hanbei, about to duel.
Sanjuro is reluctant to fight and tries to dissuade Hanbei, saying that if they fight, one of them will surely die and nothing will be gained by that. However, Hanbei is obdurate, saying his dignity has been soiled and that killing Sanjuro is the only way to restore it.
The two face off at each other and remain unmoving for almost half a minute. Finally, as Hanbei draws his sword, Sanjuro kills him by drawing and cutting in a single, faster action. A fountain of blood gushes from Hanbei and he falls dead. When the young samurai cheer his victory, Sanjuro becomes angry, saying that his dead adversary was exactly like him. He now has a fuller understanding of Lady Mutsuta's earlier admonition that the best swords are the ones that are kept in their scabbards. Sanjuro then stalks off in annoyance after warning the worshipful young men not to follow him. | comedy, cult, violence, atmospheric, humor, satire | train | wikipedia | Not a few Japanese actually prefer the former to the latter, and it's easy to see why: It is stylistically more polished and smarter than Yojimbo and Mifune is 'cooler' as well - he shows a brilliant leadership and every Mifune fan would be really delighted to see how his young, naive disciples run after him like chicks following the mother duck.And while Yojinbo's female main character, Orin, is an evil and crafty woman, Lady Mutsuta in Tsubaki Sanjuro is 'irritatingly light-hearted'.
An excellent character, and, in fact, she is the only person in Tsubaki Sanjuro AND Yojinbo to whom Sanjuro/Mifune speaks in a polite form (in Japanese).Tsubaki Sanjuro is, so to speak, a 'concentrate' of Kurosawa's cinematography and one sees in it every aspect of his greatness in a very compact form.
This is also the first on-screen collaboration between Toshiro Mifune and the young Yuzo Kayama, before they costared to such memorable effect on Redbeard.Nobody spoofs Kurosawa better than the man himself: this is without a doubt his funniest film, yet he never treats it as a second-class product.
No slouch, the director peppers this light romp with unforgettable visual flourishes, enraptured homages to the American Westerns that so inspired him, and an end-note of surprising violence, the likes of which Tarantino could only dream of.At a fast-paced 96 minutes, this is probably a great entry point into the cinema of Akira Kurosawa, and a film that would be much more highly regarded had it not come from such an established filmmaker..
Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune combined their abilities in numerous fine movies, and while "Sanjuro", for its part, is lighter than most of the others, it is certainly one of the most entertaining of the movies that either of the two has made.
Sanjuro is the sequel to Yojimbo (1961) and see's our unnamed ronin friend once again defending the innocent under the guise of his own desires.Toshirô Mifune returns as the grumpy samurai and delivers a strong performance yet again.
This time however it's more strategy and action than Yojimbos intricate mind games.Truth be told Sanjuro is a weaker Toho movie than Yojimbo, it isn't as clever and certainly lacks the same level of charm.
Kurosawa's pinnacle was Seven Samurai (1954) and from what I've seen thus far I doubt it'll be beaten.Very watchable Japanese samurai cinema, but hardly groundbreaking.The Good:Toshirô MifuneHas real charmThe Bad:Sworddplay is still terribleInferior to YojimboThings I Learnt From This Movie:In fuedal Japan, barns were regular love nests.
Sanuro, the sequel (or prequel, more likely a sequel though) to Akira Kurosawa's 1961 classic Yojimbo, brings us Toshiro Mifune to one of his most memorable characters, as he helps out (begrudgingly but, for the audience, funny way of help) with a group of would-be samurai trying to fight a corrupt man trying to gain power.
With this film, Kurosawa delivers if not more than the same amount of violence (with one of his finest scenes of which towards the very end), and Mifune along with co-stars are believable and make for an entertaining ride.
Sanjuro is not one of Kurosawa's great films, but it shows him relaxed and having fun, deconstructing the jidai-geki (samurai film) genre with tongue firmly in cheek.The film lacks the meticulous visual style of Yojimbo, but it is very well photographed, with some extremely fluid cinematography and those effortlessly artful group compositions that only Kurosawa seems to be able to do.
Thus we are faced with a critic of war - men, scared like cattle battle under the flag of corrupt leaders, and those that may love them must kill them, if they are not to die by sword, or become slaves to tyrants."stupid friends are worse than enemies" For you know who your enemies are, and that they wish to destroy you.In Sanjuro we also see the soldier, so long in battle that he is unable to live a normal life.
The story has great action scenes and jokes, excellent cinematography and performances, I like it but it is not among my favorite movies of Kurosawa.
In Akira Kurosawa's highly underrated sequel to the much revered Yojimbo, Toshiro Mifune reprises his role as the titular master-less samurai, this time having the arduous task of cleaning up the mess created by the younger generation of a ruling clan, whose misplaced trust leaves them vulnerable to the clan's true enemy.
The fact that Sanjuro is played by none other than the grunting, swashbuckling Toshiro Mifune makes the movie thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.
He guides the narrative mostly for laughs, but when the action kicks in the sword fighting is brutal and memorable.Sanjuro may not be Akira Kurosawa's most celebrated work, but you will find his witty paw prints all over the snappy dialogue, unique characters and intriguing plot – an effort that I personally rank higher than Yojimbo!.
He had his protagonist claim in the end- "I am just like him (the dead antagonist), he was like a sword that should have a sheath" Yojimbo and Sanjuro are both essentially comedies, but they evoke different senses of humor.
This sequel to Kurosawa's brilliant Yojimbo is entertaining and amusing, but it's also kinda dumb, something that seems to have been missed by all the user reviews I've read here.The premise is set up quickly and rather abruptly, as a group of samurai talk about their attempt to find an authority figure to rid their clan of corruption.
Akira Kurosawa's directional style is evident, but this is a light-hearted film compared to his serious works like Seven Samurai, and Rashomon.Toshiro Mifune is the other reason to watch Sanjuro (besides this being a Kurosawa work); he snarls to perfection here.
Aside from the painfully obvious facts that the character with the same first name, style, look, vernacular and way of conjuring a family name from what ever he spies around him suggests this to be a sequel , there's also the constant lodging within temples that could point toward the penniless ronins true return to film, as well as the clever usage of the number 30 ( sanjuro) that shares his name throughout both films.
Kurosawa did nothing without thought, and this film was very much more thoughtful than the first ( yojimbo).To put it simply: the first film was almost all comedy and farce, whereas the second film this review is primarily concerned with is much more a tale of the times it takes place in; a political intrigue period piece, filled with action, better set design, props, extras galore, moxy if you will.
However the Chamberlain who can help expose them is kidnapped and, while the rebel leader tries to force a fake confession of out him, Sanjûrô plans how to achieve his rescue with so few (and so hapless) resources available to him.So, in catching up on Akira Kurosawa I have gradually gone through many of his films and have hit a few I had never heard of.
As such he is the heart of the film and much of the entertainment comes from watching him.As is so often the case, Mifune is perfect in this sort of role and wears his lazy manner well along side cunning and a certain amount of dislike for the reality (death) of his life as much as he seems to revel in the challenge of it.
Kurosawa keeps it moving and does some exciting and sudden action sequences that will not impress those looking for wonderful choreography but they do work because they fit the pace and tone of the film.I was ignorant of Sanjûrô until recently and it was only chance that I rented it.
Although it is a diminution from its marvelous action-packed predecessor, "Yojimbo", Akira Kurosawa's "Sanjuro" is nothing short of ecstatic entertainment.
And just like before, we have ecstatic excitement, lots of action scenes with surprisingly commendable saber duels, fantastic performances, witty dialogue, and a truly thunderous climax at the end."Sanjuro" is just one step below "Yojimbo" perhaps because Kurosawa did not originally intend to make a sequel to the said film and it is a very difficult challenge to build the second piece of the saga puzzle and make it equal to the first, let alone better.
Toshiro Mifune's flawless acting coupled with Akira Kurosawa's one-of-a-kind direction takes a story that might otherwise seem kind of silly and makes it into an entirely plausible period piece as far as the human mind is concerned.
At the beginning of Yojimbo, you don't know where you're going, and at the end you're wondering 'how'd I get here?' But at the start of Sanjuro, there's a real sense that we know where much of what follows is leading us, even though there are surprising twists in the road along the way, and by the time Mifune makes his final remarks on not becoming a killer, we've been expecting something like that for a while, which is why Kurosawa and Mifune can keep the remarks so brief and to the point.The two films share the same leading character, but they are in many ways different and need to be enjoyed differently.
The sequel to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo may not be as engrossing as the original but it is still a very polished piece of work that presents the legendary filmmaker in splendid form and is powered by another smashing lead show from Toshiro Mifune whose magnetic screen presence once again overshadows all in its vicinity.The story of Sanjuro follows a wandering samurai who's drawn into the local politics after overhearing a clan of young samurais and decides to help them save their lord chamberlain who's been framed & imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
The rest of the cast provide good support but none of them exhibit same energy & demeanour as Mifune.On an overall scale, Sanjuro is another quality feature from Akira Kurosawa and is a worthy follow-up to Yojimbo by all means.
I do love Akira Kurasawa's movies, especially Seven Samurai, Ran, Ikiru, Rashomon, Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress and Throne of Blood.
:-) Sanjuro came out just one year after Yojimbo, and features Toshirô Mifune as Sanjûrô Tsubaki / The Samurai.
SANJURO is action drama and it is a sequel to Kurosawa's 1961 YOJIMBO.Nine young samurai has decided to oppose corruption in their clan.
However, a chamberlain who can help expose them is kidnapped and his wife and daughter are imprisoned in the house...Mr. Kurosawa did not offer a kind of wild samurai action in this movie.
The dumb samurais at all times acting as a group is great visual comedy, while the way they manage to ruin Sanjuro's plans time and time again is timeless.
Having just watched SANJURO for the first time, I can report that it's my favourite Akira Kurosawa-directed movie yet, and that comes from somebody who's watched SEVEN SAMURAI, RASHOMON, and THRONE OF BLOOD.
The reason I loved SANJURO so much is that it's pure entertainment: funny, fast-paced, with an intricate little storyline and some fantastic performances.Inevitably at this stage in his career, Toshiro Mifune headlines the cast, playing what I consider to be his greatest character: he's a rude, stubborn and unruly samurai, scruffy in appearance but exceptionally smart and worldly-wise.
In SANJURO, Kurosawa invented the classic Japanese blood spray later adopted by dozens of Samurai movie-makers; the action, when it happens, is brief, but it's superbly shot and adds to a generally brilliant movie all round..
Sanjuro (1962) *** (out of 4) Akira Kurosawa's sequel to Yojimbo has the title character (Toshiro Mifune) trying to take care of nine men who find themselves in a battle with an army.
This thing here is pretty good on the action and Mifune is terrific again but it's still a major step down from Yojimbo and the other Kurosawa films I've seen.Even with this being a step down for Kurosawa, that just tells you how many great films he's made..
The conception of the eternal weakness of the human nature characterized all the adventure films by Akira Kurosawa: The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961) and Sanjuro (1962).
Like all of Kurosawa's samurai-films so does Sanjuro happen in the Wild East; in the violent history of Japan: The Edo period (1603-1868) which ended to the removal of the samurai class (before 1868 it was a class of its own, even though samurais were servants).
Played with great style by Toshiro Mifune, Sanjuro aims to help a group of young samurai rescue their kidnapped uncle from corrupt leaders in the village.
I was very lucky to see this film because Kurosawa and actor Mifune made so many great black and white films, which this was one of them.Life even during chaos of feudal japan did not seemingly change much for a true samurai.
This is not Kurosawa's best samurai movie, but it is a good place to start.
In this story the outsider finds a clan troubled by corruption among the powerful older authorities and the young samurai must confront the problem with little or no experience.The close observer of Kurosawa's samurai movies should look to see where Western views and influence tend to marginalize direction and performance.
So, being forced to use it in order to deliver a product, he takes away all of the rich visual composition of "Yojimbo", and in its place he films an elaborate joke - a joke on everyone who thought the plot and characters were the points to fixate on in his movies.
The climax was more like an anticlimax - i just didn't care about the outcome.Overall, "Sanjuro" is not a bad movie by any means, but it felt like i have already seen this story made much better in other movies by a legendary Akira Kurosawa.
You can see how Kurosawa's samurai movies and Mifune's acting influenced westerns (esp.
A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.Toshiro Mifune's sword fighting in the film was used in an extensive illustrated example of "samurai virtuosity with his sword" in "This is Kendo", a kendo manual published in English.
This is seen as a more light-hearted sequel to "Yojimbo", and indeed it is one of the few films I am aware of where samurai dance around in joyful glee.
With this picture Akira Kurosawa, one of the most respected and influential film directors the world has ever known, did what is now something of a dirty word in cineaste circles – a sequel, in this instance a follow-up to his hit Samurai action movie Yojinbo.
However he does not appear to have worked as hard at making each example unique and distinctive as he did in the earlier picture, and the half-dozen sword fights in this one start to become a bit tedious.One of the biggest draws in Sanjuro's predecessor was the presence of its star Toshiro Mifune, who won several awards for his performance as the grudgingly moral ronin.
...but the movie is great fun even when you know what's going to happen.I'd like to call it the B-side of Yojimbo, mainly because it revisits the same character that that movie is based on, Sanjuro, but in other respects as well, being it much less renown than that movie, not that it is any less good, making it sort of the movie that a real Kurosawa fan would know about.
Together, they are just terrific and feature Toshiro Mifune as the amazingly skilled and clever wandering swordsman who is out to right wrongs and make the world a better place (much like the character "Zatoichi" in the long series of samurai films that debuted the same year SANJURO was released).In this case, there is a corrupt local official and a very naive group of young and energetic but STUPID young men are about to expose his corruption to his boss--expecting the boss to act and restore justice.
Here he develops and expands the character, confounding the audiences expectations by mixing in both comedy and a greater level of cynicism, and ending it in true tragedy - the hero recognising so much of himself in the supposed bad guy.So much of this movie seems to be Kurosawa's sly little joke at the Japanese film industry - its hard not to see Sanjuro as a stand in for the lone film maker, trying to maintain his integrity in a world of well meaning idiots and cynical philistines.
"Yojimbo" was exciting and amusing; "Sanjuro", alas, is overlong, repetitive and inferior.The story is about a group of samurai meeting in a shrine, one of whom is the nephew of the region's Chamberlain, who had laughed off the nephew's exposure of corruption in the local government.
Originally its own thing, but due to the success of Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" (1961) the script was reworked to feature the return of "Kuwabatake Sanjuro" (Toshiro Mifune).
This sequel to 'Yojimbo' sees the ronin samurai helping a group of men.
It won't be easy though as those he is trying to help don't fully trust him and many of their actions end up making matters worse for them all.It was good to see Toshirô Mifune return as the lone samurai; he is great in the roll as he brings an enjoyable mix of humour and roughness to the part.
I watched "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro" back to back and couldn't help feeling I liked the follow up sequel just a bit better, even though the earlier film is the one that's much higher regarded and better known.
The action, like much of Kurosawa's samurai films, is theatrical and overly-dramatic, so much so in Sanjuro that it almost seems like he is parodying his own style.
Sanjuro, which is also in a way a sequel to Yojimbo, is quite different from his usual films because not only it packs exciting comedy but it has more intelligence than what you would expect from a classic B&W film. |
tt0119558 | Lolita | Set in the 1950s, the film begins in medias res near the end of the story, with a confrontation between two men: one of them, Clare Quilty, drunk and incoherent, plays Chopin's Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, No. 1 on the piano before being shot from behind a portrait painting of a young woman. The shooter is Humbert Humbert, a 40-something British professor of French literature.
The film then flashes back to events four years earlier. Humbert arrives in Ramsdale, New Hampshire, intending to spend the summer before his professorship begins at Beardsley College, Ohio. He searches for a room to rent, and Charlotte Haze, a cloying, sexually frustrated widow, invites him to stay at her house. He declines until seeing her daughter, Dolores, affectionately called "Lolita". Lolita is a soda-pop drinking, gum-snapping, overtly flirtatious teenager, with whom Humbert becomes infatuated.
To be close to Lolita, Humbert accepts Charlotte's offer and becomes a lodger in the Haze household. But Charlotte wants all of "Hum's" time for herself and soon announces she will be sending Lolita to an all-girl sleepaway camp for the summer. After the Hazes depart for camp, the maid gives Humbert a letter from Charlotte, confessing her love for him and demanding he vacate at once unless he feels the same way. The letter says that if Humbert is still in the house when she returns, Charlotte will know her love is requited, and he must marry her. Though he roars with laughter while reading the sadly heartfelt yet characteristically overblown letter, Humbert marries Charlotte.
Things turn sour for the couple in the absence of the nymphet: glum Humbert becomes more withdrawn, and brassy Charlotte more whiny. Charlotte discovers Humbert's diary entries detailing his passion for Lolita and characterizing her as "the Haze woman, the cow, the obnoxious mama, the brainless baba". She has an hysterical outburst, runs outside, and is hit by a car, dying on impact.
Humbert drives to Camp Climax to pick up Lolita, who doesn't yet know her mother is dead. They stay the night in a hotel that is handling an overflow influx of police officers attending a convention. One of the guests, a pushy, abrasive stranger, insinuates himself upon Humbert and keeps steering the conversation to his "beautiful little daughter," who is asleep upstairs. The stranger implies that he too is a policeman and repeats, too often, that he thinks Humbert is "normal." Humbert escapes the man's advances, and, the next morning, Humbert and Lolita enter into a sexual relationship. The two commence an odyssey across the United States, traveling from hotel to motel. In public, they act as father and daughter. After several days, Humbert tells Lolita that her mother is not sick in a hospital, as he had previously told her, but dead. Grief-stricken, she stays with Humbert.
In the fall, Humbert reports to his position at Beardsley College, and enrolls Lolita in high school there. Before long, people begin to wonder about the relationship between father and his over-protected daughter. Humbert worries about her involvement with the school play and with male classmates. One night he returns home to find Dr. Zempf, a pushy, abrasive stranger, sitting in his darkened living room. Zempf, speaking with a thick German accent, claims to be from Lolita's school and wants to discuss her knowledge of "the facts of life." He convinces Humbert to allow Lolita to participate in the school play, for which she had been selected to play the leading role.
While attending a performance of the play, Humbert learns that Lolita has been lying about how she was spending her Saturday afternoons when she claimed to be at piano practice. They get into a row and Humbert decides to leave Beardsley College and take Lolita on the road again. Lolita objects at first but then suddenly changes her mind and seems very enthusiastic. Once on the road, Humbert soon realizes they are being followed by a mysterious car that never drops away but never quite catches up. When Lolita becomes sick, he takes her to the hospital. However, when he returns to pick her up, she is gone. The nurse there tells him she left with another man claiming to be her uncle and Humbert, devastated, is left without a single clue as to her disappearance or whereabouts.
Some years later, Humbert receives a letter from Mrs. Richard T. Schiller, Lolita's married name. She writes that she is now married to a man named Dick, and that she is pregnant and in desperate need of money. Humbert travels to their home and finds that she is now a roundly expectant woman in glasses leading a pleasant, humdrum life. Humbert demands that she tell him who kidnapped her three years earlier. She tells him it was Clare Quilty, the man that was following them, who is a famous playwright and with whom her mother had a fling in Ramsdale days. She states Quilty is also the one who disguised himself as Dr. Zempf, the pushy stranger who kept crossing their path. Lolita herself carried on an affair with him and left with him when he promised her glamour. However, he then demanded she join his depraved lifestyle, including acting in his "art" films, which she vehemently refused.
Humbert begs Lolita to leave her husband and come away with him, but she declines. Humbert gives Lolita $13,000, explaining it as her money from the sale of her mother's house, and leaves to shoot Quilty in his mansion, where the film began. The epilogue explains that Humbert died of coronary thrombosis awaiting trial for Quilty's murder. | tragedy, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0084412 | Night Shift | The movie opens with pimp Franklin (Julius LeFlore) being chased through the New York City night by gangsters Cleon (Badja Djola) and Pig (Richard Belzer). They catch him and punish him for not giving them a cut of his prostitution profits by dropping him out a high-rise window. As the body is transported to the New York City morgue by hearse, the credits roll.The next day one of Frankin's girls, Belinda (Shelley Long) identifies his body as morgue attendant Chuck Lumley (Henry Winkler) looks on. Belinda remarks that the loss of Frankin will be hard on his girls, then notes that Chuck looks familiar. Chuck is embarrassed as he is afraid the detective taking Belinda's statement may think that he is one of her customers.That evening as he is going home Chuck is told by his boss (Floyd Levine) that he is being moved to the night shift to make room for the bosse's nephew. Chuck, being an introverted milk-toast, puts up no protest, though it is clear that he is annoyed. Chuck's neurotic, diet-obsessed, fiancé, Charlotte (Gina Hecht) tells him that he should be more aggressive and speak up for himself.,Chuck starts his first night shift and has to train a new partner: Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton). Bill is an irrepressible character who talks constantly and thinks of himself as an idea man. He is continually making notes to himself on his portable tape recorder, though most of his ideas are silly or impractical. He repeatedly tries to comes up with schemes to make money such as chauffeuring college boy Jeffrey (Clint Howard) on a prom date using a hearse as a limo.Chuck invites Charlotte over to spend the evening with him on his one night off, but she is unable to get in the mood for love because of a country-western song being played loudly in the next apartment. Chuck knocks at the door to ask them to turn it down and is confronted by a large, muscular man in a cowboy hat. He is rescued from being beaten up when the owner of the apartment, which turns out to be Belinda, intervenes (Cowboy hat is a client). Chuck realizes that Belinda thought he looked familiar because they had passed each other in the hall. Though all ends peacefully, by the time the incident is over Charlotte decides to head home leaving Chuck frustrated.Chuck comes home one evening to find Belinda injured on the floor of the elevator, struck by a client who did not want to pay. She notes this would not have happened if she had a pimp to watch out for her, but finding a good one is difficult. He helps Belinda back to her apartment, but not before he is mistaken as her attacker by a troop of Bluebirds (girl scouts). Lead by a young girl with a whistle (Shannen Doherty) they surround him and beat him on the head with their boxes of cookies.On the way to work the next day Chuck confides to Bill about Belinda, and her colleagues, continuing need for a pimp. Bill suggests that they should do it (becoming "Love Brokers") and run it out of the morgue. At first Chuck dismisses this, but when he gets back to his apartment that morning, Belinda knocks on his door and suggests they have breakfast together. While Chuck is on the phone with Charlotte, he watches Belinda prepare them eggs in his kitchen. As the kitchen is hot, she decides to take off her robe. Chuck forgets completely about Charlotte hanging up the phone on her as he is totally absorbed watching Belinda fry eggs wearing nothing but a baby-doll top and a pair of bikini panties.Chuck, trying to find some way to get in her favor mentions Bill's idea of them working a "love brokers" for Belinda and the other girls. She is pleased at the idea.At first the operation works well, with Chuck and Bill only taking 10 percent of girls money (as opposed to the 90% often taken by pimps). Chuck also uses his financial skills (he worked on Wall Street until he found the job too competitive and stressful) to get the girls invested in a business. The only problem comes one night when things get out of control when Bill uses the morgue to allow some college fraternity members (one portrayed by a young Kevin Costner) to party with the girls.Bill, Chuck and the girls celebrate their success at an end-of-the-year party. Afterward Chuck takes Belinda home and as they are saying goodnight, they wind up kissing, and then making love. The next evening Chuck comes to work late, but very happy. He tells Bill he can expect that Belinda will not be taking any more jobs and is stunned when she shows up for an evening of work. They argue and we get the feeling that Belinda would give up her work if Chuck was willing to tell her he loved her (which he is too whimpy to do). Bill takes Belinda to her evenings assignment while Chuck sits back at the morgue and broods.When Belinda and Bill arrive at the location where she is to meet the client she is crying and Bill offers to take her home and find some way to placate the customer. She agrees.Back at the morgue, Cleon and Pig have shown up and are very angry at not getting a cut of Bill and Chuck's operation. They strap Chuck to a lab table and are about to kill him by putting a fire hose down his throat and turning it on when Bill arrives back at the morgue with two men he thinks are potential customers. They are really vice cops and a gunfight breaks out between them and the gangsters with bullets flying all around a helpless Chuck.The cops eventually win the battle, but Bill and Chuck's operation has been exposed and they wind up in jail. Charlotte appears and at first Chuck is elated thinking that she has come to standby him, only to have her spit on him and tell him she never wants to see him again.The girls bail Bill and Chuck out. At their lawyer's office they are told that the city administration, embarrassed by the incident, will give them their old jobs back so they can sweep everything under the rug. Chuck is ecstatic at this, but is angered by Bill's intention to try and use the incident to get money out of the city in blackmail. Chuck angrily tells Bill he wants his own life to the way it was before they met.A few days later Chuck and Belinda meet outside their apartments. He tells her he is back at his old job and she tells him she is starting a new job (but doing the same thing) at an upscale pleasure club called Paradise Found. She also tells him this is goodbye as she is moving out of her apartment at the end of the week.As she leaves for work Chuck is approached by a surly deliveryman (Vincent Schiavelli) with his dinner. When Chuck complains that he did not order mustard on his sandwich, the deliveryman takes the bread off the top and wipes the mustard down Chuck's doorpost, then puts the sandwich back together. This is the final straw and Chuck loses it demanding another sandwich and cowing the deliveryman, though he is physically much bigger.This makes Chuck realize that the only way he is going to get the things that he wants in life is to stand up for himself. He decides he wants Belinda and runs across town to Paradise Found. Bullying his way past the doorman he searches the club for Belinda. He runs into Bill who is now working there as a somewhat incompetent towel boy. Chuck finally spots Belinda reluctantly talking to a customer (Jim Staahl). Chuck rushes to her, telling her he needs to speak to her about something. This annoys the customer who pushes Chuck to the floor. Seeing his friend in trouble, Bill tries to leap on the customer from the second floor balcony and misses, hitting the floor. The customer leaves to complain the manager. After checking to see that Bill is okay, Chuck works up the nerve to tell Belinda he loves her. When the manager arrives he berates Bill and Belinda. Chuck confronts him telling him he cannot do this to his friends and pushes the manager into the club's pool. The three friends then run from club into the New York night. As the credits role we realize that Belinda and Chuck will be starting a new life together. | neo noir | train | imdb | null |
tt0027545 | Dracula's Daughter | NOTE: "Dracula's Daughter" picks up from where "Dracula" (1931) ends.Two constables find Professor Van Helsing [Edward van Sloan] in the crypt standing over the bodies of Dracula and Renfield. They take Van Helsing into custody because "this is a case for Scotland Yard." Dracula's body is stolen by his daughter, the Countess Marya Zaleska [Gloria Holden]. Looking for release from the Dracula curse, she burns his body.Meanwhile, psychologist Jeffrey Garth [Otto Kruger]is called in to defend Van Helsing. Garth meets the Countess at a party, and she confesses to him that she is looking for release from 'an obsession'. He visits with the Countess, much to the dismay of his girlfriend and assistant Janet Blake [Marquerite Churchill]. Unbeknown to Garth, the Countess and her assistant Sander [Irving Pichel] search at night for young women to pose as models but really so that the Countess can drink their blood. One night, Lili [Nan Gray] is found in a 'post-hypnotic trance' with marks on her neck. Garth is called in, and he calls in Van Helsing. The diagnosis is 'wampire'.The Countess comes to Garth's office. She has decided to return to Transylvania and wants Garth to accompany her. He hedges and, while he's busy with Lili, the Countess and Sander abduct Janet. Lili reveals enough to cue Garth to the Countess's intent, but she has left for Transylvania with the entranced Janet. Garth pursues them. The Countess offers him a deal: "I'll release (Janet) if you'll stay with me." Realizing that the Countess has abandoned him for Garth, Sander shoots an arrow through her heart. As he re-arms to shoot Garth, Van Helsing and Scotland Yard arrive, and they shoot Sander. Janet awakens from the trance. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl.] | comedy, murder | train | imdb | Van Helsing seeks the aid of his old student, psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth, to prove his innocence.Meanwhile, in a truly unusual scene, the body of Count Dracula is stolen from a pair of bumbling policemen by Countess Marya Zaleska and her pale, sinister servant Sandor.
Most tellingly, he notes that her apartment does not have a single mirror...a sure sign of a vampire, according to Van Helsing.It all ends in Transylvania as the forces of good and evil collide once more.Gloria Holden is striking as "Dracula's Daughter".
Never do we hear van Sloan's van Helsing voice any understanding or sympathy for the vampires he stalks.There's some odd comic moments...the two nitwit bobbies at the beginning in particular stick out like a sore thumb...and director Lambert Hillyer's vision of Transylvania seems more like a clichéd Germany, but "Dracula's Daughter" dares to be different from its more famous predecessor and in so doing, emerges as a bit of a classic itself..
Perhaps to make up for Lugosi's absence, the script features a creepy vampire acolyte in the figure of Irving Pichel: fine actor though he is, I think the make-up department went overboard in trying to make him look menacing!Otto Kruger and Marguerite Churchill are two of the oddest, and yet most likable, leads in a Universal horror film: not only their age difference is immediately apparent, as is their obvious intelligence, but they share a love/hate relationship all through the picture which is both fresh and endearing.
Instead they just tried to be original and create a new and different kind of vampire movie.Only returning character is professor Von Helsing (why did they ever changed his name?) played by yet again Edward Van Sloan.
"Dracula's Daughter" (Universal, 1936), directed by Lambert Hillyer, based on Bram Stoker's story, "Dracula's Guest," is a long overdue sequel to the 1931 classic, "Dracula," starring Bela Lugosi, the film that started the Universal horror cycle of the 1930s.
With Dracula being one of the most famous of vampire movies, it's sequel, which ended the first cycle of horror, captures all the moods and atmospheric elements of a fine horror film, is sadly very underrated and seldom revived these days possibly because of its lack of "star names" heading the cast.
Later, a mysterious woman named Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), Dracula's daughter, along with her evil looking assistant named Sandor (Irving Pichel), take the body of her vampire father and burns it to ashes during a Black Mass.
Meanwhile, the mysterious Countess Marya Zeleska (Gloria Holden), who is Dracula's daughter, compels the policeman that is in charge to take care of the bodies and takes Dracula's body with her to bury him with her assistant Sandor (Irving Pichel) before dawn, expecting to be released from the family's curse.
Now, Countess Zeleska believes that Jeffrey can heal her and release her from her blood thirsty and she wants to bring him to her castle to spend the eternal life with her in Transylvania."Dracula's Daughter" is a great vampire movie, with the dramatic story of a vampire woman that wishes to be free from the curse of her father, Dracula.
Like "Bride", this sequel would be focused on a feminine version of the previous monster; it's name, "Dracula's Daughter".The film starts right after the original ends, with Count Dracula killed by Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan), however, to his misfortune, he is arrested for the murder of the Transylvanian nobleman and sent to prison as nobody believes he killed an ancient vampire.
To make things worse, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) arrives and her seductive charms will prove too strong for Garth to resist them.Unlike "Frankenstein", where there was still material in the source novel to build up a sequel; in "Dracula"'s case things get complicated, as the monster is effectively killed at the end.
And finally, Edward Van Sloan returns as the experienced Van Helsing, and while his role here is more as a spiritual guide to Kruger, he gives another fine performance.The film's main weakness is without a doubt its low-budget, that not only forced the choice of Hillyer as a director, but it also made it have less production values than other sequels.
It's difficult to understand why Universal Studios choose this film as an official sequel to the legendary Bela Lugosi's "Dracula", more than five years after, since "Dracula's Daughter" works better as a female vampire film rather than the follow up to such landmark movie.
Is clear to see some lesbian undertones in the story, even for those times, and it was a clever idea to start the film exactly after the Lugosi/Dracula's death, with the same actor (Edward Van Sloan) playing Van Helsing again.
this sequel, starring the beautiful Gloria Holden in her first leading role, doesn't quite measure up to the former but has its own charms it's likely to be the first lesbian or bisexual vampire film ever made; though censors from the Production Code Administration made certain that Countess Zaleska's sapphic inclinations are not overt, it's still fairly obvious whom she prefers.
However, around the same time that this is going on; corpses begin appearing around London, and jailed Van Helsing is convinced that vampires are roaming the streets of London again.Unfortunately, this follow up doesn't feature the bloodsucking demon of the first film, and as the title suggests; follows his daughter instead.
The plot moves quickly on with two strands, one involving a friend of Van Helsing.....Dr. Jeffrey Garth....in pursuit of defending his colleague and the other strand involving the daughter of Dracula....Marya Zaleska....in London trying to rid herself of her family curse finding it an impossible task.
Gloria Holden is achingly beautiful as an exotic countess, a sympathetic woman who wants to cure herself of Count Dracula's vampiric curse.
(Edward Van Sloan reprises his role as Van Helsing from the 1931 film.)The subplot about Kruger's contentious relationship with his secretary is tiresome, but the cast is littered with familiar character actors and the climax at Dracula's castle features some nice Gothic sets.This B-production isn't much, but it's a nice little spook flick and only 71 minutes long..
In this sequel to Bela Lugosi's "Dracula," the story takes place right where we left off, right down to police walking into Dracula's castle to find Van Helsing (still played by Edward Van Sloan) and the murdered Dracula corpse, and Renfield at the bottom of the long staircase.Countess Zeleska (Dracula's daughter) comes into play when she visits her father's corpse and steals it to go and burn it to release herself from the same vampire curse.
Dracula's daughter, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), with the aid of her manservant, Sandor (Irving Pichel), steals Dracula's body from Scotland Yard and ritualistically burns it, hoping to break her curse of vampirism.
She'll do anything to free herself of this curse, including kidnapping the baron's daughter (Marguerite Churchill) who is Dr. Garth's assistant, and thwarting the hopes of her sinister manservant, Sandor (Irving Pichel).We never do find out if Von Helsing goes to prison for murdering Dracula.
But its follow-ups generally are worth a look; Son of Dracula despite Lon Chaney Jnr's miscast Dracula was much better than expected, being a good-looking film with a lot of atmosphere and at least two scenes among the best of any Universal Studios Gothic horror film but House of Dracula while watchable was disappointing apart from a couple of effective sequences, nice sets and a few good performances but did suffer mainly from having too many ideas and not enough time to explore them.Dracula's Daughter however is the best of them.
Apart from Kruger the acting is good, Marguerite Churchill is amusing and Edward Van Sloan once again brings class to Von Helsing but the most memorable turns are from Irving Pichel and especially Gloria Holden.
Pichel is effectively sinister especially towards the end while Holden is unforgettable in the title, subtly creepy but somewhat tragic.All in all, not as good as the 1931 film but of the Dracula sequels Universal made to me Dracula's Daughter's the best one.
Lambert Hillyer directed this unusual sequel to "Dracula", as Gloria Holden portrays Countess Zaleska, who arrives in London to destroy the body of her late father, performing a ritual to forever free his soul from this world.
DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936), sequel to Universal Pictures original 1931 masterpiece with Bela Lugosi, is a triumph of atmosphere and style.
He reasons that the one person on Earth who may vouch for him is a former pupil of his, the respected psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), but even his good friend questions the doctor's sanity.Elsewhere, a beautiful seductress in black going by the name of Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) steals Dracula's corpse from the police station and attempts a crude exorcism with the help of her ghoulish assistant, Sandor (Irving Pichel).
As Van Helsing tries to convince the law of his innocence, a woman steals the Count's body and burns it in a funeral ceremony; she is Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), daughter of Dracula, and by cremating her father's corpse, she hopes to break the vampire curse that has taken hold of her.After this course of action fails, the Countess seeks the help of noted psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth, who might be able to free her of her ghastly urges; but when Garth refuses to co-operate any longer, Zaleska kidnaps the doctor's beautiful assistant and whisks her to Transylvania, agreeing to release the poor girl only if Garth becomes her partner in death.
In short, she gives the family a bad name!Director Lambert Hillyer should receive some kudos for giving his lead character lesbian undertones, leading the way for all those buxom, sapphic Euro-horror lovelies of the 60s and 70s, and he does manage one of two fairly effective scenes set amidst swirling fog; points are lost, however, for the unnecessary inclusion of light relief in the form of Claud Allister as Garth's chinless toff friend, and Billy Bevan, Halliwell Hobbes and E.E. Clive as comedy coppers, whose laugh-free buffoonery doesn't suit the film at all..
Turns out she is Dracula's vampire daughter and wants to be free of the "Dracula curse." When she meets Garth, she becomes intrigued by his ideas of overcoming addiction through force of will and he becomes intrigued by the mysterious Countess.Gloria Holden is excellent and brings a strong screen presence to the film.
Edward Van Sloan is enjoyable as always, though he seems to have little to do except provide a link between the original film and this sequel.Some obvious continuity issues aside (Von instead of Van Helsing, among others), it's a very good classic horror film.
In the meantime, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), Dracula's daughter, steals her father's body and burns it in the hope of it releasing herself from the curse of vampires.
Dracula's Daughter (1936) 3 of 5 Dir: Lambert Hillyer Stars: Gloria Holden, Otto Kruger, Edward Van SloanFallowing right after the events of 'Dracula' (1931), 'Dracula's Daughter' finds vampire slayer Professor Van Helsing (the returning Sloan) on the wrong side of the law for the murder of the Count and his henchman.
There is no better sequence to display that vampiric desire than the scenes with the streetwalker Lili (played by Nan Grey), brought to the Countess' studio to pose, only to end up her victim.In many ways, `Dracula's Daughter' is better than the original `Dracula' it moves quicker, and its characters are livelier.
The psychiatrist (Otto Kruger) is played somewhat tongue-in-cheek, especially in his love-hate relationship with his assistant Janet (a very pretty Marguerite Churchill) and Edward Van Sloan returns as vampire hunter Professor Von Helsing.
"Dracula's Daughter" is a direct sequel to the 1931 film.The beginning picks up from where "Dracula" left off, with Van Helsing having destroyed the undead Vampire.Gloria Holden - totally obscure apart from this movie - is well cast in the title role.
I was pleased to discover that Edward Van Solan was cast again as Van Helsing - he gives a better performance this time around.Otto Kruger is a bit too gruff and cantankerous as the man who attempts to help his friend and old tutor, Van Helsing.The film sensibly sets the film in England as it helps with the overall continuity.James Whale was originally slated to direct "Dracula's Daughter" - a shame he didn't..
this is the official sequel to Tod Browning's memorable and atmospheric universal horror classic an follows the daughter of Dracula, Hungarian countess Marya Zaleska.
The atmosphere is captured beautifully with striking B&W photography of impressive sets, the players are uniformly excellent, and the script is a good one that should satisfy all lovers of horror films.Gloria Holden is sympathetic (but evil) as the woman who confesses to being Dracula's Daughter toward the end, but only after her appetite for victims has been satisfied is she willing to seek escape from the cursed "undead." Otto Kruger is the psychiatrist she wants to help her rid herself of the curse from the other side and Marguerite Churchill is his frisky daughter.
Von Helsing and Irving Pichel makes a creepy impression as Sandor.Perfect film for the Halloween season, it makes a good sequel to the original even without the presence of Bela Lugosi..
DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)directed by: Lambert Hillyerstarring: Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill, and Edward Van Sloanplot: Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) arrives and cremates the body of Dracula.
Meanwhile, Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) is arrested for the "murder" of Dracula.thoughts: After the success of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), I guess Universal Studios wanted to make another sequel to a horror film with a female replacing the male villain.
Irving Pichel, who appeared in a good number of westerns, is great as the freaky Sandor, Countess Zaleska's manservant.There are a great many creepy scenes in DRACULA'S DAUGHTER; I've already mentioned Holden's hypnotic gaze.
She was the perfect choice to play Bela Lugosi's daughter...she even resembles the original Count!Otto Kruger is an older leading man for this type of film, and it's refreshing to see him as the object of Holden's desire (this is a good time to say that the long-praised "Lesbian Scene" has been overstated; Holden seduces more males than the one female in this movie, and it's obviously Otto Kruger whom she wants)and I enjoy his playful quibbles with Marguerite Churchill.Irving Pichel provides ghoulish scenery as the pale servant, and also worth noting is the delightful return of Edward Van Sloan (now called Von Helsing).DRACULA'S DAUGHTER is for viewers who like the more subtle approach to horror.
That's in an outraged Sandor feeling both rejected and abandoned by his lover the countess for Dr. Garth who in fact had no use for her anyway!P.S Even though the film didn't have Bela Lugosi, even in flashback, repeating his role of Count Dracula the haunting and eerily beautiful Gloria Holden more then made up for it.
A psychiatrist named Dr. Jeffery Garth (Otto Krueger) tries to help with him become an attorney to defend him in court, A mysterious woman named Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) finds out that her father Count Dracula is dead and wants to be cured of her vampiric cravings by not telling anyone that she is a vampire.Originally neglected upon it's release as not being as great as the original 1931 classic, it has grown to become more appreciated and a very good sequel.
The acting is quite good and the film has a dark atmosphere to it much like the original masterpiece and Ms. Holden is quite sexy as the vampire beauty that loves the blood of men and women, it deserves a second chance..
Dracula's Daughter (1936) *** (out of 4) Countess Zeleska (Gloria Holden) shows up at the police station where Dracula's dead body is laying in rest after he was killed by Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan).
Pretty soon more bodies are showing up with their blood drained and soon the female vampire has her eyes on a doctor Otto Kruger).Sequels are hardly ever good but that was never the case at Universal when it came to their monster movies.
Several things could've been improved: "Dracula" was obviously a dummy in the coffin, the psychiatrist was a very "cold" person (no "bedside manner" and rather egotistical), and it would've been interesting to have shown the Scotland Yard Inspector actual PROOF that she was a vampire at the end of the film (having her body turn into a skeleton, or something).Even with these minor faults, it's a good atmospheric film; Holden is superb as the Count's daughter!
This was a funny and interesting tale about the daughter of the famous Count Dracula and his death at the hands of Professor Van Helsing.It stars Otto Kruger, an actor whose career spanned 50 years and over 100 roles, as a psychiatrist trying to discover whether Van Helsing was mad or a murderer, and who came under the spell of Dracula's daughter, played by Gloria Holden in only her second role.Marguerite Churchill provided most of the humor in this film as a Countess, who was Kruger's assistant.
Definitely someone to look for in the classics.Edward Van Sloan reprises his role as Professor Helsing, a part he played in the 1931 movie Dracula with Bela Lugosi.
While just about every fan in America anticipated a sequel to Dracula that featured Bela Lugosi, Universal Studios instead decided to give the role to Gloria Holden and have her play Dracula's daughter.
The subtle lesbian tone of the seduction scene, where Nan Grey's street waif succumbs to the Countess, is pretty remarkable for the time.The film is set immediately after Dracula, and Edward Van Sloan returns as VON Helsing (why not Van?), which is more than can be said for Dr. Seward, Jonathon Harker and Mina!All in all a worthy sequel to the Lugosi classic..
Released a full five years after the classic Universal horror film "Dracula," the sequel, "Dracula's Daughter," yet picks up a few scant seconds after the original left off. |
tt0448157 | Hancock | John Hancock (Will Smith) is an alcoholic man with superhero powers, including flight, invulnerability, and super-strength. Though he uses his powers to stop criminals in his current residence of Los Angeles, his activity inadvertently causes millions of dollars in property damage due to his constant intoxication. As a result, he is routinely jeered at the crime scenes. Hancock also ignores court subpoenas from the city of Los Angeles to address the property damage he has caused.
When public relations specialist Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) departs from an unsuccessful meeting pitching his All-Heart logo for corporations who are extraordinarily charitable, he becomes trapped on railroad tracks with an incoming freight train. Hancock saves Ray's life but he causes the train to derail and nearly injures another driver. Hancock is jeered by other drivers for causing more damage but Ray steps in and publicly thanks Hancock for saving his life. Ray invites him home for dinner with his wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), and their son, Aaron, during which Ray offers to improve Hancock's public image. Hancock goes back home to ponder the offer and returns to his house the next day and grudgingly accepts. Ray convinces the alcoholic superhero to agree to be jailed for outstanding warrants so they can show Los Angeles how much the city really needs Hancock. Hancock tries to resist the urge to break out of jail using his powers and refuses to talk during a prison group therapy but frequent visits by Ray and his family encouraged him to be patient. When crime rates rise after Hancock's incarceration, the superhero is contacted by the Chief of Police. Reluctantly donning a new costume (which has been provided by Ray), Hancock foils a bank robbery and aids a wounded officer. He prevents Red Parker (Eddie Marsan) from detonating explosive-laden vests attached to the bank hostages, by slicing off his hand (which was holding onto a "deadman's switch").
After the rescue, onlookers applaud Hancock for his handling of the bank robbery. The superhero becomes popular again, as Ray had predicted. He goes out to dinner with Ray and Mary, with whom he reveals his apparent immortality and his amnesia stemming from an incident some 80 years prior and Ray reveals that Mary isn't Aaron's mother, who died after giving birth. After Hancock tucks a drunken Ray in bed, Hancock approaches and kisses Mary. At first, she responds passionately, but then turns angry, throwing Hancock through a wall and into the street. Hancock departs, confused at having apparently found another like himself. The next morning, Hancock arrives back at the house to demand answers from Mary. She warns him to stay away from her and her family but agrees to meet Hancock at his home to answer his questions. When she arrives, Hancock discovers that Mary also has superpowers and is apparently immortal. He threatens to expose her unless she explains their origins so she tells him that they are the last two members of a race that have lived for 3,000 years with their powers. Mary lies and claims that they are brother and sister, which Hancock dismisses, given the nature of the previous night's kiss. Hancock realizes that Mary is not being entirely truthful and he departs to tell Ray about her. Their interaction results in a battle between Hancock and Mary that takes them to downtown Los Angeles, causing significant damage to the area. Ray, downtown in a business meeting, sees and recognizes Mary using superhero powers similar to those of Hancock. Ray departs his meeting and arrives home just in time to see Mary land in the backyard, followed closely by Hancock. She then reveals that, although he doesn't remember it, Hancock is her husband. The three then quietly go their separate ways.
Later that night, Hancock is shot twice in the chest and wounded when he foils a liquor store robbery. After being hospitalized, Mary enters and explains that as each pair of immortals pair up, they begin to lose their powers and live out the remainder of their lives as ordinary humans, growing old and eventually dying. She then begins to point out various scars that Hancock has acquired over the centuries, the result of his normally heroic nature. She also explains that Hancock was savagely attacked in an alley 80 years prior, which caused his amnesia. In each instance, Mary chose to leave him in order for him to regain his powers and recover from his injuries. However, upon discovering he had no memory, Mary couldn't handle it and left. The conversation is interrupted when the hospital is raided by Red Parker, and two men that Hancock had humiliated during his incarceration. Mary is caught in the cross-fire and is mortally wounded. Hancock is able to stop and kill the two men but suffers additional injuries in the process. When Red attempts to finish Hancock off, Ray comes to the rescue and kills the bank robber with a fire axe. With Mary dying, Hancock flees the hospital so their parting will allow her to heal with her own powers. He makes several clumsy leaps away from the hospital, each of longer distance and duration as his powers slowly return, until he finally is able to fly off into the night. He later takes up residence in New York City. Ray is seen walking with Mary and their son discussing historical events such as the reign of Attila the Hun in a jovial manner. In gratitude to Ray, Hancock has painted Ray's All-Heart logo on the moon and calls the spokesperson to look up to view the worldwide advertisement.
In a mid-credits scene, Hancock, now living in New York City, confronts a fleeing criminal with the police. Cornered, the man takes a hostage and jeeringly demands Hancock escort him to safety, mocking his costume and calling him an "asshole". Hancock turns back and smiles as the credits resume. | revenge, violence, plot twist | train | wikipedia | Well, from the looks of it, Smith also guarantees you at least a mildly entertaining film, which is what we get in his latest movie, Hancock.
He can make you laugh, cheer, cry, and even root for his character (who is a total ass, as he is reminded a number of times throughout the movie) no matter what kind of shenanigans he may cause.Hancock is not the generic superhero film and is probably one of the more ingenious ideas to come across a producer's desk in quite some time.
To me, what it seems like is that the writers of the film loved the idea, started off extremely strong, and then began to realize that how hard it is to sustain a simplistic idea over the course of a full length motion picture (and it is because of this that Hancock is relatively short).
The action scenes, while entertaining and original, were not long enough to engage the audience like say, The Incredible Hulk, nor were they as jaw dropping as those in Wanted.The film's strength rides on its three stars.
It was entertaining, took a unique take on the superhero thing, and didn't have an overt number of huge gaping plot holes or completely blithe dialog.If you're feeling like a Wil Smith movie, go for it.
This isn't really a hero movie where there is a superhero and a super villain; I think it's more about what it means to be a human and relate to other people, to do good things and the desire to be accepted.
Jokes were hitting left and right, Smith and Bateman displayed good chemistry, and the special effects, though not always finished, were eye popping nonetheless.Without giving it away, the final half hour was flat, straying from the comical nature that had preceded it and instead tried to get philosophical and introduce a week paint'by'numbers villain.
It was called Hancock, a film about an alcoholic superhero played by Will Smith.
If I was being nice I would say that Will Smith shows quite a good performance as the disgusting superhero, then I look through his previous films and realise that all his characters are basically the same.
In fact the CGI is so disappointing it's actually hilarious especially at the end, when you just really want somebody to die, but they just carry on throwing tea urns and hospital beds around while a giant CGI'd thunderstorm rages outside the window- not a good look.In comparison to other films in the genre of Superhero/Comedy it looks terrible.
Perhaps seeing similar depictions hit the big screen made me appreciate the movie more.Will Smith and Charlize Theron do a great job.
The film centers on a down and out alcoholic superhero called Hancock, played by the ever impressive Will Smith.
It becomes fortunate therefore that one day he should save the life of PR man (Jason Bateman), who is married to the lovely Mary (Charlize Theron) and that in return for saving his life he chooses to help Hancock change his image.The film starts well by introducing us to Hancock asleep, scruffy and unshaven on a public bench but ultimately establishing him as a lousy, grumpy oaf.
The internal logic of the film is preposterous and nonsensical and would remain so even if it was chief plot device in a Saturday morning kids cartoon.When it comes to the direction it seems surprising to me that Peter Berg should be able to make the leap to making a blockbuster like Hancock, this is because Hancock was always going to be a commercial risk given its target audience and release date and his previous film The Kingdom was not a huge success.
Generally I don't use to watch it and I don't use to appreciate it, but even so I can distinct when it is a good Super Hero movie, or a bad one, full of clichés and "Hollywood garbage"!
But as a summer blockbuster - it's excellent, fun, great ride.Buy the way, it's not your typical "superhero" movie, where the good guy is "pure" and "beautifule" like a Superman.
The moment I saw the preview for Hancock, this just looked like the most ridicules movie that could be made, I was sure that it was going to flop or get horrendous reviews.
But Ray is determined and will make sure that Hancock is a great super hero for the whole city.Hancock is over all an alright film, it's not bad by any means, but I feel like it could have been so much more with a better script.
But for the story I'll admit that it was original and fun at times, Will Smith is a good actor, I will always admit that, but it seems like his movies(which are always released around the fourth of July, you notice) have become like a love letter to him and how great he is.
The best part about Willie is that you really see and feel the efforts he is putting into his work.Like any other super hero movie, this is not about fighting with a super villain and his mission to conquer the world but self exploring of an individual with extra powers.
Movie is technically very advanced with some amazing special effects like Willie throwing the whale back in to the water, catching some junkies who have stolen money from a bank, all his flying scenes, stopping the train and fighting with Charlize Theron.The story starts with scenes about how Willie's boozing all day, catching some freaks, and how people of the city hate him.
I knew as soon as I saw Charlize Theron in the film that they were saving her character for some big twist, as the advertisements for the movie didn't include a single shot of her.
Of course, we know it's our hero, Hancock (Will Smith), because we know a thing or two about the film before sitting down to watch it.
Only Hancock is pulled down to an earth that is an awful lot more like a movie than the world I know.It wouldn't be so terrible to set this enormous Hollywood action film in typical scenarios if Berg weren't trying so hard to give the film a decidedly un-Hollywood look.
Hancock is such a complex character (lonely, disinterested, depressed) that it would seem ripe with possibility but this is mostly squandered in favor of half funny humour and sometimes hokey special effects that it feels at times like a over produced Nike ad.Luckily for HANCOCK, the film is still somewhat enjoyable thanks to the strong performances of all its leads.
I was nicely surprised to find this a very entertaining movie, start-to-finish, about a reluctant super hero who winds up getting an attitude change for the better.
It felt like most of the idea came from how in those epic superhero movies the heroes cause a lot of damage to the city and its people.
Hancock is an entertaining and a surprisingly good superhero movie.
Will Smith (dude can really carry a film), Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman give worthy performances (Charlize was hot as usual), direction by Peter Berg was good, and story wise it was OK (cool surprises in the plot), but could've been improved on some areas.
Overall, had a good, popcorn blast-o-fun with this "action-comedy-fantasy-drama" movie.Hancock was gripping, heartfelt, and totally unexpected!
It really does become impossible to hate Hancock because Smith injects him with a certain level of charm; additionally, Charlize Theron at least adds a little bit of marginal tension; she's pretty easy on the eyes in all her movies, and this is no exception - The beginning action scene and another one in the middle of the film; since the film really doesn't have that great of a CGI job, the action scene really have to play up for humor; most of them are flat, but the beginning one where he chases a car on the freeway, and another one in the middle where he is engaged in a tug-of-war with another character (I won't say who) is pretty funny and engaging -AWESOME score.
At times, the melodramatic nature of the film is saved by the fact that the score is really epic and sweeping; it's pretty easy to get lost in the film -A really funny scene in the film where a national pundit chews Hancock out; I'll let you see it to get the full laugh -A cool twist that happens 45 minutes into the movie that actually adds about 20 minutes of intrigue The Bad: - A load of contrivances that are really convenient.
So, by the end of the film, I just thought "Hancock" was superficially entertaining with only a few moments of truly redeemable good times.
I'd like to think that Hollywood's greed is tempered with genuine talent a fair deal of the time, as well as some messages that people were passionate about enough to present to us cinematically.And then there are movies like Hancock, wherein there is no message worth telling, and all the talent involved is beaten into submission by an oppressively useless script and the greedy leeches who produced it.Hancock is about a guy with superpowers (Will Smith) who essentially walks around looking like he's got a mouthful of rat poison and sour patch kids, being so inept at helping people that it feels like a Jerry Lewis movie if Jerry Lewis had superpowers and was utterly unlikable and unsympathetic.
The Rise of A Fallen Alcoholic Superhero...But He Isn't The Only One. I wasn't expecting anything great from 'Hancock' and I was really hoping that it wouldn't be another cheap-humoured 'Men In Black' type movie.
Now this won't ruin his career, but Will you owe us......for sitting through an hour and a half of shaky camera that was better for independent movie-making, $150 million special effects that looked like they cost half as much, a few funny jokes but a bunch more that weren't, and a laughable 'twist' that made the whole story hokey and well, let's face it, stupid..
The movie gives the impression of having been directed by several different people.About an hour into "Hancock," the script throws in a surprise twist that director Peter Berg handles deftly, and the movie, that had already been ticking along pretty enjoyably, gets an extra jolt of energy and fun.
The movie itself is only 90 minutes, so I don't know why the filmmakers felt compelled to rush through to an ending without tying things together in a way that made sense, but on the other hand, I'm glad it wasn't any longer because I was tired of the arbitrariness of the whole thing.It's hard to talk about what could have been without revealing the plot twist, but let's just say that the film could have gone in any number of interesting directions that it chooses to ignore.
Lead actors Will Smith and Charlize Theron, a big budget and a good idea should give any Director a good head start, Peter Berg squanders it all in an unimaginative disaster.The script is cliché ridden and formulaic,and the "happy moon" ending vomit inducing.
I agree that there might be some imbalance of tone on occasion, but i liked the seriousness combined with big action, humor and a great message.Some of the cgi work looks a bit too cartoonish and the movie could probably benefit from less of the typical 'comic hero' elements in regards to costuming and certain plot elements, but overall it's a cool movie.If anyone is an Arrested Development fan, you might notice some odd visual references in Hancock (other than the fact that Bateman and Theron are in this movie).
Why are Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman wasting there talent on junk like this, I seriously don't think they need the money, or there desperate.
No. Does it mean that Berg destroys the film in much the same way that Robert Rodriguez did with 'From Dusk Till Dawn?' Yes.It is difficult to analyse anything about 'Hancock' without relating it to the second half of the movie, like Will Smith's performance for example.
I don't see life that way unless I'm really drunk, and when I run it is only on occasion but when it comes to a movie, especially an action film, I want to see what's going on and that won't happen unless the camera moves more than three feet away from Will Smith's face.
Among the most annoying things were: poor visual quality, unlikeable characters and a bad story.The "idea" behind this movie sounds great: a reckless and drunk superhero with unknown origin is inspired to turn himself around.
I am in all honesty not a big fan of Will Smith, but he has given some solid performances so I thought why not.I have to say that I didn't think Hancock was a bad film as such, it was somewhat underwhelming and I'm sorry to say I do understand the criticisms against it.Hancock does have a fair number of good points.
I also felt that there were only three likable characters(Smith's, Theron's and Bateman's) and the others I barely noticed, with the villain especially flat.So all in all, an uneven film but not a necessarily bad one.
Jason Bateman is pretty good for the first half of the movie, being funny and interesting at the same time.
This one sounds like it is straight out of a John Ford movie, or maybe "Wagon Train".Jason Bateman has almost as much time as Will Smith but really isn't able to bring much to a nothing role.
The writers in their desperate attempt to knit everything together even use an "After one month" sequence.The only two positive things about the movie are: the cool and funny Will Smith; and the good- looking Ms. Theron, who delivers a good performance.
Hancock is like communism: a great idea on paper but it in the end, it's just doesn't work.Hancock (played by Will Smith) is a ne'er-do-well superhero.
Once the city comes a calling, his rebirth will allow him to be ready to take control as someone the public can trust, rather than hate.Ripe for comedy, the fact that Ray is played by the immensely talented Jason Bateman and Hancock by Will Smith, the film delivers on the funny.
I watched this film expecting a true-to-life biopic of the legendary British comedian Tony Hancock, but once again it seems that Hollywood just had to change to story to suit the idiotic public.Charlize Theron was very badly cast as Sid James, Hancock's erstwhile sidekick, and there was no mention whatsoever of some of his famous sketches like the blood donation and the economy drive.I have nothing against Will Smith but casting a black actor into a white role is just political correctness gone mad!!
I don't like those movies that the director just tosses and turns the camera around so you can't even see the action and good stuff clearly.
Deep down like Bateman's Ray, we all want to "Change the world." Hero resonates to the soul.Hancock (Smith) has Superman-like powers: amazing strength, flight, great speed, and impervious to bullets.
Behind them is a team devoted to bringing us what we love about a summer movie: great action sequences, cool characters, and a decent story with good looking people.
The scenes in the trailer take place within the first 30 minutes, while the next hour is a well developed story involving superhero origins, complicated relationships and some intense action.You can pretty much guess the story from the trailer, however the movie is far from predictable; a man with super powers who is depressed wants to help the world while society shuns him.
Hancock isn't the kind of man who cares what other people think -- until the day that he saves the life of PR executive Ray Embrey, and the sardonic superhero begins to realize that he may have a vulnerable side after all.
Hancock is a movie where it answers the question, "What happens if a superhero just doesn't care?" And it does it great!
It adds a surprising sense of sweetness in the film.Unlike other superhero movies, "Hancock" isn't based on a comic book so no one really has an idea of what's going to happen in this film and that's what makes the movie so great!
The film does a great job giving us the information that we would need to know, although it doesn't answer all the questions we want to know, like how Hancock obtained his powers and so on and so forth.
When you think this is going to happen, a twist comes to keep you off guard which makes the film quite refreshing and original than most superhero movies.
Whether you like Will Smith or not, this has everything you could ask for.Some notes for consideration: This was a movie that faced some serious adversity from the beginning.The script for this was written in 1996 which makes the film all the more intriguing knowing just how many directors were cycled through before it finally went into production (11 years later!).
I'm a fan of Will Smith and an even bigger one of Charlize Theron, but still this movie seemed like a waste of money and time.
I really like the good special effects and it was an excellent around 100 minutes movie worth watching.
I won't declare film was a totally awful because it had some pretty fine moment such as that jail scene and the dramatic change in Smith's character of Hancock, starting from a bad outlook, alcoholic superhero whom everyone hates to much better mannered superhero, whom everybody likes.
Will Smith is a good actor, he plays the role relatively well, although its probably not a very hard role to play (Im not saying anything).To sum it all up Hancock is another of the movies that will entertain you.
Suffice to say that like all superhero movies, Hancock is also about sacrifice, and I think that's a theme that the genre cannot do away with. |
tt0422720 | Marie Antoinette | Based on the award-winning biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey by British author, Lady Antonia Fraser, Marie Antoinette is a sympathetic account of the private life of the last queen of France before the Revolution.Opening in the year 1770, Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna (Kirsten Dunst), affectionately known as Antoine, is the beautiful, charming, but naïve youngest daughter of Austria's empress Maria Theresa (Marianne Faithfull). She is selected by her mother to marry her second cousin, the Dauphin of France, Louis XVI, and seal an alliance between the two rival countries. The 14-year-old girl is bundled into a carriage and travels the long journey to a small island in the middle of the Rhine River, a symbolic location representing the transition from Austrian to French territory. Antoine meets the Comtesse de Noailles (Judy Davis), the mistress of the household at Versailles, Antoine's future home. A traditional "crossing-over" ceremony takes place, with the Comtesse explaining that Antoine must relinquish everything from her Austrian life; her clothes, jewelry, friends, ladies-in-waiting, and her beloved pet Pug dog, Mops. Ushered into a tent, she is dressed in the elaborate French fashion before emerging onto the French bank as the Dauphine of France, with her name translated to the French tongue: Marie Antoinette.Later that day, Marie Antoinette is introduced to King Louis XV (Rip Torn), the lewd grandfather of her betrothed, Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman). The young Dauphin himself is awkward and shy, and nervously meets his fiancée. His aunts, Victoire (Molly Shannon) and Sophie (Shirley Henderson) quietly discuss the new Dauphine, remarking that "she looks like a child," and mocking her Austrian roots.Marie Antoinette is shuttled to the magnificent Versailles, her new home. She beholds the decadent splendor of the palace. She is given very little time to adapt to her new surroundings before she and Louis are married in a lavish ceremony. The king toasts the couple, wishing them many healthy children to produce an heir to their throne.On the wedding night, the marriage bed is consecrated. The newlyweds, still young and uncomfortable in their new situation, fail to fulfill the expectation of intercourse. It is reported to the king the next morning that "apparently, nothing happened."The marriage continues to be fruitless, and the Dauphine feels increasingly stifled by the palace customs, which require her to constantly be attended by an unwanted entourage of servants and noblewomen who neither know her nor care for her.The courtiers quietly disdain Marie Antoinette as a foreigner (an Austrian, no less), and consistently blame her for her failure to produce an heir. Additionally, her relationship with her husband remains as distant as ever. Their sex life is nonexistent, and Louis immerses himself in his hobby of studying locks and keys.The court is rife with gossip, which is relayed to Marie Antoinette by the few courtiers who are warming up to her. The King's mistress, Madame du Barry (Asia Argento), is notorious for her crude manners and temper. She is hated by the court in general, who know that the King had found her at a brothel and had given her a title of Comtesse in order to keep her at Versailles. The Dauphine is encouraged to shun her, but her adviser, Ambassador Mercy (Steve Coogan) warns that snubbing du Barry may put her at odds with the King, and that Marie Antoinette is already on thin ice due to her unproductive marriage. The Dauphine reluctantly engages in a one-sentence conversation with du Barry, which quells the scandal.Marie Antoinette continues to ruffle feathers by breaching the high formality of Versailles, though she is simply trying to be warm and caring. She accompanies her husband on a hunting trip and passes out food to the attendants and even to the dogs. She applauds at the finale of an opera, in contrast to social norms, but encourages the rest of the audience to applaud as well.She slowly begins to settle in, and befriends Victoire and Sophie, as well as other ladies of the court. She receives a letter from her mother, who warns her that an unconsummated marriage could easily be annulled, and that she should make more of a sexual effort with her husband. The Dauphine unsuccessfully tries to seduce Louis that night. It is rumored in court that the Dauphin is either impotent or a closeted homosexual.Marie Antoinette continues to adapt to her new life over the next few years, though she and Louis have still not produced a child. She finds solace in buying lavish gowns and shoes, eating elaborate cakes and pastries, and gambling with her lady friends at cards. One night, she, her husband, her friend the Duchesse de Polignac (Rose Byrne) and several others go incognito to a masked ball in Paris, where they continue in their frivolity. There she meets Swedish Count Axel von Fersen (Jamie Dornan), and there is an instant attraction.In 1774, Louis XV passes away after a short illness. As he could not be given his last rites due to his having a mistress, du Barry is sent away from court. Louis XVI is crowned King of France and the new Queen Marie Antoinette accompanies him to Reims for the coronation ceremony.Despite the growing poverty and unrest among the French working class, Marie Antoinette continues her spending sprees and remains indifferent to the struggles of the people. The new King is young and inexperienced and begins spending more money on foreign wars, sending France even further into debt.Marie Antoinette is delighted by a visit from her brother, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (Danny Huston). After a warm reunion, Joseph reveals that their mother had sent him to council King Louis about the mechanics of a sexual relationship (using the King's hobby of locks and keys as an example). Soon afterward, the King and Queen consummate their marriage at long last. Marie Antoinette becomes pregnant and delivers a baby girl, Marie Therese, in December of 1778. Though she would like to have a closer relationship with her daughter, it is not considered proper for the Queen to nurse the child herself. Louis presents her with the Petit Trianon, a private cottage and garden on the grounds of Versailles. Marie Antoinette spends much time there with her friends and daughter, enjoying the peace and beauty of nature. After a party with friends, she enters into an affair with Count Fersen, who was in attendance. Despite this secret relationship, the Queen maintains an amiable relationship with her husband.Over the next few years, France continues to subsidize the American Revolution by giving funds and troops to the new nation to help fight the British, despite the enormous expense. Food shortages grow more frequent, as do food riots in Paris. Marie Antoinette's image with her subjects has completely deteriorated at this point. Her luxurious lifestyle and apparent callous indifference to the common people result in unflattering and obscene political cartoons in the local newspapers and earn her the title "Madame Déficit." Beginning to mature, she focuses less on her obligations as a socialite and more on her family, and tones down her opulent lifestyle, including a decision to stop purchasing diamonds. A few months after her mother's death in November 1780, Marie Antoinette gives birth to a boy, Louis-Joseph, the new Dauphin. Another year later, she gives birth to a second boy who dies in infancy.In July 1789, the French Revolution comes into full fruition and an angry mob begins a march from Paris to Versailles. As most of the nobility flees the country, the royal family resolves to stay. The rioting sans-culottes reach the palace and the King and Queen are captured by the revolutionaries and are forced to leave the following morning. The film ends with the royal family's transference from Versailles to the Tuileries for their semi-imprisonment. The last image is a shot of the Queen's bedroom, destroyed by the mob.It is noted in the final disclaimer that Louis XVI was executed by the revolutionaries in early 1793 and Marie Antoinette was also beheaded several months later that same year. With the French monarchy abolished, France then became a Republic. | alternate reality, intrigue, atmospheric, historical, alternate history, storytelling | train | imdb | null |
tt0377092 | Mean Girls | Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is the 16-year-old home-schooled daughter of zoologist parents (Ana Gasteyer and Neil Flynn). They have returned to the United States after residing in Africa for 12 years for their research. Cady is unprepared for her first day of public high school. With the help of Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damien (Daniel Franzese), Cady learns about the various cliques. She is warned to avoid the school's most exclusive clique, the Plastics, the reigning trio of girls led by the queen bee Regina George (Rachel McAdams). The Plastics take an interest in Cady, inviting her to sit with them at lunch and go shopping with them after school. Upon realizing that Cady has been accepted into the Plastics, Janis hatches a plan to get revenge on Regina, using Cady to infiltrate the Plastics.Having ingratiated herself with the Plastics per Janis' plan, Cady learns about a "Burn Book." This notebook is Regina's top secret notebook filled with vicious rumors, secrets, and gossip about all the other girls (and teachers) in their class. Cady soon falls in love with Regina's ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett), whom Regina successfully steals back from Cady in a fit of jealousy. Hurt and frustrated, Cady continues with Janis' plan, which involves cutting off Regina's "resources," separating her from Aaron, destroying her beauty, and turning Regina's fellow Plastics, insecure rich girl Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and sweet but ditzy Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried), against her. Cady starts feigning failure at math to get Aaron's attention and soon choreographs Aaron's breakup with Regina by confessing Regina's infidelity with another boy. Cady also tricks Regina into eating high-calorie nutrition bars (called Kälteen) by claiming that they actually help one lose weight. She also turns Gretchen against Regina by making her think Regina thinks of Cady as a better friend instead of her.In her efforts to get revenge on Regina, Cady gradually loses her individual personality and remakes herself in the image of Regina. She soon becomes as spiteful as Regina, abandoning Janis and Damien and focusing more on her image.Regina responds by spreading the entire contents of her Burn Book around the school, inciting a riot. To avoid suspicion, Regina also inserts a fake libel of herself in the book in order to focus blame on Cady, Gretchen, and Karen. The riot is eventually quelled by Principal Duvall (Tim Meadows). Math teacher Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey), who also appeared in the Burn Book in which Cady slandered her by saying that she sold drugs, makes the girls realize that all of them are guilty of hurting their peers. She has each girl confess and apologize to the rest of the girls. When Janis' turn comes, Regina makes an insulting joke about her sexuality, to which the crowd laughs. Janis retaliates by confessing her plan to destroy Regina with Cady's help and openly mocks Regina with the support of the entire school. Regina storms out, pursued by an apologetic Cady, and gets hit by a school bus in her haste. Rumors circulate that Cady intentionally pushed Regina in front of the bus.Now without friends, shunned by Aaron, and distrusted by everyone at school, even being distrusted by her own parents, Cady decides to make amends by taking full blame for the Burn Book. Though severely punished by her confession, her guilt dissolves and she returns to her old personality. As part of her punishment and her reformation, she joins the Mathletes, which Damien and Regina both described earlier as "social suicide," in their competition. There, Cady has an epiphany while competing against a very unattractive girl, realizing that even if she made fun of the girl's appearance it would not stop the girl from beating her.At the Spring Fling dance, Cady is elected Spring Fling Queen, but in her acceptance speech, she declares her victory is meaningless: they are all wonderful in their own way and thus the victory belongs to everyone. As a symbolic gesture, she breaks her tiara and distributes the pieces to her classmates. Cady makes up with Janis and Damien, reconciles with Aaron, and reaches a truce with the Plastics.The film ends with the Plastics disbanding by the start of the new school year: Regina joins the lacrosse team, Karen becomes the school weather girl, Gretchen joins the "Cool Asians", and Cady hangs out with Damien and Janis. Cady reflects that the "Girl World" is drama-free. | comedy, dramatic, cult, clever, humor, satire, romantic, revenge, entertaining | train | imdb | null |
tt0070039 | El espanto surge de la tumba | France, mid-1400s: As the executioners read off a list of the nefarious crimes of the blood-drinking sorcerer Aleric du Marnac [Paul Naschy] and his mistress Mabille de Lancré [Helga Liné], Aleric curses his brother Armand [Paul Naschy] and friend Andre Roland [Vic Winner], the two who denounced him, and all their descendents. The executioners then behead Aleric, burying head and body separate from each other. Mabille is tortured and slain while hanging upside down from a tree.Paris, modern day: When Hugo de Marnac [Paul Naschy] and Maurice Roland [Vic Winner] , along with girlfriends Sylvia [Betsabé Ruiz] and Paula [Cristina Suriani], are invited to one of Madame Irina's seances, Hugo decides to humor everyone and ask Mme Irina [Elsa Zabala] to summon his dead ancestor Aleric in order to find out where his head and body are buried. Much to everyone's surprise, Madame Irina is successful. Aleric appears and informs them that his body is buried in the cloisters, and his head is in a crypt in the monastery, both on Hugo's land near the mountain village of Lechat. So, Hugo, Maurice, Sylvia, and Paula decide to make the trip in order to see if they can find Aleric's remains. While driving in the mountains, they are tricked into stopping their car to help a man lying wounded in the road. The man turns out to be an escaped criminal, and he and his friend are looking for a car in which to get away. Unfortunately, they don't get very far before they drive the car head on into the mountainside and destroy the radiator. Luckily, some locals come along, shoot the criminals, and sell Hugo an old, beat-up Citroen for 3,000 francs so that they can continue on to Hugo's chalet.After arriving at the chalet and settling in, the caretaker Gastone [Juan Cazalilla], along with two hired hands from the village, takes Hugo and Maurice to the cloisters, even though local rumor has it that strange things have happened there and that "a demon walks about." While digging in the yard where it is rumored that a treasure is buried, Maurice suddenly gets a feeling and leads the group directly to the spot where they dig up a chest. Unable to get the chest open, they take it back to the chalet. Later that night, the two hired men sneak into the chalet and break open the chest, only to find a piece of paper with the word "Astarothe" painted on it. When Gastone finds them raiding the chest, one of the villagers, Alain [Luis Ciges], picks up a handsickle and, as though in a trance, slays Gastone and the other villager. Hearing Gastone's cry, his daughters Chantal [Maria José Cantudo] and Elvira [Emma Cohen] go looking for him. Finding their father dead, the girls wake up Hugo. Hugo and Maurice go to help Gastone and notice that the chest is gone. In fact, Alain has taken it into the monastery.When they realize that they are trapped in the chalet high in the mountains (no phone, no lights, no gasoline) with provisions for only four more days, the villagers angry with them for stirring up the demons, and a crazed murderer running about, Hugo and Maurice go looking for a way to get down from the mountain. Meanwhile, Alain starts picking off the girls. First to have her throat cut is Chantal, but Alain doesn't stop there. He cuts out her heart, too. Then he captures Paula and carries her off. Maurice goes looking for Paula and hears her calling him. When Maurice later returns to the chalet, seemingly in a trance, he slugs Sylvia and carries her body to where Aleric's head is alive and well. Aleric's head then tells Maurice to dig out his body as well as Mabille's. After reuniting Aleric's head with his body, Maurice places Sylvia's body in Mabille's tomb. Aleric then slices open Sylvia's chest. As her blood mixes with Mabille's remains, Mabille is reconstituted. Maurice then kills Alain, cuts out his heart, and presents it to Aleric and Mabille.Elvira and Hugo, the only two left alive in the chalet, go looking for a talisman that Gastone used to protect against demons. It appears to work because, when Aleric comes to rip out Elvira's heart, he is sent packing when he sees the talisman around her neck. Apparently, it doesn't work against the living dead, for when Hugo and Elvira are attacked during the night by the corpses of Gastone, Chantal, Sylvia, and the dead thief, Hugo and Elvira are forced to build a fire to keep them away. The next morning, Maurice suddenly shows up, explaining that he's been wandering about looking for Paula. Hugo asks Maurice to help him dig up and burn the corpses that attacked them last night, but when they go looking for the bodies, Maurice kills Hugo with a shotgun. Maurice then goes after Elvira, but the spell over him is dissipated when he touches the talisman.Elvira and Maurice promise to destroy Aleric and Mabille. Meanwhile, Mabille is getting hungry, so she and Aleric attack some villagers and eat some more hearts. Seven moons have passed, and Aleric and Mabille are preparing for a ritual which will return them to full power. While Paula lures Maurice and the talisman away from Elvira, Aleric enters the chalet. Fortunately, Maurice returns before Aleric has a chance to do anything to Elvira. As Maurice taunts Aleric with the talisman, Mabille kills Paula and then goes after Elvira. Maurice tosses the talisman at Aleric, setting him smoking, as Aleric buries an ax in Maurice's chest. Elvira stabs Mabille with a silver needle. Elvira then picks up the talisman, touches it to Aleric's forehead, and Aleric's head separates from his body. Elvira burns all the bodies and tosses the talisman into the lake. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl] | paranormal, revenge, gothic, murder, violence | train | imdb | A nightmare ensues for a group of people as the head sets forth to reunite with it's body.Sadly, most people in this world will never know the immense joy that this film can bring...but for the luckier few of us, this zany little Gothic horror picture delivers the goods with the very best of them.
Grand entertainment, as only the Europeans of the 1970s could create, and an absolute must-see for fans of crazed drive-in culture...there's not a single frame of the film which doesn't look like it was ripped straight from the pages of a Golden-Age horror comic book, and hooray for that.Rates a solid 7 out of 10 as I see it..
Dark Ages , two witches are condemned for murdering and witchery ; they are executed by the authorities , as Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is beheaded and Mabille De Lancre (Helga Line) is hung , while Alaric pronounces a curse against their future heirs .
Then , Alaric and Mabille continue a murderous rampage .This terrifying exploitation picture displays creepy horror ,witchcraft, grisly killing, satanism and lots of blood .
Revolting, horrible scenes and nasty images take place on cannibal scenes , decapitation , a heart pulled up , and bloody murders with ax and scythe .The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato and is occasionally an engaging horror movie full of nasty sequences , witchery , beheading , and several other things .
He directed 13 films as ¨The Cantabros¨, ¨Return of Wolfman¨, ¨The Beast and the magic sword¨ and several others.This is the first production realized by Profilmes - the Spanish Hammer- whose chairmen , Ricardo Muñoz and Jose Antonio Perez Giner assigned to Jacinto Molina the writing a rapid screenplay , Nashcy wrote it in two days and as was born the ¨Horror rises from the tomb ¨.
Ten years later , Naschy goes back with the Alaric De Marnac role in the film titled ¨Latidos De Panico¨ that acted , produced , wrote and directed in thriller style .
The script of "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is incoherent as hell, there isn't a single interesting or well-written dialog to be heard, acting & directing are both extremely shabby and the supposedly malevolent witches, zombies and other unidentifiable types of monsters evoke more laughs than scares.
Quite a lot of awkward and totally irrelevant things occur, but the bottom line is: Alaric de Marnac's decapitated head is still alive in a chest, buried in the large cemeteries surrounding the estate, and its hypnotizing powers turns people into docile yet bloodthirsty zombies.
Whether it's the poor make-up effects on the zombies, the implausible sub plots, the sleaze footage brought on by a couple of fine looking Euro-babes or the ingenious little gimmicks, "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is never boring and never makes you regret the purchase.
Most neutral viewers will probably claim this is the worst film they've ever encountered in their lives, but it's an absolute must for fans of Paul Naschy and essential 70's Euro-horror..
Cut forward to the 1970's and they're back, and there are some crappy looking zombies in there as well for some reason and erm.....well it's all a big ol' mess.The plot is an inchorent cluster of nonsense and stupidity, the performances are poor even by the days standards and it honestly doesn't really have anything going for it at all.Poorly written, poorly constructed, this is one to go out of your way to avoid.The Good:I liked it from "The End" onwardsThe Bad:Tacky soundtrackDisjointed plotThings I Learnt From This Movie:If you took a Hammer horror movie blended it with a Blind Dead film, removed the skeletons, the production values, and every level of competence you'd have Horror Rises from the Tomb..
Centuries later, Hugo de Marnac (Naschy), his friend Maurice Roland (Winner), and their girlfriends Sylvia (Betsabé Ruiz) and Paula (Cristina Suriani) attend a séance where they successfully raise the spirit of Alaric and learn the whereabouts of his body and severed head.
Stupidly, the foursome travel to the location to see if they can find Alaric's remains, but underestimate the dead sorcerer's power.Based on the review in my trusty Aurum Encyclopedia of Horror, I fully expected Horror Rises from the Tomb to be an entertaining, gore-drenched helping of classic 70s Euro-horror, with a smattering of sex on the side; imagine my disappointment when I discovered the film, part of my Mill Creek 50 film 'Pure Terror' box set, to be a splatter-free snooze-fest of epic proportions, worth a rating of no more than 2/10 (for the gorgeous women, none of whom bared any flesh).Surmising that something was amiss, I rummaged through my vast collection of movies and unearthed another copy of the film which soon confirmed my suspicions: the Mill Creek version was severely mutilated, shorn of all nudity or gore.
Paul Naschy exchanges his Waldemar Daninsky werewolf persona for that of medieval occultist Alaric De Marnac (which he would play again, years later, in PANIC BEATS [1983]) and that of his modern-day descendant Hugo, resulting in one of his most eclectic scripts taking in witchcraft, spiritualism, a powerful amulet, a scythe-wielding killer and a horde of zombies, among others - all of which are rather jumbled together without much consideration for logic, but it does make for a colorful and thrill-packed show.
However, as is often the case with this type of film, the languid pace coupled with variable acting and the awkward dubbing also entails that HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB comes off as an uneven - but, ultimately, not disagreeable - viewing experience.The film positively drips with atmosphere right from the opening sequence - set in 15th century France and showing Alaric's execution along with his mistress/associate, played by Helga Line - down to the couple's modern-day come-uppance during the busy climax which takes place in de Marnac's remote estate.
Other notable moments include: the seance during which Alaric is invoked by Hugo; the individual scenes in which the evil duo are revived, made possible by discreet use of (rather unsophisticated) special effects but which still manage to get the job done nicely; their stylized seduction of one of the girls who tags along with the latest member of the de Marnac family (who ostensibly travels to the castle in order to prove that his ancestor's evil influence is no more); and, of course, the various gory murders and zombie attacks which pepper the film's running time.Featured in the cast, a staple of "Euro-Cult" cinema, is a bevy of beautiful ladies who are often seen lounging in various states of undress: Helga Line makes quite an impression as the villainous Mabille, but my favorite remains Emma Cohen (later star of one of Jess Franco's best films, the psychological thriller THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR [1973]) who exhibits sweetness and vulnerability in equal measures throughout - while also serving as Hugo's requisite love interest - and, by the film's end, is actually the sole survivor (albeit emotionally scarred, as can be witnessed from the final shot) of the mayhem.This and THE CRAVING (1980; see below) have certainly made me game to check out some more Paul Naschy flicks.
Sure, his films are far away from being masterpieces or milestones, but they have their very own, inimitable style, and for a fan of low-budget Horror and Exploitation, it does not get a lot more entertaining than it is the case with Naschy's films.
"Horror Rises From The Tomb" of 1973 is the first film revolving around the satanic undead knight/warlock Alaric De Marnac, a role Naschy would reprise in "Latidos De Panico" (aka.
I had seen the latter before I first saw this original film on the ghoulish knight, and I must say that while this one is often even more confused and illogical than its successor, it is also an unspeakably entertaining film with an incredible cult-value.In medieval France, the evil warlock Alaric De Marnac (Paul Naschy) is executed along with his beautiful (and equally evil) mistress Mabille de Lancré (Helga Liné).
Centuries later, Hugo Marnac (also played by Naschy) decides to travel to his family's old estate with some friends in order to have some fun and do some research on Alaric and Mabille, which - Surprise!
All said, "Horror Rises From The Tomb" might not be your type of film if you only like cinema of the "Citizen Kane" kind.
In 1454, in France, the sorcerer Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) is decapitated and his mistress Mabille De Lancré (Helga Liné) is tortured to death accused of witchcraft, vampirism and lycanthropy.
After the death of her father, Elvira (Emma Cohen) recalls that he has the Thor's Hammer amulet hidden in a well; together with Maurice, they try to defeat the demoniac Alaric de Marnac and Mabille.Last weekend I bought a box of horror genre with five DVDs of Paul Naschy per US$ 9.98; despite of having no references, I decided to take the chance.
The first DVD with the uncut and restored version "Horror Rises from the Tomb" is a trash B (or C) movie that immediately made me recall Ed Wood.
Well it does play out a little like that, but once the body is reunited with the head, all the interesting and gruesome deaths are done and the movie moves very slowly.
The evil sorcerer Alaric de Marnac is executed along with sexy female witch Mabilee de Lancre during prologue set in fifteenth century.Dunderheads in relative present of the seventies hold a séance and awaken his vengeful spirit.Back from the grave the spirit seeks to have its severed head restored to its body and his lady returned to him.Somewhere in the mix are flesheating zombies and hypnotized semi-nude nymphs."Horror Rises from the Tomb" is among my favourite Spanish horror films from early 70's.It has a gruesome decapitation,hearts ripped out from chests,naked women hung upside down from the tree,living corpses and beautiful women with bounteous bare heaving bosoms.There are some obvious pace problems and at times the film meanders like the blind dead through wind-swept graveyards looking for fresh meat.However I am in love with this film and you should too,if you are a fan of Paul Naschy..
Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973) *** (out of 4) Warlock Alaric de Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his partner (Helga Line ) are executed for practicing witchcraft but before they're killed they put a curse on those who witness their death.
Flash-forward five-hundred years later and a group of people travel to the country looking for a treasure and sure enough the spirit of the warlock returns for vengeance.Director Carlos Aured and Naschy would make four films together with this one here being the first.
HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB isn't a masterpiece but there's no question that it's a very entertaining Spanish horror film that has a lot going for it.What I enjoy most about this film is the fact that it's quite a dirty little picture.
Line is good and seductive in her role and we get some nice support from Victor Alcazar and Emma Cohen.HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMBS has a few pacing issues and it takes a while to get going but if you stick with the picture it's certainly becomes quite rewarding..
HORROR FROM THE TOMB (1973) *½ Jacinto Molina (as "Paul Naschy"), Emma Cohen, Victor Alcázar, Helga Liné, Besabe Ruiz.
Paul Naschy made a great number of horror films.
This is a fun ride lots of blood and gore cool story cheesy scary man they dont make movies like this anymore they need to!If your a fan of euro horror trash its a must I have seen this one 3 times I ENJOYED it and maby you will two!!.
This is one of them Paul Naschy films, which is a name familiar to horror fans, but to be honest this is the first time I've sat down to watch the guy in action, and in this film he plays dual roles.Paul is an evil Count, beheaded in medieval times for Satanism, with his head and torso buried separately.
Spanish genre superstar Paul Naschy gets a fine showcase here, playing no less than three roles, and he also wrote the screenplay using his real name Jacinto Molina.His primary role is that of a ruthless 15th century sorcerer, Alaric de Marnac, who gets put to death - by his own brother.
Cult actor Paul Naschy is giving an excellent performance what makes him stand in one row with other great horror icons like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee or George Eastman.
I bought "Horror Rises from the Tomb" in a 10 movie boxed set called Deadtime Stories because I was starting to become a big fan of Paul Naschy.
Head-in-a-Box. Centuries ago, Aleric du Marnac (Paul Naschy) and his female companion were put to death for a variety of crimes including consorting with Satan.
Through possession and blood sacrifice, du Marnac is determined to make his body whole.What Works: The Last Act. I have yet to see a Paul Naschy film that I can wholeheartedly endorse, but Horror Rises from the Tomb comes as close as I've yet seen.
It's not that the first part of the movie is bad, it's just not as good as the final half hour.The Head-in-a-Box. Horror Rises from the Tomb certainly isn't the first film of its type to have a reanimated head, but its definitely handled better than most.
In fact, most of the special effects (the zombies rising from the swamp or the heart being ripped from the chest are two more examples) are as good as anything I've seen form an early 70s Spanish horror movie.Helga Line.
du Marnac's twisted, blood-thirsty female companion is played to perfection by Helga Line.What Doesn't Work: Paul Naschy.
I'll still watch his films in hopes that one day I'll see in him what so many other horror fans have seen.
Horror Rises from the Tomb may not be Naschy's breakthrough with me, but it's a movie that I enjoyed and will revisit in the future..
Multi-talented Paul Naschy writes the script here (under his real name, Jacinto Molina) and also performs a dual (triple?) role in yet another film that tells his oft-visited tale of individuals executed for witchcraft visiting a curse on the descendants of their accusers.
Their plans are complicated when the bodies rise later as water-logged zombies and descend on the house "Night of the Living Dead"-style, in one of the movie's best sequences.The film is very typical of Naschy's films in that the situations are improbable and seem to have been invented on the spot.
Although it relies on a lot of clichés that have been around since the early days of film, "Horror Rises From the Tomb" also has plenty of blood, and if the special effects are sometimes less than convincing, the brutal tone of the violence makes up for it.
Helmed by Carlos Aured, assistant director on Werewolf Shadow, Horror Rises From the Tomb is the first of two vehicles in which Naschy portrays one of his favorite creations: the vicious Alaric de Marnac.
From the opening scene's upside-down decapitation, to the heart-ripping murders of the young innocents by Alaric's malignant companion Mabille de Lancre, who is played to the scrumptious hilt by the great unsung queen of Euro-Horror, Helga Liné (above), Horror Rises From the Tomb is an utter delight.
Well, if you are interested in the idea of a severed head with hypnotic power to order others around to his his bidding, Helga Line ripping open the chests of victims to snatch out their hearts, and corpses of those who are victimized by the evil sorcerers on the rampage then Horror Rises from the Tomb is an ideal way to spend 90 minutes.
I personally loved how deranged and ridiculous the plot is, and the film provides all kinds of aspects I look for in horror movies.
The version of this film I saw was titled 'Horror Rises from the Tomb'.
There's a LOT of nudity in this film, and not just female - we even get to see Naschy's paunchy body, which isn't a pretty sight, I can tell you.
When a labourer falls under the hypnotic spell of Naschy's head there's a big close up of his face that seems to last forever and serves no purpose whatsoever.All in all, not a great horror film, but entertaining enough.
As if to prove the old adage "you can't keep a good man down," the 1973 Spanish film "Horror Rises From the Tomb" gives us the story of 15th century Satanist Alaric du Marnac.
(This opening scene, it must be noted, almost seems an homage to the similar opening in Mario Bava's classic "Black Sunday," except here, we have a male Satanist and a female helper, instead of the other way around.) Flash forward 520 years or so, and Alaric's blood descendant (also played by the film's screenwriter, Paul Naschy...aka his given name, Jacinto Molina) is heading toward his ancestral estate, the Villas de Sade, with his gal pal (the gorgeous Betsabe Ruiz) and another couple (Victor Alcazar and the beautiful Cristina Suriani).
"It's only a horror movie," Naschy tells the audience in his introduction on this great-looking Deimos DVD (loaded with extras), but at least it's a very fine one.....
The narrative then shifts to the modern day, where the warlock's head is dug up and a string of grisly murders unfold.Everything to be known and loved about Spanish horror is present in this film.
Evil warlock Alaric De Marnac (the one and only Paul Naschy) gets beheaded for his crimes against humanity in 15th century France.
I wish the same could be said for "El espanto surge de la tumba," or as Americans might know it, "Horror Rises from the Tomb." The movie starts out promising enough. |
tt0110255 | Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor | The camera pans along the outside of Sante Federal Penitentiary and into the cell of David Sloane (Sasha Mitchell). David is writing a letter to his wife, Vicky (Deborah Mansy), talking to her about how he was framed for a crime he didn't commit, at the hands of Tong Po. David begins talking about events that began when his brother Eric, a national kickboxing champion, went to Thailand to fight in bigger challenges. Flashbacks to scenes from the movie Kickboxer show Eric arrogantly believing he can best any challenger until he fights Tong Po (then played by Michel Qissi), who cripples him with a brutal elbow to his spine as he is prone on the mat. David's letter then talks about his other brother, Kurt (Jean-Claude Van Damme) training in Thailand to avenge Eric. Kurt defeated Tong Po and dishonored him. Tong Po ambushed both Kurt and Eric before they could leave Thailand and murdered them. Then, when he found out there was a third Sloan brother, he came to America to force David to fight him. (Scenes from Kickboxer 2: The Road Back highlight these flashbacks). After Tong Po burned down David's gym, killing a young boy, Sloane trained with the same elderly Thai who trained Kurt, and defeated Tong Po. David then met Vicky, and they married and opened a school, and life was good... until David was arrested and jailed. David's letter concludes by warning Vicky that he believes even this will not be enough to sate Tong Po's wrath-- David is sure that Vicky herself will be targeted. He is warning her to hide and run from Tong Po, so that she is safe.A car drives into a gated estate. Two men emerge, dragging along a captive woman wearing handcuffs. She is brought into the estate where one of her captors has her handcuffs removed. Immediately she lashes out against both men, killing one of them. Her attempted flight is halted as Tong Po enters the room. The captive woman is Vicky Sloan. She tries to fight Tong Po (now played by Kamel Krifa), who easily wards off her attack and leaves her crumpled on the floor after a brutal knee to her stomach. Identifying himself to Vicky, Tong Po shoves her down onto a bed and brutally rapes her.Back at the penitentiary, David is told he has mail. He opens the letter and then sits on his chair back in his cell in disgust. The letter says simply, 'Don't worry-- I'm taking good care of her. Your old friend, Tong Po,' along with a photo of Vicky as Tong Po's captive.David fights another inmate in a yard fight, knocking him out. Officers break it up and put him in solitary. Later he is brought into a room to be spoken to by a visitor, who turns out to be a DEA agent named Casey (Nicholas Guest). David receives Casey coldly, and they briefly argue over the events leading up to David's imprisonment before David tells him that it's been two years that Vicky has been held captive by Tong Po... David believes she's probably dead. Casey is offering David a way out: Tong Po has been the most powerful drug lord in Mexico for five years now, operating out of a sprawling ranch-estate that is fortified as well as any fortress. The DEA can't get close enough to shut him down. But every year on the 'Day of the Dead,' Po invites top fighters from around the world to compete at his compound, and the winner is challenged to fight Tong Po himself, for a million dollars. The DEA plans to secrete David as a fighter in the tournament. Some of Tong Po's men are in the pentientiary and the DEA will use David having been in solitary to 'hide' him from them. The mission is dangerous because Tong Po might recognize David, even after so many years since their last encounter. David is cynical at being recruited and offered freedom only because the DEA needs him, but he's more than ready to settle the score with Tong Po once and for all, and free Vicky from captivity.As David walks out of the prison, a biker rides by, dropping a manila envelope. It contains a faked passport for David and instructions to go to a location where back-alley street fights are held. He needs to impress one of Tong Po's men in these fights to get invited to the tournament. David passes a woman doing Tai Chi exercises and has a memory of training Vicky in martial arts.David goes to where the fight is happening. Interrupting the fight, he takes on both participants and knocks them out. Brubaker (Nicholas Anthony) is impressed and gives David the invite to the tournament down in Calixico, Mexico, with a million dollar payday for the big winner. As David walks on, Brubaker makes the call to tell Tong Po's men about a new entrant named Jack Jones, and tells them, 'don't piss him off.'David gets a ride with a biker to a town five miles from the Mexican border. He goes into a rough redneck bar where some of the men are harrassing a short blonde woman named Megan Laurence (Michele Krasnoo). When she proves adept at fending them off, some of them get behind her and break bottles over her head to knock her out. David cleans house, knocking everyone into the middle of the next millennium. But Megan proves entirely ungrateful and cold to David for his assistance. She realizes that David is headed to Mexico for the tournament and gives him a word of advice: that when he meets her in battle, to assume they'd never met.David gets a ride down to Calixico and makes his way to Tong Po's compound. He is met there by the hostess, Darcy (Jill Pierce). She takes him to the area where fighters battle it out to qualify for the tournament. As he is 'registered' for the final qualifying matches, he sees Megan Laurence staring intently at him.David watches a qualifying fight that shows a tall man with a long ponytail and a short goatee named Thomas (Burton Richardson) as a fearsome, sadistic fighter. He is then selected for the next qualifying match, finding to his dismay that his opponent is Megan. David doesn't want to fight Megan, thinking she is in way too far over her head already. Megan rakes a vicious kick across his face that hardly fazes him except for briefly snapping his head to one side. Sighing, David easily dodges her next attack and puts her in a sleeper hold that knocks her out.David is given a guest room on the compound and promptly sneaks out, finding that he has an ally-- Lando Smith (Brad Thornton), the young brother of one of David's students, whose life was straightened out by David.David continues sneaking around, trying to get intel, while Lando tries to question Darcy, whose answers are elusive but show she's not without a heart. Lando finds out that Tong Po will probably make Megan Laurence into one of his sex captives-- and when these young women reach a certain age, their future is grim.The fighters that qualified for the tournament are regaled at an opening celebration. David stares coldly as Tong Po is introduced. Later, David and Lando are talking. Concerned at being recognized by Tong Po, David hopes to discreetly locate Vicky and sneak away with her. Finding the celebration not to his liking, David leaves to return to his room.Tong Po takes the microphone again to announce that he is allowing one of the disqualified fighters a second chance to prove worthy of the tournament. Guards usher Megan Laurence forth and Tong Po announces that any fighter who defeats her will receive a $25,000 bonus-- but if Megan wins that battle, she'll take the place of the fighter who lost to her. A number of fighters all rush at Megan, who fights them off. Lando comes to her defense, even challenging Tong Po himself and not backing down after all the guards aim their guns right at him point blank. Tong Po merely laughs Lando off and tells him to enjoy the rest of the celebration. Megan grudgingly thanks Lando, who leads her away to get her cleaned up. Darcy intently watches them walk away.Darcy later goes to Lando's room to seduce him, and she is stunned when he turns her away. She leaves angrily, suggesting that maybe he 'doesn't like girls' or else 'prefers underage tramps.'After having snuck through much of Tong Po's compound, David takes out some papers from the manila envelope he'd received outside the penitentiary, which include a blueprint of the compound. Later that evening, he again sneaks through the compound in dark clothes and a ski mask. He finds his way to where many women are held captive and forced to have sex with compound men, and with each other. He knocks out two guards and finds Vicky in a cell. But before he can rescue her, security alarms sound and he must elude converging security to make it back undetected to his room.The next morning everyone is gathered in the tournament area. Tong Po warns all the fighters that he knows that someone trespassed into private areas of the compound, and anyone caught doing so would face serious punishment. The competition begins, and a number of matches are shown.Guards bring Vicky breakfast. She tries to melee with them and it takes four of them to grapple and restrain her.More matches are shown. Thomas, Megan and Lando all win their matches. David manages to keep his back and profile to Tong Po throughout his match, and also defeats his opponent.After the first round is over, Lando and David talk. David says he knows where Vicky is being held, and needs to find a way in. Lando says he might know a way. He goes to hit on Darcy, who is still steaming mad over his rebuffing her the previous night. But deep down, she still lusts for Lando, and gives in to his advances. After they are done, Lando confides in Darcy that he's here to free a woman captive who's been in the compound two years. Darcy is afraid of being found out, but Lando plays on her compassion; despite her suggestions to the contrary, Lando knows that Darcy herself is a captive of Tong Po, and he'll probably dispose of her anyway for someone younger once she reaches a certain age. He offers to try and help rescue her as well if she trusts him.As Lando leaves Darcy's room, another man knocks on her door.David leaves Lando's room, thanking him for his help. There's a knock on Lando's door, and two men rush in and knock him out.Lando awakens tied to a chair in Tong Po's home in the compound. Tong Po confronts Lando, knowing he is a DEA agent. Tong Po tries to torture it out of him, rubbing salt into Lando's wounds, but Lando doesn't break. Finally Tong Po plays one last card-- he has Darcy brought in. She is bound and gagged, dirty and disheveled, and it looks like she's been sexually abused. Tong Po takes a small knife blade and makes several deep cuts in Darcy's flesh as she screams in agony through her gag. Lando finally admits to being DEA and Tong Po 'thanks' him by making one last deep stab into Darcy's breast.David goes to where women captives are held and finds the cells empty. He knows that Tong Po is on to him and the women have been moved in anticipation. He fights his way through several converging guards until he is ambushed and knocked out by Tong Po himself. Tong Po unmasks David and promptly recognizes him. Tong Po's torturing of Darcy broke Lando into revealing everything.Early the next morning. David, Lando and Darcy are tied to ceiling beams in a cell. Darcy is dead, hanging limply from the ropes binding her wrists. Lando tells David that he's a DEA agent and infiltrated the tournament as David's backup.The final tournament rounds are scheduled to begin. Tong Po tells the remaining fighters that unlike the previous rounds, these matches are to the death. Each fight ends only with the death of one opponent. Those who are too intimidated by these odds, must leave the compound immediately. But when a few of the contestants choose to take Tong Po up on the offer, he pulls a gun and kills them all.The final matches begin with competitors stepping up their game. Megan refuses to finish off her beaten opponent, and Tong Po laughs at her defiance. Bodies of slain opponents are dragged just to the outside edges of the fighting ring and left there. When only a few participants are left, Lando and David are brought in. Tong Po announces that five years ago, his wife Sian was killed in a fire resulting from a DEA raid. He holds David Sloan responsible for Sian's death. He announces that a half a million dollar bonus will go to whomever fights David. A gunman forces a handcuffed Vicky to her knees on a walkway overlooking the tournament area.Thomas grabs the opportunity to fight David, but David defeats Thomas and two other challengers. Getting frustrated, Tong Po orders Megan to fight David. Getting to her feet, Megan reveals what she now understands about the tournament: it's all a setup for wanton violence. Tong Po never intended to pay anyone or let any of the participants leave alive. She feels that Tong Po is afraid of fighting David himself. She, David, Lando, and the other fighters attack all the guards and take them out, except for Thomas, who fights on Tong Po's side. Lando knocks Thomas out as Tong Po enters the ring himself. He beats Lando savagely, and doesn't even look at Megan as she batters him about the chest and midsection with kicks. He only smiles when she lands several kicks to his face before knocking her off her feet.David and Tong Po lock eyes. David stalks him out into the area where the opening celebration was held. Tong Po holds Vicky in a chokehold. David coldly tells him that killing Vicky will not bring back Tong Po's honor, but only shame him forever. Seething with malice, Tong Po acknowledges the truth of David's words and releases Vicky. David wades into battle with Tong Po, becoming more vicious every minute until he is beating Tong Po nearly within an inch of his life. Tong Po's right hand man finally interrupts the battle by threatening Vicky with a gun. David steps away from Tong Po, who scuttles away like a scalded dog.David stalks toward the right-hand man, discreetly picking up a long knife. Hurling it from behind his back, he kills the right hand man.The remaining fighters make their way out of the compound, Megan helping Lando as they meet up with David and Vicky. The camera pans away from the compound into the skies as we fade to black. | revenge, cult, violence | train | imdb | You're a fool if you expect something like this to be very good.There's a lot of action in this movie, and a lot of fighting.
Sasha mitchell is surprisingly good, doing a decent impression of someone playing a leading man, but it's his high kicks we want to see, and we get them in spades.Before i go any further, you should know that this is the sort of film where the plot is put on hold for a few minutes so that the hero can fight a bar full of bikers for no apparent reason, where going and picking a fight with another bunch of bikers in a very public display is the best course of action when trying to infiltrate a tournament anonymously.
OK those facts are out of the way.the plot is some sort of nonsense about a tournament (because apparently former Thai kick-boxers can very easily set themselves up as drug kingpins with nothing better to do than organize tournaments) Tong Po is back, albeit played by a different actor, and the former Goro from Mortal Kombat lookalike has discovered the joys of speech, unfortunately he speaks in an annoying whiny voice.
the martial arts are a very good standard for a low budget, dodgy film with a no name lead (more or less), and feature some very well done, quite brutal, fights.
There IS no plot to Kickboxer 4 beyond the initial setup, and as far as I can tell that leads on from previous instalments in the series about as fluidly as Friday the 13th Part III leads on from Legally Blonde 2.Anyway, as you might expect Kickboxer 4 is a fine candidate for a bad film session, though it's hard to pin down any specific element as being the out-and-out worst: the acting, script, editing and of course make-up are all award-winningly bad, though at least the fight scenes are diverting (full marks to the overenthusiastic sound effects department) and for once the direction isn't so spasmodic that you suspect Albert Pyun's hand at work long before you've spotted his name in the credits.Naturally I'm not saying it's good by any means.
Particularly loved Sloan's disguise (a pair of shades) as he cleverly infiltrated the fortress of the untouchable drug baron and demon martial artist who'd killed his brothers, kidnapped his wife, got him banged up in jail and been his obsessive arch-nemesis for years, yet couldn't work out who he was from six feet away.
When I was five, my friend had better mask at the elementary school carnival.If you hate someone, recommend him this film.It is really strange that Sasha Mitchell remained in the business after this crummy Kickboxer series..
In Sasha Mitchell's final series appearance, Kickboxer 4 emerges as the most enjoyable sequel due to it's sheer ridiculousness which make this prime guilty pleasure material for fans of this kind of thing.
Plus Kickboxer 4 is one of the most surreal movies i've ever seen.* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good).
The acting was pretty bad, the story was stupid and cliché, the fight scenes were poorly done and I was expecting the main character to all of a sudden say his catch phrase "DUDE!" from Step by Step.What was with almost every character looking like a famous person?
I'm really happy to see Frank Zappa was able to act in a film before his untimely death.Also, why did every bad-ass character in that movie end up to be a wimp at the end.
Maybe you're being a little hard on him." Well, first, going back would mean I would have to tender some kind of coin to view the earlier Kickboxer movies, and there are other things I could spend my money on...like a singing Billy Bass.
Pyun...director of the worst movie of all, or any time...Radioactive (shudder) Dreams.Hey, Fun fact, Tong Po is played by different actors.
If Van Damme looked at the script and said, "Uh...no, Even I won't stoop thees low." well, it can't get any plainer than that friends and neighbors.If you must make a sequel to Kickboxer, why not explore the character of his (Boner's) trainer, Xian played with subtle mastery by Dennis Chan.
This in my opinion it is a worthy follow to the first one it isn't dramatic like was the second one this film is different from the last two movies and that a good one.
Why in my opinion this movie is good: we see the flashbacks from the first movie in which Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Alexio appeared as the real Kurt and Eric not an other actors who imitate both of the brothers in sequel Kickboxer 2: The Road Back.
I love the cast in this film I love that is shot in New Mexico in which the story is set and I mostly I love it is a mixed martial arts tournament.The movie was beautifully entirely shot in New Mexico in which the story takes place.
In the street fight in which Sasha Mitchell is fighting and shows his martial arts Muay Thai skills fighting two opponents you see a lot of motorcycle gangs and you see Sasha Mitchell driving with another motor biker and in a roadside bar when Sasha stops you see another bikers those were a real bikers called Hells Angels they worked also as an extra and they helped by making this movie.
The fight scenes are unbelievable and realistic most of the film is realistic and I though it is a good movie.
Actress Michele 'Mouse' Krasnoo is in this film she is a weapons expert, a 2nd-degree black belt in Tang Soo Do, and a retired competitive-karate champion I liked her in this movie.
This movie also has Thom Mathews my all time favorite actor who played Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives in here he is Bill the bad guy and the second hand of Tong Po (Kamel Krifia), he is so beautiful in this movie.
Michel Qissi should return in this movie and he should do his stunts like he did in the first two Kickboxer films in that I was disappointed.
Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor is a 1994 direct-to-video release martial-arts film directed by Albert Pyun.
This was the last film to star Sasha Mitchell, who reprises his role as David Sloan.6/10 Grade: C- Studio:Kings Road Entertainment Starring: Sasha Mitchell Kamel Krifia, Nicholas Guest, Michele 'Mouse' Krasnoo, Brad Thornton, Jill Pierce, Thom Mathews Director: Albert Pyun Producer: Jessica G.
For one thing, some of the fight choreography is pretty good - the tournament fight sequences have choreography that feels much more realistic than you usually get in movies like this, and the bar room brawl is fun to watch.
Poor photography (often the lens looks like it was smeared with Vaseline) doesn't help, though admitedly the rest of the movie doesn't come across as cheap as Pyun's other efforts -except maybe for the hilarious makeup job for the replacement actor for the Tong Po character.
Once again, Albert Pyun (Kickboxer 2) took over the director's reins and gave us an entertaining sequel to Rick King's horrible addition to the series.When we catch up with David Sloan in Kickboxer 4, we find him in prison, having been framed for murder by none other than his old nemesis, Tong Po, who has since become one of the most powerful druglords in Mexico.
Under the alias 'Jack Jones', David fights his way into Po's exclusive million dollar tournament, bent on paying back his old rival in full.Sasha Mitchell is much more subdued in this film in coordination with his character, having been hardened from his two years in prison.
Although quite a departure from the happy-go-lucky character he's used to portraying, Mitchell handles it very well, coming across as a much more intimidating presence than in the previous two films.I personally love Albert Pyun's style.
The only thing that's good in this film is the fight choreography, where the fighters use different arts (David and Tong Po are Muay Thai, Thomas is Jeet Kune Do, Megan is Tang Soo Do, another guy Capoeira).
When his old enemy Tong Po kidnaps his wife, David Sloan has to travel to his stronghold in Mexico to take part in a violent kickboxing competition.After the departure into more straight-ahead action-thriller territory with the third instalment in this series, Kickboxer 4 returns the story to the main threads of the first two parts.
This includes bringing back the character of Tong Po. Although, they didn't manage to get the actor who played him and instead use a different guy and simply apply bizarre facial make-up to make him look similar.
Sasha Mitchell once more has a certain charm in the lead role, while there is some pretty good fight choreography, particularly in the competition scenes.
Sasha Mitchell returns as David Sloan who this time is in Prison serving a manslaughter charge, when he's by the DEA to assassinate Tong Po (Kamel Krifa) , Naturally Sloan accepts since Po has kidnapped his wife, many fightscenes ensue in the best sequel of the series.Indeed it's hard to really compliment Kickboxer 4 on really anything since it's all very by the numbers, however that being said Kickboxer 4 at least offers more bang for the buck, the story is leaner and meaner and Sasha Mitchell has thankfully dropped the whole sympathetic edge of his character.Besides it's hard to hate a movie where Krifa's make up looks like it's constantly melting, or when Mitchell walks in on a man and two women having sex.
Some creative camera angles to make him look bigger, less verbal dialogue and more body language - culminating in a single, memorial line somewhere at a critical point of the movie - would have been better.Still, overall, if you're looking for some martial arts cheese with good fight action, this is very much worth a look..
if you read my review of kick boxer 3,you'll know i liked that movie quite a bit.however,you may be surprised to know that i liked this movie even more.Sash Mitchell again returns as our hero,David Sloane.this time,there is no wise(cracking)old mentor.this movie has very little humour.it is much darker in tone and the stakes are higher.the story is deeper than the previous installment(and when i say deeper,i mean deeper for this genre).what i really liked however,is that the fight scenes are even better in this one.there are some amazing fights in this movie.i also liked the fact that the antagonist(the villain)is stronger in this film.And again Mitchell comes off looking like a real action hero.more so in this film than the 3rd.i give this film a strong 7/10.
The guy that played David Sloan, i think he's a good actor as well, after the first kickboxer movie, Sasha (His real name) starred in Kickboxer 2: The road back in 1991, then in 1992 he starred in Kickboxer 3: the art of war, the 2 years later Kickboxer 4: the aggressor was released in 1994, and then it was pronounced that the 4th kickboxer movie was banned because of the gory violence that was in the movie.
Did the make up artists not bother to look at him under the camera lighting or even face to face to see how their makeup job looked?The fighting was the only good part about this movie with the exception of the annoying as nails down a chalkboard, Michelle "Mouse" Krasnoo.
There is no way she could have beaten any one of those martial artists on even their worst day, as easily as she did, with what she did and the fact that they tried to make it so, was laughable at best.Other than Michelle's terrible performance, not only in acting but in her martial forms as well, the rest of the fight scenes were well executed and enjoyable to watch.I was very disappointed that Sasha Mitchell was not able to showcase more of his fighting.
However, I still think Sasha Mitchell is far too talented an actor and martial artist to have wasted his time on such a poorly made movie as "Kickboxer 4.".
Some of the fight choreography isn't bad and the editing is better than usual for Albert Pyun, the New Mexico locations look nice and the overall production values are much better than usual for Albert Pyun as the picture is clear and colourful, there are a couple of basic stunts (not well used however) and Sasha Mitchell does the best he could possibly do given the material surrounding him.Now for the rest, it was full of so many things which simply made say "Huh?" or had me in hysterics that I don't know where to start.
The villain who goes by the name of "Tong Po" in the previous Kickboxer movies wouldn't return in this.
If you are familiar with Pyun, he often uses close-ups of the actors faces in his movies, often so two characters who are not on set at the time can be edited together to look like they're in conversation.
He continues that trend in this, and the "Tong Po" character is seen in close-ups several times, revealing how truly bad the makeup is and making me laugh harder than I have at a movie in a long time.
The climatic fight scene is especially funny, where Mitchell and the so called "Tong Po" battle it out on top of tables and after losing the battle, our plastic faced friend runs away leaving it open for another sequel.
But to think that Pyun thought this was good enough to make another sequel and that his "Tong Po" was convincing enough to return doesn't say a lot for the intelligence of his target audience..
In other words, David Sloan has devolved into something actor Sasha Mitchel can handle, and for the first time since his debut in the series I did not want to see him slip on a banana peel, break his neck, and retire in disgrace.
These aren't characters, these are props.On a visual level, Kickboxer 4 wants to look like a more expensive film, and in some respects it succeeds (at least partially.) There's a nice shot that follows Lando and Megan as they walk away to their rooms, and then the camera returns (rotating almost 180 degrees) to show Darcy and one of Po's lead henchmen behind her capturing 4 characters (polar opposites of each other) in a single unbroken shot with surprisingly competent composition.
The most defective part of this film, is the character playing Tong Po. It isn't the same actor from Part 1&2 playing the part and I must say that the bad make-up job to make the actor resemble Tong Po looks ridiculous and completely laughable.I don't recommend Kickboxer 4 to anyone, unless you're in the mood for pure cheese.
So in kickboxer 4 we have David Sloan (Sasha Mitchell) in jail for killing someone while he was a DEA agent and is now getting a chance to get Tong Po who has now taken his wife and managed to change into another actor, establish a base in the Mexican desert and runs a huge drug operation there.
At the start of this installment of the Kickboxer franchise, we learn that the dastardly Tong Po (Krifa) has framed David Sloan (Mitchell) and sent him to prison for a crime he didn't commit.
But now, Tong Po has gone through a hilariously absurd evolution: in the first movie he was simply a Thai kickboxer, but now he's "the most powerful drug lord in Mexico".
Sloan spends a lot of the running time of the movie sneaking around the compound looking for his wife.
We've got to give credit where credit is due.So if you're ready to see Cody, er...I mean David Sloan back in action one more time, you just might find that Kickboxer 4 is a pleasant surprise..
Sasha Mitchell return again as David Sloan, but seem to be a little darker toned than before.This time he has to save his wife from Tong Po, by entering a brutal tournament.The fight scenes were good, but some things really hampered this movie from being something special.
One the person who played Tong Po in Kickboxer and Kickboxer 2, is replaced by someone else who wears a heavy amount of makeup, that make his look like he is going to vomit all the time.The one liners are back, and the bad camera angles also return, where a fight is going on and the camera changes to look at someone else who is not fighting.Speaking of fighting, the fight scenes are really good this time around, although there are some fight scenes that could have been better.This movie had lots of potential, but bad camera angles, and some bad miscasting also lead to problems with this film.I watched it because I like Sasha Mitchell, and I was bored..
Kickboxer 4 is a pretty good film but does have a few bad points, for starters Xing Chow, David's trainer isn't in it meaning some of the humour gone but that makes this sequel a little more darker so that makes this different and that's okay.
Second the character of Tong Po (Kamel Krifa) is changed from a tough fighter that only says a few words to a man that talks more and has some make up that doesn't look too real although the actor playing him is good.The film sees David Sloan locked in prison for murder but it seems he was framed by Tong Po who has also kidnapped his wife Vicky, David is soon let out of prison if he can take Tong Po out.
But David is only interested in defeating Tong Po and saving his wife Vicky from him.The acting is good from everyone and the fight scenes were cool, each contestant has their own fighting style so that adds something interesting to the film.
Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor is a good martial arts film.. |
tt2140553 | The Last of Us | In September 2013, an outbreak of a mutant Cordyceps fungus ravages the United States, transforming its human hosts into cannibalistic monsters known as infected. In the suburbs of Austin, Texas, Joel (Troy Baker) flees the chaos with his brother Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce) and daughter Sarah (Hana Hayes). As they flee, Sarah is shot by a soldier and dies in Joel's arms. In the twenty years that follow, most of civilization is destroyed by the infection. Survivors live in heavily policed quarantine zones, independent settlements, and nomadic groups. Joel works as a smuggler with his partner Tess (Annie Wersching) in the Boston, Massachusetts, quarantine zone. They hunt down Robert (Robin Atkin Downes), a black market dealer, to recover a stolen weapons cache. Before Tess kills him, Robert reveals that he traded the cache with the Fireflies, a rebel militia opposing the quarantine zone authorities.
The leader of the Fireflies, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), promises to double their cache in return for smuggling a teenage girl, Ellie (Ashley Johnson), to Fireflies hiding in the Boston capitol building outside the quarantine zone. Joel, Tess, and Ellie sneak out in the night, but after an encounter with a patrol, they discover Ellie is infected. Full infection normally occurs in under two days, but Ellie claims she was infected three weeks ago and that her immunity may lead to a cure. The trio make their way to their destination through hordes of infected, but find that the Fireflies there have been killed. Tess reveals she has been bitten by an infected; believing in Ellie's importance, Tess sacrifices herself against pursuing soldiers so Joel and Ellie can escape. Joel decides to find Tommy, a former Firefly, in the hope that he can locate the remaining Fireflies. With the help of Bill (W. Earl Brown), a smuggler who owes Joel a favor, they acquire a working vehicle. Driving into Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Joel and Ellie are ambushed by bandits and their car is wrecked. They ally with two brothers, Henry (Brandon Scott) and Sam (Nadji Jeter); after they escape the city, Sam is bitten by an infected, but hides it from the group. As his infection takes hold, Sam attacks Ellie, but Henry shoots him dead and commits suicide.
In the fall, Joel and Ellie finally find Tommy in Jackson, Wyoming, where he has assembled a fortified settlement near a hydroelectric dam with his wife Maria (Ashley Scott). Joel contemplates leaving Ellie with Tommy, but after she confronts him about Sarah, he decides to let her stay with him. Tommy directs them to a Fireflies enclave at the University of Eastern Colorado. They find the university abandoned, but learn that the Fireflies have moved to a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Afterward, Joel is severely wounded by bandits, who are killed by Ellie.
During the winter, Ellie and Joel shelter in the mountains. Joel is on the brink of death and relies on Ellie to care for him. Hunting for food, Ellie encounters David (Nolan North) and James (Reuben Langdon), scavengers willing to trade medicine for food; David turns hostile after revealing the university bandits were part of his group. Ellie manages to lead David's group away from Joel, but is eventually captured; David intends to recruit her into his cannibal group. Refusing the offer, she escapes after killing James, but David corners her in a burning restaurant. Meanwhile, Joel recovers from his wounds and sets out to find Ellie. He reaches Ellie as she kills David; Joel consoles her before they flee.
In the spring, Joel and Ellie arrive in Salt Lake City and are captured by a Firefly patrol. In the hospital, Marlene tells Joel that Ellie is being prepared for surgery: in hope of producing a vaccine for the infection, the Fireflies must remove the infected portion of Ellie's brain, which will kill her. Unwilling to let Ellie die, Joel battles his way to the operating room and carries the unconscious Ellie to the parking garage. He is confronted by Marlene, whom he shoots and kills to prevent the Fireflies from pursuing them. On the drive out of the city, Joel claims that the Fireflies had found many other immune people but were unable to create a cure, and that they have stopped trying. On the outskirts of Tommy's settlement, Ellie reveals that she was not alone when she was infected and expresses her survivor guilt. At her insistence, Joel swears his story about the Fireflies is true. | violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0120776 | One True Thing | A very true movie. So true I could not watch it until now. From someone who has been there, seen it, lived through it, I can say it was written by someone who was there as well. The story is of a young woman, Ellen (Renee Zellweger) who comes home for the weekend from her busy life in the city and with a possible writing career in front of her to find out from her father (William Hurt) that her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep) is ill. She is about to have cancer surgery and he expects that she will drop her life and come home to take care of her mother. She will need help after the surgery and the following chemotherapy. Ellen does not know what to think. She is a writer, as her father, an english professor, does he not understand what her life and future career mean to her? She has never seen self sacrifice before, or so she thinks. As her mother grows ever weaker Ellen gets a glimpse into her mother's life. She is involved with the community on special ocassions, she refinishes furniture, makes curtains, cooks everything wonderful, and even comforts friends in times of challenge, but most important of all, she makes her husband's life possible. At first Ellen tries to step into her mother's shoes and has a tough time for she is more like her father, she writes, she doesn't cook, clean, and comfort. Soon she finds her mother's shoes are a lot harder to fill than she ever realized. As she gets better at caring for her mother and the home front she realizes just how little her father does at home. Many of us see what many probably don't see, he is not completely self-scentered he simply can't imagine his life without her and can not be around to watch her fade.Ellen does not know this, at one point she believes he is having an affair and becomes very angry with him. She believes all he can do is think about himself. At Thanksgiving her father surprises everyone by bringing home two writers he admires, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this might well be his family's last Thanksgiving together. He asks that his wife whip up some great appetizers, as though she were in any shape to do so, which leaves Ellen to make them. Ellen is enraged with the unexpected visitors, famous or not, she wanted a quiet family Thanksgiving. Ellen becomes confrontational at every turn with her father. He wants everything to remain the same, he's not willing to help out with anything, and to top it all off, she believes when he calls to say he is working late that he is with "the other woman" who drops him off in front of the house later that evening. Ellen finally has a bitter confrontation with her father in a diner that ends up with him walking away stating that she will no longer be needed she can return to the city. Before this can even be discussed her mother is hospitalized. They are told the cancer has spread and there no need to continue therapy, all they can do now is make her comfortable.Her mother has noticed what is happening with Ellen and her father and calls her into a room to talk. She looks Ellen in the face and tells her that she does not know anything about her husband that she doesn't know. Life and marriage changes as it moves along and you find yourself accepting things you told yourself you'd never do. That it can be unbearable at one point and joyous the next. That you reach a point where if you remove someone from your life all it does is leave is a great big hole in your life, you live for your family, the ones you love. She then tries to tell Ellen things she might need for later in life and Ellen does not want to hear them. Her mother begins to cry and tells her that she's tired of people not letting her talk when she wants to talk, when Ellen agrees, she thinks a minute then says, I said it already.Ellen is charged with caring for her mother and giving her pains pills, morphine, now that the pain is much worse. Even though Ellen knows she's dying, and that she is in a wheel chair, and that a nurse comes in to help her, all these facts are really made quite clear when her mother calls out for the nurse who is not there and Ellen enters the bathroom to find her mother in the tub unable to get out. For the first time she is not seeing her bulky sweaters and cap; she sees her mother with her half bald head and barely covered bones. She is so skinny that Ellen can easily lift her from the tub. At that moment Ellen realizes exactly what is happening; to know something is one thing, to see it is almost too real. After she gets her mother settled into her chair she asks Ellen for a pain pill, as she takes it she whimpers, "This is no way to live" in her weakened voice that tells volumes. She asks Ellen to help her make it stop,Ellen's mother is now staying down stairs in a hospital bed. When she sleeps you hear her struggling to breathe, eating is no more, drinking is barely so, and talking is barely so. Then we see Ellen take out the small dish we all have for our cancer victims to put a little bit of applesauce to try in vein to get them to eat anything, and to help get medications down. Then she takes out the morphine and begins to smash the pills, first one, then another, then another. Then stands there knowing she can't do this. As much as she knows it would be a kindness, as much as she knows it would make it easier for her mother she can not do it.Her father comes home early, Ellen takes a bath and when she comes down we see her father wash out a small dish, wipe it and put it back in the cupboard. He tells Ellen, "your mother says this is not living, and she was right." Ellen goes into to be with her mother and finds awake and she tells her, "I love you." In the morning Ellen's father comes downstairs to find Ellen holding her mother's hand and staring, he realizes she is gone.Throughout the movie we have seen Ellen telling a man the story of her mother's illness but we don't know who he is, a greif counselor? A priest? It is a man wanting to know how Ellen's mother died of an overdose. Ellen has been providing stories that make it impossible for her father to be responsible, while not implicating herself either.In the last scene Ellen is at her mother's grave planting bulbs in the freshingly dug up soil. Her father approaches her and watches what she is doing and asks her how it went. She tells him it went fine that the man will also want to speak to him as well. Her father then says he admires Ellen's strength, he wanted to do it but could not. Ellen hears him but it doesn't sink in right away. She finally lifts her head and says, "I didn't do it, I thought you did it." They both take a moment and then shake their heads while stating, "oh, she couldn't have, she was too weak!" Ellen's father then shares how much he loved her, that she made his world warm and comfortable, she was his One True Thing. As the movie concludes her father attempts to help plant the bulbs and they work the soil together. | tragedy, romantic, melodrama | train | imdb | What impressed me the most about "One True Thing" was how up-front it was when the daughter mentions her mother's cancer at the beginning of the movie.
As depressing the subject matter was, it was a refreshing change of pace instead of being blindsided with the revelation about a character's fatal illness 2/3 into the movie ("Love Story" "Terms of Endearment", etc.).
Meryl Streep, Renee Zellweger and William Hurt give very strong performances that don't go over the edge.
She's dealing with her plight the best way she knows how.) "One True Thing" is an observant, unsentimental family drama in which the tears at the end were well-earned..
While it may appear to be a film which mainly appeals to women, I think that the men should give it a chance too - a substantial part of the storyline is from George Gulden's (William Hurt) point of view, as the father of the family.Through 'One True Thing', we see how a family copes with disease - from everybody's point of view.
Although we follow the story from Ellen Gulden's (Renee Zellweger) eyes, it never feels like we're missing out on anything.The strongest point of the film is the superb acting.
Hurt and Zellweger give very strong, convincing performances, and the supporting cast are also very good; however, it's Meryl Streep who stands out here.
So, we know from the start that something suspicious happened at the end - the questions are "what?" and "who?" Renee Zellweger was very good as Ellen - the somewhat resentful daughter who has to give up her life and job in New York to return home to care for her sick mother.
Finally, Meryl Streep as the cancer-stricken Kate was very convincing in the role, seeking to live out what remains of her life in the most fulfilling way possible, then dealing with the anger she feels at her increasing debilitation.
In a way, watching a family deal with this kind of crisis reminded me a little bit of "Ordinary People," although this movie was far less emotionally intense.
I believe the three of them (Hurt, Streep and Zellweger) portrayed a real family story, something far from the typical Hollywood drama.
Renee Zellweger plays the journalist daughter of Meryl Streep and William Hurt, who also put in excellent performances.
Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls also has a part in this movie as Ellen's (Zellweger) friend Jules, although this is a bit part, she truly adds to the storyline.A moving and beautiful story, I recommend it.
The same can be said about Ellen, Zellweger's role as daughter who has postponed fast track career to come home to be with Streep as Kate faces crippling and debilitating illness.
In terms of personal growth, the main characters, except for Streep, were not the same people by movies end.
The movie was very good with very good performance by Hurt, Streep and Zellweger.
The Yale graduate is the pride and joy of the American Cinema.Kate's health is deteriorating and her husband, George, role well developed by brilliant actor and also Oscar winner, William Hurt (Smoke, Kiss of the Spider Woman) has a hard time with the deteriorating health of his one true thing, and seeks his daughter's help.
Ellen is angry the beginning of the movie, but as time passes she ends up understanding her mothers' life time dedication to her family.
Meryl Streep as Kate, a woman dying of cancer, performs her role admirably.
Without revealing the ending of the film I will simply say that suicide is a distant theme in this movie and I think it fits in accurately with the gorgeous story.
Meryl Streep gives the greatest performance of her life as Kate Gulden, whose life has been totally dedicated to giving herself sacrificially to her family.
Even Ellen Gulden is not aware of the family values that have been instilled in her by her mother but, although naturally rebellious at the thought, she is willing to give up her promising career as a writer for a New York magazine to take on this responsibility because "It's the right thing to do".
It is the women who carry the honours here: Meryl Streep as a housewife dying of cancer and her long-suffering daughter (Renee Zellweger) who rises to the occasion to manage the household after being asked to by her father, university lecturer William Hurt.
But this screenplay doesn't give men a chance and the title, if nothing else, appears to refer to the fact that you can depend on women, but not on men.For all the men portrayed in the film are failures in one way or another: from Zellweger's employer, who mistakes a request to attend to her sick mother as a bid for a promotion, to her brother who is a Harvard drop-out, to her boyfriend who forever seems perplexed when faced with Miss Zellweger's far-richer repertoire of emotions.I suspect that this movie will strike a chord with women who find themselves in an unhappy marriage, or who have separated from a husband for it stereotypes the women as strong and ready to make sacrifices and the men weak, selfish and opportunistic.Meryl Streep's and Renee Zellweger's performances carry this somewhat ponderous movie that runs its course gracefully through the seasons in New England to its rather downbeat conclusion, and while William Hurt is called upon to be shallow, he does this well in what is an undemanding role for him..
I personally lived this story back in '97 (my then wife survived, and remains cancer free to this day) and her performance was 100% accurate to what I personally witnessed.William Hurt plays the father, who seems unable to cope with the fact his wife is dying.
The true thing though is Merly Streep as the mom, Kate Gulden who is dying of cancer.
Meryl Streep does an astonishingly emotional, heartwarming, and heartwrenching performance that tugs at your heart and will surely have you believing and crying by the film's conclusion.
Renee Zellweger is excellent as a hip urbane magazine writer who returns to her suburban Bucks County nest in order to care for mother Streep (who delivers yet another hall-of-fame performance).
Along the way, she deals with a boss who has no idea what she's going through (in fact, he thinks she has ulterior motives behind her reasons), a father who deals with his pain by sharing it with other women, and, of course, a mother fighting cancer.Renee shows a lot of calm in the movie.
I actually felt that she was a very controlling woman who kept her husband an emotional child by taking care of his every need.The fact that so many people were moved by the film is amazing.
This film was down to earth with its portrayal of a woman,(Meryl Streep) Kate Gulden,"The Hours",'02, who was full of life, and even dressed up like "Dorothy" from the "Wizard of Oz" to please her husband, John Hurt,(George Gulden),"Body Heat",'81, on his Birthday Day and even over looked his many young love affairs with college students.
British leads are not necessarily beautiful, yet a homely appearance does not stop many of them from turning in stunning performances in a wide variety of roles.Meryl Streep, who stars as the mother dying from cancer in this movie, has legendary status in America for playing a raft of different characters and accents (we'll forgive her Lindy Chamberlain imitation in "Evil Angels" which merely proved that an Australian accent sounds very like London Cockney to an outsider).
Mum, on the other hand, is the genuine article, warm, loving unselfish, good fun and not stupid, even if she does first appear in fancy dress as an outsize Dorothy from Kansas, complete with red shoes.I found Ellen's character an obstacle to liking this movie.
Based on the Novel by Anna Quindlen, 'One True Thing', directed by Carl Franklin, is a Senstive Film, that is Real & Moving.
'One True Thing' tells the story of a career oriented girl, who is forced to take care of her cancer-stick-en mother.
This film is based on Anna Quindlen's novel about a Harvard graduate who returns home to care for her ailing mother played by who else but Meryl Street.
A truly moving film with a wonderful performance by Meryl Streep.
Renee Zellweger and William Hurt delivered fantastic performances, but it was Meryl Streep who made this movie truly wonderful.
Meryl Streep revealed her one true ability in this excellent film!.
Meryl Streep proves that she is truly the best actress in film today.
I think One True Thing is one of Meryl Streeps finest movies to date.
Renee Zellweger and Meryl Streep both give remarkable performanaces in this oddly off-putting movie.
So the content of the film is quite interesting, but we should also acknowledge the acting of Meryl Streep, who in every film shows her extraordinary class, she is probably among the all-time five best actresses of cinema, while young Renée Zellweger did a work even much better than the one she did in "Bridget Jones's Diary" (2001).
One True Thing is a film about a husband and wife dying of cancer.
George and Kate Gulden (William Hurt and Meryl Streep, respectively) have two grown children--Brian (played by Tom Everett Scott of That Thing You Do) is a struggling university student and Ellen (played by Renee Zellwegger of Jerry McGuire fame) is a driven journalist on her way up the career ladder.George Gulden is a literary critic and university professor.
It is during this time that the family discovers Kate's cancer, and Ellen is asked to move back home to care for her mother.As our central character, Ellen is struggling to win the acceptance of her somewhat distant father, and to come to terms with her controlling mother.
But it is also about forgiveness, compassion, and grace.To fans of Meryl Streep and William Hurt it should come as no surprise that there is some excellent acting in this film.
Meryl Streep is outstanding as always, and Renee Zellwegger's role provides new challenges that she handles quite well.One True Thing doesn't have a lot of gunfire, heroics, or sinking ships.
Her mother Kate (Meryl Streep) gets cancer and Ellen returns home to help out.
Renee Zellweger plays an ambitious journalist who, under pressure from her college professor father (William Hurt), finds herself having to juggle her career while nursing her terminally ill mother (Meryl Streep).
Zellweger's character initially feels she is living under her brilliant father's shadow and considers her mother to be shallow, and looks down upon her community activities with her like-minded middle-aged friends.
Forced to care for her mother Zellweger founds herself effectively forced to live her mother's life, accompanying her on her Good Samaritan duties at first until the unspecified cancer develops and she must assume all domestic duties.Although, as I wrote earlier, the story isn't particularly original, the study of these three main characters – the fourth family member, Zellweger's younger brother, is pretty much shunted to the sidelines – is quite well written.
The only thing that bothered me about the script was its occasional tendency to make its point in the most obvious ways: Hurt asks Zellweger to write an introduction for his forthcoming book of essays then immediately asks her to wash his shirts, for example; on another occasion, when Zellweger tells her doctor her mother doesn't need a nurse because her mother can confide in her the doctor pointedly asks 'Can she?' Considering the number of subtle ways in which the script succeeds in other respects, these weaknesses are both surprising and obvious.It's probably the father's character that undergoes the biggest test, mainly because he attempts to carry on his life as normal while his wife is dying and the mental pressures these place upon him are too immense to conceal for any length of time.
William Hurt gives a typically accomplished performance in the role, as does Meryl Streep as the mother.
this is one very good movie.it's all about love and loss,two pretty heavy themes.it's not at all depressing,but there's a lot of depth her,bot to the story and to the performance of Meryl Streep.there are good supporting performances,such as Renee Zellwegger,and William Hurt.James Ekhouse(The dad from the Original Bevery hills 90210)who i really like as an actor,has a small role,as does Tom Everett Scott.but the movie belongs to Streep,who who is brilliant here.also the makeup artists did brilliant work here,as well.this is no lite drama.it's pretty thought provoking.it's pretty intense,so it's not for everyone.but if heavy drama is your thing,you might want to check out this movie..
In between the zombies and disasters I watched yesterday, I took time out for this family drama starring Meryl Streep, Renee Zellweger, and William Hurt.Streep got all the award nominations, including one for an Oscar, but I felt that Zellweger gave a much better performance.
The movie was really all about her character, who has to return home to care for a dying mother.
This is a good film about families and Zellweger was great..
Meryl Streep gives one of her most outstanding performances as Kate Gulden, the dying wife of a National Book Award-winning professor of English George Gulden (William Hurt) and uber mother of Ellen (Renee Zellweger) and Brian (Tom Everett Scott).
William Hurt does a great job playing the self-absorbed academic who tries to keep his life going as smoothly as when his wife was well.This movie offers an very real portrayal of the forces and dynamics that shape the relationships of a family and community during a time of hardship and ending.
Renee Zellweger, Meryl Streep, and William Hurt are all amazing, and just perfect.
Despite receiving an undeserving Best Actress Nomination, Meryl Streep did not give the best performance in this film.
Its easy to understand why Meryl Streep was nominated, she plays a woman suffering from cancer (the academy loves that).
I enjoyed the film because of the acting and it was a feel good movie.
One True Thing was an absolutely wonderful movie that took it's time to tell a very important and touching story.
Meryl Streep and William Hurt were perfect, and Renne Zelwegger was actually quite good.
For me it is a story where the characters really see what the most important thing in life is...family..
If you know what it's like to see someone you love go through the agony of battling cancer, you will believe Meryl Streep's performance.
An all star cast including William Hurt and Rene Zellwegger, One True Thing is about the story of a family having to face the slow death of their mother who has cancer.A touching film, One True Thing is equal to the movie Dad..
At the risk of being beaten severely by outraged fans, I have to say that Meryl Streep did not deserve her Best Actress Oscar nomination for this movie.
One True Thing is certainly one of Meryl Streep's finest films.
One True Thing should certainly have been nominated for best picture in 1998, with its emotional realism and fine acting by all the characters.
First of all the movie was VERY badly written, and I hate William Hurt but Meryl Streep was FANTASTIC!
Meryl Streep is riveting as the dying Kate Gulden, mother of Ellen played by Renée Zellweger.
Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason in "Nothing in Common," and Ted Danson and Jack Lemmon in "Dad" are just two of a slew of father/son movies that explore this same theme, but "One True Thing" has a definite more tender edge, although somewhat distant and cold.Kudos to Karen Croner for writing characters that seem closer to real life than most tear jerkers.
Renee Zelwegger, Meryl Streep, William Hurt, and Tom Everett Scott star in a film that was supposed to be one of the heart and togetherness.
"One True Thing" reminded me so much of those 80's drama movies, either because it is set during that decade, or because both William Hurt and Meryl Streep are in it and they usually were the stars of those 1980's drama movies.
During the course of the movie a wonderful transition takes place as this daughter finds her way in a family where things are not, at all, as they seem.
We also see the family dynamic explored very well, so instead of a simplistic "Gee mom was right after all" feeling, we see how Ellen, the daughter, struggles under the weight of her father while neglecting her mother, and learns that her mother did pass some qualities on to her.Zellweger and Streep are both outstanding, refusing to go for easy pathos, which is another trap of tear-jerker movies.
The overlooked(and most essential) performance of the movie, however, is William Hurt as the father.
Although the progression of cancer in Meryl Streep's character is the primary plot device, this is not the main focus of the movie.
Instead it is the story of a daughter (Renee Zellweger) who has grown up idealizing her literature-professor father (William Hurt) and more or less taking her home-making mother (Meryl Streep) for granted, and how her mother's illness causes her to reassess her opinion and relationships with both parents.
and so does Zellweger's character.The film was also well-directed and kudos to the screenplay-- telling the story in flashback added a different dimension to what could have been a typical person-dies-of-cancer-and-isn't-this-sad movie.Two minor flaws in the film were that the psychological tension all but stopped for the last half-hour of the film, which then focused only on Streep's condition.
Renee Zellweger is perfectly able to hold her own with the old pros Meryl Streep and William Hurt.
Meryl Streep was wonderful in it and her character was very true to most housewives.
Meryl Streep's no-holds-barred performance, along with a beautiful story and intensely strong acting by William Hurt made Renee Zellweger's lackluster performance totally bearable.
"One True Thing" puts Zellweger in the midst of a family crisis as an adult journalist who returns home to care for her dying mother (Streep). |
tt0102005 | Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man | In Texas, a man hears a news report about a new designer drug called Crystal Dream, highly addictive and administered by rubbing small amounts in the eyes. He leaves a woman he'd shacked up with and rides across the American Southwest region, avoiding major highways & staying on a route that runs parallel to the Mexican border. He arrives in Los Angeles and stops at a gas station convenience store to buy cigarettes. The store is being held up, but the man pays no attention and tries to buy his cigarettes anyway. When threatened by one of the robbers, he disarms and beats up the thug and his cohorts quite easily. When asked by the cashier what his name is, he replies "Harley Davidson" and leaves with one of the pistols used in the robbery, a Desert Eagle.Harley goes to a bar where he happens on an intense pool game between his best friend, The Marlboro Man, and a hulking man. Marlboro's opponent is convinced that Marlboro cheated to win and a fight breaks out. Marlboro is able to beat the man and sarcastically thanks his old friend for not helping.Harley and Marlboro go to their old haunt, the Rock N' Roll Bar & Grille, near Burbank. Harley finds out that the city of Burbank has been turned into a giant international airport. Inside, they find their old friends, still working at the bar and still running scams. Their biggest friend, Jack Daniels, works with Jimmy and takes falls in arm-wrestling matches to cheat contenders and bettors out of their money. Jack immediately starts a fight with Harley, who'd had an affair with Jack's then girlfriend, Lulu, now a singer in the bar and married to Jack. The bar is still run by the same man, whom everyone calls "Old Man", however, the bar has fallen on hard times and is being threatened with foreclosure by the Great Trust Bank, that wants to construct a skyscraper on the land. Jim tells them that Jack has been taking falls to raise enough money to save the bar for the Old Man. Harley and Marlboro both convince their old friends to rob an armored car belonging to Great Trust to get the funds to save the place.The next day the guys set up an elaborate system of construction detours for the armored car, leading it to a mostly-secluded side street, where they tie up the drivers and steal the sacks in the back. The load the sacks into a pickup truck waiting in the sewer line below the street. The guards warn them that they're in way over their heads. Just then a large limousine pulls up and several men dressed in black leather overcoats get out and begin firing on the robbers. They seem impervious to the shots fired back at them and continue a relentless assault, advancing steadily. Jack suddenly shows up, riding his own motorcycle; he removes the cap on the gas tank and jumps off, letting the cycle slide towards their attackers. He lights the line of fuel on fire, igniting the bike, however, the attackers simply jump over it and continue towards them. The gang manages to load the last of the loot into the truck and they escape. Later, while examining the bags they stole, they find small, clear blue bars instead of money; it is the illegal narcotic, Crystal Dream.The leader of the team of assassins, Alexander, meets with the CEO of the Great Trust Bank, Chance Wilder. Wilder inquires about those who stole his merchandise. Alexander believes them to be small-time crooks who stumbled upon a big score. Wilder orders Alexander to track them down and kill them and retrieve the drugs.That night, after flipping off a motorcycle cop and some reckless riding, Marlboro is pulled over. The cop turns out to be his former lover, Virginia. The two spend the night together and in the morning Marlboro finds out she's engaged. Harley shows up and takes Virginia out to breakfast. During their conversation, the subject of Crystal Dream comes up. Virginia tells Harley that it's 100% addictive and causes neurological damage and eventually death. When they return to Virginia's house, Marlboro is already up and repairing his boots with duct tape, fuming about Virginia's new marriage. He decides to steal her fiance's Harley-Davidson motorcycle.Harley and Marlboro go to the headquarters of the Great Trust and talk to Wilder via telephone. They demand $2.5 million for the dope they stole, plus one more dollar for a side bet between them. Wilder agrees to have someone meet them that night in the airplane graveyard for the exchange. Alexander shows up with the money and the transfer goes off without any problems. That night, while they hang out in the bar's back room celebrating, Marlboro is suspicious of the ease of the exchange. Suddenly, Alexander and his men show up. Watching through a one-way mirror, the Old Man tries to convince them that the gang isn't there. Their leader appears to walk away as if to leave and suddenly turns around and shoots the Old Man. They open fire on the room behind the mirror; Harley and Marlboro are the only ones who escape alive by jumping out the window; Jimmy, Jack and Jose are all killed.The two retreat to the nearby airport and hide in the baggage compartment of a plane. One of the mysterious assassins nearly finds them but they escape to Las Vegas. They check into an expensive hotel. However, they are tracked to Vegas by Alexander. The two escape to the hotel's roof and jump off into the swimming pool. Harley finds out that they've been tracked with a device hidden in the dollar coin given to them by Alexander. The two hop a freight train headed east after deactivating the tracker, but Marlboro leaves after telling Harley that they owe it to the dead friends that helped them to go back to LA and settle things. Harley refuses to go and Marlboro jumps off train. Harley later catches up with Marlboro and they form a plan to meet with Alexander, reactivating the tracker in the coin.Alexander traces them to the airplane graveyard, finding the briefcase that contained the money but only finding the dollar coin inside. However, he sights Harley and Marlboro nearby and a gunfight ensues. Marlboro is able to kill both of Alexander's two remaining men by hitting them in the head, however, Alexander catches Marlboro and holds him hostage. Harley, never a very good shot to begin with, tries to shoot Alexander and misses, hitting Marlboro. Harley finally summons up the aim to hit Alexander and he and Harley finally kill him.Alexander's helicopter pilot takes them to Chance Wilder's office. They give Wilder his money back and demand he change the lease on the Old Man's place. Wilder is unwilling to do so and orders his men to kill them when the pilot, paid off by Harley and Marlboro, appears hovering in his chopper outside. He opens fire on the office with the chopper's cannon, killing Wilder's thugs. Wilder insults Marlboro's dead father; Marlboro begins to beat him up until Wilder dangles out the window of his office, holding onto Marlboro's disintegrating cowboy boot. Harley helps him out, the boot comes apart and Wilder falls to the street.Marlboro and Harley part ways at a rodeo, where Marlboro is riding a bull. As Harley rides away, he picks up a beautiful hitchhiking woman. | cult, comedy | train | imdb | They also help each other regardless if it will cost their live because in their mind "It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool." (Harley Davidson) Of course this attitude brings them nothing but trouble but those two take it the macho-way and stand to whatever comes up.
Fortunately, the characterizations of the two leads rescue the film from banality.Harley (Mickey Rourke) and Marlboro (Don Johnson), swagger, posture, and strut their macho stuff, as you would expect, for two bikers.
It is this textured characterization of Harley and Marlboro that makes the film worth watching, especially in the first twenty-five minutes, before the action plot interferes.The is a working man's movie ...
The best approach to this film is to ignore the silly action plot, and focus instead on Harley and Marlboro, and their unorthodox outlook on life..
Great Cheesy Fun. Good buddy movies don't have to have to seem real.
I hope Mickey doesn't truly feel like a sell out for this movie because it was in fact a very well done movie and something that was a great deal of fun for many people that were even already fans from as far back as 9.5 weeks..
Mickey Rourke plays Harley, a biker cowboy on a steel horse who makes his way back to a slightly futuristic LA to reconnect with his old barfly friends, including the rodeo riding Marlboro Man (Don Johnson).
Two men, Harley Davidson and his partner the Marlboro Man, (Mickey Rourke & Don Johnson) reunite after a couple of year absence and discover their old life time mentor, (Julius Harris) is being evicted from a special nightclub.
Just like in Charley Varrick it turns out to be a syndicate front that not only launders money, but keeps the drugs on premises including a new designer drug that these two walk off with the prototype.I will say that Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson have the same easy going chemistry that Paul Newman and Robert Redford had.
Is this one of the last great B Movies to made and they say that this didn't do anything good for Mickey Rourke's career.
Harley goes back to his hometown after two years to see his best friend The Marlboro Man played by Don Johnson and to see the place where he grew up is under the threat of closure and has to come up with $2 million to save it.
He rustles up all his old pals including the Marlboro Man to rob the bank and of course it goes al horribly wrong and realise the people they stole from are actually the people they need to pay the $2 million dollars to, so it doesn't get much simpler than that really.You have your thrills and chills during the movie but the characters that are brought to life through Rourke and Johnson make this film all the worth while as there are some incredible exciting action sequences.
I think it is worthy of that title but others won't and never will but this is a good story of friendship and is a lot better than most B-movies which come your way these days..
Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson are Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man both of them find themselves hunted by a group of thugs sent by a drug dealer who uses his banking business as a front for selling the new drug in this standard action movie which has only a few noteworthy actionscenes as well as the chemistry between Johnson and Rourke to recommend it..
Don Johnson and Mickey Rourke in a buddy-biker-futuristic-action movie, what more do you need?..
There's a couple of movies in my library that every now and then I just want to unwind and turn my brain off for awhile and "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" is defiantly one of my top choices, its a hard to explain buddy-biker-futuristic-action movie, that I don't think much people get or got, even back in 1991.
In a version of "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid" made for the nineties, this buddy-movie finds Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson in some of their most unwatchable work.
The attempted character-depth conversations between Harley and the Marlboro Man atop a billboard and elsewhere are boring and cheesy, while the action takes up the rest of the film.
Don Johnson should be ashamed, Mickey Rourke probably said, "another lousy acting performance, nothing new for me." The action scenes were pitifully set up looking; a 5 year old couldn't get excited over this boring humdrum silliness.
Harley (Mickey Rourke) is a ex-druggie riding motorcycle man, who comes to L.A. to visit his long time cowboy buddy (Don Johnson).
Two 80's stars Mickey Rourke (Harley Davidson) and Don Johnson (Marlboro Man)live in 96 in Burbank, Los Angeles.
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man is an American movie with two greats (and dangerous) American brands as moderns hero's.
Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke) and Marlboro (Don Johnson) along with their pals Jimmy, Jose and Jack Daniels rob a bank transport carrying two and a half million dollars to save the local bar they frequent from closing down.
The sole reason why I rented it.After seeing it, I found myself to find it a great movie, fairly good screenplay by the actors, but a rather bad script (typical late 80's, early 90's Rambo-like).
I watched Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man recently and I figured it would be some corny macho movie but as it turns out, it happens to be a great movie.
Biker Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke) joins up with his cowboy friend Robert Lee Anderson aka The Marlboro Man (Don Johnson).
This is a live-action cartoon; an homage to the classic oater of yesteryear that absolutely refuses to take itself seriously; a fun frantic buddy flick replete with motorcycles, guns, an explosion or two, a disgraced former Miss America, an army of villains gunning for our heroes, and a sleazy, wealthy, powerfully-connected bad guy directing the nefarious doings from the safety of his well-secured office.
The opening scene with Mickey Rourke (aka Harley Davidson) getting on his cool biker gear and leaving his naked lady in bed, all to the tune of "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi makes you fall in love with a different kind of life.
Probably the abandoned airfield is a symbol of the decrepitude of the biker era that was once a dream to be attained for many.The end of the film where Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke) leaves his long life friend Marlboro Man (Don Johnson) to live a new life picks up a beautiful woman considered a Biker woman who would be bored by a mundane life and the myth of the biker picking up women is a cliché that is still in the dreams of anyone dreaming of becoming a biker and the freedom associated to this world..
This was a very unlikeable movie and despite not having seen this rubbish in over 20 years, I have never forgotten how bad the movie was.Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson play (and infamously named) Harley Davidson, and The Marlboro Man, two unlikeable losers who set out to save their friend's bar by robbing banks and armoured cars, and also uncover the fictional drug named "Crystal Dream".
The dialogue is atrocious, and all the action scenes are poorly executed and unrealistic.I have nothing against Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson, but I wish that they could have teamed up in a better movie.
Shortly after, though, they discover they're being relentlessly hunted down by those they have stolen from and go to ever further lengths to evade capture, even jumping from a ridiculous height into a body of water
Nope, we're not talking Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, we're talking Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, the palest of imitations.Actually, that's not quite true: this movie is more of a rip-off than an imitation.
Actually what I wrote about the lack of law in the film isn't quite true - there's some love interest for Fag in the shapely form of a policewoman (instead of a teacher), who is getting a little tired of his wandering ways, which was presumably an attempt on the part of the writers to inject a little pathos into the proceedings.I felt quite sorry for Mickey Rourke (Bike) and Don Johnson (Fag) here.
You can now breath a sigh of relief and sit back and enjoy the show knowing it's commercial free.For some reason the 1991 movie starts on July 4, 1996, five years into the future, as Harley, Mickey Rourke, leaves his home in Texas and drives on his Harley to L.A to meet his long-time friend The bronco busting Marlboro Man,Don Johnson, who's hustling for easy money at LA pool halls.
Julius signed a 30 year lease in June 1966 for $350.00 a month that ends in five days with the rent going up, O' the Hmanity, to an insane and unreachable $41,666.67 a month!Harley & The Marlboro Man coming to the conclusion that the only way to get the cash, a cool 2.5 million to save the bar and grill,is to rob the bank who owns the property.
THat leads to a deadly shootout with a group of bank security men headed by zonked-out and zombie-looking Alexander, Daniel Baldwin, wearing bullet-proof overcoats.The movie gets even better, or worse, when it turns out that the money that Harley and the Marlboro Man though that they took from the bank armored car was the deadly drug Crystal Dream!
Like the bank president Chance Wilden, Tom Sizemore,told Harley & Marlboro Man at the end of the movie: "I make $500,000.00 a year as a banker but 15 million as a drug dealer"."Harley Davison and the Marlboro Man" limps along with the two anti-heroes being chased with a secret transmitter, planted in a silver dollar, exposing where they are, all over the south by Alexander and his band of black overcoat assassins.
Mickey Rourke plays Harley Davidson and Don Johnson plays the Marlboro Man, two pals who along with some other solid citizens rob some bad guys out of a lot of money.
There ARE great lines in it, and both Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson give very likable performances.Some thing don't work so well, such as the Bon Jovi intro song, but the action is cool, the villains entertaining in their wickedness(Tom Sizemore is great) and the screen chemistry between Rourke and Johsson is very comical.I would recommend this movie to anyone that enjoys action movies that do not take themselves too seriously.
Don Johnson plays a great role as the Marlboro Man and this is one of the only times I am ever going to say this but Mickey Rourke actually looked like a decent actor in this one as Harley Davidson.
Now actually, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man wasn't at all a bad movie, it's better than most I would say.
It's actually a cool action movie and has a decent story despite it's unusual title.Harley Davidson and Marlboro are buddies way back, together they ride their motorcycles on a care free life.
Harley and Marlboro decide to rob the very bank that is taking the bar away with some of their friends, they think they got away with it when they do, but it turns out that the truck they stole that they thought had the money has drugs instead.
So they make a deal with the evil guy from the bank and get the money for the drugs; they just did one thing wrong, they trust the evil super duper bad guy too well.Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man is good cheesy fun that was kinda fun to watch, sometimes you need the typical and predictable action movie that just has the great exciting scenes to make you at least be entertained.
I think I would recommend Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man for those who just want entertainment, it's a fun action movie.5/10.
It's reasonably well made, has a great cast of actors who all perform admirably, and features clever dialog that surpasses Tarantino's at times.Compared to flicks like "The Wild Bunch" or "Gone With the Wind" Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man might come up a little short.
I really love to know what were the masterminds behind this movie thinking, its so bad its good.
But as i saw it in my early twenties i saw how unrealistic it actually was still it was enjoyable, i mean even if Mikey Rourk said he made this for money you can tell he was having fun with his character, i don't see the point of the Marboro man riding a motorcycle but hey there few little of logic in this film for that.
This movie has been knocked for ages, but if you sit down kick back and relax this is the movie for you, its a movie for a warm Saturday night, with a couple of beers, and just watch the action as Don Johnson & Mickey Rourke have fun with this movie, there is enough laughs and a huge amount of action to satisfy anyone, who enjoys a movie where you don't have to think about every detail for the length of the film.With names like Harley Davidson,Marlbro, Jack Daniels & Virginia Slims you know this is not a serious movie but one to be enjoyed for what it is.A young Tia Carrere has a small bit part in the movie as well.But for those who love action, well he we have a movie to be enjoyed.
This is a cool buddy-flick with enough action for anyone who likes hard drinking, two fisted brawling, Harley-Davidsons, and slick gunfights with big guns (and helicopters).
This movie ranks up there with the likes of "Road House" and "They Live" as one of those special films that isn't very good, yet is strangely captivating and impossible to turn away from once started.
This scene alone makes this movie required viewing for anyone who even remotely likes action or motorcycle films.
Good actors (probably 1 of the few movies i like of Don Johnson & Mickey Rourke), great dialogues, beautiful ladies (maybe 2 few), lotta axion !!!
"Harley Davidson And The Marlboro Man" is a very super movie about 2 friends trying to help a friend not to lose his bar.This movie wasn't given enough credit.The stars of the film help make the movie great,a real great story,and lots of action too.Harley Davidson,played superbly by Mickey Rourke(Body Heat,9 1/2 Weeks and Year Of The Dragon,and the Marlboro Man,who's real name is Robert Anderson,played by the great Don Johnson(Miami Vice and Nash Bridges),are 2 friends who are trying to save a friends bar from being taken away from him by the bank,Mr Jiles,played by Julius Harris(Darkman,My Chauffeur,and Going Berserk),Jimmy Jiles,played by Giancarlo Esposito(Taps,Maximum Overdrive,and Homicide:Life On The Streets),they need 2 1/2 million dollars to re-lease the bar.The late Big John Stud(WWF) is the son-in-law,Jack Daniels,and Lulu,played by former Miss America Vanessa Williams,is also part of their family.Virginia Slim,played by the beautiful Chelsea Field(The Last Boy Scout,The Birds II:Land's End,and Skin Deep),is the former girlfriend of the Marlboro Man who he goes to see,but tells him she is getting married.Harley makes a plan to rob the bank that is strong arming the Jiles family,they go ahead with the plan,but are in way over their head's,they find the truck is full of a designer drug called "Crystal Dream".Things get worse for Harley and Marlboro as they deal with the drug dealer,Chance Wilder,played by Tom Sizemore(Natural Born Killers,Saving Private Ryan,and True Romance),is the bank president who is running the drugs.Alexander,played by Daniel Baldwin(Knight Moves,Vampires,and Homicide:Life On The Street)is the leader of the goons in a bullet proof jackets,kill Jimmy Jiles,his dad and Jack Daniels,Harley And The Marlboro Man get away,but want to make things right.The showdown at the airplane graveyard is a great scene,Harley Davidson,who can't shoot a gun great,does make his shot,,literally,and when they deal with Chance Wilder.This movie really rocks,the heroes in the movie are what I consider true Americans,they haven't sold out to corporate B.S. and they live their days by their own rules,and live their days one day at a time.The supporting cast include Kelly Hu as the gas station clerk,Tia Carrere(Wayne's World 1 and 2),Branscombe Richmond(The Kentucky Fried Movie,Star Trek III,and the TV series "Renegade)as the Indian in the bar that the Marlboro Man fights,Eloy Casados(Born in East L.A.,The Best Of Times,and Hollywood Homicide)as Jose,who is a deaf-mute and a friend of the Jiles family and Harley and Marlboro.I give this film 2 thumbs up and 10/10 stars..
In that sense, it reminded me a whole lot of "Road House" - Good, cheesy fun.It takes a special kind of skill to deliver what might seem risible dialogue in a deadpan way, and both Rourke and Johnson have it, which makes this film a really enjoyable experience, if by no means a masterpiece..
Without him in one of the two main roles, HDAMM would have been crap.As a goofy comedy, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) is absolutely delicious; this could have been a good concept for a TV series about a tandem of bums who
.HARLEY
is nothing for Mickey to be ashamed about
.He did far worse movies.It came the next year after the severely, drearily underrated Desperate Hours (1990).
Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke) and the Malboro Man (Don Johnson, hubba!
Besides having a title longer than the movie itself, "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" also has a bit of a nostalgic value to me.
I remember watching it for the first time some ten or fifteen years ago, after reading about it in a martial arts magazine, if memory serves.Plot outline - Biker Harley Davidson (Mickey Rourke), aside with the bike-riding rodeo cowboy Marlboro Man (Don Johnson) and a few other small time crooks robs a money transport, which turns out to be a big mistake when they find out that they got more than they bargained for.
I don't watch an action movie and then complain that it wasn't like any good drama or thriller.I give it 6 out of 10 bullets. |
tt0081698 | Used Cars | The New Deal Used Car lot in Arizona is in danger of being taken over by the Roy L Fuchs car dealership across the roadway where they do business. Both dealerships are run by twin brothers, Roy L Fuchs and Luke Fuchs (both played by Jack Warden). However, Roy L's dealership is easily the more lucrative than his brother's, which deals in often junked used cars.One of New Deal's most prominent salesmen is Ruddy Russo (Kurt Russell), a young man who never shies away from making a deal, and also is planning to run for a seat on the State Senate. Along with Ruddy, there's Jeff (Garrit Graham), a superstitious fellow, and Jim (Frank McRae), the mechanic who is easily excitable.Recently, Luke has been having problems with his heart, much to the delight of his other brother. Roy L sends one of his mechanics over to the lot under the guise of an 'interested party,' and gets Luke to give him a test drive. However, Roy L's mechanic takes Luke on a wild ride during which Luke has a heart attack and dies.Ruddy, Jeff, and Jim try to cover this up by burying Luke in an old Edsel in a service pit out back. When Roy L and his lawyer Sam (Joe Flaherty) show up looking for Luke, Rudy explains that Luke drove to Florida in the Edsel. Roy L believes that Ruddy is lying, but Sam explains that there's no way to disprove this claim.Ruddy goes through with the first of several advertising stunts. Taking his camera crew out to a packed football stadium, they intend to hijack the signal for the football game to tell of their car lot. Things don't go as planned, when Jeff begins cursing on camera that the car he's standing by is red (he's superstitious about the color), and the woman they hired for the commercial ends up getting her dress ripped off on public television. The technique works, as the stunt makes newspaper headlines, and brings all sorts of people out to see the New Deal car lot.Roy L counters this with a little stunt of his own, but in the war to win customers, Rudy does one better, and steals away Luke's customers, by setting up a gaggle of strippers to entice vehicle buyers from Roy's lot. Roy counters this with purchasing airtime to decry New Deal's business tactics.It is then that Rudy plans to really up the stakes, and wants to try and interrupt the broadcast for the President's State of the Union address. Matters are further complicated when a woman shows up claiming to be Luke's daughter, Barbara Jane Fuchs (Deborah Harmon). Rudy attempts to get rid of her, but finds that he slowly is growing to like her.Rudy eventually distracts her during the night of the broadcast, by taking her to dinner, and then to his place. Jeff and Jim do the commercial, with Jeff hopped up on drugs as a cowboy named 'Martial Lucky,' who shoots out and blows up several of Roy L Fuch's vehicles for the commercial.After the broadcast, Roy L drives immediately to the New Deal lot and angrily picks a fight with Jeff for destroying his cars. As they fight, Roy L notices a picture of the service pit in an old picture, and remembers how Rudy and the others were filling it in. Roy L rushes out back, and after digging down a ways, finds the roof of his brother's old Edsel. Shortly after this, Jim contacts Rudy to come to the lot right away. Rudy does not explain to Barbara why he has to go, leaving her curious.In the morning, the police arrive at the lot along with Roy L and his lawyer. Rudy makes up the lie that Luke came back the night before, and went to get some breakfast. During the night, Rudy, Jeff and Jim exhumed the Edsel, and have moved it out of the pit area. Jim has poured gasoline on the vehicle, and sends it off with the accelerator on. As everyone's attention is drawn to the car, they watch as it speeds out of control towards a power transformers, that erupts in a fireball, destroying Luke's body.Roy turns to Rudy, and assumes that since Luke is dead, the lot is now his. However, Rudy explains how Luke's daughter returned, and she's staying with him. It is just then that Barbara shows up after listening to a message on Rudy's answering machine and finding out about Luke's death. Barbara fires Rudy, Jeff and Jim.Barbara then assumes control of her father's lot, but knows very little about advertising. Roy L gains access to the script for her commercial, and hires a man to doctor up her commercial. In place of her saying 'style of cars,' the word 'mile' is substituted for 'style,' making it as though Barbara has committed a case of false advertising.Rudy meanwhile, is still short the money he needs to run for the senate seat. However, during a football game, Jeff's superstitious nature causes Rudy to win a bet he made on the night's football game, and the next day, he meets with the party chairmen, named Tucker (Dub Taylor). However, on their way to their destination, the car passes by the New Deal lot, which has been closed by court order. Tucker explains that a 'concerned citizen' reported the lot after the commercial mentioned a 'mile of cars,' and that the trial is scheduled for the same day. Rudy immediately grabs back his money, and bolts from the car, heading towards the courthouse.Rudy makes it in time for the trial to start. As Barbara is questioned if she does indeed have a mile of cars on her lot, Rudy mimes in the back of the room to lie and say 'yes.' Barbara does so, to which Roy's attorney claims he can prove she is lying. Rudy mawkishly yells from the back of the room, "Why don't you see for yourself, Judge?" This buys Barbara some time, as the Judge decides to come by the car lot the next day.After the trial, Rudy uses all his campaign funds to purchase over 250 cars from a person he knows. Using the town's driver's education class, he sets out with all 250 cars headed towards the lot.Rudy has the drivers ramp their vehicles up to 70 mph, but hits a snag when a cop ends up hitting one of the vehicles, leaving them without a 'safety margin' for error. After the incident, Rudy sends Jim up ahead to scout for any other possible issues. Jim eventually finds a police roadblock, and Rudy has his drivers take their vehicles off road.Meanwhile, Roy L has heard of the cars, and drives out to try and intercept Rudy. A fight breaks out between the two, leading to Rudy winning, and the cars continuing to the lot. Eventually, they arrive, and fill the lot to capacity, just as the Judge arrives.It soon becomes apparent that Jim has not arrived. Rudy radios Jeff, who is sitting along the side of a road. Jeff explains that some water washed off the blue paint on his car...revealing it as a red Fire Chief's car...and per Jeff's stigma, he can't drive a red car! Rudy attempts to convince Jeff that there is actually 'gray primer' underneath the red paint, and tells him that he is the key to helping them keep the lot.Jeff manages to overcome his fear, and makes it to the lot just in time to help save the lot. Roy L curses out the judge, who then decides to see Roy in court for his outburst.The film then ends with Barbara, Rudy, Jim and Jeff presiding over their saved car lot. | cult, satire, murder | train | imdb | null |
tt0093870 | RoboCop | The movie opens with a news report advertising the way of life in this future, which seems to be far from ideal. Among other stories, three police officers have been murdered and a fourth, Frank Frederickson, has been left critically injured in an attack by unofficial Old Detroit crime boss Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), wanted for the deaths of over 31 police officers. The Detroit Metropolitan Police Department's union representatives blame Omni Consumer Products (OCP), who have recently entered a contract with the city to run and manage the DPD, for putting their men in such dangerous environments.At the Metro West Precinct in Old Detroit, officers respond to a variety of cases when veteran officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) arrives, having been transferred in from another department. Desk Sergeant Warren Reed gets Murphy a set of riot armor and introduces Murphy to the other cops, who are not happy about how OCP seems to be trying to run the police force into the ground. As Murphy and the other cops are suiting up in the locker rooms, one of them suggests that they go on strike to pressure OCP into giving them better working conditions. At that point, Reed and another officer come in, carrying an evidence tray. Reed removes Frederickson's nameplate from his locker, announcing that Frederickson has died, much to the disappointment of the other cops in the locker room. Reed tells them that a memorial service will be held the next day and admonishes them harshly about striking.Murphy is brought upstairs where he sees a criminal assaulting his arresting officers. The female officer involved quickly beats the suspected criminal into submission. This is Anne Lewis (played by Nancy Allen), a hardened cop. Reed decides that she will be partnered with Murphy. They leave to go on patrol; Murphy insists that he drive the car.The action changes to OCP Headquarters, where executives Donald Johnson (Felton Perry) and Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer) are on their way to a board of directors meeting. They converse on the elevator ride up about what the meeting could be about. Johnson figures that the Old Man is greenlighting the Delta City project, despite Morton pointing out that OCP never does anything ahead of schedule. Morton thinks that Dick Jones is trying to show off his ED-209 series.The Old Man (Daniel O'Herlihy) starts the meeting off by reminding everyone that he has had a vision for over a decade, of demolishing "Old Detroit" and redevelop it as a high-end utopia called "Delta City." There's a problem with Old Detroit: it's riddled with crime, and this crime must be eradicated before they can build Delta City. To that end, OCP President Richard "Dick" Jones (Ronny Cox) has funded the development of a new type of law enforcement robot: the Enforcement Droid Series 209, ED-209 for short.To demonstrate the droid's effectiveness, Jones asks a younger executive, Kinney, to volunteer as a test subject to simulate a typical arrest and disarming procedure. Kinney is handed a Desert Eagle pistol, and Jones instructs him to use it in a threatening manner. Kinney aims the pistol at ED-209. When he cocks it, ED-209 immediately turns on and aims its machine guns at Kinney, ordering him to drop his gun in the next 20 seconds. Kinney immediately tosses the pistol away, but ED-209 suddenly steps forward, growls and tells Kinney he now has 15 seconds to comply, as he is in violation of Penal Code 113, Section 9. The board goes into chaos and the scientists frantically try to shut ED-209 off as Kinney tries to hide among his fellow executives, who push him back into the line of fire. When ED-209 reaches zero, he declares that he is authorized to use physical force and opens fire, throwing Kinney onto the model of Delta City and riddling him with bullets. He continues to shoot Kinney for fifteen seconds, only stopping once the engineers are able to unplug him.The Old Man is not happy with the outcome of Jones's product, citing the expense involved in designing the droid and the potential for lost interest payments, even though Jones insists that this is "just a glitch." Morton takes advantage of the opportunity to tell the Old Man about his own project. He and the people at Security Concepts have been working on a backup plan in the event that ED-209 would not function properly, known as "RoboCop." Morton also states that he hopes to have the first RoboCop in prototype within 90 days, and he's had the police force restructured so that the best candidates for the project are in the highest risk areas. The Old Man is impressed by Morton's idea and decides to put his project up as priority. Jones, however, is not pleased at being upstaged.Meanwhile, Lewis and Murphy are out on patrol and stopping for coffee. Murphy is relaxing by spinning his pistol on his fingers, which he explains to Lewis a move he learned from a television show that his young son watches. He thinks that all good cops like him need to be role models to their kids. They are interrupted by a radio call about a pharmaceutical company being robbed by a group of men driving a silver panel truck. Murphy and Lewis jump into their car and drive off to track them down.In the back of said panel truck are Clarence Boddicker and his gang - Bobby, Leon Nash (Ray Wise), Joe Cox (Jesse D. Goins), Steve Minh (Calvin Jung), and getaway driver Emil Antonowsky (Paul McCrane), who have just successfully robbed a pharmaceutical company and emptied the store's safe of money. Boddicker is furious to find that Bobby had burned all the money when blowing the vault's door open, rendering it useless. He goes off on a tirade on Bobby, slapping him several times, but is interrupted when Emil looks in his reviewer mirror and yells that there's a cop chasing them. Leon rushes over to the back doors, looks out the window, and sees Murphy and Lewis following them. Boddicker orders Emil to slow down so they can ambush their pursuers. Emil thinks Boddicker is crazy, but reluctantly obeys, as Boddicker and the other gang members begin loading their shotguns.In the police car, Murphy radios for help, but to his and Lewis' dismay, there is no backup available to assist them. He draws his pistol and Lewis' sidearm as well and they speed up, hoping to take the panel truck by surprise.On Boddicker's signal, Bobby kicks open the back doors and the gang members open fire...on empty air. They wonder where the unit has gone, until Emil looks out the passenger window and sees Murphy and Lewis driving alongside them. Boddicker rushes to the passenger window, shotgun in hand and fires at Murphy, who fires back with twin pistols. Lewis drops back behind the truck, and Murphy opens fire again. Suddenly, Bobby falls, two bullets in his right leg. The other gang members continue shooting, and riddle the car with bullets. Boddicker decides that Bobby is no longer useful to him. The other gang members grab him and Boddicker asks, "Can you fly, Bobby?" Bobby pleads for his life, only for the other gang members to throw him onto the police car, crushing the windshield. Lewis, startled, spins the car out while Boddicker and his gang drive away, cackling manically. Lewis and Murphy back up, rolling Bobby off the car, and then drive off in pursuit.Murphy and Lewis track the truck down to an abandoned steel mill. They become separated as they split up to search for Boddicker and his men. Lewis stumbles on Cox as he is relieving himself. He attacks her and pushes her from a catwalk, knocking her unconscious.Murphy finds Emil and an unnamed henchman watching the terrible sitcom It's Not My Problem on a TV set. Surprised by Murphy's appearance, the unnamed thug tries to grab a shotgun, but is shot dead by Murphy. He forces Emil to surrender, saying "dead or alive, you're coming with me". But as Murphy is about to put his handcuffs on Emil, Steve Minh and Leon Nash appear with shotguns in hand and train them at his head. As the two advance on Murphy, Emil disarms Murphy, then grabs his own shotgun, pumps it, and declares, "Your ass is mine!"At that point, Boddicker himself shows up, and kicks Murphy to the ground with the butt of his shotgun, demanding to know where Murphy's partner is. This is answered when Cox enters the room and jokingly talks about taking out Lewis. Boddicker puts his hand on the side of Murphy's neck and asks the cop what he thinks of him. Murphy replies, "Buddy, I think you're slime." The other gang members laugh, and Boddicker admits that there's one problem: cops do not like him, and he does not like cops.Boddicker throws Murphy to the floor and aims his shotgun as he moves it across Murphy's body while miming the sound of a tracker, until he shoots off Murphy's right hand. Murphy tries to stifle the bleeding with his left hand as he stands up and tries to stagger away. Emil then takes his turn and fires, the bullet ripping off Murphy's right arm at the shoulder. Murphy screams in agony as Emil, Leon, Cox, and Minh proceed to empty their shotguns into Murphy, riddling his torso with bullets. Lewis is a witness to most of this, though she doesn't see Murphy getting hit, but from behind a chain link fence, she can see the gang shooting firing-squad style. Amazingly, when the gangs' shotguns run out of ammo, Murphy is still alive. Boddicker casually lights a cigarette, then pulls a pistol and shoots Murphy in the face. Murphy falls to the floor, while Boddicker and his men depart. Once Boddicker leaves, Lewis finds Murphy's mutilated body. Murphy is rushed to a nearby hospital but there is little that the doctors can do and he is declared dead.The next few scenes are seen from an unknown perspective as Bob Morton and his staff take Murphy's body and turn it into RoboCop. RoboCop is built with a unique set of schematics and state-of-the-art equipment including titanium and Kevlar-laminated armor and mechanical hands that can exert 400 fl/lbs of force. Morton is very pleased with the work being done.Several months later, Morton unveils RoboCop to his fellow OCP executives. A large convoy of scientists and engineers transport him to Murphy's old precinct. At the station, Reed is dealing with a repeat offender at the desk when a large team of scientists and men and women in lab coats start wheeling equipment in through the front door. Reed is about to protest to Morton and his assistant when he is interrupted by odd-sounding footsteps. Behind a pane of frosted glass, we see RoboCop striding in. The other officers eagerly run through the halls to see what is going on as RoboCop is led to his charging station and command center in the holding cells.At the command center, the engineers tell Morton that RoboCop is fed a rudimentary paste to sustain his organic systems. Johnson tries the paste out and finds that it tastes like baby food. To make sure RoboCop works, they use a pen to test his tracking abilities, and a voice stress analyzer to test his ability to record and play back. Morton then asks RoboCop what his three "prime directives" are. 1. Serve the Public Trust, 2. Protect the Innocent, and 3. Uphold the Law. Possibly unknown to Morton and most of his staff, a fourth directive has also been uploaded but is not revealed, listed only as "Classified".Lewis and some other officers are next seen on the shooting range, but everyone's attention is distracted when RoboCop shows up and begins shooting his own custom pistol, as part of a test of his sharpshooting skills. RoboCop is a straight shooter, successfully using his gun to obliterate the cardboard target. After the demonstration is complete, RoboCop puts his gun away, and we notice that he twirls it around his fingers on his right hand before storing it in a leg holster built into his right leg. Morton tells Reed that RoboCop needs a car. Reed grabs a set of car keys from his desk and tosses them. RoboCop snatches them out of the air and departs. Morton watches him, saying, "Go get 'em, boy!"RoboCop's first night is quite active. It starts at a mom-and-pop convenience store, when a robber wearing a trench coat enters, and buys a magazine. As he is paying for it, he asks the owners to empty their cash register and safe. When they stall, he whips out a rifle and orders them to give him their money. The robber trains his weapon on the husband and orders him to open the safe. The husband stalls, and the robber, furious, kicks aside a pile of beer cans to reveal the safe, and threatens to shoot the wife. As he is counting to three, RoboCop suddenly barges in and orders him to drop his weapon. The robber fires at RoboCop, but his bullets only bounce off the machine's bulletproof casing. He continues shooting until RoboCop uses his super strong hand to bend the barrel of his rifle. The robber decides to try fleeing, and RoboCop delivers him a blow and throws him into a refrigerator.RoboCop is later driving when he receives a report of a molestation in progress. Two lowlifes are chasing down a blonde woman and attempting to cut her hair and rape her. One of them is about to cut her skirt open when a police car screeches to a stop. RoboCop emerges and draws his firearm. One of the two men grabs the woman and threatens to slit her throat. RoboCop's second directive activates. He tracks, aims his pistol, and fires it with an aim so precise that the bullet goes through the woman's skirt between her legs and hit her hostage taker in his testicles. While the hostage taker collapses, screaming in pain, the grateful woman rushes up to RoboCop and hugs him gratefully, and he offers to call a rape crisis center.Later still that night, disgruntled ex-city councilman Ron Miller enters City Hall with a submachine gun and takes the mayor and his staff hostage, and kills an aide who refuses to cooperate. The police and SWAT team arrive and set up a perimeter. Reporters gathered at the scene are interviewing Lt. Hedgecock, the hostage negotiator, but are distracted when another police car arrives, breaks through the crime tape and comes to a stop. RoboCop climbs out and is swarmed by the media. The police work to get the reporters out of the way, and RoboCop tells Hedgecock to stall Miller, while he himself goes inside and starts making his way to the second floor.Hedgecock gets on the mike and offers to hear out Miller's demands. Miller demands to have his old job back. He also demands a bigger office and a new car on the city's bill, specifically a car that has "reclining leather seats, goes really fast and gets really shitty gas mileage." Hedgecock offers the 6000 SUX, but eventually Miller loses his patience. He grabs the mayor and pushes him to the window. As Miller prepares to execute the mayor, RoboCop punches through the wall, grabs Miller and pulls him backwards, his submachine gun firing wildly into the air. RoboCop then spins Miller around and punches him out a glass window, and he falls to the street.Bob Morton is thrilled by the success of his product, and the fame that RoboCop brings him. However, Dick Jones is still very angry about Morton's upstaging him, and vows revenge. He also warns Bob that his creation's service record had better be spotless.Some nights later, RoboCop is at rest when he begins having seizures as memories begin to flow through his head, which we realize are the last things Murphy ever saw: it begins with a flashback shot of Clarence Boddicker shooting him in his hand. RoboCop then writhes as he imagines Boddicker's gang emptying their shotguns into him, which causes the reading on a graph to go off the charts. Things get to a head when in his dreams, he sees Boddicker pull a pistol and shoot him in the face. RoboCop stands up and leaves to find these men when he is confronted by Lewis. RoboCop has no reaction to Lewis, until she refers to him as "Murphy." As the cyborg officer leaves the precinct, one of the doctors assigned to RoboCop calls Morton, who shows up and reprimands both Lewis and Reed for interfering with his project.In a different part of town, Emil arrives at a gas station on a motorcycle with a submachine gun and robs the on-duty attendant, who is studying mathematics from a book. Emil then waits as his gas is pumped into his bike. He is about ready to shoot the attendant when RoboCop shows up, pistol in hand. RoboCop steps towards Emil, saying "Dead or alive, you're coming with me!" Hearing those words, Emil immediately realizes that he's dealing with Murphy, the very man he and the rest of Boddicker's gang murdered at the steel mill. He screams, "We killed you!!" panics, and tries shooting at RoboCop, to no avail. RoboCop pauses, recalling where he remembers Emil from. Emil then uses the leaking gas pump and lit cigarette to blow up the gas station. As he flees, his motorcycle is shot out from under him by RoboCop. RoboCop takes Emil into custody and uses a data spike built into his right hand to access the police mainframe and look up Emil's data and known associates. One of the names on the list is Boddicker's name. His rap sheet includes charges for the murder of Officer Alex J. Murphy.RoboCop goes to Murphy's last known address and finds the house up for sale. Walking through it triggers more memories of Murphy's wife and son, until he snaps. Noticing a monitor showing an advertisement for the new model homes, RoboCop's rage culminates in him punching a fist through the screen.Meanwhile, Bob Morton is cavorting with two high-priced hookers in his house. It is going well until the doorbell rings. Morton goes to answer the door, thinking it's someone delivering champagne, but is shocked when he opens the door and Clarence Boddicker himself enters, carrying a suppressed pistol. While holding Morton at gunpoint, he orders "Bitches, leave!" and the two hookers hastily depart. Once they are out, Boddicker shoots Morton in the legs several times, leaving them unable to stand. While Morton gasps in pain, Boddicker then takes out a CD and plays a video message for Morton from Dick Jones. Jones tells Morton that he refused to follow OCP protocol and became too ambitious in pushing past Dick's authority, and he's cashing Morton out of the equation. Boddicker primes a hand grenade, pulls the pin with his teeth, and puts it on the coffee table, just out of Morton's reach and leaves. When the timer hits zero, the grenade detonates and blows up Morton and his house.Meanwhile, RoboCop tracks down Leon Nash to a nightclub, and demands to know where Clarence is. Clarence is at a meeting with a competitor at a competitor's cocaine processing factory. RoboCop arrives and threatens to arrest them all. They open fire and RoboCop kills most of the gangsters and finds Clarence. He brutally beats Clarence, tossing him through several plate-glass windows, then threatens to break the crime lord's neck. Clarence begs for his life, revealing his connection to Dick Jones. RoboCop realizes that he is a police officer and cannot simply kill Clarence out of revenge.Back at the police station, the officers have voted to go on strike (a result of OCP cutting back their salaries and pension plan, along with having lost 5 officers in the past week). After a huge gunfight in a cocaine factory owned by a rival gangster, RoboCop brings in Clarence Boddicker and orders him to be booked on charges of murdering police officers. Dick Jones arranges for Clarence to be freed on bail.RoboCop goes immediately to Dick Jones' office. As he marches in, he plays a video recording of Clarence's admission of his connection with Jones. RoboCop charges Jones with aiding and abetting and attempts to arrest him, but his systems immediately begin to shut down due to a "Product violation." Jones explains that Directive 4 was created by himself to prevent OCPs "product" from taking action against an OCP Official.Jones activates ED-209 to destroy RoboCop and admits that he had Bob Morton killed. RoboCop is damaged, but manages to escape by running down a flight of stairs (which works because ED-209's massive feet render him unable to climb or descend stairs without falling -- the robot throws a temper tantrum while RoboCop escapes). Several officers attempt to stop RoboCop for his reported "attack" on Jones, opening fire and damaging him severely, when Lewis arrives and rescues him. Lewis and RoboCop retreat to a hidden factory. RoboCop repairs most of the damage to his robot body and removes his helmet, revealing the face of Murphy. Murphy asks what happened to his wife and son; Lewis responds that they moved away after Murphy's funeral to start a new life. Lewis tries to comfort him but he asks to be left alone.Released from jail, Clarence meets with Jones, whom chastises Clarence for involving him, saying that RoboCop's recorded video of Clarence's admission is admissible in court. Dick orders Clarence to destroy the cyborg; Clarence refuses at first, however, Dick is able to change Clarence's attitude by offering the crime lord free reign during the construction of "Delta City" a planned community that will replace the crime-ridden streets of Detroit, a concept conceived and championed by The Old Man. Clarence will be permitted to extend his influences in drugs, prostitution and gambling to the workers of Delta City, an offer that Clarence knows is too good to pass upon. Dick agrees to provide Clarence with military-level weapons and gives him a tracking device to find their common enemy.Clarence rallies his gang of thugs to go out and kill RoboCop. Jones had given them large .50-caliber rifles to destroy their nemesis. The crew tracks RoboCop and his partner to the abandoned steel mill where they're hiding. One by one, they are defeated and killed by Lewis and RoboCop -- Joe Cox is killed almost immediately when Murphy targets and shoots him; Emil drives his truck into a giant tank filled with toxic waste that melts his flesh (he is later killed when Clarence collides with him while driving his car). Lewis, involved in a car chase with Clarence, is injured when the villain shoots her several times. Murphy becomes pinned down by scrap metal dropped on him by Leon (who is later killed by Lewis), and is immediately attacked by Clarence, who wields a large rail bar. Murphy is able to fend off Clarence's attacks and stabs Clarence in the neck with his data spike, killing the crime lord.RoboCop returns to OCP and, using the giant rifle taken from Clarence's gang, destroys the ED-209 Jones has guarding the entrance to their headquarters. RoboCop interrupts a meeting of the OCP board and openly accuses Dick Jones of murder and states that his programming will not allow him to arrest any executive of OCP. Over Jones' protests that the cyborg is psychopathic, Murphy uses his data spike to play the video of Jones' admitting to Morton's murder, which Murphy had recorded just as Jones activated ED-209 in his office.Jones grabs a gun and takes The Old Man hostage, demanding a helicopter to safely evacuate. The Old Man angrily fires Jones, voiding Directive Four and allowing RoboCop to take action. RoboCop shoots Dick Jones several times, who falls out a window, screaming as he speeds toward the pavement below. The Old Man thanks the cyborg for his actions, asking what the cyborg's name is. RoboCop pauses for a second before responding: "Murphy." | comedy, murder, cult, violence, action, satire, romantic, revenge, sci-fi | train | imdb | null |
tt1054588 | Flash of Genius | On his wedding night in 1953, an errant champagne cork renders college engineering professor Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) almost completely blind in his left eye. A decade later, he is happily married to Phyllis (Lauren Graham) and the father of six children. As he drives his Ford Galaxie through a light rain, the constant movement of the windshield wipers irritates his troubled vision. The incident inspires him to create a wiper blade mechanism modeled on the human eye, which blinks every few seconds rather than continuously.
With financial support from Gil Previck (Dermot Mulroney), Kearns converts his basement into a laboratory and develops a prototype he tests in a fish tank before installing it in his car. He patents his invention and demonstrates it for Ford researchers, who had been working on a similar project without success. Kearns refuses to explain how his mechanism works until he hammers out a favorable deal with the corporation. Impressed with Kearns' results, executive Macklin Tyler (Mitch Pileggi) asks him to prepare a business plan detailing the cost of the individual units, which Kearns intends to manufacture himself. Considering this to be sufficient commitment from the company, Kearns rents a warehouse he plans to use as a factory and forges ahead. He presents Ford with the pricing information it requested along with a sample unit, then waits for their response. Time passes, and when nobody contacts Kearns, he begins placing phone calls that are never returned.
Frustrated, Kearns attends a Ford dealers convention at which the latest model of the Mustang is unveiled, promoting the intermittent wiper as a selling point. Realizing the company has used his idea without giving him credit or payment for it, Kearns begins his descent into a despair so deep he boards a Greyhound bus and heads for Washington, D.C., where he apparently hopes to find legal recourse. Instead, Maryland state troopers remove him from the bus and escort him to a mental hospital, where he is treated for a nervous breakdown. Finally released when doctors decide his obsession has subsided, he returns home a broken man, determined to receive public acknowledgement for his accomplishment. Thus begins years of legal battles, during which time his wife leaves him, and he becomes estranged from his children.
At trial, Kearns represents himself after attorney Gregory Lawson (Alan Alda) withdraws from the case, because Robert refuses to settle. Eventually Kearns' ex-wife and children support him in his endeavor. Toward the end of the trial, Ford offers Kearns a US$30 million settlement, but without admitting wrongdoing. Kearns decides to leave his fate in the hands of the jury, who determine that Ford infringed his patents, but that the infringement was not deliberate. The jury awards him US$10.1 million. The closing credits indicate that Robert later wins an US$18.7 million judgement from Chrysler Corporation as well. | romantic, storytelling, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1270835 | Hatchet II | Picking up immediately where the first film ended, Marybeth (Danielle Harris) is attacked by Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder), but manages to escape. Jack Cracker finds her, pulls her out of the river, and takes her back to his cabin. After finding out her last name, he forces her to leave, telling her that if she wants help, she needs to see Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd). Moments after she leaves, Jack views Shapiro's camcorder, which he found in the swamp. The footage shows Shapiro filming different topless women, including Misty and Jenna. It also further reveals Shaprio's plan to venture into the swamp. After Jack finishes watching the video, he is killed by Victor Crowley, who gouges his intestines out and strangles him with them until he decapitates him.
Marybeth returns to Reverend Zombie's shop and, after demanding to speak with him, he reluctantly lets her in. It's revealed that Rev. Zombie had a small business going on with Shawn, the tour guide who was murdered the night before, and the boat was one of his own. After learning her last name, he tells her that her father was one of the boys responsible for causing the fire that originally killed Victor Crowley. He also tells her that Thomas, Victor's father, cheated on his wife Shyann with her nurse Lena after she was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Moments before dying, Shyann Crowley placed a curse on the child conceived by Lena from the affair. Months later, Lena died after giving birth to the deformed Victor Crowley. After Victor is killed by being hatched in the face, Thomas confronts the three boys responsible but due to his violent attitude with him brandishing and firing a shotgun they, along with their parents deny it. Thomas becomes a shut-in and eventually dies of a broken heart ten years later. This story is then complemented by various scenes in which the undead Victor slaughters the people who wander into his land.
Marybeth tells Reverend Zombie she wants to go back and retrieve the remains of her father and brother. He agrees, but tells her she must bring a family member with her. After she leaves, Zombie calls Justin (Parry Shen), Shawn's brother, and tells him Shawn never came back with the boat. He lies and says they are going into the swamp to find Shawn and the boat. He tells Justin to summon a group of hunters and, in particular, a man named Trent Graves (R. A. Mihailoff) to go with them. Marybeth returns home, where her uncle Bob (Tom Holland) promptly shows up. He tells her she needs to stay away from Reverend Zombie, but reluctantly goes with her to a recruitment meeting in Zombie's shop. Zombie tells the hunters that he will pay them $500 each to retrieve his boat and $5,000 for the head of Victor Crowley. He tells Trent that he will pay him double to go, and Trent agrees. The hunters leave and go into the swamp, with Marybeth and her uncle among them.
They find the boat and, as the rest leave, two of the hunters, Cletus and Chad (Ed Ackerman and David Foy) stay by the boat. The others split up to find Victor. Marybeth, Zombie, Justin, Bob, and Trent go looking for Crowley's shed and the bodies. Along the way, Zombie explains to Justin that Trent and Marybeth's father and uncle were the kids who started the fire that killed Victor. He believes that if Crowley kills Bob and Trent, his soul will be at peace and leave the swamp. After not finding the bodies in the shed, they check the main cabin. Meanwhile, the rest of the hunting party are killed off by Victor. Chad is hacked in the face violently with the hatchet and Cletus has his face mutilated by a boat propeller. While Layton (AJ Bowen) and Avery (Alexis Peters) are having make-up sex, Victor appears and decapitates Layton. Avery tries to run away but Victor hits her in between the legs and in the chest with his hatchet. Finally, John and Vernon (Rick McCallum and Colton Dunn) are both split in half from the groin up with a long chainsaw. While searching the cabin, the remaining party members hear Victor outside.
As they hide, Justin tells Marybeth of Zombie's plot to get her uncle and Trent killed after Marybeth tells Justin that Shawn is dead. She runs to warn Bob. Then, Justin jams the door shut with a chair. Justin hides, but then Victor turns up behind Justin and kills him by ripping his head open with a belt sander. Bob, in an attempt to save Justin accidentally releases Victor. Marybeth attempts to attack him but is tossed against the wall. Victor then spears Trent against the wall and the two stumble into the kitchen, where an epic battle ensues. Victor makes use of his strength while Trent uses the nearby surroundings to his advantage, temporally pinning Crowley against a support and whacking him with tables and chairs, but Trent is finally killed when he attempts to kill Victor with a cleaver as Victor breaks his leg and severs the top half of his head by kicking it against a table. While this is happening, Zombie grabs Marybeth, drags her out of the house, and traps Bob inside with Victor. Zombie restrains Marybeth while she screams as she hears Bob murdered by Victor inside. She falls to the ground crying and Zombie declares that's it all over and Victor Crowley is dead.
Marybeth says she will go to the police for what he did, but Zombie holds her at gunpoint. She then reveals that Bob was not her real uncle; her father's brother had died of leukemia when she was twelve, Bob was her father's best friend. Zombie turns to see Victor breaking through the wall of the cabin, now realizing his plan to kill Victor Crowley has failed. Zombie advances towards Victor and chokes him, but Victor kills him by severing him in half and then skinning him alive by pulling on his spine. Just after he finishes, Marybeth strikes Victor in the forehead with his own hatchet, knocking him to the ground. She then goes hysterical and strikes him in the head repeatedly until left a bloody pulp. She eventually stops and walks off just as Victor's hand twitches, then returns and stands over him with Zombie's shotgun, and fires the gun into the remains of his head, blowing his brains out and apparently ending his terror. | violence | train | wikipedia | Chet's Hat. It started off quite different to the first; after spending some time explaining things about the killer however, things returned to campy slasher territory.This time, Tony Todd takes hunters into the woods so the cast consists of older people mostly.Perhaps because of watching many films commissioned by sci-fi channel I was familiar with films that featured gun-toting guys without much personality and I was surprised when the hunters had varying oddball personalities.
But just a few reels later, the roller-coaster ride of full-on violence & savage slaughter begins and the body count or body pieces rather, keep piling up till the topping at the finale :) When I saw the movie poster, I anticipated some dread thinking of all that slaying but when you actually watch the scenes, it looks comical!
I was having enough fun watching the hacking & nudity :) I guess, this movie proves once again that slaughter & nudity in movies always gel very well, hehe.Nothing much to talk about the acting, except for Danielle Harris and Tony Todd(as Reverend Zombie).
Hatchet 2 may be the funnest horror movie of them all, and to it's slight detriment, the film has so much fun, that we forget that people are being viciously murdered.
I love Hatchet, I think it one of best slasher movies to come out in the last few years.I really wanted to love this movie, the gore was good and some really good nasty gory deaths scenes, Victor did not look that scary this time around.I Really hate it when sequels recast one of the main characters in movie, (It did not work in A Nigthmare on elm street 4 and it did not work in this movie for me) I liked the old Marybeth better as I have seen her in 8 Simple Rules and USA High and then they replace her with the girl in this movie.New recast sucked all the fun out of this movie for me, it took me to long to get used to her playing Marybeth.Gory sequel.
Most horror movies that try to go back and give an origin story for the villain usually end up being pretty bad, just look at Halloween 6.
After all the hullabaloo in the media about Hatchet 2 not getting a cinema release – much of it from the director himself – I had envisioned writing this up as an overlooked minor classic, instead I had to watch the last 20 minutes twice to prove to myself I didn't miss anything and that the film really was meant to end that way.In reality I should have seen it coming, the original Hatchet received much undue praise when in reality it was a straight 80s rip, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it was a rip of generic 80s crap, not the cream of the crop.
The so-called "anti-hero" Victor Crowley was also massively overrated: Gee a mutated freakishly strong psychopath that lives in a swamp and kills anyone unsuspecting who shows up in gory ways
...That's original.In retrospect it was also a really bad sign that the director decided Loreal style that "he was worth it", and plonked his name on the title: so I should kowtow and refer to this as "Adam Green's Hatchet 2".Anyhoo in H2 (that's what I call it, but I'm just creative like that) we get a clumsy backstory that in essence shows that Victor was "born of awkward circumstances".I've said it before – if you don't have a creative backstory don't tell it – just get to the killin' and the screamin'.The remainder of the film revolves around the bizarre premise that Victor is somehow an undead ghost or something, and that only his avenging himself will rid himself from the swamps and save people from himself.Made no sense to me either, which wouldn't have mattered a zack if I liked how he went about it
The movie at least then tries to adhere to the tried and tested formula of heavy metal, gore & tits, but the formula is so formulaic and basically boring that it had exactly zero impact or entertainment value.After a very brief, derivative and clumsy justification for heading back to the swamp involving a young woman named Mary-Beth (Danielle Harris) looking for her family with a kooky sightseeing operator named Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd) back into Crowley's territory we go, along with fresh meat in the form of hired muscle being paid $500 per head, with a bonus to the guy who takes down Crowley.Only as we see quite frequently in the latter half of the film, Crowley is not an easybeat, at near 7 foot, with a mangled face, huge guns and the ability to take a shotgun blast to the chest without wincing, it would have taken a lot more than five hundred clams to get me in the same state – let alone the same dark and gloomy swamp.Victor is unstoppable, he is everywhere and can seemingly get anywhere instantaneously.
Marybeth (now played by Danielle Harris rather than by Tamara Feldman like the original) barely escapes an encounter with Victor Crowley, and is rescued by a creepy fisherman named Jack Cracker (Buechler).
Nothing wrong with that.The gore is doubled, just like the title, and it seems that if there's any reason to watch Hatchet II is because of the grotesque killings Green has thought up.
Adam Green should remind us that.Starring: Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Parry Shen, Tom Holland, R.A. Mihailoff, Colton Dunn, and AJ Bowen.
I liked the original quite a lot - it's quite a fun ride.The sequel, however, is a lackluster effort and I'm not surprised it wasn't released theatrically in America.The movie discards everything the original had going for it: Interesting and likable characters.
Instead we have a bunch of hams screaming, running around, and dropping like flies in ways that make so little sense but brought unexpected giggles, piling one deus ex machina on top of another until your brain switches off and you can't stop snickering at actors trying too hard for such a bad movie, especially the poor unfunny Danielle Harris.As a final insult, editing is a disaster: you can skip the first half hour and not miss a thing.
Marybeth (Danielle Harris) escapes the clutches of the bayou-butcher Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) and returns to the swamp with an army of hunters and gunmen, determined to end Crowley's reign of horror once and for all.The strength of this film is in the back story of Victor Crowley.
I like a horror movie to get a few laughs out of me when I watch it.The acting in Hatchet 2 was okay.
thanks to her particularly grating performance in Adam Green's slasher sequel Hatchet II, Danielle Harris is now in joint No.1 position on my list of irritating horror movie actresses, sharing the not-so-coveted top spot with that other awful 'scream queen du jour', Scout Taylor-Compton (you can imagine how much I must hate Rob Zombie's Halloween movies, in which both girls appear!!!).Sadly, it's not just Harris's incessant whining and unconvincing attempts to look scared that frustrate me about this highly anticipated sequel to tongue-in-cheek slasher Hatchet: it's the fact that director Adam Green has taken the easy route with his follow up to what was easily one of the most enjoyable scary movies of the last decade.It was the ultra-gory kills that were a major factor in making the first film such a hit, and Hatchet II sees Green focusing on raising the body count and splatter quotient to the detriment of almost everything else.
Thus, we get a 'name' actress to draw in the punters, an unnecessary retelling of Victor Crowley's origins to pad out the running time, a weak plot that simply serves to get a raft of uninspired characters to the killing grounds, and lousy dialogue that feels as though it was either improvised or written when drunk (the people are talking, but they're not saying anything worth listening to).
Even if the effects aren't as well executed as in the first film, the range of kills and excess of blood and body parts should satisfy all but the most pernickety of gorehounds: there's a strangulation by intestines (resulting in the victim's head popping off!), face mashing with both hatchet and outboard motor, a head bisected by a table, decapitation during sex, a belt sander to the skull, and in one very bizarre scene, a double death by what must be cinema's longest chainsaw.If Danielle Harris had been on the receiving end such a mighty power-tool (preferably within the first five minutes of the film), I might have been a little more forgiving about the lacklustre script; since she was allowed to survive to the bitter end, I can only bring myself to give Hatchet II a relatively disappointing 6 out of 10 (all points awarded for the splatter alone)..
Hatchet II (2010) ** (out of 4) This sequel picks up right at the end of the 2006 with Marybeth (now played by Danielle Harris) escaping the swamp.
She goes to Rev. Zombie (Tony Todd) who informs her that her father, uncle and another man were the ones who originally murdered Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder), the maniac in the swamp who just killed all her friends.
Green doesn't do too much establishing of the environment here, instead focusing on pace, action, and making the audience howl and clap in appreciation.He brings back his character Marybeth (iconic horror hottie Danielle Harris inherits the role from Tamara Feldman) who's survived the rampage of Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder) and made it back to civilization, where she confronts slimy businessman Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd) about what she's learned is a connection between her and old Vic. She then ventures back into the swamp to try to put an end to Vics' days, and Zombie agrees to go along (albeit for his own reasons), in the company of a group of heavily armed, but not too bright, hunters who were bought off pretty cheap.
Also tagging along is Marybeths' concerned uncle Bob (Tom Holland, the director of "Fright Night" and "Child's Play", in a good-sized acting role).The mindless violence in this movie *is* quite entertaining, although the viewer will have to sit through a fair amount of set-up and introduction to some less than completely interesting characters.
Also appearing are Parry Shen (returning from the first movie, but playing a different role), R.A. Mihailoff, and AJ Bowen, with director John Carl Buechler reprising his part as area local Jack Cracker.If you enjoyed "Hatchet" no.
It's throw back to old school slasher movies with cool cameos, hilarious comedy, danielle harris, and kane hodder as victor crowley, in a sequel that is arguably the best entry in the entire hatchet series, this movies starts off seconds after the first the movie giving more answers on victor crowleys back story and the lore on the other characters in the movie as well.
The film has Halloween star Danielle Harris returning to a swamp where Victor still alive (once again like Jason).
But what makes Hatchet II truly noteworthy are the stellar performances by the cast; starting with star Danielle Harris, as the vengeful Marybeth, and Tony Todd, as the devious Voodoo master Rev. Zombie.
Hell, they even bring back Parry Shen, whose character died in the first movie (by virtue of him playing the guy's twin brother).Everything that sparkled about the first film has gone in HATCHET II, to be replaced by a boring script and a dearth of imagination.
He looks goofy, like an alien from a 1980s movie, whereas in the first film he was kept in the shadows a lot and all the more frightening for it.Finally, Danielle Harris is a poor replacement for the original actress.
After a very brief, derivative and clumsy justification for heading back to the swamp involving a young woman named Mary-Beth (Danielle Harris) looking for her family with a kooky sightseeing operator named Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd) back into Crowley's territory we go, along with fresh meat in the form of hired muscle being paid $500 per head, with a bonus to the guy who takes down Crowley.Only as we see quite frequently in the latter half of the film, Crowley is not an easybeat, at near 7 foot, with a mangled face, huge guns and the ability to take a shotgun blast to the chest without wincing, it would have taken a lot more than five hundred clams to get me in the same state – let alone the same dark and gloomy swamp.Victor is unstoppable, he is everywhere and can seemingly get anywhere instantaneously.
The victims don't even fight back 90% of the time, they stand still and take their medicine like guys in a bad kung fu movie.What makes that even worse is that I guarantee Mr Adam Green spent more time on the kills than he did coming up with the threadbare backstory and lousy plot, so you just expect more.
The victims don't even fight back 90% of the time, they stand still and take their medicine like guys in a bad kung fu movie.What makes that even worse is that I guarantee Mr Adam Green spent more time on the kills than he did coming up with the threadbare backstory and lousy plot, so you just expect more.
A disfigured killer Victor Crowley comes back in this extremely gory sequel of Adam Green's "Hatchet".Marybeth(Danielle Harris)and Reverend Zombie(Tony Todd)organize a hunting party to kill Crowley once for all.Unfortunately Victor is more deadly than ever slashing,butchering and killing his hunters one by one...Completely unoriginal and clichéd slasher flick with tons of gore and seriously high bodycount.The killings are creative and utterly insane with rivers of spurting blood.The characters are paper-thin,but the pace is fast and the gore is truly gross.If you liked the first "Hatchet" you can't miss this hugely enjoyable sequel.8 hatchets out of 10.A man being choked to death with his own intestines-priceless!.
Picking up immediately where the first film ended, Marybeth (Danielle Harris) is attacked by Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder), but manages to escape.
Along the way Zombie tells Justin that Trent, Bob and Marybeth's father were the kids who started the fire that killed Victor.
He once again writes and directs this sequel with legendary slasher actors Kane Hodder and Tony Todd both reprising their roles from the first film.
Hodder once again plays the maniac killer the films revolve around, 'Victor Crowley' (who is much like Hodder's other iconic movie monster character 'Jason' and there's even a joke about it in the film), and Todd returns as Reverend Zombie, expanding his bit part from the original film into a lead character.
'Scream Queen' Danielle Harris, who you might remember from four 'HALLOWEEN' films, stars as the film's heroine.Harris plays Marybeth (taking over for Tamara Feldman from the first film), the only person from her Louisiana swamp cruise to survive the brutal attack of hatchet wielding maniac monster Victor Crowley (from the first film).
After getting away, a deal is struck between Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd) and Marybeth (Danielle Harris) to go back into Crowley's lair and take him out and retrieve her father and brother's remains along with a group of hunters as their backup posse.
And it continues the story of Victor Crowley and his killing spree.Marybeth, played by Danielle Harris, makes a return to the bayou to confront Victor Crowley, who terrorized her in the first movie.
And if for nothing else, then watch it for the killings and the special effects, or for Tony Todd and Kane Hodder as they truly are horror legends."Hatchet 2" provided good entertainment for me, especially in a time where there are so many mediocre slasher movies coming out.
I normally like straight-faced horror films (such as "Let the Right One In") but still enjoyed the humor-infused blood-fest that is "Hatchet." I was disappointed in this sequel.
Marybeth Dunston (Danielle Harris) goes to Honey Island Swamp to search for her missing gator hunter daddy and her brother and runs afoul of Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder).
But I think if you're just looking for a good time with a horror film, definitely check this one out, the Hatchet movies are awesome and I can't wait to read up on the new sequel.
Victor Crowley is genuinely one of the most badass killing machines since Kane Hodder graced the hockey mask of Jason Voorhees.Another genre regular that gets to expand his role from the first film is Tony Todd (Candyman, Final Destination), as Reverend Zombie.
Taking over from part 1's Tamara Feldman, modern day Scream Queen Danielle Harris gives a very good performance as Marybeth Dunstan,whose experiences in the first movie Harris uses to keep Dunstan in a fragile shell,which Harris joyfully cracks,as Dunstan finds herself the "final girl."Carrying straight on from the first,the screenplay by returning director Adam Green stabs into Crowley's past with a well-delivered flashback,which whilst making the monster a fuller figure,does not soften the attacks that he is currently inflicting.
Kane Hodder and Tony Todd reprise their roles, but Danielle Harris replaces Tamara Feldman as Marybeth.Marybeth was in Honey Island Swamp, and barely escapes the wrath of Victor Crowley.
Or perhaps the one and only reason why I liked this sequel so much is because Danielle Harris takes over the role of Marybeth; the sole survivor of the original Louisiana swamp massacre.
Disappointing sequel to Adam Green's indie horror festival hit, HATCHET, has Danielle Harris replacing Tamara Feldman as the tormented Marybeth, wanting Reverend Zombie (Tony Todd, in a meatier part than the first film which was basically an amusing cameo) to take her back to the swamp forest where Crowley haunts to get her father and brother's remains.
Perhaps some might say this kind of performance isn't necessary for a film such as HATCHET II, but Harris seemed to take to the Marybeth character a bit differently.
Picking up exactly where the original left off, Marybeth (Now played by Harris) escapes Victor Crowley (Hodder) and goes back to Reverend Zombie (Todd) who sent her on the tour. |
tt0105428 | Sleepwalkers | "Sleep'walk'er n. Nomadic shapeshifting creatures with human and feline origins. Vulnerable to the deadly scratch of the cat, the sleepwalker feeds upon the lifeforce of virginal human females. Probable source of the vampire legend." - Chillicoathe Encyclopedia of Arcane Knowledge, 1st edition, 1884.Ever-so-virginal Tanya Robertson [Madchen Amick] is working at the local theater in Travis, Indiana when sleepwalker Charles Brady [Brian Krause], a new student who just transferred from Paradise Falls, Ohio, comes to see the double bill (They Bite and Scream Dream). She's pretty, he's cute; they make a date to shoot photos together at Homeland Cemetery.While driving home from school, Charles is stopped by his English teacher, Mr Fallows [Glenn Shalix], who tries to blackmail Charles on grounds that there is no such place as Paradise Falls in Ohio and that Charles' transcripts are fake. Charles responds by ripping off Fallows' hand and killing him. Charles continues on, driving at breakneck speed past Sheriff Andy Simpson [Dan Martin]. Charles is having fun trying to outrun the law, until Andy's cat Clovis pops his head up and looks out the window. Charles' face suddenly shifts into his catform and then back to human, confusing Andy. When it looks like Charles isn't going to outrun Andy, he pulls off the road and makes his car go invisible. However, Clovis can still see Charles, which upsets Charles greatly. When Andy finally gives up the chase, Charles makes his car turn from blue to red and drives home.Cats are beginning to amass in the Brady's yard. They've set traps, but some cats seem impervious to them. 'It's starting again,' Charles tells his mom, remembering all the previous places they've tried to live but been discovered and driven out. Mary Brady's [Alice Krige] concern, however, is with the fact that she is starving. When is Charles going to bring her the nourishment she needs? 'Tomorrow,' Charles promises.Tanya is looking forward to her date with Charles. She's even packed a picnic lunch, along with a bottle of wine which she hides from her parents. As Charles makes grave rubbings, Tanya takes photos of both the
graves and of Charles. Everything is hunkydory until, while engaged in a bit of kissing, Charles starts to suck out Tanya's breath. Tanya manages to clout him in the head with her camera, but he doesn't stay knocked out for long. When he tries again to steal her breath, she skewers his eyeball with a corkscrew.Meanwhile, Charles' car has turned back to its original color, just as Andy and Clovis drive by. When Andy stops to investigate, Tanya comes running out of the cemetery, Charles in pursuit. As Andy tries to calm Tanya down, Charles rams a pencil into Andy's ear. Charles attempts once more to take away Tanya's breath, but Andy shoots him in the back. Undaunted, Charles takes the gun from Andy and shoots him with it. Back to Tanya. Just when it looks like Charles is going to win, Clovis leaps at Charles' head and begins biting him. Tanya climbs in the squad car, locks all the doors, and frantically tries to get a message through to the dispatcher. Charles manages to get the cat off his face and speeds away in his blue car.The police arrive [look for Stephen King's cameo as the cemetery caretaker]) and take Tanya home. They don't quite buy her story about Charles arriving in a red car and leaving in a blue car nor about his face changing, but they do take her camera to develop the pictures she took of Charles. Charles is in a bad way. When he gets home, his mother tries to care for him, but she also has troubles. The yard is full of cats, and now the police have arrived, looking for Charles. She decides that the best course of action is to make the car, Charles, and herself invisible, just as the police break down her front door.While Tanya languishes in a bubblebath, Mary Brady comes to the Robertsons' front door, bearing a bouquet of roses. When Mr Robertson [Lyman Ward] tries to turn her away, Mary breaks the vase and cuts his face with the glass. When Mrs Robertson [Cindy Pickett] comes in from the kitchen to see what all the commotion is about, Mary tosses her out the window. When Deputy Horace [Monty Bane] comes in from the kitchen (where he was eating some of Mrs Robertson's home-cooked corn-on-the-cob), he fires at Mary but misses badly. When he returns to the kitchen to call headquarters for reinforcements, Mary stabs him in the back with an ear of corn. When Tanya comes downstairs to see what's going on, Mary knocks her out cold and carries her outside.More police are arriving, including Captain Ira Soames [Ron Perlman], State Police. He pointedly tells Mary to put Tanya down, so Mary bites off three of his fingers. Using Soames' gun, she shoots two of the patrol cars, causing them to burst into flames. She hoists Tanya into the third car and drives home. When she arrives, she finds that her house and yard are crawling with cats... millions and billions and trillions of cats.While Mary is forcing Tanya to dance with Charles, who is near death, the police are sneaking up on the Brady house. When Charles tries to feed on Tanya's breath, she pokes out Charles' eyes with her fingers. Mary is
irate. 'You killed my only son,' she screams at Tanya. Clovis and the police break in, also letting in some cats who leap on Mary. She fights them off while the policeman tries to get Tanya out of there. Mary catches up with them, killing the policeman by impaling him on a picket fence. Tanya jumps into the patrol car and tries to get it started. Mary, in cat form, breaks the window and attempts to pull Tanya from the car. Cats start leaping on Mary... millions and billions and trillions of cats (anyone recognize the reference? Hint: It's a classic children's book). For some reason, the biting cats cause Mary to burst into flames. Engulfed in fire, Mary takes human form long enough to leap on the patrol car windshield and scream at Tanya one last time, 'You killed my son... my only son.' As Mary burns up in the driveway, Clovis jumps into the car with Tanya. As Tanya hugs Clovis, the other cats start leaving, there being nothing more there for them. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl] | horror, cult, dark, murder, violence | train | imdb | null |
tt0107497 | Malice | A young college coed is leaving school for the day. She jumps on her bike and heads home. Upon arriving, she calls out to her cat to come for her meal. She spies the cat cowering under a table, growling softly. Just as she comes close to reassure her cat, a mysterious figure comes out from the shadow and violently attacks her.Quick cut to college professor Andy Safian (Bill Pullman) and Detective Dana Harris (Bebe Neuwirth) at the hospital discussing the ongoing problems with campus security. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin), the new surgeon at St. Agnes hospital works feverishly to save the girl, even though he is told "we're going to lose her." The surgery is successful. In the locker room, Hill tells the surgeon who made the comment that while he wants to make new friends, if he ever says something like that again, he will "remove (his) lungs with a f***ing ice cream scoop."Andy and Jed meet to discuss the girl's condition. After a moment, Andy realizes that he knew him from their old high school, Van Buren. They hope to see each other around.Andy goes to see his wife, Tracy Kessinger (Nicole Kidman), at work. As they talk in the elevator, Dr. Hill steps in with a colleague. They are invited to a reception to welcome Jed to the hospital. They politely decline and leave. As they walk along the street, they talk about the new plumbing for their Victorian house will cost them $14,000. Tracy suggests renting out the third floor to a tenant, but Andy refuses. He also suggests that she be very careful coming home from work, a maniac being on the loose.When she arrives home. Andy notices his wife getting out of the car with a man, who gives her a gentle peck on the cheek. She had told him she was coming home with a woman. She claims the man is a lawyer who is handling old buisness with her mother's estate. Andy apologizes. Later they are eating Chinese food in bed and she seductively feeds him and she gently gyrates on his lap. They begin to have sex, when Andy quickly turns off the light, noticing their next door neighbor's young son is watching them. (He assumes this because of the silhouette in the window). Tracy doesn't seem bothered by it, since the mother works nights and the boy might just be lonely.The next morning, Andy is sanding the stair railing, and is surprised by Jed's appearance in the front doorway. They have a pleasant conversation and Jed invites him to go out for a drink. Jed happens to point out a Degas statue and asks if it's the real thing. Andy assumes it is.As they are drinking, Andy lets it slip that his wife has been having trouble getting pregnant. He mentions a doctor named Lillianfield that Tracy has been going to. Jed says he "is a good man." When he gets home, he suggests to Tracy that Jed take the third floor as a tenant. Tracy does not seem thrilled with the idea, even suggesting that Andy is doing it to relive his high school years again, hanging with the star quarterback. When she finds out that Andy discussed her problem with Jed, she is annoyed, but not mad. She gives in and says it's OK for Jed to move in. The doorbell rings and she asks Andy if he wants to bet if it's Jed. He says no. "Because when money is involved, you take me seriously," she mutters.Detective Harris comes in while Andy is in the middle of a session with Paula Bell (Gwenyth Paltrow). He asks his secretary to make sure she gets a wake up call in order to not miss her next class. Harris tells Andy that not much progress is being made on getting the rapist. Andy laments that he is tired of seeing students leaving the school for fear of their safety. She asks for a list of people who have access to the student's schedules.Tracy comes home and prepares to take a bath. Her pain shoots up again and she is startled when Jed appears in the bathroom to check on her. They share a long glance as they hear Andy announce that he is home. Later that night, Jed is involved in a sexual marathon with one of the nurses from the hospital. Tracy is extremely annoyed because the noise is keeping her awake. As Andy is about to go ask him to hold it down, the noise stops. The nurese jokes with him that the only reason he is a doctor is for the money and women. He laughs, and jokes about his tolerance with alcohol. After coming out of the bathroom, Tracy stares coldly as the nurse runs naked to the upstairs bathroom.The next day. Andy is annoyed that Paula still has not shown up for her appointment. After talking to his secretary, he decides to go to her house to check on her. He arrives and the house is completely quiet. He calls out for her, but gets no answer. The front door is open, so he lets himself inside. He then notices the back door is slightly ajar and that a lock of her hair is on the floor. He walks out back and notices one of her shoes. He then approaches the hedges and finds her brutalized body hidden inside. Detective Harris says he will need to provide a statement.Leter, Jed tries to cheer up Andy at the bar. He relays a story about the first time he saw a dead body in medical school. After Jed makes a comment about pro athletes not being able to stay clean for a million dollars, Andy says he would "give his right arm" for a million. Jed presses him on it, saying what if was a surgical prcedure. Would he do it? Andy says no, as does Jed after cracking an ice cube in his mouth. Andy heads home as Jed decides to check on the local women playing darts.Andy comes home and Harris is waiting for him. She tells him there is circumstantial evidence tying him to the rapes. He is outraged at being considered a suspect. She then tells him he needs to come to the station to provide some sperm to rule him out. Reluctantly, he agrees to go.Tracy comes home and her pain is now unbearable. She calls out for Andy, but he is still at the station. She calls 911. While chatting it up with the dart ladies and drinking bourbon, Jed is paged to the hospital, where he sees that Tracy is the person he needs to operate on. Back at the station Andy is ruled out as a suspect and as he is leaving, is told his wife called 911. He rushes to the hospital.It turns out one of her ovaries has ruptured and needs to be removed. They discover that she was 4 weeks pregnant, but she miscarries due to the trauma. A doctor notices a problem with the second ovary and Jed says they need to get a histology report to make sure it isn't still a live ovary. They realize they don't have the time to do it. Jed goes out and tells Andy the options. They can remove the ovary and she'll be fine (but never able to have kids). Or they can leave the ovary in and hope she does not die from toxic shock. Andy says to do whatever he needs to. He tells Andy that she was 4 weeks pregnant, but the baby is gone. Jed goes in and against the advice of fellow surgeons, he removes the other ovary.Later, it comes to light that he removed a healthy ovary. Jed has the chance to bury the report, but declines. He stands by his judgement call. The turn of events destroys Tracy. She tells Andy she is leaving him, and she files a lawsuit against Jed Hill, for $20 million.At the deposition, Jed is made out to be a top notch surgeon, but has a "God-complex". He states that when people go into the chapel and pray to God that their loved ones will be alright, who does the lawyer think they are praying to. "You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something. I am God." He then gets up and walks out. Tracy's lawyer then mentions they know he was drinking the night of her surgery. They decide to settle. Tracy doesn't seem to care about the money. As she exits the building, she notices Andy across the street. She shoots him a cold stare and then leaves in her lawyer's car.Back at work, Andy is working late into the night, when one of his bulbs goes out. He goes downstairs and finds the janitor (Tobin Bell) has a makeshift place and is living down there. He finds a lock of hair on the night table as well as in a cigar box. He is startled when he appears behind him. He explains that he got kicked out of his old place and this is just temporary. Andy says not to worry about it and leaves. As he is walking away, he is jumped from behind and he ends up fighting him off and rendering him unconscious.At the station, Detective Harris invites Andy to get a drink. While there, she talks about how her family accuses her of wielding her honesty like a blunt instrument. She tells him that there is something he needs to know about his wife. Something important. He goes back to the station with her.Later, he goes to Jed's hotel to tell him that thet baby was not his. It turns out that Andy is sterile (which cleared him of the rapes). Jed tells him it doesn't change anything regarding his situation. He feels bad for Andy and says that bad things happen to good people all the time, for no good reason. Andy, suspecting that maybe Tracy's lawyer is the father, goes to confront him.Andy barges in and accuses her lawyer (Peter Gallagher) of having an affair with his wife. He says he did not. But since he cannot give him any information about where she is, he should talk to her friends or mother. Andy says he should know her mother is dead, since he handled her estate. He says he never did. As he is leaving, he suggests that Andy bring her a bottle of scotch.Andy arrives and uses the bottle of scotch to entice Tracy's mother (Anne Bancroft) to open the door. They talk about Tracy's childhood, how she always stashed away any money she had, how her father abandoned her and took her hidden money. As she is drinking, she laughs about how gullable Andy is. He says he knows she has been there becuase of the Degas statue on her mantle. She laughs and say you can get one of them anywhere. She then tries to get him to do a card trick, and asks him to bet. He says no. "Because when money is involved, you take me seriously." She then tells him he should just "get into the game" and go for the $20 million himself. When he brings up Dr. Lillianfield, she smiles and tells him "Welcome to the game."He finds Lillianfield's address through a ruse using a change of address excuse. He finds out the address and lies in wait inside the house. He hears Tracy as she comes in the door. To his horror, Dr Lillianfield turns out to be Jed Hill. They kiss passionately as she orders him to take her upstairs and have sex with her. After they go upstairs, Andy leaves the house, devestated.He goes home and knocks a bunch of items from her dresser to the floor. But, he notices something odd. There is a syringe with some liquid still inside of it. He then notices they neighbor's son's silhouette again, playing on his keyboard.As they walk along the beach the next morning, Jed laments about how his mentor wrote him a letter saying he was sorry about everything. While Tracy finds it amusing, Jed is upset that his mentor never apologized about not giving him the chief of staff job at Mass General. They kiss and head back to the house to make love again. While she is laying on the bed, a syringe sticks her. Jed realizes that now Andy knows what it going on, that he has been in the house. Jed rehashes the plan and lets Tracy know the improvised part of her getting pregnant was what tipped Andy off. He figured out there was no Dr Lillianfield. Tracy says to let her handle him.At a bar/restaurant, Tracy acts all loving and seductive with Andy, trying to convince him that things can go back to normal. She runs her foot up his leg, until Andy tells her that she dropped her shoe. She realizes that her ploy is not working. She then goes on the attack, trying to intimidate him, saying that if he goes to the police, that will make him look crazy. She gets up and wishes him "happy hunting." Andy then tells her to "sit the f*** down." He tells her he knows what was in the syringe and that the lab guys told him that the substance in the syringe could cause the ovarian cysts she got if injected in massive doses. He then suggests that maybe he should have put curtains up in the bedroom because someone might have seen her injecting herself to cause the cysts. Enraged, she shatters a wine glass in her hand. He then warns her that if anything is to happen to him, the police will go to her neighbor's son. He wants half the money.Back at the house, Jed suggests strongly they give him the money and they should leave the country. He tells her they don't have a choice. She then suggests that without the kid, there is no case. He is horrified by the suggestion. He then slaps her and tells her not to bring it up again. If something happens to the kid, he will be the state's star witness against her. She then pulls out a gun and kills him.Tracy waits outside her former neighbor's house and waits for her to leave. She calls Andy and tells him she has his money. He gives her a meeting place and then heads out in his car. After he leaves, she approaches the neighbor's house. She then silently walks upstairs and slowly approaches the boy with plastic wrap, while he is playing his keyboard as usual. She puts it around his head, only to find that it is really a CPR dummy from the police station. Tracy goes ballastic, smashing the dummy on the keyboard. Andy turns out the light and taunts her saying, "Like shooting tuna in a barrel, huh?" She lunges for him and they fall through a bannister and land on the floor. As she is about to get up, Detective Harris, dressed as the neighbor (she is a nurse), stomps on a piece of wood Tracy is preparing to pick up saying "I won't mind shooting you." She tells Andy he may need a doctor. He laughs.Tracy is led out to the police car and sees the neighbor and her BLIND son go back into the house. She is stunned. She looks at Andy with a mixture of sadness, shock and, belatedly, respect. The car drives off and Harris and Andy sit on his porch. She suggests he needs ice. He says he'll take his with some scotch. They head off in her car.THE END | revenge, intrigue, neo noir, murder | train | imdb | The first time through, MALICE is a great psychological thriller, with twists and turns through a plot that contains rape, murder, life-and-death trauma, and a fight to the death...all within the first 45 minutes.
The second time through, though, provides a look at all the things you might have missed the first time around...and a chance to savor an outstanding performance from perhaps the most underrated actor in Hollywood, Alec Baldwin.Bill Pullman plays Andy Safien, an associate dean at a small New England college outside of Boston that's currently under siege by a serial rapist who claims his latest victim as the film opens.
Jed operates to save her life (after a night of drinking and wild partying), but renders her unable to bear children...leading to a malpractice suit from Tracy and an incredible soliloquy on surgeons with a God complex from Jed during the deposition.But once the first half of the film is over, things really start to roll.
Without revealing the rest of the plot, suffice it to say that as Andy, Tracy, and Jed all try to start their lives over again, their fates become inextricably entangled.The movie is worth seeing once as a thriller.
The opening scene's haunting music will stay with you forever and draw you into a roller coaster ride of suspense, drama, and deceit.The film revolves around a couple who's lives become interwoven by a mysterious and arrogant surgeon who manipulates and cons his way into their lives with little surprises around every turn.
Watch for outstanding performances by Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, and Bill Pullman, as well as a powerful supporting role by Ann Bancroft.Malice is very difficult to review without giving away parts of the movie, so I will not go into great detail.
this is one very good movie.it's got suspense,a twisting plot,great intensity,and a good story.it may not be wholly original,but it think it works,thanks to its three main actors,Alec Baldwin(The Good Shepherd)Nicole Kidman(The Interpreter)and Bill Pullman.But Kidman really surprised me with the intensity she brought to her role.i'm generally not a fan,but she is effective in this movie.the supporting performances are also good.i also like the fact that the movie isn't completely predictable,like happens in so many movies.the movie is also very well paced.there are no lagging spots to slow things down to the point of boredom.anyway,i really enjoyed it.
It stars Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Bebe Neuwirth and Josef Sommer.
Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Gordon Willis.Andy (Pullman) and Tracy Safian (Kidman) take in a respectable Dr. Jed Hill (Baldwin) as a lodger thinking he ticks all the ace lodger boxes.
However, he turns out to be far from ace and after having to perform emergency surgery on Tracy, the Safian's world gets turned upside down...Malice is an old fashioned thriller, it has flaws and major implausibilities, but if taken on its own popcorn thriller terms it rounds out as a good night's entertainment.
There's considerable thriller talent involved in the production, with Becker (Sea of Love), Frank (Dead Again), Sorkin (A Few Good Men), Kidman (Dead Calm) and Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October) all having been party to producing some quality genre offerings.
Cast are on form, with Baldwin revelling in oily egomania and Pullman classical in gullible's travels mode.You will wish it had a more thundering climax, even if it is actually a touch clever, and credibility is often stretched to breaking point, but Malice operates out of the upper echelons of 1990s thrillers and still remains entertaining today.
The college professor Andy Safian (Bill Pullman) and his former student and presently school teacher Tracy (Nicole Kidman) are happily married and are trying to have a baby.
When the last victim of the rapist that studies at Andy's college is sent to the Saint Agnes Hospital, the surgeon Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin) saves her life.
Last but not the least, it is great to see the young cast with Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher and Gwyneth Paltrow working with the veterans George C.
One aspect that nettled me was poor dialogues, weren't as good as they were needed in a thriller like this, and maybe a tad more enthusiasm from director Harold Becker would have gone a long way.Check out the synopsis section for a better view on the film.
The first thing to bear in mind is that there are (like in Hitchcock's "family plot",there the comparison ends)TWO distinct plots : -The threesome Baldwin/Pullman/Kidman and the ominous plans of some of them.-And then a serial killer who hangs about the campus ,in the college where Andy works.There's a very thin ,very thin connection between the two stories,and it's a question of ...well I will not write a spoiler.The screenplay is far-fetched,but has enough unexpected twists to sustain the interest till the very end (yes,even the very last sequence contains a "revelation") But the real meat lies in one sequence.A bewildered Andy pays a visit to an old alcoholic shrew ,played by Mrs Bancroft.Had she had a more important part,she 'd have stolen the show hands down.Every minute of this sequence is a lesson young actresses should pay attention to.Dig the way she delivers the line :"welcome to the club"."Malice" is fun to watch,after a hard day's labor.Not much food for thought,but entertaining throughout.
Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman and Bill Pullman provide the right chemistry in "Malice."Problem with this film is that there are two themes brought to the screen.
While they are tied together, a third theme is not adequately explained as the film ends.Nevertheless, we have a good story about a serial killer killing young college co-eds, while at the same time Baldwin and Kidman plot against her husband (Pullman) who it appears is the jerk of the year.When Pullman finds out that he has been duped, he wants to be cut in on the $20 million dollars that Kidman has won with the aid of Baldwin, her lover.Bebe Neuwirth plays a detective caught up in both situations.
Scott does well in a brief appearance as a witness for the surgeon Baldwin.A good thriller with wonderful plot twists..
Good roles for Baldwin and Kidman, Pullman is a panty-waist teacher and is OK but to me, he seems he comes across roles like that in MANY his movies...zzzzzzzzzzz!} Appearances by old pros Bancroft {good performance} and Scott {not noteworthy} seem to be 'there' to just add their names to the promotable aspect of the film at release time, in my opinion!
Very interesting twist in the plot, and a terrific scene about Alec Baldwin's "God complex".
Odd. Odd suspense thriller about smooth, suave doctor Baldwin moving in with Pullman and Kidman and the various strange things that start happening after he moves in.
Bill Pullman does a decent job of playing the film's wrongly viewed protagonist character, and Nicole Kidman, in an early role, makes the most of her role as Bill's girlfriend.Another reason to rent this one, of course, is the fact that it featured one of Nicole's first love scenes, and you do see a good bit of her, and you can't help being impressed with what you see.
"Malice" features three of the finest actors in business - Alec Baldwin, Bill Pullman and Nicole Kidman in a brilliantly crafted complex mystery with smart direction and great screen writing.
Bill Pullman also had some of his best moments in this film, especially in the last confrontation with Kidman's character Tracy in the restaurant.
His blend those common material with passion plus strong performances from his cast, Alec Baldwin, Bill Pullman, and especially the gorgeous Nicole Kidman in her early carrier.Despite the plain plot, but the solid cast and good directing make it as a memorable thriller.
At the beginning I thought this was going to be one of those thrillers that are worth watching just for kill time, but in terms of cinema don't bring anything really; however, as the movie advanced I really enjoyed all the twists that it had, even with side plots and situations that really make you doubt who's the bad guy, and maybe by the end makes you wonder "what did that have to do with the principal plot line?" And maybe the answer is none, just to confuse you more, and it's done in a very elegant way, not like those kind of thrillers that throw a bunch of situations just to confuses the viewer and end up ruining the whole picture, but not this one.
In conclusion, a very good thriller, obviously not a masterpiece, but in therms o plot and acting (specially by Kidman and Baldwin), it really holds up to thrilled that you won't forget..
Excellent performances by Nicole Kidman, Anne Bancroft (albeit a very small role for her), even Alec Baldwin, whom I generally do not care for.
Baldwin and Kidman, it turns out, are more than just passing friends, and Pullman is right on in a familiar role as a clueless good guy.
The stage curtains open ...Alec Baldwin shines in this very good, very strong thriller featuring other good performances by Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, and Bebe Neuwirth.
It boasts an awesome cast, which includes Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman, Anne Bancroft, George C.
Bill Pullman and Nicole Kidman play a married couple who somehow get involved with Alec Baldwin and that is where things start to take a turn for the worse.
The plot gets progressively hard to believe and Nicole Kidman is given more than her acting ability can handle, which becomes a burden on the movieDuring the earlier portion of the movie (the better portion) Malice demonstrates on two or even three occasions that Director Harold Becker is more than capable of making his product not just a thriller but a scary movie, the kind that makes the audience jump, but suspense seems to be of little interest in the end.
Bill Pullman, who should be billed first, gives a great performance with average roles played by Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman.
Nicole Kidman is good, but the most important seems to be the performances from Baldwin and Bancroft.
Nicole Kidman andBill Pullman are also great; however,it's Anne Bancroft who walks away with the movie.
There are several nice twists in this well acted suspense story of a professor's (Pullman) wife (Kidman) having an affair with an obnoxious, egotistical doctor.
(Baldwin)Pullman doesn't know of the affair at first and is happy with Kidman's pregnancy and then the twists come in to play.Altho most viewers may find this predictable it is still very well acted by all and a good appearance is made by Frazier's wife Neuworth.If you don't expect too much you will have a pleasant time watching this..
Bill Pullman and Nicole Kidman play a happily married couple, whose idyllic world gets shattered when an obnoxious surgeon (Alec Baldwin) comes into their lives, causing a break up.
Terrific acting performances by Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman and Alec Baldwin.
Terrific actors Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman and Bill Pullman (and Gwyneth Paltrow in a small part) manage to make the preliminaries gripping, but once the story threads start tying themselves into knots, there isn't much this cast can do except struggle.
I mean look who he had to work with: Nicole Kidman, Alec Baldwin, and Bill Pullman.
Harold Becker directed this suspense thriller that stars Bill Pullman & Nicole Kidman as Andy & Tracy, a seemingly happily married couple who would desperately like to have children.
Alec Baldwin plays a new doctor in town named Jed whom Andy used to know.
The skill sets of our three stars (Kidman, Pullman and Baldwin) are already evident, but the additions of the likes of Anne Bancroft and Bebe Neuwirth, even in their limited time allotments, add much spice, subtle and not so subtle, to the cinematic mixture.
"Malice" was probably one of my favorite films in the 1990's, and still is today.Alec Baldwin is fabulous playing the egocentric doctor, Jed Hill.
***SPOILERS*** What takes a lot away from the movie "Malice" punch is that it's actually two stories in one that have really nothing to do with each other.Were at first made to believe that the film is about a serial killer on the loose on this small New England collage campus murdering and raping young female students.
It's then when were introduced to the new doctor in town handsome arrogant and all full of himself Jed Hill, Alec Baldwin, that the film changes course into an illicit affair between Doc. Hill and the assistant dean of the collage Andy Safian's, Bill Pullman, sexy wife Tracy, Nicole Kidman.The serial killer angle is quickly eliminated with the killer collage handyman Earl Leemus, Tobin Bell,discovered and apprehended, after a life and death struggle, by Andy which in all respects should have ended the film.
Scott as Dr. Kessler, Jed Hill's professor at Harvard Medical School,and Babe Neuwirth as the local police detective Dana Harris, assigned to the collage serial murder case, the movie "Malice" just doesn't hold water and fall apart well before it's totally ridicules and unconvincing ending.
When I saw "Malice" many years later, I was quite surprised at what they had seen while I had watched something as silly as "Cool Runnings" (which I will say, was a pretty funny movie).
It portrays a three-way relationship between a professor (Bill Pullman), his wife (Nicole Kidman), and her gynecologist (Alec Baldwin).
The performances of Bill Pullman, Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwyn therefore were great and saved this movie from a complete disaster.
Tracy blames Andy for allowing it to happen as she sues Jed.The movie is overloaded with red herring, blind twist and subplots where a serial killer actually dead ends to nothing but a random guy.
The latter option may have been better for Scott and Bancroft than their roles in "Malice," a thriller that starts off as one movie and ends up being something completely different.
"Malice" is less surprising than it is dishonest.The place is a New England college where dean Andy Safian (Bill Pullman) and wife Tracy (Nicole Kidman) struggle to make ends meet although they appear, to this viewer anyway, to be living in something approaching splendor.
i don't know,this is way up there in the "so bad it'Good " charts Kidman ,Baldwin,and Pullman must cringe when they see it now.I think Woody Allen would have worked wonders with the outlandish plot, and Baldwin's part could have been played with gusto by Leslie Nelson.it was on again tonight i tried to watch it again but life's too short.
the few minutes i watched was for the lovely Nicole she was so hot around 93, has Baldwin ever made a good movie?
Nicole Kidman is great (as always) but I have liked her better in other roles and the whole dark icky plot just didn't play well with me.
This movie, while less know, should appeal to anyone interested at all in suspense and intrigue.The scene with Anne Bancroft and Bill Pullman still gives me an adrenaline rush when I think about it.
1993's malice is a very well-made thriller/mystery film starring Nicole Kidman Alec Baldwin and Bill Pullman.
The movie starts with concerns about a rapist on the loose attacking college girls, progresses through a tragedy around the inability of the Safiens (Bill Pullman and Nicole Kidman) to have children, and finally ends up being about an insurance scam with tragic results.Of the lead actors, Alec Baldwin (as Dr. Jed Hill) offered probably the best performance of the movie, but I didn't think it as one of the stronger performances I've seen him in.
MALICE tells the tale of a young small town couple struggling to make ends meet, and their life-changing run-in with an old school chum who is now a big time surgeon with a god complex.
Leads Bill Pullman, Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin are all fine, and the movie has several twists and turns to keep one alert and awake.
Nicole and Baldwin had been plotting this long before he moved in.I digress, though, but the movie is full of little gems like that which I think makes it good.Others have mentioned the scene where Andy goes to see the mother.
In the day, Tracy Safian (Nicole Kidman) works in the children's ward of the local hospital and her husband Andy (Bill Pullman) is an associate dean at the town's college.
Bill Pullman does a good job as the hapless husband who discovers how little he knows about his wife and Nicole Kidman does well in a role that requires her to show different and sometimes contrasting aspects of her complicated character."Malice" is totally unpredictable, full of outrageous developments and often puzzling and amusing at the same time.
Events that tie together a successful surgeon (Alec Baldwin), a college dean (Bill Pullman) and his gorgeous wife Tracy (Nicole Kidman).
Alec Baldwin, Bil Pullman, Nicole Kidman, Bebe Neuwirth, George C.
Alec Baldwin is his counterpart, the maverick surgeon who has a god complex and is secretly sleeping with his friend Pullman's wife.The movie opens as a rather straightforward drama about a married couple, Andy (Pullman) and Tracy (Kidman), who are happy together but childless.
I wish more movies that want to tell a "moral tale" had the craft to do it as well as this one does; and the scene in the hotel bar near the end is memorable.I've never been a huge Nicole Kidman fan, but she is REALLY good in this; and Alec Baldwin backs her up superbly.
I will cut to the chase...characters played by Nicole Kidman and Alec Baldwin devise a plot to create a malpractice suit.
The film does benefit from strong performances - Nicole Kidman is in her prime and Alec Baldwin's "God Complex" speech is terrific.
His acting is out of the top drawer in this movie, and that is not meant to detract from the performances of Pullman and Kidman, who are also very very good. |
tt0090274 | Volunteers | Lawrence (Tom Hanks), a partying, womanizing, college student with a gambling problem, runs up a large bill with a powerful gangster who has waited long enough for his money. The obnoxious, smart mouthed Lawrence was born into a lot of money, but his father refuses to bail him out of this one. When a thug comes to collect, Lawrence remembers that his friend Kent is flying to Bangkok to join the Peace Core.
Lawrence races there to trade places with Kent to avoid getting killed. Lawrence no more then gets on the plane and realizes that he is not fitting in. He is seated next to the overly talkative and annoying Tom Tuttle (John Candy) who is a die hard and can't wait to get started. Before the flight even lands, Larry wires his dad, to get out of going and then seats next to the beautiful Beth Wexler (Rita Wilson) and makes a move. Disgusted by his dishonest playboy maneuvers, she tries to avoid him. The problem is that Tom, Larry, and Beth are taken to a secluded village in a dangerous part of the jungle, to build a bridge. Soon after Larry starts teaching the locals how to play cards, he encounters the ruthless drug lord of the land. He gives Larry 6 weeks to finish the bridge so it can be used to traffic drugs faster. He has no choice but to agree to make it happen because his life depends on it.
Meanwhile, Tom has been kidnapped, and brainwashed into a communist army Hell bent on stopping the bridge from being built. Larry gets the locals and Beth to start working themselves sick.
As Tom returns he does not let on that he is there to stop the construction. Of course he is amazed that Larry, the self absorbed slacker has got a good start and is organizing the locals in an impressive way. Of course he gets his hands on some perks from home and wins favor with Beth again, after he opens his own bar. The bridge gets built and life is good, well, unit Beth gets kidnapped. An attempt on Larry's life fail and he and his local friend, At Toon set out on a zany adventure to rescue his new love, Beth. Escaping the drug lord's palace and henchmen is no easy task, but they get back to the village and they prepare for a counter attack.The plan is to blow up the bridge, but Tom has gone nuts and tries to blow them up. Then, all unholy Hell breaks loose and the village comes together. As the drug lord's regime come from one direction to cross the bridge, the commies come from another. The villagers'attempt to blow the bridge fails and Larry must play the hero and go out to the middle of it and fix the detonator. Of course he succeeds and he and Beth stay in the village to live happily ever after.
The end. | brainwashing | train | imdb | I don't see why this film has such a bad reputation, and is probably regarded as the worst in Tom Hanks' career.
Adding to the comic relief are Gedde Watanabe (of "Sixteen Candles") and the always-funny John Candy.
"Volunteers" successfully spoofs more classic films than any other - from Casablanca, through Bridge over the River Kwai, to Lawrence of Arabia, they're all there if you're watching carefully enough.It also offers a glimpse of a much younger, fresher and more natural Tom Hanks than the over-processed multi-millionaire product we see so much of today.Full of belly-laughs and quick fire one liners, and packed with so many more subtle references that you'll have to pay close attention and watch it many times to pick up even half of them, this hilarious film really does the job.
volunteers is a great example of a movie that refuses to take its leading actors seriously and is all the better for it.
by the way, i had forgotten how humorously effective was the "lawrence's bar" scene where the local musician plinks out an oddly romantic version of "as time goes by" on an asian sitar.
Volunteers is a very funny, well written, well acted film.
If you're not paying attention, you might miss it.Tom Hanks is perfect as Lawrence Bourne III, the Ivy League cad.
John Candy is at the top of his form as the brainwashed Tom Tuttle from Tacoma.
And Rita Wilson is totally convincing as the idealistic Peace Corps volunteer out to teach the masses the advantages of Self-Styling Adorn.If you don't think the ratings are off on this one, I suggest this test.
But that rating is pretty consistent across all demographics, so maybe I'm just a sucker for Hanks and Candy.
I *know* I'm a sucker for Rita Wilson.Still, I thought the movie offered several good laughs, solid performances from all the principal characters, and a feel-good ending.
I love Tom Hanks & John Candy together--good foils-in fact, the two of them and Rita Wilson are a good example of very different personalities being forced to live and work together--we have all been there!
Jocky Giles and I saw this on the plane out to America for a working summer, and we spent a lot of time in Montauk bars reliving the great moments from this film (and the book 'Money').
"I think I put in the hours" still gets the occasional outing, whilst Tom Tuttle from Tacoma Washington still enters my head whenever I see John Candy on TV, or even hear two T's together.
I really hope Tom Hanks doesn't dislike this film whilst it goes a bit chase-sequency at the end (as does Splash) the first half has so many gems in it to forgive the rest.Just as Hugh Grant is funniest and most watchable when he's a foul-mouthed cad, it would be good if Tom Hanks played a misanthropic but funny middle-aged man rather than just Tom, nice-but-dull.
It's been 15 years since I've seen this film, but still; Everytime I hear Tom Hanks name, it's the first thing to pop into my head.For those who have enjoyed Tom's more recent movies, it's a must see.
Probably one of the late John Candy's most hilarious roles and you can see glimpses of the great actor that Tom Hanks has become.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone looking an hour-and-a-half of belly laughs..
I liked this one, it's heart was in the right place, I esp enjoyed John Candy as 'Tom Tuttle' from Tacoma.
And the self-effacing humour-where they read the subtitles and such, goes a long ways towards making this one work.The plot is shallow and derivative, the performances alright but nothing special.
Volunteers say we don't.Tom Hanks isn't as convincing as he is in his later movies, but it's his teamwork with late John Candy that really gives a spark to this movie.
I must have watched it at least four times, and John Candy has really made me feel great every time..
Besides, Tom Hanks met his wife while filming this picture (she co-stars).
If you like Tom Hanks and John Candy, you are sure to enjoy this movie.
It is not nearly as bad as many present-day movies rated "R", and I would not hesitate to have my grandchildren (11 and 13) watch it.Bill.
Lawrence Bourne III (Tom Hanks) is a blueblood, snooty Harvard senior.
His only recourse is to ask his erstwhile roommate to switch identities with him, with Lawrence hopping a plane to Thailand as part of the Peace Corps and escaping the mob.
Everyone is singing inspirational songs and looking forward to bringing cheer and good works to the Thai people.
However, things look up when a good-looking fellow Corpswoman, Beth (Rita Wilson) is assigned to the same village, along with gung-ho engineer, Tom Tuttle of Tacoma (John Candy).
Hanks and Candy are very humorous while Plimpton is a scream in a brief role as the can't-be-bothered-with-details father.
John Candy is great, Rita Wilson is wonderful, and the native characters add authentic flavor to the film.
Honestly, anyone who doesn't appreciate the acting ability of Tom Hanks in this humor-filled picture is missing a lot.
This is the kind of film you could watch a few times to fully appreciate all the underlying gags and subtle jokes.
Ok as far as Tom Hanks comedies it's not in the top ten.
But this Tom Hanks/ John Candy situation comedy is far better than the crummy critics tell you..
Firstly I'd like to take a second and say this is maybe only the second time I have ever written a review and it was great to see the love others have for this film.
Biggest shock was how slim john was in this movie, still a big guy but he looked great!
Hanks is definitely the king of film but his early work in more comedic roles should be more appreciated.
The basic plot is Hanks is a rich prick in serious debt and joins the peace corps to get away from it all.
While in Thailand, Tom Hanks has to learn to become a better person.
One of Hanks' earlier films, it shows off his natural humor and appeal.
Takes place mostly in Thailand where Candy and Hanks are supposed to be building a bridge to improve the locals' infrastructure and living conditions.
Along the way, they've got to deal with a whacked out, over zealous CIA agent, a local Communist military leader, and the local drug lords and his sumo bodyguards.I highly recommend this movie - John Candy and Tom Hanks always shine as a comedic pair and this movie is no exception.
Hanks' cluelessly privileged character coupled with Candy's overzealous patriotic naivety is a perfect comedic match-up.Overall rating: 8 out of 10..
Come on Hanks, Candy, and the entire cast couldn't have been picked better than they were to represent America and the Communists from 1962.
Here Hanks takes a snobbish wealthy no good selfish student whose life was going no where through gambling debts and re- routes his talents for making friends and creates a whole new life.
It is somewhat entertaining and kind of funny to see Tom Hanks and John Candy acting silly.
Something similar would be Bachelor Party which I think was slightly funnier than this.If you want to watch a funny, entertaining light hearted movie from the 80's I would recommend The Great Outdoors before I would watch this movie..
Lawrence Bourne III (Tom Hanks) is a spoiled rich playboy.
US official John Reynolds (Tim Thomerson) assigns him, Tom Tuttle from Tacoma (John Candy) and Beth Wexler (Rita Wilson) to build a bridge.
Definitely not one of Tom Hank's best.
Watching this movie, you have to wonder how this guy ever became such a great actor.
Hanks and Candy turn in decent performances, but it's like the tone of the film is at odds with the story material and dialogue.
What this film is supposed to be I simply don't know, because it certainly doesn't help rectify anything in the story (though the bad guys get theirs, the Peace Corps.
but it's still not funny).I think the truly last funny film I saw prior to the big 1980's down turn in the comedy genre, from which the film industry has never recovered, was Splash, which, perhaps ironically enough, was another John Candy vehicle.
But Volunteers doesn't have the ounce of wit compared to Ron Howard's film.I did try seeing this thing again on HBO a year or two later, but it was just as vapid then as it was when I saw it on opening night.Avoid this.
Hit-and-miss comedy reuniting 'brothers' Hanks & Candy.
VOLUNTEERS (1985) **1/2 Tom Hanks, John Candy, Rita Wilson, Tim Thomerson, Gedde Watanabe, George Plimpton.
Frequently amusing comedy set in the 60s Peace Corps with motley crew of pampered playboy Hanks with the rank and file Candy and lovely Wilson stationed in Thailand trying to assemble a footbridge for the native populace.
Did you ever think to yourself, "Man, that Bridge on the River Kwai was okay, but it should have been a comedy!?" Me neither.
Tom Hanks, the star of this crap, has said that there are some movies he wishes he could remove from his resume.
Volunteers should be one of them, but might not be since he met his long-time wife Rita Wilson through it - love shows up at the kookiest times, huh?
John Candy is hands down the most irritating part with his lousy Tom Tuttle character, and it's quite embarrassing to see our precious Hanks act a fool and throw away lines in a lame "rich Harvard boy" stereotypical dialect.
If you really want to see Hanks and Candy paired up in a much better film, see Splash.
Snotty Ivy League student Tom Hanks hops on a Peace Corps plane to 1960s Southeast Asia to elude gambling debts.
He immediately meets love interest Rita Wilson and screw-ball John Candy as the trio gets immersed in an elaborate scheme to build a bridge ala "Bridge on the River Kwai" and fall in with brainwashed Communists and deviant drug pushers.
Tom Hanks is some kind of Errol Flynn clone here as his antics obviously won the heart of co-star Wilson as the duo are married still today.
Poorly done comedy with great lead actors to salvage it a bit.The script,screenplay,directing and editing were carelessly done.The producers seemed to know the movie will profit from the bankable lead stars.It could have ruined both Hanks and Candy later on in their careers if not for the other comedy they made around the same time called SPLASH which is one of the greatest comedies of all.Avoid VOLUNTEERS unless you are a really big fan of Hanks or Candy who have their good moments in a scene or two......
Tom Hanks stars in this sorry comedy as a gambler who is deeply in debt.
John Candy does little to heighten the film.
All the elements were there: Tom Hanks, John Candy, the high-minded ideals of the Peace Corps, Red China and brainwashing.
But these "Volunteers" seem to have chosen a no-win assignment.Even Watanabe, the exchange student in "Sixteen Candles", fails to deliver any laughs as a local who helps Hanks and Candy communicate with his people.
In fact, the funniest parts of the whole movie are Thomerson's as a gung-ho soldier of misfortune who acts tough but still yells "GOL-DARN!" as he falls off a high bridge into the water below.Candy tries but aside from an isolated moment or two as his patented good-hearted bumbler, there's nothing that makes this worth his time.And Hanks....
Maybe he thought he was in a serious movie?TIDBIT - It was on this movie where Hanks met his future wife Rita Wilson.
Strange height difference between Tom Hanks and Tim Thomerson.
A wittier & funnier Screenplay was the need of the day!'Volunteers' Synopsis: Lawrence is a rich kid with a bad accent and a large debt.
After his father refuses to help him out, Lawrence escapes his angry debtors by jumping on a Peace Corp flight to Southeast Asia, where is assigned to build a bridge for the local villagers with American-As-Apple-Pie WSU Grad Tom Tuttle and the beautiful and down-to earth Beth Wexler.
Performance-Wise: Tom Hanks is terrific, as always.
The Late/Great John Candy gets limited scope, but he doesn't fail to engage.
Tom Hanks and John Candy lead us on this shallow, silly tour of an unusually volatile Peace Corp mission to Thailand.
Candy and Hanks act well in this stinker, but have no material to work with.
Even John Candy's nerd character can not say this one.
A badly written, poorly acted film that wastes the talents of Hanks and Candy.
The film, however has some value for it was here that Hanks met and married his second wife, co-star, Rita Wilson..
VOLUNTEERS was the second and last time Tom Hanks was teamed with one of the few television based comedians who could match him as a film actor: John Candy.
They had been brothers in SPLASH, and VOLUNTEERS makes them fellow members of the Peace Corps.
Pity, but maybe just as well as they each would make their own line of comic masterpieces.VOLUNTEERS is also one of the first times that Hanks plays a somewhat unlikeable (if charming) type.
Chased by Arbus's bouncer/collector (Ji-Tu Cumbuku, as a no-nonsense collector who will go as far as possible to get Lawrence, whom he hates), Lawrence hies to New York's Idlewild Airport, and manages to get onto a plane as a member of the Peace Corps group going to Thailand.Lawrence meets Beth Wexler (Rita Wilson - now Mrs. Hanks in real life), a New York medical student, and Tom Tuttle from Tacoma, Washington (Candy) who is an intensive student of management psychiatry.
But soon Tuttle vanishes into the jungle (and into the hands of the Communists) while Lawrence finds he needs to rely on a smart local villager (Gedde Wantanabe) which is good because both men are threatened by the war lord to get that bridge built or else.
What follows is a delight, as Lawrence does build the bridge, and then realizes (much as Col. Nicholson does at the end of THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI) that it was a dreadful mistake, and the poor villagers are in danger from two evil groups as a result.Hanks never loses his charm and insouciance, even as he grows into a responsible local leader.
Besides the similarities with THE RIVER KWAI (including Candy whistling "Col. Bogie's March" and saying, "What have I done!") there is the concluding shot of Hanks (having brought prosperity to the village) being cheered by the people with cries of "Lawrence, Lawrence!".
Hanks gives his trademark "horrified" look and says, "So...this is Hell!".Everyone here has covered other parts of the film quite well, so I will just echo their sentiments by agreeing that this is an underrated film , and that the other performances are wonderful: John Candy as "Tom Tuttle, Tacoma, Washington" is hilarious as the over-zealous engineer with good intentions but no cultural awareness.
When John tells Beth he'll show her a good time soon, he says it will be "Just you, me and Mike".
*Shudder*!Anyone who misses the "old" Tom Hanks (and just misses Candy!) should see this film again, back when Hanks was obviously not thinking about Oscars and just having a hell of a good time being hilarious..
Well, this was that period of time when Tom Hanks was beginning to be a box office draw, but before he learned what real acting was.
And in terms of John Candy, at this point in his career, his acting consisted of being a buffoon.
I'm a fan from the earliest days of both Tom Hanks & John Candy, but this movie never delivers on any of the comic potential both actors had at the time.
Hanks and Candy played brothers in the funny Splash (1984), but neither did as well with their characters in this film.I suppose it was the weak script, because they are good comic actors, and Nicholas Meyer is a good director who had already proved that to me a few years prior with Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, if not in earlier flicks like Time After Time (1979) and The Seven Percent Solution (1976).The identity-switch premise is standard comic fare, and we know that in the end, the Hanks character will take on the identity he is faking and do what that character would do.
Likewise for getting the girl.Hanks & Candy could have carried off the predictable jokes a lot better than they did, and the Candy set-up for the brainwashing in the swipe of a screen was so weak I almost missed it.
It too, could have worked better.Rita Wilson was a poor choice as the love-interest.
I guess she's okay in minor supporting roles, and I know a few people who liked her as the love-interest in Mixed Nuts (1994), but in this role, her exasperation with life in the jungle jokes, in juxtaposition to Hanks' ease with it, are weakly played and not very funny.There are some spots where the script allows the actors to be funny, but they are few and far between, and often underplayed.
I know enough of the tastes of my friends and clients to say there are about half of them who would like this movie okay enough, and half who would wish they had watched something else, like Splash, if they wanted to see Hanks & Candy together.Thus, I would rate this movie as Average (5 out of 10), but just barely.
If you find it in a bargain-bin, as I did, you might want to pick it up if you are a Hanks and Candy fan and already have Splash, but I would rather spend my money on the latter if I didn't already have it. |
tt0368891 | National Treasure | As the movie opens, the young Benjamin Franklin Gates (Hunter Gomez) is snooping around an attic when his grandfather, John Adams Gates (Christopher Plummer) catches him. Ben wants to hear the story of the Gates family history, so his grandfather begins reciting:In 1832, Charles Carroll --- the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence --- traveled to the White House, desperate to speak with President Jackson before his death. But, since the President wasn't at the White House that night, Carroll had no choice but to share his closely-guarded secret with his stable boy, Ben's ancestor, Thomas Gates. Carroll told Gates about a fabulous treasure that had existed throughout history, collected by pharaohs and emperors for hundreds of years before being discovered by a group called the Knights Templar. The Knights believed the treasure to be too great for any one man, so they secretly smuggled it out of Europe and over to America. By the time the treasure had been taken to America, the Revolutionary War was raging. The Knights had formed a secondary group called the Freemasons, had recruited members like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere, and had formulated a number of secret clues and maps in a desperate attempt to keep the treasure from falling into the hands of the British. As the war ended and time went on, all of the clues were lost except one, the clue belonging to Charles Carroll: "The Secret Lies With Charlotte." Sadly, even Carroll himself didn't know the meaning of that clue.John's son and Ben's father, Patrick Gates (Jon Voight), comes in to take Ben home. He is obviously skeptical about the existence of the treasure. Ben asks if the Gates family are actually Knights. John does an impromptu ritual, and pronounces Ben to be a Knight Templar to the family Gates.Many years later, the adult Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) and his team of researches are traveling across the Arctic Circle. Fellow travelers include the financial backer Ian Howe (Sean Bean) and Ben's friend Riley Poole (Justin Bartha). The group stumbles across a figure buried in the ice. They carve it out using special tools, and find the remains of a ship: the "Charlotte." Ben leads them inside, but the ship's cargo hold only holds barrels with gunpowder... except for one barrel that is guarded by the captain's corpse; the preserved hand holding a musket. Ben opens the barrel and uncovers a carved ivory meerschaum pipe. He discovers a stamp-like imprint on the pipe's base. Coating it with a little of his blood, he rolls the imprint along a paper, and unearths a riddle: "The legend writ, the stain affected. The key in Silence undetected. Fifty-five in iron pen, Mr. Matlack can't offend."Ben deciphers the riddle step by step: The key and legend both refer to a map, and the stain affected and key in Silence undetected, is a dye or reagent needed to make the next clue visible to the naked eye. Iron refers to a firm resolution, and Timothy Matlack was the scribe for the Continental Congress; 55 members of which signed a resolution that Mr. Matlack penned... the Declaration of Independence. Ian Howe wants to find a way to take a closer look at the document, but Ben is unwilling to take the chance to get close to such a historical artifact. Ian thinks they should steal the Declaration to find the map and the treasure, but Ben flatly refuses. Ian finally turns on Ben and Riley, stealing the pipe and stranding them while setting the Charlotte to blow up. Ben & Riley escape harm and head back to civilization.Back in the United States, Ben and Riley are meeting with Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), an expert in historical documents in charge of the Declaration. Ben uses the alias "Paul Brown" because his family's history doesn't allow for much respect in the academic world. Ben notices that Abigail has a collection of George Washington's campaign buttons but is missing one. Riley and Ben attempt to convince Abigail that someone is attempting to steal the Declaration of Independence because of an invisible treasure map (something they have attempted to convince both the FBI and the DHS and failed). Abigail does not believe them either and sends them out.Ben decides there is only one option: He and Riley have to steal the Declaration to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. Ben figures out the best way through the security systems would be during an event hosted by the National Archives later that week. Riley manages to patch into the security systems so he can guide Ben through the theft. In the meantime, Ben sends Dr. Chase the missing button for her collection as a gift.The night of the gala event, Ben manages to infiltrate the gallery disguised in a work uniform with Riley speaking to him over a tiny two-way radio. He quickly switches to a tuxedo and speaks with Dr. Chase, offering her a glass of champagne in order to get her thumbprint, which opens a security door for him. As Ben gets inside, Ian and his group also prepare to infiltrate and take the document.Ben gets into the Preservation Room with Dr. Chase's password ("Valley Forge") and stands before the Declaration. Just then, Ian's group cuts the security feed, disrupting Riley's video. With no time to lose, Ben takes the entire Declaration case and leaves-only to come face to face with Ian. Ian's henchman shoots at Ben, but it is blocked by the Declaration's bulletproof case. As Ben gets into the elevator, he removes the Declaration from the case and carries it with him. Abigail checks the invitation list and finds that the name Ben used, Paul Brown, isn't on it. Understanding that Abigail is on to him, Ben ducks into a gift shop to escape her notice. He is stopped by a gift shop attendant who thinks he is attempting to steal one of their replica souvenirs. Without enough cash to actually buy one, Ben has no choice but to use his VISA card.As Ben makes it outside, he is confronted by Abigail --- just as the security alarms go off. Ben tosses the souvenir at her and runs. Abigail is then abducted by Ian, because his team thinks she has the Declaration. Ben and Riley chase after her through downtown Washington, saving Abigail as Ian speeds off.In Riley's van, Abigail is hysterical until Ben shows her that he has the actual Declaration. Ben also confesses his real name and Abigail recognizes it as "that family with the conspiracy theory about the Founding Fathers."Back at the National Archives, FBI Agents led by Peter Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) are investigating the theft. Based on the bullets fired, they believe that there were two sets of agents acting in this theft. Sadusky looks up the security files and sees Ben paying with his VISA in the gift shop.Ben knows they need the Silence Dogood Letters (a pseudonym used in a set of letters written by Benjamin Franklin) for decoding the map (that is the "Key in Silence undetected" mentioned by the riddle.) Since they no longer have the duplicates, they will have to speak with the man who has the originals --- Ben's father.Patrick is not in any mood to discuss the treasure. He believes that the treasure was merely something invented by Freemasons to keep the British forces occupied during the Revolutionary War.Ben, Abigail, and Riley finally look at the Declaration of Independence. Abigail carefully swabs some lemon juice along one corner of the back, looking accusingly at Ben when nothing happens. But Patrick reminds them that ferrous sulfate inks only become visible when heat is applied. Ben and Abigail use a blow dryer, and find an Ottendorf cipher referring to lines from Silence Dogood's letters. Patrick explains that he no longer has the letters: they were donated to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. When Patrick finds out that Ben has stolen the Declaration, he is speechless. He knows the FBI will be coming to see him soon, so he and Ben come up with an idea to make it look like he wasn't aiding and helping a wanted fugitive.The FBI storms Patrick's house, finding Patrick tied up and his car missing. Ben and the others are driving to Philadelphia, and Ben decides they should buy some new clothes with the money he took from his father's house.When they arrive at Philadelphia, Riley (fearful of being spotted) pays a schoolchild to go in and collect the letters for the cipher. Spotting Ian, Riley bolts before he can get the last four letters. Riley catches up to Ben and Abigail (now in new clothes) and shares the new riddle: "The vision to see the treasured past, comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and..." Riley figures out that the last line is "Stow," referring to Pass & Stow; the casters of the Liberty Bell. Ben thinks the "timely shadow" refers to a specific time they need to be at the Liberty Bell. Looking at a picture of the Bell on the back of a $100 bill, Ben figures that the time is 2:22 pm. Since it is now just 3pm, Ben thinks they have missed it. Riley, surprised that he knows something about history that Ben doesn't know, points out that Daylight Savings Time didn't exist in America until World War One; thus, 3pm today would be 2pm in 1776.In the meantime, Ian, who'd seen the schoolboy and gotten suspicious, has bribed him to tell Ian what he'd been doing. The schoolboy gives Ian the last four letters, S-T-O-W. Ian googles it, finding the reference to the Liberty Bell.Ben watches the "timely shadow" fall across the courtyard and finds a brick inscribed with the Freemason's symbol. He carves it out to find an Ocular Device designed by Benjamin Franklin. He puts it on and looks at the map to see the words "Heere at the Wall." Just then, they spot Ian and his group approaching. They split up to try and get away, but Ian ends up getting the Declaration. Ben decides they should meet up again at the car, but he is captured by Federal agents upon his return.Ben explains the story to Sadusky, who is skeptical. Sadusky asks Ben for his help in recovering the Declaration for them. As Sadusky examines the Ocular Device, Ben realizes that there may be more to the map. Ben gets a call on a cell phone from Ian, who wants the Ocular Device and offers to meet with Ben. The FBI will use this opportunity to arrest Ian and get back the Declaration.In New York, Ben is on the deck of a battleship with FBI agents undercover all around him. A helicopter flies overhead while one of Ian's henchmen talks to Ben (they used the copter to talk without the FBI observing). Ben walks over to the edge of of the ship's deck and jumps into the Hudson River. As he sinks, a figure in a scuba suit gives Ben an oxygen valve and escorts him to safety.Ian meets with Ben as he comes out of the water with the Declaration and the Charlotte pipe and explains that the meet-up was a ruse to get Ben out of FBI custody. Ian has made a deal with Riley and Abigail: if he gets Ben out of FBI custody, they will lead Ian directly to the treasure. Ben, with Riley and Abigail observing at an Internet Cafe, takes Ian to a corner of Broadway and Wall Street, telling hims this is where the map leads: "Heere at the Wall;" Heere being the original Dutch name for Broadway.Ian knows that Ben isn't telling him everything, and he has a contingency plan: He has kidnapped Ben's father and is holding him as a hostage. Ben relents, telling Ian they need to go to Trinity Church (the logo of which was marked by the map's last clue.)At the Church, Ben and Ian view the Declaration through all three lenses of the Ocular Device, and see the words "Beneath Parkington Lane." They figure out that it refers to an ancient street once located beneath the church. While exploring the church, they find the name "Parkington Lane" engraved on a tombstone of a master Mason. Ian's cronies remove the coffin (destroying the remains in the process) and find a long tunnel. When they reach the bottom, Ben kisses Abigail in an attempt to apologize to her.They find a huge set of stairs and a dumbwaiter. Upon reaching the bottom, they find an empty room. Riley wonders what to do next and asks Ben to help them. Ben, despondent, snaps and says they are at a dead end. Ian threatens to shoot Ben unless he reveals the next clue. Patrick saves his son by pointing out a lantern hanging in the temple- referring to the lantern in Old North Church in Boston hung during the night of Paul Revere's ride. Ian decides to leave them there and go to Boston; he will only come back if he needs any more help.As Ian leaves, Abigail quickly points out that there were TWO lanterns in Old North Church, not one, because the British came by sea. Patrick explains that he lied and gave Ian a fake clue to get away. Ben, examining the room, finds an eye symbol on a wall with a slight raised area and deduces that there is indeed another way out of there. They press the raised area, and another door opens into another larger, but still empty, room.Ben is devastated. He thinks that the treasure is gone and may have even been moved long before the Gates family learned of it. Ben thinks that he has wasted everything. Patrick, on the other hand, is inspired- the very fact that such a room exists proves that the treasure is indeed real.The Gates' and Abigail vow to keep looking, but Riley points out that they are still trapped. Ben explains that the setup doesn't make sense; builders would've cut a secondary entry shaft to protect against cave-ins during the construction. Ben sees several Freemason symbols engraved on another wall. One of them is a hollow carving resembling the Meerschaum pipe found aboard the Charlotte... 'The Secret lies with Charlotte.' Ben takes the pipe's base apart from its bowl and inserts the bowl into the hollow; using the shaft as a handle. He then rotates the hollow; which opens another door.The travelers enter a room filled with golden goblets, suits of armor, and other ancient relics. Ben lights a torch in the middle and they see that the room is truly enormous, filled with tens of thousands of artifacts. Patrick rejoices: the treasure has been found! Riley is equally happy; he sees the stairs to get out of there.Ben meets up with Agent Sadusky and hands over the Declaration of Independence. Ben offers Sadusky a "bribe--" ten billion dollars (his approximation of the treasure's worth). Sadusky recites a quote from the Freemasons about the treasure being too great for any one man; revealing that he is actually one of the Freemasons as well (Ben looks down and sees a Freemason's ring on Sadusky's finger). Sadusky asks Ben what will be done with the treasure. Ben decides that the treasure will be given to the entire world; donated to its most prestigious museums and historical societies (Smithsonian, Louvre, Cairo Museum). Ben gives credit to the entire Gates family and Riley Poole for the find, and insists that Abigail had nothing to do with the theft and should have no bad marks on her record. As for Ben himself, he's desperate to avoid going to prison, but Sadusky repeats, "Somebody's got to go to prison."In Boston, Ian is breaking into Old North Church when the FBI comes in to arrest him-for kidnapping, attempted murder, and trespassing on government property.Three months later, Ben and Abigail are dating, and Riley is acting as the group's agent. They've been invited to the grand opening of the treasure exhibits that have been donated to the Cairo Museum. Riley is still upset about their "finder's fee:" Ben was offered 10% of the treasure's worth, but believed that amount was too high and took only 1%, split evenly with Riley. Riley has used part of his money to buy a swanky new Ferrari while Ben has bought a house that once belonged to Charles Carroll. | cult, action, historical, boring, flashback | train | imdb | together with Riley, they provided the tickles that brought the audience through the entire film.with no explicit language and scenes, National Treasure is well-suited for family entertainment!
This was a fun film, sort of like an Indian Jones movie, but the treasure hunter must figure out clues.
The plot is just like it except instead of involving religious history, the clues center around American history, and namely the founding fathers.So Nick Cage, plays Ben Gates, the treasure hunter whose family has been looking for the treasure of the knights templer for years.
So, the movie starts with Cage finally solving that clue, and the film goes from there.
And of course, Gates hooks up with a beautiful woman along the way to help him solve the clues, which sounds just like Da Vinci.It is unbelievable that someone could just come up with the answer to these difficult clues after thinking about them for 2 minutes, but we don't have time to let the characters ponder them for a few months.
Ben Gates is one person who believes it to be true and pursues the clues where his father before him has given up.This story is very similar to a Dan Brown novel in its real time development and an interesting mix of historical information into an entertaining plot.
Also the film is pretty much geared for an American audience, but should be a good evening of light entertainment for most movie watchers.
On the other hand, heaven help us, should anyone feel inspired to emulate the hero of the film and attempts to do something similar, which in a way, doesn't say much about the security in guarding the real "natural treasures" of the country.If we can believe Ben Gates can pull the caper, then there's no problem in enjoying this film, which offers an action packed couple of hours that could have been trimmed a little bit to make it even better.Not being a Nicolas Cage fan, one was prepared for the worst, but this is one of the films in which Mr. Cage is at his mellowest intensity and it's easy to tolerate his antics.
Sean Bean, Christopher Plummer and Jon Voight, are seen in supporting roles.This is a film that will play well with young minds and with adults that will allow for the silliness of the situation at hand..
I am NOT, repeat, NOT, a Nicolas Cage fan, mainly because he relies too much on action to carry his films (instead of his acting), but this is a pretty decent flick.
You'd think it's just for kiddies, but any adult capable of just going to the cinema to enjoy themselves should be able to sit back, gobble the popcorn, suck the straw, nibble on the ice- cream and just have a couple of hours of unproblematic maniawith good and bad guys, daring thefts, lost treasures, romance, chases, near escapes, disasters and rescues and everything you'd expect in this kind of Bruckheimer production.
A descendant (Nicolas Cage) of a family of fortune hunters looks for a treasure chest that was hidden by the Founding Fathers of the new United States after the Revolutionary War. After being double-crossed by European Sean Bean and his men while obtaining another clue in the Arctic, Cage and sidekick Justin Bertha (who nearly steals the show with his quick-witted one-liners) travel to D.C. to obtain the Declaration of Independence.
Jon Voight (Cage's skeptical father) also gets thrown in the mix as the movie progresses and he does some of the best work of his career in an endearing and quietly comical role.
This is a great and entertaining adventure movie, despite the NY Times critic and others.
Completely unbelievable but fun romp around the world looking for treasure...it won't win any awards but its a good two hours at the movies.The plot to trying to find a lost treasure a clue to which is on the back of the Declaration of Independence is so beyond belief that its best to simply begin by throwing up your hands and accepting it for what it is.
National Treasure is an underrated, implausible, yet very entertaining action/adventure flick that really relies on the plot and intrigue rather than explosion filled action sequences.Nicolas Cage stars as Ben Gates, a historian enthusiast in search for a mythical treasure dating back to the Crusades which has alleged switch locations overtime leaving several extensive clues to follow.
The movie starts you off in the middle of Gate's quest in the Artic Circle, where he is double-crossed by one of his companions, Ian Howe (predictably played by Sean Bean who usually plays these shady, back-stabbing characters in "Goldeneye", "Troy", "Ronin" and "Don't Say a Word"), which ensues a race across America looking for the treasure and preserving history.This movie has been deemed another "Indiana Jones" without the whip, leather hat and stereotypical Nazis.
As mentioned before it's more of a "Goonie" race between Gates and Bean, in which Gates is really trying to protect the certain historical landmarks, but both are actually gunning for the treasure with Bean using more "aggressive" tactics.Cage, who usually get a little excited when he muddles through his cue cards, actually toned it downed a little bit making the film much more enjoyable.
The ending is also chewable that should alleviate any possible sequels and wraps everything up nicely.Yes, this movie is practically inaccurate historically and contains more outrageous clues then "Tomb Raider" and "The Mummy" series combined, but take that with a grain of salt and just sit back an enjoy the film for it's creativity and overall satisfaction..
Nicolas Cage, as usual, does a pretty good job with the lead role, Diane Kruger looks great and Justin Bartha was very likable...
The picture focuses on Benjamin Franklin Gates(Nicolas Cage),he is descendant from a long line familiar(Christopher Plummer,Jon Voight) whose mission is to guard a hidden national treasure after of Independence War by Founders Fathers.The treasure is somewhere in the country and are left a clues its whereabout which led to the Declaration of Independence.Ben along with his friend(Justin Bertha)and helped by an archives clerk(Diane Kruger)will confront numerous adventures,dangers,risks and taking on an astute enemy(Sean Bean).
But besides an Inspector(Harvey Keitel)is also to the hunting.The film packs lots of action,suspense,tension,pursuits and is pretty entertained.It's a crossover of Indiana Jones adventures and intrigue and mystery Da Vinci Code.In the movie there are rip roaring,derring-do, daring escapes and especial effects galore, is a cinematic roller coaster extremely funny with numerous scenes have you on the edge of your seat.It's a run a mill action picture because from the beginning to the ending, the fast movement and the unstopped action are continuous.Exciting and moving final confrontation is truly stirring.Enjoyable and colorful cinematography by Caleb Deschanel(Passion Christ by Gibson).Lively and spectacular music by Trevor Ravin.Dazzling action set pieces are stunningly mounted by director Jon Turteltaub.Nowadays similar equipment(Cage and Turteltaub) are shooting the second part.
From the clichéd story, to the cheap acting, to even the simplistic "clues" National Treasure proved that if you have a big named actor in the lead, some pre-high school history, and a powerhouse producer (and the big Pirates of the Caribbean passion) that you could literally sell a screen door on a submarine.
Bad performances by the whole cast, boring so called "action-sequences", and an unbelievably stupid plot-line is by what this movie can be defined.What is it that in most American films the history of the world had only the purpose to end up in the USA?
National Treasure is a fun movie to watch as long as you don't take it too seriously.
What I liked about this movie was a little strange feeling that something secret might have been made in American history and this story shows one superlative version of its possibility - with the great treasure.
Nick Cage was as good as expected, maybe not his best film, but a great performance none the less.
I personally liked it A lot better than the Indiana Jones movies, which I've never really understood why those particular films are so idolized.
As Jerry Bruckheimer films go, this is not going to have the wide mass appeal of 'Pirates of the Caribbean', but it's not offensive like 'Armageddon' or 'Pearl Harbor', and quite entertaining.Nicholas Cage comes off as quite sympathetic as Benjamin Franklin Gates, the seventh in a line of archivists, treasure hunters and history buffs stretching back to a confidant of President Andrew Jackson.
As a child, Ben was imbued by his grandfather (Christopher Plummer) with not only a love of American history, but a love of stories of knight quests, secreted treasures, maps, and clues hidden deep within the grooves of American History trivia.Ben's father (Jon Voight) does not approve of his father encouraging such nonsense in his son, and his dialogue strangely reads like a non-Bruckheimer fan in the audience voicing his skepticism of the absurd plot to follow, but Ben nonetheless comes to believe his grandpa's story about how the treasure discovered by the Knights Templar within the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt during the Crusades was hidden in America to keep it out of the hands of Britain.30 years later, Ben and his partner Ian Howe ('The Lord of the Rings's Sean Bean) and comedic foil Riley (Justin Bartha) come to conclude that there may be an invisible map written on the back of the Declaration of Independence leading to the treasure, and when Ben refuses to go along with Ian's plan to steal it, and the authorities refuse to listen to him, Ben is forced to foil Ian's crime, and ends up with the stolen document himself, with Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger from 'Troy'), the beautiful archivist in charge of the National Archives (because naturally, archivists working at the National Archives tend to be such lookers) dragged into the chase against her will.
With FBI agent Harvey Keitel on their trail, Ben and his partner Riley (Justin Bartha), along with Abigail, race to find the treasure before Ian.What follows is a series of chase scenes as the treasure hunters find and search for clues leading them from one historic place to another across three different states, clues that are steeped in the minutiae of American history lore (I have no idea of any of these points is based in historical fact, but in a movie like this, it hardly matters), with Jon Voight again providing the sole voice of reason as he questions whether these clues are just an endless series of arrows pointing to other clues rather than to any real destination.The action isn't too implausible, the characters are likable, and the movie is just plain fun.
It's take on history may be fluff, but at least it endeavors an interest in it as a prerequisite for the plot, and a medium through which the audience may think to themselves, 'Ooh, I didn't know that about Benjamin Franklin.' If you're an expert in history bothered by the mistakes or flaws about Liberty Bell, or the Masons, or the hidden secrets on our currency, or who just plain doesn't buy the technological sophistication required for some of the artifacts uncovered by the characters, then perhaps you're watching it for the wrong reasons.
This is a popcorn film, and if you know anything about Jerry Bruckheimer, you should know going in what you're getting.Bruckheimer was in attendance last night, and gave the brief speech before the movie began (which not usually the case outside of premieres-this was just a press screening), and right before leaving when the closing credits started, I complimented him, saying it was very entertaining.If you like to sit back and have fun, I recommend it..
This movie had a great story behind it but it had terrible acting from Nicholas Cage.
Considering that the US is supposed to be an ally of Britain and the UK it never ceases to amaze me how often American movies resort to anti British Propaganda as though Britain was an enemy.This movie is no exception, its whole basis is on the shaky foundation of the pretext of keeping some enormous hoard of treasure out of the hands of Britain.The only word of truth throughout the whole Brit Bashing Fest was that the signatories of the declaration of independence were in fact "Traitors" and had committed "Treason" against their sovereign nation.If you can get past the blatant Anti British Propaganda you are left with an average fantasy adventure movie that has been done so many times before that this particular offering pales in comparison to earlier and much better films of the genre.Many people will say "Its only a movie" I say "so were all the movies made by 'Leni Riefenstahl' and see what they lead to!" I say if America wants to declare war on the UK then they should have the decency and the courage to just do it with all the international condemnation that will entail instead of cowardly attacking the reputation of Britain with yellow bellied propaganda like "National Treasure"..
Through the whole story you are not able to hear a sentence with more then 5 words, but therefore with completely no content.My most favorite phrases: "Declaration of Independence, one of the most important document in the world" (for whom, American history is approximately 500 years old, so what) "Wait, let me think" So if you feel too embarrassed in your life, or just wanna break up the contact to acquaintance, just invite him to a nice a movie evening, and you will never hear from him/her again The only reason, why I didn't voted 1: National Treasures 2, which is even worse..
And Cage himself, well, it looks like he's forgotten how to make a decent film and make a character believable.
Jon Voight as Cage's Dad, Harvey Keitel as the G-Man and Christopher Plummer as the elder Gates were all very enjoyable to watch here.The rest of the film was up to the standards set for it with the ambitious and excellent script.
An overall good cast and story, the movie has held a large audience unlike most of the films that have gone to the box office in 2004..
This movie desperately wanted to be an Indiana Jones flick with elements of the "DaVinci Code" mixed in.I also don't understand how Nicolas Cage who is an excellent actor settle to make craporamas like this.
Riley and Ben take jabs back-and-forth throughout the movie, and almost none of them work comically.The journey here is one that can be enjoyed for the visual sight-gags(for lack of a better term), and the historical contexts used throughout the film.I for one felt like I was rooting them-on as they went from one clue to the next, and the film, while not necessarily deep or well-written, is bolstered by a cast that makes the most of an average script.
If you can imagine a "Raiders of the Lost Ark"-type story taking place in modern America, you'd have a fairly good idea of what "National Treasure" is like.
Nicolas Cage plays the Indiana Jones-type treasure hunter, Benjamin Franklin Gates, accompanied by his partner (Justin Bartha) and romantic interest (Diane Kruger), the latter a historical document scholar who gets dragged into the wild proceedings.THE PLOT: Gates feels he has no choice but to audaciously steal the Declaration of Independence to save it from his nemesis (Sean Bean).
No.Make no mistake, "National Treasure" is an entertaining quasi-believable adventure film.
Nicolas Cage shines in his role and Diane Kruger did great as the love interest for Nicolas, but I think Sean Bean steals the show for portraying the villain very perfectly.Overall, Nation Treasure isn't a masterpiece and would've had a much better story, but with a great cast, some nice visuals and great music, this is an underrated film in my opinion..
I thought National Treasure was a great movie.
If you like a good old fashioned yarn with a basic story line of finding treasure with a couple of sub plots you'll like the film.
For a movie that's pretty much just a cheap combination of Indiana Jones and The Da Vinci Code, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed National Treasure.
Check your brains at the door, grab a tub of popcorn and have a ball.Nicolas Cage probably wanted to take a rest from the Oscars and plays a pedestrian role as obsessed explorer Ben Gates, who has spent much of his life in search of a treasure long been searched by his family legacy, as we were told by his grandfather (Christopher Plummer, in a cameo) at flashback during the beginning of the movie.
"National Treasure" is a movie that entertains but that's basically all there really can be said about the movie.The story is fun and adventurous and the movie features some good actors that are being played by some surprising big names.
Like I said before, the movie is still good and fun enough to watch but it could had really been so much better with a tiny bit more of originality of its own.The characters are also quite formulaic, though it fits the genre well I guess; a friend turns villain, a love interest and a comical sidekick.
Just turn off your brain, enjoy it as best you can, and when it's over you can look back and say, "well that was all rather silly wasn't it?"Anyhow our rather silly yet reasonably engrossing plot follows treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates, as played by Nicolas Cage.
The movie starts to drag and you get the sense a good half hour or so could have been cut out and nobody would have missed it.In the two lead roles Cage and Kruger do pretty well with the material they have to work with.
National Treasure is a great action film.
Nicolas Cage plays Ben Gates, a man whose family has had a history of treasure hunting.
The film follows Cage's Ben Gates in a lifetime quest for the Templar treasure. |
tt0075936 | Desperate Living | In an affluent Baltimore suburb, all hell is about to break loose in the home of the Gravels. Bosley Gravel (George Stover) has a discussion on the front porch with Dr. Evans (Al Strapelli). Gravel has had his wife Peggy (Mink Stole) released from a mental institution; Evans feels she should have stayed for a while longer, but Gravel says that Peggy's breakdown is "part of the past now". However, inside the house, Peggy is in hysterics. Her young son and his friends are playing baseball in the front yard, and one of them accidentally hits a baseball through Peggy's window. She immediately starts shrieking and views the accident as an assassination attempt. She begins screaming at the children, then is driven even further insane when the phone rings and it's a wrong number. She viciously berates the caller and goes downstairs. Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill) is a very large black woman who works as a maid for the Gravels; she is doing housework when Peggy appears in her frantic state. Grizelda assures her that everything is alright and she's just upset, but Peggy tells her that someone just tried to kill her.Peggy goes off looking for her two youngest children and finds them naked, playing an innocent game of doctor; horrified, she screams at them and calls them "sodomites", ranting that her daughter Beth (who appears to be about 8 years old) could be pregnant. Meanwhile, Bosley finds Grizelda drinking from his liquor cabinet, and they argue about it. Grizelda is defiant, but Bosley finds his savings account book, his lottery ticket, and two rolls of toilet paper in Grizelda's purse. Before he can call the police, Peggy appears and confronts Bosley in a deranged way, ranting about her paranoid delusions before disappearing upstairs. Bosley goes upstairs to administer an injection for Peggy, and leaves Grizelda alone in the kitchen.Upstairs, Peggy refuses the injection and reacts with hostility to Bosley, who says "Peggy, I might have to commit you again!" In response, Peggy smashes glass over his head and screams for Grizelda, who rushes upstairs. Grizelda, who appears to weigh well over 300 pounds, sits on Bosley and kills him. Horrified, the two of them run from the house and leave in Peggy's car.In the car they have an argument; Grizelda announces that they are going to sleep in the woods overnight to hide out from the police, and Peggy takes a haughty attitude with her. As a result, Grizelda forces the car to a halt and drags Peggy from the driver's seat outside the car. "I ain't your maid anymore, bitch, I'm your sister in crime!" she tells her, and Peggy seems to suddenly fear for her life. Before the altercation can go any further, a very strange looking policeman (Turkey Joe) pulls up on a motorcycle. The cop immediately knows who Peggy and Grizelda are, saying that the authorities have already learned of the murder they committed and are looking for them this very minute. Instead of arresting them, the policeman assaults them, removing his uniform to reveal women's lingerie underneath. He forces the women to remove their panties, which he then puts on, and kisses them lewdly (something that is made even more disgusting by the fact that the policeman's gums are constantly bleeding). The cop makes a brief reference to a place called Mortville; Peggy and Grizelda have never heard of it, but he tells them that it is a place where killers can live scot free. In exchange for their cooperation, he lets them escape to Mortville, and they run off through the woods for their destination.When they find Mortville, they realize it is a ramshackle village built entirely out of garbage. The place is populated by bizarre, degenerate characters. Grizelda accepts it for what it is, but Peggy remains haughty. The two of them find a house that offers a "room for rent", and they are greeted by an extremely abrasive woman named Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe). Peggy tries to ingratiate herself to Mole, who immediately sees through her, but Grizelda makes a decent impression and Mole offers to rent them a room, stealing Grizelda's purse as payment. Inside she finds six dollars cash, which Mole considers a large amount of money, and the lottery ticket Grizelda stole from Bosley. Mole takes this as well, announcing "I'll take this, and I'LL win it." Then she invites Grizelda and Peggy to dinner, telling Grizelda "You look like you got a big appetite!"Inside Mole's house, they meet Mole's girlfriend, Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay). Muffy is a sexpot type, and Mole derides her for being "lazy" by sleeping late; she also jealously accuses her of having sexual dreams about men. When Muffy makes a flippant comment in response, Mole violently impales her hand with a large fork. When Grizelda and Peggy see that the "dinner" Mole has prepared is a dead dog, they try and back out of eating, but the borderline violent Mole tries to force them to eat it.Before they can, strange looking goons who wear costumes that resemble S&M bondage gear break into the house and kidnap Peggy and Grizelda, ushering them into the back of a truck and driving off with them. Before they leave, Mole tries to console them "Don't worry, it's standard procedure in Mortville!" In the back of the truck, Grizelda tries to kiss Peggy romantically; the icy Peggy reacts with shock and disgust. They are taken to a castle on the border of Mortville, where they are brought before Mortville's facist dictator, Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). Carlotta is carried around by her goons, as she seems too large to walk on her own. She intimidates the women, telling them that she knows they are on the lam for murder and that she expects them to live in a constant state of "mortification" in Mortville. The goons force them to eat live roaches and Carlotta makes them watch the execution of a prisoner, whose only crime seems to be defying the Queen. She sends them off to see the "ugly experts", where they will get a humiliating makeover. When they've gone, Carlotta drops her theatrical attitude and has one of her goons sexually stimulate her by stripping and dancing nude. Carlotta then has her goons take her to see her daughter, Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce). It seems Coo-Coo has been acting defiant, sneaking out of the castle to rendezvous with her lover Herbert, one of Mortville's garbage men. Carlotta scolds Coo-Coo and tells her that she disapproves of her relationship with Herbert. As punishment, Carlotta grounds Coo-Coo to her room for several years. Unbeknownst to Coo-Coo, Carlotta orders her goons to assassinate Herbert on sight.Back at Mole's, Peggy and Grizelda return wearing outrageous clothing and makeup. Mole and Muffy laugh at them, and Peggy tries to insult Mole, causing her to threaten Peggy physically. Muffy tells a story about how she ended up in Mortville, and we see a flashback to the night Muffy's life went wrong. Muffy and her former husband are seen arriving home after a party to find that their teenage babysitter is having a wild party in their home. Drugs and alcohol are rampant, and Muffy's husband (Roland Hertz) chases all of the kids out of the house. Muffy finds the babysitter upstairs in their bed naked with a boy; when she demands to know where her baby Freddy is, the babysitter (Pirie Woods) tells her that she thinks she left him in the kitchen. Muffy finds the baby boy inside the closed refrigerator and goes berserk, whacking the babysitter on the head with a frying pan and shoving her face in a large bowl of dog food, suffocating her. When Muffy's husband sees what happened, she runs away and takes off in their car; the husband tries to stop her, but Muffy rolls up the window on his neck, choking him to death and dragging his body along as she drives off. Mole tells her own story immediately after, revealing that she was a female wrestler who went berserk at a match and murdered her male opponent.After the stories, Mole reveals that she is betting on the lottery ticket she took from Peggy and Grizelda to bring them some much-needed cash to get them out of their hopeless situation. Peggy is indignant, shrieking that the lottery ticket belongs to her; she further enrages Mole by saying "We need money, we're not trash like you!" Grizelda defuses the situation by taking Peggy back to their 'room', which is a small shed behind the house with a bed in it. Both couples then have sex, although Peggy does so begrudgingly, performing oral sex on Grizelda.The next day, Carlotta's goons walk through the streets of Mortville delivering a "royal proclaimation" from Carlotta declaring the day "Backwards Day". All residents of Mortville are to walk backwards and wear their clothes backwards or face immediate execution. Muffy and Mole are extremely agitated by this, coupled with the fact that they are hungry from a lack of food. A cat brings a dead rat in and Mole reacts joyfully, cooking the rat and planning on eating it. They later leave the house and head off on an errand; Peggy and Grizelda appear and beg to tag along. Mole's errand is to collect a current newspaper (which is considered contraband) so she can check the lottery numbers. They stop at Mortville's nudist colony to find out where they can score a newspaper, and they are immediately joined by Princess Coo-Coo; when they all fall their knees as instructed by the Queen, Coo-Coo urges them not to. "I'm not like my mother," she claims. Coo-Coo has come to visit Herbert, who is also a nudist, but the goons appear and shoot Herbert dead. Panic ensues, and Peggy, Grizelda, Mole, and Muffy all hurriedly leave the nudist colony and head for a lesbian bar. Inside the bar, a stripper named Flipper (Cookie Mueller) is dancing and beating a bound man to death while the audience cheers her on. Peggy makes a detour to the ladies room, and she is approached for sex by a deranged-looking woman (Pat Moran). When she returns to the table, she begs Grizelda to take her home; Muffy and Mole wonder why she was so adamant to go with them in the first place.Mole and Muffy visit Flipper's girlfriend, Shotsie (Sharon Niesp), and get a contraband newspaper from her. They discover that they are holding the winning lottery ticket after all. Back at the house, Peggy and Grizelda find Coo-Coo in their shed, in a romantic embrace with Herbert's dead body. Grizelda tries to comfort her and Peggy reacts wtih both disgust and jealousy. Peggy opens the door and screams for Carlotta's goons, giving away the location of the Princess; a fight ensues, and Grizelda attacks the goons inside the shed. Although she overpowers them, the small structure collapses and kills her.The goons kidnap Coo-Coo and Peggy and take them before the Queen. The Queen disowns Coo-Coo, who is now blind with rage over the murder of Herbert, and Carlotta orders her to be imprisoned and raped by the goons. Carlotta rewards Peggy for her loyalty by making her the new Princess, grooming her to become the next tyrannical monarch of Mortville. She gives Peggy the task of infecting the citizens of Mortville with rabies, starting with Coo-Coo; Peggy injects her with rabies and throws her out into the streets to spread the disease.Meanwhile, Mole goes into Baltimore to collect her lottery winnings; once she has the cash (which totals about $1000), she visits the John Hopkins hospital and demands an immediate sex change. When the nurses and doctor don't cooperate at first, Mole holds them at knifepoint until they comply. When she returns to Mortville, she showers Muffy with presents, including a new bra and a fur coat. She also shows Muffy a large cache of firearms that she has purchased, with which they can rebel against Queen Carlotta and her goons. Mole's final surprise, her sex change, causes Muffy to react in horror; when Mole tries to have sex with Muffy using her new penis, Muffy vomits and insists that Mole cut it off, which she does. Muffy sews up the wound dutifully, saying that she only pretended to want a man to make Mole jealous, and she vows to stay by Mole even though she now has no sex organs.Shotsie and Flipper appear with the now very ill Coo-Coo, and they hatch a plan to overturn Carlotta. Muffy acts as a decoy and seduces the castle guard, who is ambushed and murdered by Mole and the others. As Carlotta and Peggy gloat in Carlotta's bedroom about the success of their rabies plan, the rebels go into the castle and execute Carlotta's guards, confronting Peggy and Carlotta at gunpoint. They force Carlotta to kiss Muffy's ass, then let Coo-Coo bite her, infecting her with rabies. Peggy tries to act as if she's been forced to do what she did, but everyone sees through her and Mole executes her as well. They decide to cook and eat Carlotta, emerging from the castle with Carlotta's body roasted and dressed out like a roast pig. As Coo-Coo convulses and dies, the citizens of Mortville all appear and help eat the evil Queen in celebration (implying that they will all be infected with rabies as well). | comedy, murder, allegory, cult, violence, insanity, absurd, psychedelic | train | imdb | All of John Waters' early films, beyond being purposefully shocking and repulsive, have this really tangible dirty, raunchy quality to them.
Waters has a special gift for compiling the most disgusting items and the most disgusting combinations of items (lesbian glory holes, marshmallows and Cheez-its, egg-addicted 250-lb women, bleeding gums and French kissing, 'Surfin' Bird' and anal lip-syncing) for maximum effect, filming everything in grainy, artless 16mm with alternately wooden and over-the-top line-readings not dissimilar to the acting in a porno flick.If you've seen Waters on television, he has a certain sophisticated charm to his wit, and perhaps a dirtier director wouldn't have the right sensibility to make films as authentically dirty as this one, or the discretion enough to choose performers as dirty-looking as Turkey Joe and Kenny Orye.
What distinguishes his work as "underground" rather than "exploitation" is that he celebrates the depravity and freakishness of his performers rather than exploiting.Every single character in 'Desperate Living' is a sociopath, as it takes place primarily in a fairy-tale town called Mortville, to which housewife Peggy Gravel (Mike Stole) and her 300-lb black maid Grizelda (Jean Hill) flee after the latter murders Stole's husband by sitting on his face.
Everyone in Mortville is trashy and, well, desperate, and there's a vivid pre-punk vibe here amongst psycho-dyke Mole, played by Susan Lowe, and others, and in the garish, tacky colors of the town's decor, which Waters reports was constructed entirely out of garbage with only one exception.
While I find Waters' 'Pink Flamingos' boring once the shocks become familiar, 'Desperate Living' is a fascinating movie to watch.
You get to see the hefty Jean Hill naked, rolling around in bed with Mink Stole, and you get to see Waters regular Edith Massey in all her snaggletoothed wonder as the wicked Queen Carlotta, being pleasured by one of her many leather-clad man-servants.
It's hard for me to believe that there could be John Waters fans who know only his mainstream films.
They're pretty good movies, don't get me wrong; but they walk meekly in the shadow cast by his amazing Trash Trio (this, FEMALE TROUBLE & PINK FLAMINGOS).
(Well, nobody cites FEMALE TROUBLE for the Donald Dasher character, right?) The way DESPERATE LIVING worked out, you finally get a chance to see how good Waters' other Dreamland divas really were; and they're very, very good.
The movie-opening running tantrum she spews is one of the funniest things I've ever seen - every third or fourth word is shouted for maniacal emphasis ("The CHILDREN are having SEX!!
As a matter of fact, the more Waters' early assaults on good taste have become absorbed into mainstream entertainment, the better and more shocking his films look for it.
"Desperate Living" and "Female Trouble" are Waters' best films, fully realized trash epics with great characters, gorgeous production design and an unapologetic affection for trailer trash values.The story is simple.
Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), a neurotic suburban snob, flees to Mortville, the town where criminals live scot-free, after her obese maid, Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill), sits on and squashes her sermonizing husband, Bosley Gravel (the great George Stover).
The women share a bed in Mortville under the roof of a disgusting hovel run by Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe), a snot-dispensing, pre-op transsexual with impeccable table manners and a luscious lesbian lover Muffy St. Jacques (Liz Renay).
But the living arrangements prove less than harmonious and the entire place is trashed when the women offer refuge to Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivian Pearce), the downtrodden offspring of the domineering, boy-crazy Queen of Mortville (Edith Massey), who objects to her daughter's hippy-fied lifestyle.
John Waters never apologizes for his movies- and this one is both funny and disgusting.
While I prefer the former, I can understand why "Desperate Living" would also be considered his best!While Divine was touring with an off-Broadway play, Waters decided to make a movie starring only women!
Jean Hill makes one of two film performances as Grizelda Brown, the black maid who smothers Peggy's husband by sitting on him!
Additional highlights: a transvestite motorcycle cop with bleeding gums, a bizarre lesbian scene between Peggy and Grizelda, and a sex change resulting in a disgusting penis for Mole, which is eventually cut off with scissors and eaten by a dog!All of the performances are top-notch, the script and dialogue are hilarious, and overall, "Desperate Living" is worthy of being called Waters' best film (but it isn't).
Special mention to Jean Hill as Grizelda, Liz Renay as Muffy, and of course the ever demure (ha!) Edith Massey as Queen Carlotta.
This is Waters' second best movie, next to Pink Flamingos.
If you want stomach-churning grossness for the sake of stomach-churning grossness, juvenile acting, low-budget film-making, and line after line of hilarious dialog, then Desperate Living should please you.
It was 1977, the year the Sex Pistols stormed the British pop charts with "Anarchy in the U.K.", and John Waters marked the year with the release of his most joyously angry opus, "Desperate Living".Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) is a suburban housewife who returns home from the mental hospital to the care of her husband Bosley (George Stover) and her massive black maid Grizelda (Jean Hill).
In return for their panties, and wet soul kisses, he shows them the way to Morteville, a town so hideous that criminals can live there in a state of "mortification" rather than go to prison.The pair rent a room from a lesbian couple, butch Mole McHenry (Susan Lowe) and her busty man-loving girlfriend Muffy St. Jacques (ex-stripper Liz Renay).
But they are soon arrested by the leather goons of Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) who orders them to have a trash make- over.Carlotta's daughter Princess Coo-Coo (Mary Vivien Pierce) is in love with Herbert (Mike Figgs), the garbage collector at the local nudist colony.Mole makes the ultimate sacrifice for her lover, Peggy joins forces with Queen Carlotta, and Princess Coo-Coo becomes a victim of her mother's insanity, as Morteville moves inexorably toward revolution.This John Waters classic is a masterpiece of deranged comedy which repays multiple viewings.
(Idi Amin's portrait is one of several that hangs on the wall in Carlotta's castle.)Some may not like this film as much as John Waters' other early works because of the absence of Divine, but really this is a benefit in a way as it allows Mink Stole to shine in her one starring role and gives great space also to the incomparable Jean Hill.
But everyone is good in this film, with Susan Lowe having her one big role in a Waters' movie.
I can't believe no one will ever read this comment because I am so late at commenting.I guess I'll just mention that this is possibly my favorite Waters film; I love the sets, I love the characters, the dialog...
this could go on for a while.Basically, Waters (along with a cast of grisly looking bums) effectively convinced me that Mortville was a REAL place, disgusting, vile, garish, scary, putrid in every sense of the word- but man, in one shot, you can glimpse the coolest umbrella I ever did see.Also, Edie is maybe at her FUNNIEST here; she DOESN'T play some kind of retard, she plays a Queen, and she does a great job.
After rich housewife Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) accidentally murders her husband and runs away with her overweight black maid Grizelda Brown (Jean Hill) to Mortville, a community of outcasts and criminals ruled by Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey), Desperate Living starts losing the power of John Waters's greatest merit--attack on the norm of the American value.
I truly believe that John Waters, while making this movie, either consciously or unconsciously, was constantly repeating to himself, "how can I twist the plot around (and the lack thereof made it quite easy) to allow for the most possible amount of nudity and gruesomeness?"The thing is, I like the idea of a satiric anti-family values movie, but there's a line in the sand of corniness, which if crossed, causes the entirety of the satire to recoil upon itself.
John Waters disgusted the world in 1972 with the holy grail of trash PINK FLAMINGOS, starring the voluptuous Divine, and continued to offend and entertain two years later with FEMALE TROUBLE.
When the final climatic piece of his trash trio DESPERATE LIVING came to pass, it was not as widely accepted as it was missing his muse Divine, instead casting resident villain Mink Stole (the fire crotched Connie Marble in PINK FLAMINGOS and ungrateful illegitimate delinquent child Taffy Davenport in FEMALE TROUBLE) as the lead character, neurotic and paranoid housewife Peggy Gravel.
DESPERATE LIVING is my favourite John Waters film, and one of my favourite films period.
I'm relatively new to Waters, but his outrageous sense of humor and strong satirical slander is particularly evident in DESPERATE LIVING.
And the performances are golden, Mink Stole makes the opening scene magical, Jean Hill is the perfect addition to the Dreamlanders as she goes all-out, and Edith Massey is adorable and strong as always.
There are charming and original costumes, and the set design of the town and Queen Carlotta's kingdom is great.While John Waters' DVD commentary is hilarious as usual, Liz Renay contributes a less insightful, but still relatively entertaining accompaniment.
The only John Waters film to date set in what is virtually an alternate universe -- the town of Mortville, Maryland -- a disgusting shantytown that inexplicably is governed by its own fascist Empress (Edith Massey), who is both cruel and unusual, and who lives in a Disneyland-like castle.
Filming without his leading lady/leading man, Divine, "Desperate Living" emerges as more of an ensemble film featuring notorious Hollywood starlet Liz Renay, Waters regular Mink Stole, and Jean Hill, discovered and making a striking debut herein.
It's like a trash fairy tale with all the John Water's characters we love...
DESPERATE LIVING is something of a transitional film for director Waters.
I am somewhat baffled at the statement that DESPERATE LIVING is Waters' best film.
All in all, DESPERATE LIVING represents a pre-mainstream John Waters which is always an interesting experience.
Desperate Living is one of my personal favourites in the Waters series of films and will remain that way.
This is one of my favourite John Waters movies along with Polyester and Female Trouble.I don't know what all the fuss was about Pink Flamingos.I found this to be a much weaker effort along with Cry Baby which was incredibly bland.Although I love Devine you wouldn't miss him in this as the rest of the cast are so impressive.10 out of 10!!.
This is John Waters most original and best film.
This truly is one of Waters most shocking films and something that even tops the likes of the blowjob scene in Pink Flamingos.
Mink Stole and her outrageous, shrieking portrayal of Peggy Gravel is one of the best performances in any of John Waters' movies.
When Grizelda the alcoholic maid and Peggy make off after murdering Peggy's husband, they are pulled over in the woods by another great Waters character, Turkey Joe, the motorcycle cop who wears womens panties.
The insane plot has the unbelievably neurotic Mink Stole and her enormous black maid running off after a murder to Mortville, the worst town in the world where criminals go free.
DESPERATE LIVING, John Waters' first movie without his muse Divine, is a fitfully entertaining and really bizarre affair that's hard to sit through at times, but still kind of works by sheer force of will.
After accidentally killing her husband, she runs away to the (fictional) town of Mortville, a slum which is ruled by a tyrannical queen, Carlotta (Edith Massey).
Overall, it's not as great as the collaborations with Divine but it still stands out as one of John Waters' better films before he went more mainstream.
Entertaining John Waters' movie.
"Desperate Living" is the story of Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) and Grizelda (Jean Hill) run to the town of Mortville to escape the law after Grizelda killed Peggy's husband in an "interesting" way.
VERY funny John Waters movie that can be considered his last "underground" type film.
I'm not familiar w/ John Waters' early 'underground' works, but if *Desperate Living* is any indication I've seen more than enough!
Hilarious sick movie about two women on the run, (because one sat on the other's husband and killed him)taking refuge in a small town of weirdos ruled by a sick fat queen.
Edith Massey is at the peak of her career in this film as the incorrigible Queen Carlotta, a diminutive monarch who leads a group of leather-clad henchmen into subjugating and terrorizing the town of Mortville.
This film has many memorable scenes and unforgettable characters, and Desperate Living is by far one of John Water's best films.
Although Pink Flamingos may be Waters most well known work, it seems almost as though Waters was practicing in comparison to this film, which is equally funny and shocking and sick to no end.
Of course, it took more than one viewing to appreciate (as did Pink Flamingos, which I HATED the first time through).Definitely funnier than John's mainstream films, with the exception of Polyester, which remains my favorite comedy of all time.No Divine in this one, but Edith Massey is there full-force, and in her funniest role ever.
Perhaps it was a blessing Divine wasn't available at the time this movie was filmed...otherwise Edith might not have been able to "shine"..
It is truly a twisted fairy tale of the town of Mortville, whose inhabitants are ruled by queen Carlotta (played by the "unique" Eddith Massey) Eventually the people storm the palace and it's a (sort of) happy ending.
Even without Divine, the film is the perfect example of John Water.
I thank God for that but it has every other aspect of a true John Waters film.If you thought Pink Flamingos goes beyond the level of trash..
DESPERATE LIVING is an hilarious assault on "good taste" and the last real John waters film before he went mainstream in the '80s.
"Thelma & Louise" make their way to Mortville, a safe haven for criminals ruled over by the megalomanical nymphomaniac Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) but as Mole the lesbian points out, "it isn't very pretty what a town without pity can do" and they land right smack in the middle of a dictatorship ripe for bloody revolution.I wouldn't watch something like this unless I was stoned and at first it was so shrill (with everybody screaming until I thought I'd get a headache) but once I started laughing I couldn't stop right up until the hysterical, anarchic ending.
Having been a huge fan of "cult flicks and trash pics" (to quote the book title), I knew it was time to watch John Waters.
It has that terrific home-movie/documentary look that all of John Waters's early films possess.
After the success of his previous films, Waters was able to raise $65,000 (almost triple Female Trouble's $25,000), and the money was brilliantly utilized in the construction of Mortville--a town inhabited by criminals and constructed entirely of garbage.
The focal point of the town is Queen Carlotta's plywood castle--a fairy-tale abode that puts Disney to shame.Mink Stole brings the house down as Peggy Gravel, an insanely paranoid and hostile woman just released from an asylum.
After killing Peggy's husband, the two women flee to the criminal community of Mortville and room with bull dyke Mole (Susan Lowe, in a role intended for Divine) and glamour girl Muffy (legendary stripper Liz Renay).
While there are tons of sick freaks inhabiting the town, Divine was unavailable due to another acting commitment and David Lochary recently died due to drug use and their presence was sorely missed.While all of John Waters' previous films received X-ratings, this one oddly did not and I really can't understand why.
My favorite scenes included the great wrestling match as well as the first 10 minutes of the film (some of the funniest in film history).Amazing because it was poorly made and offensive, I think this film is a step backwards for John Waters' fans, as the previous film (FEMALE TROUBLE) is much funnier and insightful regarding modern society.
For a while this was John Waters classiest film.
They end up in Mortville, a seedy, trash strewn town ruled by the grotesque Queen Carlotta (the brilliant Edith Massey).
They also run into Liz Renay (as Muffy St. Jacques) and the angry Mole, who's desperate for a sex change and heads to none other than Johns Hopkins to get that ball rolling.
"Desperate Living" is about as disgusting as "Pink Flamingos" and at times worse.
When it comes to John Waters, I have no favorite...All of his movies from Mondo Trasho to Cecil B.
Desperate Living is the story of several women, and there are possible SPOILERS ahead: We are first introduced to Peggy (Mink Stole), a truly insane woman.
They also meet Mole's girlfriend, Muffy (Liz Renay, Waters' first celebrity outsider to appear in one of his movies.) Mortville is run by Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey.) The Queen has goons in leather to help her in many ways; including sexually servicing her.
As with all of Waters' films Desperate Living has some of the funniest lines in cinema history!
Mink Stole is perfect as Peggy, and Susan Lowe shines in her first and only major role in a Waters' film.
Mink Stole is hilarious as Peggy Gravel, she plays her neurotic character without flaw.Even though the acting, the story, the budget and everything else is as bad as you'd expect, the film is extremely humorous and the actors have enough comical timing to make you laugh again and again.
John Waters paints a picture that is, again, far from today's supermodel standards, where females rule and are free to be as disgusting or beautiful as they want.I highly recommend this film to anyone who would like to watch something different, because it's way underrated.. |
tt0079219 | Going in Style | Joe (George Burns), Al (Art Carney), and Willie (Lee Strasberg) are three senior citizens who share a small apartment in Brooklyn, New York City. They are three retirees who live off monthly social security checks and spend their summer days sitting on a bench in a nearby park, reading newspapers, feeding pigeons, and fending off obnoxious children.It is a dull life, and finally Joe is driven to suggest something radical to break the monotony. After making their monthly visit to their bank to cash and/or deposit their social security checks, out of the blue Joe asks them: "why not go on a stick-up?" Al and Willie are reluctant to think about such a brash plan. None of them has a criminal history (though Joe claims he "did some stealing during the war"), but just planning the bank robbery fills them with optimism.Al surreptitiously borrows some pistols from the collection of his nephew, Pete (Charles Hallahan) who lives just a few miles away with his wife and three obnoxious children, and whom are having money problems themselves. Pete tells Al that he wants to open up his own furniture store, but the stress of paying for their mortgage as well as utility bills is getting to all of them. Al decides to himself that the bank robbery will help his nephew out financially.Al steals three pistols from Pete's gun collection, but cannot remember what kind of bullets that are to be used, so he takes all of them. Al, Joe, and Willie spend most of the day trying to fit which bullets go into their guns. After, loading a few of them, they take a trip by subway into Manhattan to look for a bank to rob and they decide on the First National Bank in the lower part of Manhattan.A few days later, the three guys execute their bank robbery. After dressing up in old plaid suits, they travel by train into Manhattan, then take a taxi from a street corner to the bank itself. Disguised with novelty Groucho Marx-style glasses, the trio pulls off their heist by walking in and Joe fires a warning shot into their air when the bank tellers do not take their threat to rob the bank seriously. The getaway is successfully, but clumsily carried out as they take the same taxi outside the bank to another street corner. The three then hurry to the nearest subway metro station where they are forced to throw the stolen cash into a backup suitcase to make sure no tracking devices are on the cash, (where a few witnesses see them spill some of the cash to the ground) and they catch the next train for home. Upon arriving back at their apartment, the count the money and it adds up to the tune of $35,900.Unfortunately, the excitement is too much for Willie, who suffers a fatal heart attack the same day when they go to the park as usual to celebrate their success. A few days later, at Willie's funeral, Joe and Al decide to give the bulk of the money to Pete and his family (worth about $25,000) without telling him where it's from. With $10,000 to live on, and aware that their days might be numbered, Al and Joe decide to splurge with the rest on a whirlwind excursion to Las Vegas which they pack up and leave all on that very same day.Al and Joe fly to Vegas, check into a fancy hotel, and decide to go gambling in the hotel's casino. Al plays some craps, while Joe also sets his sights on blackjack. Expecting to lose about half of the money, they instead find beginners luck and win even more money, totaling over $71,000. Al wants to keep on gambling because of their winning streak, but when Joe notices several angry and hostile-looking casino pit bosses staring at them over their winnings, he forces Al to stop and leave the casino. Worried that the mobster pit bosses will come after them for winning a large amount of their money, Joe forces Al to pack up and they check out of their hotel and catch the first red eye flight back to New York without spending the night.The next morning, Joe and Al arrive back at their apartment (none of them having slept for the past 24 hours since Willie's funeral). Exhausted, but happy at their new winnings, they both fall asleep. Later that afternoon, Joe wakes up and turns on the radio for the afternoon news where he hears that the eccentric bank robbery has become a colorful story for the media and the police announce that are closing in on the "careless amateur criminals". Joe tries to wake up Al to inform them they might be in trouble, but a closer inspection reveals that Al apparently died in his sleep, leaving Joe by himself.Worried that the police really might be closing in on them, Joe travels to Pete's house that evening where he confides in him about the bank robbery and about them winning a lot of dirty money in Las Vegas which that, totaling with the bank robbery loot totals over $107,000. Joe also tells Pete about Al's death and that the police might be closing in on him. He tells the emotionally devastated Pete to hide all the cash in a safety deposit box in the bank and not to confide in anyone, not even his wife or friends, about the bank robbery or about Joe and Al's trip to Vegas for the police would think that the $71,000 Vegas winnings is stolen money too. Pete reluctantly agrees to help cover for Joe and hide the money.Joe arrives back alone at his apartment and finds himself sad and alone. The next morning, Joe wakes up, dresses, eats breakfast, washes and dries the dishes, puts on a suit and tie to go to Al's funeral. Joe looks around the apartment knowing that it might be the last time he sees the place. Out on the street, Joe is immediately arrested by several policemen who move in. Joe is put in a police car and driven away while several officers storm the apartment, apparently to tear it apart to look for the stolen bank loot. At the local police station, a stubborn Joe confesses to the bank robbery, but refuses to tell the authorities, including a persistent FBI agent, where he has hidden the money.In the final scene, a few weeks later, Pete arrives at the state prison to visit Joe where he tries to persuade him to tell the authorities about where he hid the stolen bank loot. But the stubborn Joe tells Pete not to bother. Joe explains that it no longer matters to him if he remains in prison for the rest of his life. For several years, Joe already felt like he was in prison with living a dull life. Joe explains that he no longer has to cook and clean for himself in prison. He gets three square meals a day, and generally is getting "treated like a king around here." Joe tells Pete not to visit him again to avoid being suspected in his bank robbery plan, and to "enjoy his inheritance" of living off the bank robbery and Vegas money. As Joe is being escorted back to his cell by a guard, he looks mischievously at Pete and says: "besides... no tin-horn joint like this could ever hold me!" | comedy, satire | train | imdb | A short preview of this film on television might suggest a zany comedy in which old age-jokes fly fast and furious, but "Going in Style" is in fact a serious film, with only bits of humor thrown in here and there.
George Burns is Joe, a man who suggests to his two roommates (Art Carney and Lee Strasberg) that they rob a bank in order to relieve the boredom of retirement.
"Going in Style" has no caricatures (except, perhaps, Joe`s attorney) and, though the problems of old age are presented in a matter-of-fact way, the film is never preachy.
It should also be noted that it is gratifying to see a movie in which younger members of a family (Pete and Kathy) show such genuine respect and kindness to their elders.All the leads are terrific, but Burns is perfection itself as Joe. This film is very highly recommended..
However, I ended up being slightly disappointed with The Out of Towners while I was blown out of the water by how excellent Going in Style is.This is a film that's best to watch knowing as little as possible about the plot beforehand.
For those who must know something of the story, however, it concerns three elderly men who are living together in Astoria, Queens (part of New York City)--Joe (George Burns), Al (Art Carney) and Willie (Lee Strasberg).
The second half deals with the aftermath, and is kind of an extended character study.The most remarkable characteristic of Going in Style is that writer and director Martin Brest, with co-writer Edward Cannon, managed to make a film that has elements of both almost absurdist comedy and deeply moving realist drama co-existing at the same time.
Going in Style is a poignant portrait of old age, occasionally deeply sad and even pessimistic, but also very funny, and the three principal characters possess an almost Zen-like satiety, calmness and wisdom.It's interesting to note that Brest later went on to direct films as diverse as Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Meet Joe Black (1998).
Going in Style has elements of both--Beverly Hills Cop's wacky crime-comedy and involved plot structure and Meet Joe Black's emotionally impactful minimalism and social/philosophical subtexts.
Carney and Strasberg both easily paint complex characters, as well, and the chemistry of any two or more of them together is simply magical.Brest, showing early inclinations towards minimalism, peppers the film with many extremely effective "pregnant pauses".
In both its comic and tragic modes, Going in Style tends to be a relatively "quiet" film--the tone/atmosphere reflects that Zen-like disposition that Brest and his cast create for the characters.
Brest emphasizes this by loading early scenes with such pauses, such as when our protagonist trio are sitting on the park bench and hatching their plan.The above might sound a bit ridiculous or overly abstract to some, but keep in mind that it's all part of Brest's touching portrait of old age (an incredible feat for a 27-year old writer-director, by the way).
Their scheme is relatively easy to pull off because with the slight exception of Willie, who interestingly has some issues from the past he is still trying to deal with and is thus a bit less comfortable with the present, they look at it as just another thing they can experience before they check out of the world, with the consequences of the scheme, no matter what they are, all having their advantages.Brest works in a bit of sly social commentary more conspicuously into the script, as well.
George was 79 years old when this film was made and had never really "acted" in the traditional sense of playing an imaginary role, and yet he won an Academy Award for best supporting actor!!!The Book Of Lists mentioned this as one of the most amazing accomplishments ever at an advanced age!!Then George played another great role in the "Oh God" series.
I wrote to Art Carney several years ago and asked him what it was like working with George Burns and he told me that George was a joy to work with and a real pro and one of the nicest people he ever worked with!
I think that the saddest scene in the film is where George is looking thru some old photos of himself as a young man and breaks down crying and wets himself.
It stars George Burns (in the performance of his career), the always brilliant Art Carney, and the excellent Lee Strasberg as three old senior citizens who decide to rob a bank out of boredom.
Although bank robbery is hardly endearing, director Martin Brest (doing very nimble work) glosses over the extremities and gives us George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg at their most amiable.
GOING IN STYLE is a sweet little film starring George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg as a trio of oldsters struggling to survive on their pension money.
When he met the 27-year-old director Martin Brest, he quipped, "I have neckties older than you." Burns and Carney had already won their Oscars by the time this was made.
Martin Brest is best known for his popular successes BEVERLY HILLS COP, MIDNIGHT RUN and SCENT OF A WOMAN, but more recently his career made a bit of a tumble with the disastrous GIGLI (2003), starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez and snoozefest (and trying so hard to be 'profound') MEET JOE BLACK (1998), but this little gem is how he got noticed (and might even be his best effort yet).The story is simple: three kindly old men (George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg), indistinguishable from the half-forgotten ranks of senior citizens you might pass on any city park bench in warm weather, decide to light up their lives by sticking up a Manhattan bank in broad daylight.Don't be put off by the idea of 'three old guys robbing a bank.' This film is a delight in a very New York and very low-key fashion with hardly any grand scenes or set-ups, but with great writing, sharp dialog and the three leads giving their very best.
When they get to Vegas, it would be so easy to do quick cuts of their winning streak with appropriate music blasting, but Brest stretches the scene so that we are not sure if they will keep their gains.Any sentiment comes hard earned, like watching Joe stumbling around the apartment after the death of Willie, finding his own album of photographs and reflecting, only to have nature spoil the mood..
A terrific gem of a film.Three elderly men are so bored with their lives that they rob a bank and actually get away with it for a while.The trio are all masterfully played by Art Carney, Lee Strasberg and George Burns.With the robbery behind them, it's time for vacation in flashy Las Vegas.
This is probably George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg's shining moment on film.
And yet, at 28, director Martin Breast created a flawless gem getting three outstanding performances out his senior citizen leads (George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasburg).
George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg play Joe, Al and Willie, who are three septuagenarian guys who decide to live life in the fast lane beginning with a twilight bank robbery one sunny day.
GOING IN STYLE afforded three outstanding actors with a real script, which takes the absurd situation all of we in the U.S. are headed for- an old age in which all one does is viewed as extraneous to "real" life- and turns it a into a bittersweet drama.
There's a saying; 'those who can, do, those who can't teach
'I'll come back to this in a minute.Going In Style's a film, in a style I love; it's a terrific 'caper' film, but, this time, instead of the usual types of crooks, i.e., the ex-cons just outta the joint, who wanna make one big score, or the group of misfits, who are brought together by a central character, but, each member has their own hidden agenda(s),, it's 3 men - 3 old men, who find sitting on a park bench, quietly - 'enough activity' for one day.When I grew up, I was never a fan of George Burns - it seemed the media made him out to be a monument to longevity, and Mr. Burns, being no fool - gave them what they wanted (and he got the cheques!); the sweet, slightly lecherous, geriatric grandpa-type - in a tux, with a stogie in mouth.Mr. Carney had done the Honeymooners, and though I never enjoyed the series, I always found Art a very interesting actor, who wasn't given too many chances to show what he could do.
those over 40, and especially women many leading roles, so, I know it wasn't Mr. Carney's not wanting to work).The 3 actors are 3 men, who all have very different takes on what it means to be 'older' in New York City.Joe (George Burns) is bitter at his lot in life.
The last (and, to me - least) of the trio is played by Lee Strasberg, as Willie - he's really almost a catatonic shell - so burnt out - either for real, or just doesn't give a rat's behind, he's (mentally) off in the æther - former feeding the pigeons, until it's his turn.Now, Mr. Strasberg founded the Actor's Studio, in New York City, and many illustrious actors were associated with it - and the 'Method' (style acting), including Marlon Brando, and (ah!) the supremely under-appreciated Marilyn Monroe.Mr. Strasberg's appearances in film, or, on stage are very limited - and though some may say this was because he was 'busy training actors', my personal feeling - of his talent are very limited.Back to the opening quote; that's a direct jab at Mr. Strasberg.
Though I truly enjoy this film, I think the one thing which weighs it down is Strasberg, and I thank the editor's for making his non- performance as least irritating as possible (in 'Method' acting - the 'Cliff notes' version, the actor has to have 'motivation' - understanding for everything about their character.
True, there were/are some very brilliant performances, but, by-and-large, I think that if one were to weigh 'great' against 'poor' Method performances, the scale would be tipped heavily in the 'poor' direction).If one is - like me - someone who watches a film from differing 'aspects', i.e., focusing on one performance, during one viewing, etc., then when I'm seeing/focusing on Strasberg's performance, he literally comes off as a shuffling, mentally vapid old shell.Now that I've told you what (I think) is the dross, I turn to the other 2/3rd's; Burns and Carney.Burns does a delightful 180°'s on the 'old, lecherous, geriatric' he'd been playing for the better part of the decade, on various network specials.
He still sings songs from 'back when', he's trying to hold on - in a optimistic way.The writing by Mr. Brest (who was a 'kid' - only 28 - when he wrote and directed this (!) is wise beyond those 28 years, in the writing - the character's 'voices' are so well shaped, and the direction is also good.If you want to see a good film which shows just what all those people we ALL see sitting on those benches would secretly love to do, themselves, watch Going In Style.You'll have laughs, and as with any competent 'caper' flick, plenty of thrills..
Lee Strassberg when he wasn't being the king of crime as Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II decides to dabble in it along with his two elderly friends George Burns and Art Carney in Going In Style.
And George Burns managed to extend his career decades with an Oscar for The Sunshine Boys and a slew of jokes about how old he was.These three play elderly friends who in their declining years are having trouble making ends meet.
Other than the leads the only character given any depth is that of Charles Hallahan playing Carney's nephew who does a fine job.Going In Style on the strength of its elderly leads has some serious things to say about old age and how rough it can be.
Three elderly roommates on Social Security decide to rob a bank in "Going in Style," a 1979 film directed by Martin Brest.
It stars three great masters: George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg, who is probably more famous as an acting teacher.These three spend their final years sitting in the park, watching children play, the birds, and occasionally talking.
In one scene, when Al's (Art Carney) nephew and his family take Al to their place for a few days, Joe sits alone and looks at his old photos.
A very touching scene.All of these men demonstrate the emptiness of old age when one feels he is no longer useful, when most friends and family are gone, when you're not sick but not well either.
Boredom and low expectations had become a part of life in the New York/New Jersey urban area for the characters in the film as well as for the era in the 70's, and this is the background depicted in every scene of "Going in Style." The plot has a couple of minor holes, the only one worth mentioning is that there's really no indication at all as to how the police figured out who to pursue, but the foundation of this film is the absolutely remarkable performance by George Burns, who proved that he was not only a comedian and a beloved personality but a true actor.
Joe (George Burns), Al (Art Carney), and Willie (Lee Strasberg) are three geriatrics who share an apartment together in Brooklyn and spend their days sitting on a park bench, talking aimlessly amongst themselves or just sitting in silence as they decay in public.
After watching three great character actors perform the dialog, events, and antics of a criminally underrated writer/director, I felt that Going in Style had been depressingly overlooked by the general public and deserved not just a rewatch but an reconsideration for its themes and ideas on age.To begin with, Burns, Carney, and Strasberg are all tremendous here, with no character outshining another as they all get their moments to shine.
Joe, Al, and Willie could've easily been confined to this life till they died, but because of Joe's ostensibly outlandish but, in reality, somewhat practical proposal, the three can carry out something that makes them feel like they have meaning and significance.Consider the scenes when the men plan the robbery and how they plan to handle the understandably panicked bank tellers and customers.
Do the crime, do the time (maybe), get the bragging rights.The film was directed by Martin Brest, who later went on to do Beverly Hills Cop, Meet Joe Black, and Midnight Run, all of which have gone on to bear more prominent reputations than the unassuming Going in Style.
Brest has always been one for action comedies, but Going in Style showcases an early point in his career where he seemed fascinated by the idea that adrenaline can still be had by the most unsuspecting people doing the most unsuspecting things.
Ignoring its unremarkable legacy and future, this is a hilarious film with underrated meditations on life and age that shouldn't go unnoticed.Starring: George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg.
He acts like he was 50 years younger, and unpretentious, but bravura acting by him, Strasberg and Carney is greatly helped by witty dialog,and great directing by Martin Brest, who also wrote this gem, a simple story with a heart.
Slipping out virtually unnoticed was this delightful movie, proving yet again that big budget does not always mean better entertainment.'Going In Style' starred George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg as three pensioners whose lives consist of feeding ducks in parks, watching television, and reminiscing about the past.
Joe ( Burns ) is thoroughly bored by this, and comes up with a plan to generate some excitement - namely rob a bank.
He is dead serious, and talks the other two into going along with him.They pull the job ( wearing old suits and joke-shop masks ) but the excitement proves too much for Willie ( Strasberg ) - he dies of a heart attack.Joe and Al ( Carney ) fly to Las Vegas to splash their loot in an orgy of non-stop gambling.
Feisty Joe (a marvelously sprightly performance by George Burns), jolly Al (a terrific Art Carney), and mopey Willie (the excellent Lee Strasberg) are three old retirees who share an apartment in Queens, New York.
Earlier in the film, Joe says, "A stick-up guy I used to know a long time ago told me that the most important thing is to put fear into everybody right away." Then, Willie asks at one point, "What if we get shot?" Already, this heist for the excitement of it was on the edge of violence.
So, Joe, Al and Willie are having an adrenalin rush with a little excitement at the expense of several dozen people likely fearing for their lives.
George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg are really old-timers.
Here he's joined by George Burns and Lee Strasberg as retirees trying to make ends meet as their lives hit the doldrums sitting on park benches and watching the rest of their years pass by.
One thing I had to check was the ages of the three actors in the picture; Carney is actually the youngster of this group at sixty one when the film was made.
Once all the shenanigans with the bank job are out of the way, the story turns poignant for Joe Harris (Burns) as he has to endure the passing of his two long time buddies.
George Burns and Art Carney work well together throughout this movie.
Anyone know if that's her in this movie?Interesting that such a nice natural adorable performance, just her playing with her Uncle Art Carney wouldn't be credited. |
tt0106342 | Bai fa mo nu zhuan | A narrative voice explains that in the Shun Chi years of the Ching Dynasty, the Emperor of China had fallen gravely ill. In pursuit of a legendary rose, which blossomed once every twenty years and which supposedly has the power to restore life to the nearly dead, an envoy was sent to Mount Shin Fung, where the flower was to be found. This envoy, and his three companions, arrive at the mountain, where a man can be found standing watch over a flower that is nearly blossoming in the snow. The envoy bows and addresses this man as Master Cho of Wu Tang, but he doesn't respond. They explain their mission, which prompts him to ask about the time -- or rather, to ask what year it is. The envoy answers that it is the tenth year since the establishment of the Ching Dynasty. Master Cho expresses surprise that it is truly that long, and tells them that they can leave. The envoy attempts to bribe him with a reward, and is angrily rebuked. His three companions arise and leap to attack Master Cho, who leaps up and defeats them easily. The envoy himself attacks, and lasts somewhat longer before he is knocked back. Bleeding heavily, the envoy asks who could be so important that Master Cho would save the flower for them instead of for the Emperor, and then exsanguinates messily. Master Cho resumes his vigil, and the narrative voice (which is his voice) explains that he is saving the flower for a woman, for whom he has been waiting here for a decade. He wonders if she knows what he's doing ...Over scenes of a blacksmith's workshop, Master Cho (or, to use the name of his youth, Cho Yi Hang) explains that he was the student of Master Tzu Yang of Wu Tang, the Joint Chief of the Eight Big Clans of China, which are the only ones whom the Master considers to be worthy of the name. The Master advises him to always remember that good and evil were like oil and water; this is a familiar lesson to Yi Hang, who is more interested in playing with the grasshopper he's found in his hand. The Master then asks whether Yi Hang has mastered the martial arts technique that he taught him, and Yi Hang claims to have perfected it. Master Tzu Yang turns to look at him, sees him playing with the grasshopper, and frowns. He picks up a freshly forged sword and throws it at Yi Hang, who is startled enough to swallow the grasshopper, but manages to catch the sword. He begins to demonstrate the technique in question, which is so effective a defense that it can even deflect falling cherry petals from striking him -- though quite a few end up stuck to the end of the sword. Master Tzu Yang flings a stick at him, and Yi Hang leaps into the air and slices through it, right down the middle of the stick. Yi Hang then, rather cheekily, asks for a few days off since he's doing so well. The Master replies that if Yi Hang hopes to become the Joint Chief some day, he must always practice. In fact, Yi Hang doesn't really have any ambitions of that sort, and is content to do a few good deeds now and then.One such good deed gets him into trouble. At night, carrying a lamb that he rescued from some bad men, he finds himself lost. The narrator explains that there were two things that scared Yi Hang -- thunder and lightning, and wolves -- and he can hear wolves howling not far away, and turns to see them. He sets the lamb down, telling it that he saved the lamb's life, and now it is time for the lamb to return the favor, and so runs off ... but after looking back, he decides that he can't just leave the lamb to the slaughter, and runs back to pick it up as he flees from the wolves. He calls out for help from anyone, before he reaches a dead end. Clutching the sheep to himself, he cries that he doesn't want to die ... and then hears a flute being played, which causes the wolves to run away from him. Yi Hang looks up to see a girl standing on a hill nearby, playing the flute and being surrounded by the wolves, who don't seem inclined to harm her. The narrator describes wanting to fly up to thank the girl, and also to get a better look at her ... but since Yi Hang is very tired, he faints instead.A soldier on horseback finds him soon after, and they have a drink in a hut made out of reeds. The narrator says that this ordinary officer, Wu San Kuei, will one day become a famous General who changes the course of history. Right now, he admonishes Yi Hang that he was very lucky to have been rescued, and that he should be more careful. But he also shares his drink with the young martial artist, and also shares his philosophy of life -- that it's better to be at peace with yourself than to try and earn the approval of other people. Yi Hang is astonished by the kind heart of this ferocious man, but comes to suspect that San Kuei is kind to him only because he is an orphan.In any event, Yi Hang is put on trial for his actions in "rescuing" the lamb -- which is viewed as stealing it before it can be butchered, and attacking the butchers. Master Tzu Yang is the judge, while the "prosecutor" is Yi Hang's "uncle" Pai Yung, who views Yi Hang's acts as a disgrance to Wu Han. Yi Hang defends his actions as being based on chivalry and protecting the weak, and that the butchers were lucky that he didn't make them eat dog turds. This makes some of the onlookers giggle, including Pai Yun's daughter Lu Hua. The narrator reflects that Pai Yung wasn't a bad man, just ambitious, who wanted his daughter to become the success to the title of Joint Chief instead of the Joint Chief's favored successor, Yi Hang.Pai Yung was also the calligraphy instructor for the students, including Yi Hang, Lu Hua and their fellow student Lu Hsien Chang. During one recalled lesson, Yi Hang is drawing a caricature of Pai Yung when Lu Hua comes in late. Yi Hang is given an arbitrary punishment, which he shrugs off, showing his caricature to Hsien Chang. Lu Hua seems very fond of Yi Hang, and tries to slip him some food -- unfortunately, she passes it down the line of students to him, and everyone else takes a bite. By the time it reaches Yi Hang, Pai Yung can detect the odor, and throws a brush at Yi Hang, getting ink on his head. He accuses Yi Hang of being lazy and foolish, and says he should try to be more like Lu Hua -- who finds this whole thing very amusing. For his part, Yi Hang agrees with Pai Yung's assessment of his fellow students, which makes them all throw up.Back at the trial, Pai Yung continues to criticize Yi Hang's behavior. He accuses him of leaving the monastery without permission and committing murder -- but the plot has moved forward a few years, and Yi Hang is a young man rather than a boy. Yi Hang defends his actions by revealing that the man he killed was cruel to his own family, who show up to defend Yi Hang! Pai Yung then accuses Yi Hang of being a bully to the other students, but they show up and claim that they were injured in other ways. Yi Hang turns around and admits that he is responsible for the injuries, but describes the reasons for doing so. Master Tzu Yang finally rules that Pai Yung has to sit in meditation before the statue of the Buddha for three days without food or water, considering his faults.Yi Hang does do so, but he also feels free to offer up a criticism of the stern looking Buddha. Lu Hua brings him in some food, and so does Hsien Chang ... and then so do the other students! After a while, Lu Hua tells them all to get out of there, or else they'll get Yi Hang in trouble, and they all leave while she remains. Lu Hua gives him a jade heirloom from her father, making him promise not to break it, before she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and darts away -- but he pulls her back, and asks her to stay. Startled, she asks him what he wants from her ... and he tells her that he wants to go take a leak, so could she sit in his place so no one realizes he's gone? She's irritated, but does it.Elsewhere, a soldier orders his men to go out and kill some "rascals". These rascals are stealing military food supplies to feed hungry peasants, among whom are a man and his pregnant wife. Soldiers ride up to their camp and begin attacking without mercy. The pregnant woman begins to give birth, and she and her husband stumble out of their tent and feign death until they can escape into the woods. The soldiers continue their rampage until they are attacked by a masked woman wielding a whip with such power as to be able to cut people to bits. A man sees her face, and she blinds him.In the forest, Yi Hang is sleeping in front of a camp fire. The pregnant woman and her husband come upon his fire, and beg for his assistance. However, Yi Hang has no idea what to do. Then the masked woman arrives, and silently gives her assistance while Yi Hang stares at her with fascination. The pregnant woman dies in childbirth, but the child survives thanks to the masked woman. Yi Hang guiltily presses the jade heirloom that Lu Hua gave him on the man, in hopes that it'll be enough to help him start up a business. The masked woman departs, and Yi Hang follows.In a pool in a ruined city, the Wolf Girl bathes while Yi Hang watches. Suddenly, she realizes his presence and leaps to grab him and pull him into the water. Startled by this, he spits water into her face. She swings her wet hair so that it slaps him, hard, grabs him by his own hair, and asks him who he is and why he's following her. He points out that she's the one who's brought them together (most likely a pun that doesn't translate well) which embarrasses her, so she lets go and leaps away, allowing him to do the same. She says that any man who sees her face must be blinded, and Yi Hang wryly notes that having seen much more than that, he's in for a horrible death. She grabs her whip and tries to use it on him, but he dodges out of the way. She uses it again, grabbing what seems to be a note from someone telling her to come back to the palace. She leaves, abandoning Yi Hang, who laments the fact that he didn't even get to introduce himself.At the palace, a gathering of the evil cult is taking place, with the Wolf Girl seated centrally. Two little children bring her some tea, before the cult's leader, Chi Wu Shuang, arrives to begin to address them. (The Wolf Girl doesn't look impressed.) He describes recent actions undertaken by the cult's forces, denigrating the Eight Big Clans. However, when one of the cultists interupts his spiel with a persistent cough, he kills him with a telekinetic pulse. Wu Shuang then approaches the Wolf Girl and speaks to her, saying that she'll lead the forces of the cult against the orthodox clans. His sister then appears to her, and describes how they've been suppressed for twenty years. The Wolf Girl sees an image of Tzu Yang, but is startled when that image is replaced by one of a determined looking Yi Hang. The leader notices that something is wrong, and tries to seduce the Wolf Girl, who walks away. His sister laughs at him, mocking him for his obvious desire for the Wolf Girl, but he claims that he is willing to wait for her to love him, as coerced love is worthless.A soldier (likely the same soldier who ordered the killing of the rascals, earlier) approaches Master Tzu Yang and describes the increase in the activities of the evil cult. Tzu Yang agrees that it is a problem, and suggests that they should now work towards eliminating the cult. However, most of the leaders of the Eight Big Clans think that is easier said than done. Pai Yung is of the opinion that it was a mistake to let Chi go free years earlier, but Tzu Yang is impatient with such recriminations. The question to be answered is who should lead the effort to deal with the problem today, and the obvious answer is the Wu Tang clan. Tzu Yang asks Hsien Chang where Yi Hang is, and the latter doesn't know ...Outside, Lu Hua is waiting, and when Yi Hang arrives, she first asks him where he's been, and then what he did with the jade that she gave him. He doesn't want to answer, but when she produces it herself, admits that he gave it away because he thought the man needed it more than Yi Hang did. Lu Hua coldly tells him that she killed the man, that she'll be keeping the jade this time, and sends Yi Hang into the palace to meet with Tzu Yang. After he apologizes to Tzu Yang for being late, the Master tells him that the Eight Big Clans are sending their forces to suppress the evil cult. Yi Hang says that he doesn't think he's the right person to lead those forces. Pai Yung agrees and suggests his daughter, a suggestion that Yi Hang endorses (while at the same time criticising Lu Hua for being violent.) However, the clans think that giving command to a woman is contrary to tradition, and Tzu Yang gives Yi Hang a direct order to lead the army.In a more private meeting, Tzu Yang asks Yi Hang why he tried to avoid the responsibility of leading the army. Yi Hang explains that he knows that to be a leader means that he will have to do things that go against his principles. He wants to live a moral life, but Tzu Yang points out that such morality only works when there aren't people out there who want to kill you. Yi Hang has no choice in the matter; he must kill or be killed. Yi Hang disagrees and says that he does have a choice -- he can quit and become a recluse.At a fortress, San Kuei points out that the idea of Yi Hang quitting is an absurd one, as he has no way of making a living other than being a martial artist. On the other hand, he has the opportunity to become the Joint Chief of the Eight Big Clans, something that many other men would kill to have. Even him! He advises Yi Hang to develop some perspective -- if he became the Joint Chief, he could be of real help to San Kuei. Meanwhile, the soldiers have caught some infiltrators, and San Kuei orders their execution; when Yi Hang protests, he's told that it's better to wrongly kill a hundred men than let one real infiltrator escape. They are at war for their survival.At a meeting of the students, one wonders why Yi Hang hasn't arrived yet. Lu Hua suggest that they not wait for him, and instead begin planning their strategy. While the forces arrayed against them are potent, she is certain that they can triumph. Most agree with her, very enthusiastically in the case of Hsien Chang. Abruptly, a drunk-looking Yi Hang throws a sword into the middle of their circle, startling them, and sarcastically begs leave to ask a question -- why is it necessary to exterminate people who've done them no wrong? He asks Hsien Chang whether he's ever heard someone die from violence. Lu Hua angrily criticizes Yi Hang for ruining the morale of the meeting. He replies by noting her ambition, and says that she's much more suited to be the commander than he is, throws her the emblem signifying command -- and falls down unconscious.Meanwhile, the camp is being guarded by reluctant sentinels, one of whom notes something wrong in the forest, but his comrade thinks it's just his imagination. He's wrong, and two warriors appear out of nowhere to kill them both. Back in the camp, Hsien Chang tries to wake up Yi Hang. Then the attack begins, and there's no more time for any of this. The students engage in an elaborate but not very effective battle formation, which dissolves into a general melee. Apparently all this wakes up Yi Hang, who comes to Hsien Chang's assitance when he's injured -- actually just bruised. Yi Hang demonstrates great combat skill in the moments that follow, before he tries to order a stop to the fighting, much to Lu Hua's irritation. At that moment, the Wolf Girl arrives, and (apparently not recognizing him) attacks Yi Hang. They take their fight to the branches of the trees, arriving at a clearing. After a moment of stand-off, Yi Hang tries to remind her of their earlier meeting, only to be told that she has to kill him. Saddened, he throws down his sword and tells her to do it, leaving himself wide open. After a moment of confusion, she pulls back her whip -- but then a dart from Lu Hua hits her. Yi Hang catches the Wolf Girl, grabs up his sword, and flees into the trees, much to Lu Hua's shock. He takes the Wolf Girl to the ancient city, and begins treating the her injuries by sucking the dart (and its poison, apparently) out of the wound with his mouth.Back at the castle, Tzu Yang speculates that the Wolf Girl, a witch, has cast a spell on Yi Hang. Lu Hua disagrees, pointing out that the Wolf Girl not only spared Yi Hang's life, but also left with him. (A bit of an exaggeration on her part.) Hsien Chang wonders if they're intimate, before Tzu Yang tells him to shut up. Pai Yung claims that this is all just more proof that Yi Hang is not fit to be the next Joint Chief. Tzu Yang finally tells them all to just find Yi Hang so that he can explain his actions to Tzu Yang.Back at the cult's castle, Chi Wu Shuang is in bed with his sister and cutting himself, which apparently causes her pain as well. She tells him that she'll find him some other girl to replace the Wolf Girl, but he only wants her. He also wants the Wolf Girl to understand how much her desertion has hurt him, but his sister claims that it doesn't hurt any worse than when they were driven out of China by Tzu Yang, twenty years earlier. Wu Shuang flashes back to that dark day -- most of the chiefs wanted to kill them, but Tzu Yang, holding to the orthodoxy, insisted that they be given a chance to change their ways. Back in the present, his sister reminds him that they only took in the Wolf Girl to turn her into a killing machine, and that she is the only one he can rely on. He says that he doesn't want her around, but she tells him that he doesn't have a choice ... and reminds him that they're conjoined twins, connected at their back.In the ruined city, Yi Hang wakes up and finds himself alone. He gets up and finds the Wolf Girl playing the flute some distance away. He realizes, then, that she's the girl who saved his life all those years ago. They stare at each other across the distance for a moment ... and then are passionately kissing and caressing each other beneath the waterfall. Later, he notices a tattoo on her back, the word "lien". She explains that word is, as far as she knows, her only name. He offers to give her a name, and suggests Lien Kung Fu, since all she knows is Kung Fu. Later still, he reminds her of their first meeting, and calls her Lien Ni Chang (apparently having something to do with her sparkling appearance in the moonlight.) She likes this name. Then Yi Hang suggests that they just run away together. Ni Chang asks him if he really wants to walk away from Wu Tang like that, and he says that he doesn't care about any of it. She then asks if he'll still feel this way when she's old and her hair has turned white, and he replies that there's this flower he's heard about that blooms only every twenty years, and will make someone immortal. Later still, she asks him to promise her that he will never distrust her. He goes one better, swearing a mighty oath that if he ever lets her down, may he be struck by lightning. (All through this is interspersed shots of them making love in the water fall.)Later, Yi Hang wakes up and finds himself alone again, with a message that tells him to wait for her. Ni Chang returns to the cult's stronghold and speaks with Wu Shuang. (His sister makes wisecracks.) She wants to leave the cult, and is willing to do whatever it takes to do so.As Yi Hang practices his sword forms (accidentally breaking his sword in the process) Ni Chang undergoes a ceremonial wedding to Wu Shuang, who then tries to consummate it, kissing her fully clothed body, much to her disgust. His sister feels his arousal, but realizes (somehow) that Ni Chang is in love with someone else and feels nothing. She tells Wu Shuang this, and he literally throws Ni Chang out of bed. She tells him that she is now Lien Ni Chang, not the Wolf Girl. Angrily, Wu Shuang uses his telekinesis to assault her, but decides to let her leave the cult.Meanwhile, San Kuei has become the general he'd always wanted to be -- but for the Manchurians, not the Chinese.Back at the cult stronghold, Ni Chang is torn out of her red wedding dress and left in a white dress as she walks a gauntlet, barefoot over rocks, to get out of the cult. At first, she's able to drive away those who'd attack her with a glare, but then she's attacked from behind and the cultists begin beating her fiercely. Wu Shuang warns her not to use any kung fu to get out of this situation. Rocks are thrown at her, and she is knocked down twice before she gets out of the gauntlet. But she stands up and walks away. The two young cultists who still admire her bring her her red wedding dress as she leaves.Meanwhile, Yi Hang has been found and told to come back to Wu Tang. He explains that he wants nothing to do with the situation. Pai Yung accuses him of betraying everyone close to him, while Lu Hua begs him to come back and at least explain his actions in person to Tzu Yang. He does so ...But the castle has been attacked, and Tzu Yang's head is found hanging from the roof. Yi Lang cuts it down, and tells the others to look for the body. It is found, and reunited with the head, and Yi Lang weeps. He hears Hsien Chang's voice weakly calling out, and finds him mortally wounded elsewhere in the castle. Hsien Chang tells him that the Wolf Girl and her men attacked while he was away. Yi Lang can't believe it, even as Hsien Chang dies in his arms.At this worst of all possible moments, Ni Chang arrives at the castle and is promptly attacked. She defends herself but doesn't use lethal force. Yi Lang arrives and orders the fighting to stop. She asks him if they can leave, but he has a question to ask her -- whether she is responsible for the attack on the castle. She claims that she doesn't care about it. All she wants to know is if he's coming with her. Then he asks her why she did it. Angrily, she turns to leave, but he won't let her go without an explanation ... and the Wu Tang won't let her go at all. Attacked again, she starts killing those who attacked her, employing her whip ruthlessly. She flings a spear that mortally wounds Pai Yung, wraps her whip around Li Hua's throat before slamming her into the wall. Yi Lang cuts the rope before she can decapitate Li Hua, and slaps Ni Chang hard ... just before Li Hua stabs her, although he tries to stop that as well. But his hands are on the sword, and in utter fury she pulls it the rest of the way into her body before asking him -- just once -- why he didn't believe her. She knocks him back several feet with a shove, and as she remembers all of the precious moments that they shared, all the pain she endured to be with him, her hair whips around her ... and turns pure white.She is now the Bride With White Hair.Employing telekinesis, she causes the sword in her own body to shoot out and impale Li Hua, killing her instantly. With a wicked smile, the red dress explodes off of her frame, and she releases her hair to reach out and strangle the remaining defenders of Wu Tang. In a few moments, only Yi Lang remains alive, and she holds a sword to his throat. He calls her Ni Chang ... and she tells him that person is dead. She jumps up and away from him. A moment later, incredibly, it seems that Tzu Yang has been resurrected, and he calls Yi Lang over to berate him, before stabbing him with a sword. It is actually Wu Shuang in disguise, just as the "Wolf Girl" that Hsien Chang saw was the sister in disguise. She mocks Yi Lang, before Wu Shuang returns in his proper form to tell him that he's going to die a horrible death.Yi Lang pulls the sword out of his body to wield it as a weapon, challenging Wu Shuang to come out and fight. Wu Shuang uses telekinesis to send another blade through Yi Lang, who then sees Li Hua's ghost appear before him and ask him why he did this. (Possibly, she tells him what should have been obvious -- that she was in love with him.) Lashing out at the ghost, he is then pummelled by Wu Shuang's telekinesis, and dragged toward a sword set up to bisect him from the groin up. But the head of the Buddha's statue is dropped on Wu Shuang, distracting him before he can complete this attack ... and the Bride with White Hair, who knocked it loose, looks down on Yi Lang with an unreadable expression. However, the head is flung at her, knocking her away despite Yi Lang's cry of warning. Wu Shuang gets up and flings it at Yi Lang as well, but he is able to dodge and run Wu Shuang and his sister through with a sword ... which annoys them, and so he knocks him around with telekinesis before going after the Bride. She tries to fight him, but is no match for his power. After incapacitating her, he goes after Yi Lang, demanding to know why he tried to steal his woman. The Bride tries to strangle Wu Shuang with her hair, but this doesn't work either, and they bounce around like pinballs for a few moments. His sister tells Wu Shuang to cut the Bride's heart out, but he doesn't really want to, and his indecision proves fatal when Yi Lang employs the same sword stroke that split the wood to split them in two, leaving them to bleed out on the ground.Yi Lang calls out for Ni Chang, and manages to stand up. He looks over the wrecked hall, and sees her standing in the doorway, looking back at him with that same unreadable expression, before she walks away.Ten years later, Yi Lang is still waiting for the flower to blossom ... | tragedy, revenge, cult, violence | train | imdb | This movie is a perfect, heart felt, tragic love story.
What is so great about this movie is the brilliant acting, incredible cinematography, great music and the most un-like Hollywood ending you'll ever see.
Leslie Cheung and Brigitte Lin played their character very well and their acting was great.
Oscar Winner Peter Pau(Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) did the cinematography for this movie and it was Excellent.
This film can make you want to see the sequel(The Bride with White Hair 2).
Yi-Hang meets Lien (Brigitte Lin), a warrior adopted by wolves and accepted by a tribe leaded by the evil magic twins Ji Wushuang (Francis Ng / Elaine Lui), in a lake, and they fall in love for each other.
When the clan of Yi-Hang is attacked, he does not believe on Lien, thinking that she killed his master and cursing their love.This beautiful and tragic love story, a kind of Chinese version of "Romeo and Juliet", has wonderful cinematography and costumes.
Incredibly beautiful and unique fantasy adventure from Hong Kong film maker Ronny Yu. Ronny Yu's (Legacy of Rage, The Phantom Lover) Bride With White Hair (1993) is incredible collaboration in the field of cinema.
Editor David Wu, cinematographer Peter Pau and director Yu have created a piece of magic that will amaze fans of Orient cinema many years to come.
Years after they meet again, and the power of love will change their lives forever..This film is an adaptation of the same Chinese novel, on what Wolf Devil Woman was based on, too.
The visual magic of the film is outstanding as this includes perhaps the best cinematography I've seen in Orient films.
Editor David Wu has been editor in great films like Crying Freeman, John Woo's Hard Boiled and Bullet in the Head, Swordsman and all three A Better Tomorrow films, by John Woo (first two) and Tsui Hark (part three).
People who consider this kind of cinema irritating simply can't understand the possibilities and multi leveled magic of cinema, and thus they consider this kind of visual films bad or stupid.
Bride With White Hair shows exactly what are the possibilities of a talented film director and crew.
The remastered DVD released in Hong Kong is in gorgeous widescreen and the film is uncut, so it is one (and cheap) possible purchase of this film.The editing and pace of the fight scenes (usually sword fights) is also fantastic, and totally unforgettable.
The two most important elements of Bride With White Hair are cinematography and editing.
I think Bride With White Hair was going to get a Category III rating due to its violence, but director Yu toned down couple of violent scenes for theatrical release, but the scenes are nevertheless intact on that mentioned Hong Kong DVD release.The drama scenes between Leslie Cheung and Brigitte Lin are very touching and real, and never unnatural or stupid.
The themes in Bride With White Hair are universal and as topical and important and they were back then when the film was made.
I think that Bride With White Hair is occasionally little too slow, and they should have shortened couple of scenes, but this is very minor flaw in a film that has so much merits and unique achievements.Bride With White Hair's atmosphere is perhaps greater than most of other films' and I think that equal experience could be found only from other Hong Kong or Orient films, as Orient Cinema is so unique compared to most Western films.
I think it is every director's destiny to make sometimes less personal films because of monetary reasons.Bride With White Hair is pure Hong Kong classic and almost unbeatable in every level.
It can be described as horror, fantasy, romance, action, martial arts and adventure and it is perfect combination of all these.
But it does a wonderful job in making you wonder what will happen next in the sequel(The bride with white hair 2).
If you're looking for something different than all these Western movies, than watch this one for sure.
The plot and look of the film reminded me of the "Chinese Ghost Story" Trilogy (1987-91), which I watched and loved only a few years back, while the gravity-defying stunts looked forward to Ang Lee's (obviously more accomplished) CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000).
As is the norm for this sort of film, the characters are all stock types (the nasty Siamese-twin villains being a particular liability) which means that, for all the pseudo-philosophy which gets spouted (usually by elders) from time to time, the tale follows a rigid, rather simplistic and all-too-familiar path which doesn't allow for much depth or surprise
though "The Bride With White HaIr" herself (when she belatedly appears) is a memorable creation and I wouldn't mind catching up eventually with this film's sequel (from the same year and director)..
The romantic part of this film really adds to the atmosphere (the tendersweet waterfall scene) and Brigitte's performance as Lien Ni Chang really helped her character shine.
I've never felt myself cringe as much I did during the "leaving the cult" ceremony.Whether it's for the action or romance, the Bride with White Hair is really entertaining & highly recommended for viewing pleasure..
must see HK Kung Fu. This is an insanely entertaining movie, which plays more like an opera.
It has it all, a great love story, Kung Fu fights out the ass with all the flying acrobatics you could want.
And best of all Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia as the high flying wolf girl with magical skills.
This is one of the few times a classic Chinese novel has been accurately brought to life on the big screen.So why do I say this film is so great?
How about brilliant acting, incredible cinematography, great music & sound effects, and the most un-Hollywood ending of all time.I would give a kidney to find a CD of the soundtrack.
Its hard and sad to believe this film will never be truly appreciated, even after the success of crouching tiger there wont be too many people interested in viewing this.
Its a very sad day for movies when a film like this is so limited in reaching an audience.The cinematography is so simple sometimes that its breath-taking.
The early scene of the young swordsman against a backdrop of a golden sky slicing through falling pink petals beneath a molting tree is perfection on the eye, just stunning, and never i dont think has a woman looked more beautiul than bridgitte lin as the mysterious witch bathing in a cavernous pool.The storytelling is so grand, so innocent, so perfect that all hollywood "epics" pale in significance, and the acting is of a high quality to match.Essentially its a martial arts/swordplay/fantasy/love story but in such a refreshing way it almost fails to fall into any of these genres.
It should be noted that this has been part of chinese cinema for over a decade, but Bride With The White Hair puts it in an entirely different context to the likes of the Tsui Hark Directed Once Upon A Time In China series.Not to give too much away but by the end even the hardest of hearts will break and at the very least some of the imagery will stay with you for a long long time - i never thought something visualised on a screen could be so beautiful as everyday sights, but somehow its managed - i have no hesitation in saying this is the best cinematography i have ever seen, and any student of camera work or direction should watch it as a piece of art, or more, a work of art.
The "Bride with White Hair" is often defined as a wuxiapian version of "Romeo and Juliet": indeed it's amusing, as we follow this tale of two warriors united by love but separated by their belonging to opposite clans, to ponder on the many joints with Shakespeare's tragedy.
For half of the movie (i.e. 45 minutes), it qualifies as being one of the most astounding fantasy movies I ever saw: firstly, it captures the spectator by showing beautiful images and settings (and I'm sure Cho Yi-hang [Leslie Cheung] is not the only one who dropped, out of bewilderment, his jaw!).
Is there any way that people can escape Lin Ching Hsia's charm?So far for the good points for "Bride": fascinating setting, a clever hero (with an endearing portrait of his childhood included) and an alluring assassin, all surrounded by a thick veil of mystery and folklore.
Just as Cho Yi-hang's feelings get corresponded by Lien Ni-chang and we expect that love will provide a new injection of vitality and creativity over the ruthless and cold world they dwell in, the movie sinks into predictability and shallowness: our heroes just don't have the same mutual trust that Romeo and Juliet had and, since their decisions are guided, more than love, by their impulsive nature, I missed being fully emotionally involved into their ending struggle.
Sweeping, fantastic, historical adventure film, one of the biggest to come out of Hong Kong in the '90s, and blessed with scenes of breathtaking action and a strong story incorporating romance, the eternal battle between good and evil, chivalry, and more into one epic whole.
The film doesn't skimp on the gore either, with bodies being decapitated and torn in two, and the various martial arts swordplay scenes are fast-paced and a delight to watch, especially the massacre of an ending.Fantasy elements to the story include scenes of the cavorting "evil horde", which are shot to be impressively hellish; a pair of evil Siamese twins who are cut in two in the bad taste conclusion; and the witch of the title herself, who flies through the forests and cuts down her enemies with her whip and occasionally her own hair!
At the film's heart is a tragic romance between human and witch which is just as moving as in Romeo and Juliet and is enhanced by strong turns from leads Brigitte Lin and Leslie Cheung, who bring both personality and pathos to their roles.
The supporting cast are generally a strong bunch too, especially the literal double act of Francis Ng and Elaine Lui who are quite dastardly as the gruesome twosome.The Bride with White Hair is definitely a feather in the cap of director Ronny Yu, packed with strong action and beautifully shot and staged throughout, with some of the fastest and excellent special effects (including wirework) in the martial arts bouts that you will ever see.
The best thing is, that unlike a lot of kung-fu epics with fine action, the storyline is actually impressive and interesting here too, with a wide story arc.
Great Hong Kong movie making!.
The Bride with white hair is one of the best movies to come out of Hong Kong.
Acting is excellent and cinematography is among the best I've seen by the cinematographer who won an Academy award for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
But young warrior Yi Hang, whose destiny is to lead the warriors of the Eight Clans against the evil forces, falls in love with the enemy's best warrior, wolf-girl.
He breaks wolf-girl's heart, and she becomes the bride with white hair.
Is there a way for Yi Hang to win her heart back?This beautiful fantasy/martial-arts/swordplay mix has become a classic of Hong Kong cinema already.
It's one of the best Hong Kong movies I've ever seen and probably director Yan-Tai Yu's best film.
It's stunning cinematography, really incredible (and bloody!) fight sequences, beautiful music and sad romance make it an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Ching-Hsia Lin (Brigitte Lin) looks incredible as the bride with white hair, and the fights must be seen to be believed.
Pure Hong Kong fantasy cinema at it's best, topped only by "A Chinese Ghost Story"..
Director Ronny Yu's masterwork, The Bride With White Hair is one of the best wuxia films ever as well as one of my personal favorites.
20 plus years later, The Bride With White Hair still looks amazing with lush visuals, stunning cinematography, as well as great sets, costumes and weaponry.
The Bride With White Hair could be described as Romeo And Juliet in a Chinese period fantasy martial arts setting, but it is much more than that in my opinion.
This tragic love story with reluctant swordsman Leslie Cheung and wolf girl Brigitte Lin is not a conventional swordsman flick and its tone is darker than most in the genre.
It has similar visual flair and atmosphere and also is a tragic love story as well.
The Bride With White Hair has been a favorite for a long time and holds up really well through the years.
The Bride With White Hair is a classic and really is in a class of its own..
Back in the 80s, the Hong Kong movie industry was making some of the best action-fantasy movies around and this was maybe its high water mark, combining historical action fantasy with quite a touching central romance.
Adapted from the 1954 Chinese novel 'River Lake' and set during one of China's many historical periods of internal unrest, Bride is a lush folk tale about a martial artist who wanders into the woods and encounters the Wolf Girl, a legendary recluse who had been raised by wolves, playing one of those yard-long wooden Chinese flutes.
Quite a much talked about and highly praised Honk Kong fantasy martial arts spectacle directed by Ronny Yu. I actually expected more to it
oh well.Nonetheless it kept me captivated with some outrageously wild and inventive set-pieces, where the fast action choreography knew no boundaries and they can be brutally bloody as well.
Moments within the story do bog down the pace with it going on to feel too simple with its character's plights, and at times the boundless spray of martial arts seemed a little too hectic for its own good.Brigitte Lin is lusciously potent as the title character (a very memorable I might add) and along side her Leslie Cheung leaves a fine mark with his warm-hearted performance.
I don`t understand why people and especially critic are so overwelmed by the last film of Ang Lee. The bride with white hair is the best in the genre.
Great story, fantastic character and special effect at the right time, not all the time.
The picture is beautiful and the story as no break in the middle, like in crouching dragon.
When an actual story does begin to take form, the film does have some touching and/or disturbing moments (you get a good look at naked Siamese twins), but the much-talked-about violence and action choreography is strictly comic-book-level.
I feel like I'm crowding into the back of a big Hong Kong movie theater..
It is said, THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR, is the Asiatic answer to ROMEO AND JULIET of West.
A lyric martial arts film, with two great Asian stars BRIGITTE LIN and LESLIE CHEUNG.
Over and above the inspired direction, art direction, photography, action choreography and music made this film one of the best in Asia..
This movie is a fantasy film in the strongest sense of the word.
It has a real sense of romance, yet it has well handled violence which, though graphic, is not over the top and uncontrolled like a bad horror movie.
Seen both "Bride with the White Hair 1 and 2, and both practically stole my breath away.
A must watch for all martial artist/fantasy lovers I truly adored this movie.
Why can't we watch movies like this more often....
After reading and watching all these Manga themes, I started thinking about all this action with real actors, dark atmosphere, supernatural stuff, etc.
It's been quite a long time since I watched this film, so I won't get into deeper details (I can't actually), but I recommend it to any Manga-style (and not only!!!) lover.
Well done to the director & hopefully we watch more of him!NOTE: Don't get confused with "The bride with the white hair part 2".
A completely different movie that I never bothered watching it till the end..
The story is great and the mood and atmosphere in the movie are superb.
Never seen a Hong Kong movie?
Time to try one and why not get the best to start your Hong Kong Cinema addiction..
Firstly I Have to admit that I watched 'The Bride With White Hair' while I was drunk.
Their chief assassin falls in love with wu-tang man and that love eventually turns her into the titular 'Bride With White Hair' (albeit very late into the film).
The score is O.K but I saw the dub and the voices were the typical screechy charicature's that occasionally mar this genre.The bride with white hair is many things, but it certainly isnt the classic many consider it to be.
The Bride with White hairThis is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Sure it is less than perfect,but in the end the bottom line is a entertaining piece of martial arts fantasy.
The action is not the best mostly because of the odd slow motion effects on the fight scenes and lack of any real martial artists in the cast.
This film has a real gothic feel to it and the thing that makes it soar is the powerful emotions that play off of the two lead actors.
Both Bridgette Lin and Leslie Chung go the distance to make you believe in the love of the characters.This is I believe the second film made based on this novel.
Great movie for fantasy fans!Spoilers starting now*******The love scene in the waterfall is beautiful and revivals the power of any love in scene in any Hollywood films.
Of all the villains throughout cinematic history I don't think I have ever seen one so original, twisted, or down right messed up as the one in this film.
You get 'The Bride with White Hair'!
You get 'The Bride with White Hair'! |
tt0440963 | The Bourne Ultimatum | Following his pursuit by Kirill (in The Bourne Supremacy), Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) evades Moscow police while wounded, and deals with more flashbacks of when he first joined Operation Treadstone. Six weeks later, CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy (Joan Allen) divulges the audiotaped confession of Ward Abbott, the late former head of Treadstone, to Director Ezra Kramer (Scott Glenn). Meanwhile, in Turin, journalist Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) of The Guardian meets an informant to learn about Bourne and Operation Blackbriar, the program succeeding Treadstone. The CIA tracks Ross as he returns to London, after his mention of "Blackbriar" during a cell-phone call to his editor is detected by the ECHELON system. Bourne reappears in Paris to inform Martin Kreutz (Daniel Brühl), the step-brother of his girlfriend Marie Helena Kreutz (Franka Potente), of her assassination in India, also in the previous film.
Bourne reads Ross's articles and arranges a meeting with him at London Waterloo station. Bourne realizes that the CIA is following Ross and helps him evade capture for a while, but when he panics and ignores Bourne's instructions, Blackbriar assassin Paz (Édgar Ramírez) shoots Ross dead, in the middle of a busy station, on orders of Deputy Director Noah Vosen (David Strathairn). Vosen's team, reluctantly assisted by Landy, analyzes Ross's notes and identifies his source as Neal Daniels (Colin Stinton), a CIA Station chief involved with Treadstone and Blackbriar. Bourne makes his way to Daniels's office in Madrid but finds it empty. He incapacitates gunmen sent by Vosen and Landy. Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles), a former Treadstone operative who shares a history with Bourne, tells him that Daniels has fled to Tangier and aids his escape from an arriving CIA unit.
Nicky learns that Blackbriar "asset" Desh Bouksani (Joey Ansah) has been tasked with killing Daniels. Vosen sees that Nicky accessed information about Daniels and sends Bouksani after Nicky and Bourne as well, a decision with which Landy fiercely disagrees. Bourne follows Bouksani to Daniels but fails to prevent Daniels's death by a planted bomb. However, Bourne manages to kill Bouksani before he can kill Nicky. After sending Nicky into hiding, Bourne examines the contents of Daniels's briefcase and finds the address of the deep-cover CIA bureau in New York City, where Vosen directs Blackbriar. Bourne travels to New York.
Landy receives a phone call from Bourne, which is intercepted by Vosen. When Landy tells him that his real name is David Webb and gives him the birth date "4-15-71", Bourne tells Landy to "get some rest" because she was tired, tipping off his presence in New York (a scene replicated from the end of the previous film). Vosen intercepts a text to Landy from Bourne apparently of a location to meet up and leaves his office with a whole team. Bourne however waits for them all to leave, enters Vosen's office and takes classified Blackbriar documents. Realizing that he has been hoodwinked, Vosen sends Paz after Bourne, but the resulting car chase ends with Bourne forcing Paz's car to crash into a concrete barrier. Bourne holds the injured Paz at gunpoint, but spares his life.
Bourne arrives at a hospital at 415 East 71st Street, having figured out Landy's coded message. Outside, Bourne meets Landy and gives her the Blackbriar files before going inside. Vosen also figures out Landy's code and warns Dr. Albert Hirsch (Albert Finney), who ran Treadstone's behavior modification program, that Bourne is coming. He follows Landy inside the building but is too late to stop her from faxing the Blackbriar documents out. Meanwhile, Bourne confronts Hirsch on an upper floor and remembers that he volunteered for Treadstone. As Bourne flees to the roof, he is confronted by Paz, who asks, "Why didn't you take the shot?" Bourne repeats the dying words of The Professor in The Bourne Identity: "Look at us. Look at what they make you give." Paz lowers his gun, but Vosen appears and shoots at Bourne as he jumps into the East River.
Some time later, Nicky watches a news broadcast about the exposure of Operation Blackbriar, the arrests of Hirsch and Vosen, a criminal investigation against Kramer, and the whereabouts of David Webb, a.k.a. Jason Bourne. Upon hearing that his body has not been found after a three-day search of the river, Nicky smiles. Bourne is shown swimming away in the East River. | mystery, boring, murder, violence, flashback, action, suspenseful | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0070547 | Il plenilunio delle vergini | Karl Schiller [Mark Damon] thinks he may have located Wagner's Ring of Nibelungen
at Castle Dracula in the Carpathian mountains and plans to go looking for
it. Karl's seedy twin brother Franz [also Mark Damon] reminds him that Transylvania is the
land of vampires, but Karl laughs off such superstitious ideas. Besides,
he's got an amulet that will protect him, so he sets off for Transylvania.
However, Franz whips up a swift horse, swipes Karl's amulet, and beats him
to the castle. Franz stops first in the village nearest the castle and
learns from the innkeeper's daughter Tanya [Francesca Romana Davila] that tomorrow night is the
Night of the Virgin Moon, and legend says that every 50 years on the full
moon following Midsummer, five virgins will be chosen from the village and
called to the castle. What happens to them is not known, but they
disappear during the night and are never seen again. After deflowering
Tanya for her own protection, Franz rides on to Castle Dracula where he
meets the occupants--the Contessa Dominga de Vries [Sara Bay] and her zombielike
lesbian housekeeper Lara [Esmerelda Barros]. Unfortunately for Franz, he left the amulet of
protection back at the inn. The Contessa, being a vampire, easily seduces
Franz and turns him into one, too.Along comes Karl, riding his not-so-swift horse. When he shows up at
the castle and identifies himself, the Countess informs him that Franz was
there but left abruptly without a word of thanks, and she doesn't know
where he went. Karl is invited to stay the night, but when he finds
himself locked in his bedroom, he climbs out of the window and goes poking
around the castle. He winds up in the crypt where he is attacked by a
bald-headed vampire [Ciro Papas] and finds his brother sealed in a coffin. Karl
releases Franz and carries him back upstairs, but Franz has no memory of
how he got into the crypt.Meanwhile, Tanya has found the amulet under the pillow in the room
where Franz spent the night, and she decides to bring it to the castle
herself. She sees Karl in the window and, thinking him to be Franz, she
tells him that she has brought his amulet. By the time Karl can get from
his room down to the courtyard, Tanya has disappeared but he does find the
amulet laying on the cobblestones.This being the Night of the Virgin Moon, the Countess is busy
preparing for the ceremony. First, she puts on the Ring of Nibelungen and
uses it to summon the five virgins to the castle. Once there, they are
stripped naked by Lara and prepared to be sacrificed at a Black Mass.
Meanwhile, Franz has come to realize that he is possessed by Dracula, and
the Countess informs him that they are to be married at the Black Mass.
Karl tries to talk Franz out of it, but to no avail. While Lara stabs each
of the virgins in their necks, Franz and Karl fight with each other.
Suddenly, Franz is summoned to take his place at the wedding. The Countess
gives him a knife and orders him to use it on Tanya. Instead, he turns on
Lara and stabs her in the stomach. The Countess sees Franz's reflection in
a mirror and realizes that it is Karl, not Franz, so she points the Ring
of Nibelungen at him and sics her five hooded disciples on him. Karl grabs
an axe and chops off their heads one by one. He is then set upon by the
bald-headed vampire, but Karl grabs a bayonet and stabs the vampire.Tanya has freed herself and gotten away, but she is headed off by the
Countess who uses the Ring to entrance Tanya. The Countess then changes
into a giant bat. Shortly thereafter, Karl comes running, and the Countess
turns the Ring on him, but Karl pulls out his amulet, causing the Countess
to scream in fear. He then wields his axe and cuts off her hand, the one
with the Ring on her finger. Only one more thing to do -- stake Franz and
bury his body along with the amulet -- and Karl is free to ride off with
Tanya. Unfortunately, Tanya has been turned into a vampire, and she bites
Karl. In the final scene, Franz's hand rises from his grave and clutches
the amulet. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.] | gothic | train | imdb | Two brothers searching in Transylvania for the legendary 'Ring of Nibelungen' fall under the spell of the sexy and evil Countess De Vries(Rosalba Neri)who uses the ring to attract the local virgins to her foreboding castle where they fall victim to her bloody rituals.This soft core piece of Italian erotica offers plenty of sleaze and nudity.Rosalba Neri is the convincing bloodsucker that spends much of the film in an advanced state of undress.In one memorable scene the Countess writhes around in a coffin in the pink while the faithful maid slowly pours a pitcher of fresh virgin blood over her naked body.Unfortunately the action is quite dull and there is almost no suspense.Still if you like lesbian vampire movies you can give it a look.7 out of 10..
Actually I was amazed at how good it is.My overall impression was of a film that had a Hammer vibe, with a couple twists - the twists being more blood (though there's not a tremendous amount), and more overt nudity (several topless shots).Other than that it is as good - and silly - as Hammer vampire flicks of the day.
Sure the plot is a bit daft, the whole thing turns on possession of an ancient ring, but what do you expect from a vampire film of this era?
"The Devil's Wedding Night" of 1973 is certainly no highlight of the genre, it is an enjoyable little slice of Sleaze that my fellow Eurohorror buffs should enjoy.
Even though there are some brilliant Italian Gothic Horror films made in the 70s, one might say that the sub-genre had its heyday in the 60s, when filmmakers such as the inimitable Mario Bava, Antonio Margheriti and Riccardo Freda delivered the greatest contributions to the genre.
In the 70s, the main focus of Italian Horror/Suspense cinema was on the equally brilliant and elegant Giallo-Genre; however, there were still plenty of Gothic Horror films being made, and those went with the time and were filled with the delightful sleaze that is omnipresent in 70s cult-cinema.
"The Devil's Wedding Night" is a good example for this.One has to admit that the storyline is not the film's strongest aspect, as it doesn't make a lot of sense.
In search of the legendary Ring of the Nibelungen, Karl Schiller (Mark Damon) comes to Transylvania where he inspects Castle Dracula, claiming that he does so for architectural studies.
The stunningly beautiful and sinister Contessa Dolingen De Vries (Rosalba Neri), who owns the castle, immediately seduces him.
In the meanwhile Karl's identical twin brother (also Mark Damon), has followed him to Transylvania in order to look after his safety...As stated above, the story doesn't make a lot of sense.
The ravishing Rosalba Neri (credited here as Sara Bay) who is best known for her roles in other sleazy Italian gems such as "La Figlia Di Frankenstein" ("Frankenstein's Daughter", 1971) and "La Bestia Uccide A Sangue Freddo" ("Slaughter Hotel", 1971) and who is once again more than willing to take her clothes off, fits in the role of the Vampiric Countess very well.
Apart from her beauty, Rosalba Neri also has a great screen presence and the talent to be effectively eerie.
The film includes all the essential ingredients of 70s Eurosleaze, such as gratuitous female nudity, lesbianism and lesbian Vampires, and bloody and perverted Satanic rituals.
Leading man Mark Damon was in the greatest of Gothic Horror films in the sixties, including Bava's "I Tre Volti Della Paura" ("Black Sabbath", 1963) and Roger Corman's "House of Usher" (1960).
He continued to be in the sleaziest of Gothic Horror movies in the seventies, including the visually stunning "Byleth - Il Demone Dell'Incesto" and this film.
Overall, "The Devil's Wedding Night" is no must-see, but it certainly is a fun flick to watch for a fan of low-budget Eurohorror.
But. then the housekeeper (Rosalba Neri) bathes the Countess in hot blood, and it gets a little steamier.But, the real deal in this Italian classic is Dracula's ring.
He stays at an inn at a nearby town and finds out from the attractive innkeeper's daughter that once every year during the full moon the town sends five virgin sacrifices to the mysterious inhabitants of the castle (thus the Italian title of this movie).
He meets the inhabitants of the castle-- Countess Dracula (Rosalba Neri) and her sinister lesbian servant.
. .This movie like "Death Smiles at Murder", "The Reincarnation of Isabel" and the director's more famous "Nude for Satan" was made at a time when the Italian Gothic horror films of the 1960's had pretty much completely sunk into blood-drenched and sex-fueled delirium.
The main attraction here, of course, is the numerous nude scenes by Rosalba Neri and the sequence where the five virgins are sacrificed (which, of course, involves each of them being stripped naked and stabbed to death by the lesbian servant).
A professional critic I once read describes the famous scene where blood is poured on on Neri's nude, writhing body as "pretty unappealing".
Neri was a great actress when given a chance and this could have been a memorable role for her (like the famous Erica Blanc role in the similar "The Devil's Nightmare"), but this movie is just too stupid and ham-handedly executed.
By no means a top notch Gothic horror but it is colourful and eventful, has the wondrous, Rosalba Neri and a cast of lovelies, all pretty keen to strip down.
The ever effective Mark Damon, here plays a pair of twins with some silly mission involving a big red ring, worn throughout the film, of course by the vampiric countess (Neri) in some style.
Thus, I would have to say that the odds of twin brothers Karl and Franz Schiller, in the 1978 Eurosleaze horror flick "The Devil's Wedding Night," arriving at the castle of Countess Dolingen de Vries in Transylvania on the one night in 50 years when village virgins are sacrificed is, well, 18,262 to 1.
In their quest for Wagner's legendary Ring of the Nibelungen, which gives its owner almost limitless powers, the brothers (well played, I suppose, by Mark Damon) run afoul of not only the beautiful vampiric countess, but her castleful of zombie retainers, as well.
In the role of the countess we have the perfect 10 Eurobabe Rosalba Neri (here called Sara Bay, for some reason), an actress who I only recently became enamored of after admiring her performance as the doomed nymphomaniac in 1971's "Slaughter Hotel." Rosalba, though a talented thespian (and, in this film, lesbian) and much more than just a gorgeous face, nonetheless still looks incredible here, especially when streaked with blood and rising out of a steaming vat.
Like another Italian film that I recently saw, 1960's "Mill of the Stone Women," "The Devil's Wedding Night" features a disorienting, drug-induced, psychedelic freakout sequence that comes roughly halfway in.
Director Luigi Batzella and composer Vasili Kojucharov's contributions do create a film with some creepy atmosphere, and for all you hound dogs out there, the five virgins that are called to the castle, stripped and butchered are quite a toothsome lot.
Hunky Mark effectively says he'll save her life by popping her cherry - looks like another Italian film with a feminist agenda is well underway.He gets to the castle and finds a dozy-looking maid who tells him that the sexy countess isn't around and he might as well have a trippy walk around the castle.
After finding the tombs, and hearing strange screaming,he finds the maid dead in one of the coffins, and heads back to the castle to find sexy Rosalba Neri who is definitely not an evil vampire.
Rosalba hits it off with Hunky Mark when she introduces the alive again maid, but to keep your mind off of why nothing up to this point makes any sense, Rosalba gets Hunky Mark in the sack for some filthy squeezy, then turns into a giant bat and bites him.By this time Nerd Mark arrives at the castle and doesn't believe Rosalba when she says his brother wasn't there.
Just when you think the last scene is going to repeat itself Rosalba gives Nerd Mark some drugs and while he's rolling about laughing gets the maid in the sack instead and has her pour blood all over her naked body.
Up periscope!This is all leading to the big virgin sacrificing scene where one brother has to rescue the other brother from a sexy vampire and although Luigi Betzella is associated with bottom of the barrel trash like the Beast in Heat, this is a decent film with a lot of effective scenes, and one particularly hilarious one of someone superimposed in front of a giant real bat.
I'm not the hugest vampire film fan in the world so if I like it then it must have something good going for it.There are also a huge amount of nude scenes in this one too, most of them by Rosalba Neri.
Great looking topless girls in this Euro shocker/ sex flick, about Dracula's oversized joke shop ring, with a red amulet almost as large as girl's hand, and the various people are hoping to possess it.
Film is kind of like an old Hammer Horror, with a bit more graphic sex and nudity: beautiful lesbian vampire lures young girls to castle to frolic with them, then offers them as sacrifices to the devil.
That's why Italian horror movies such as THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT focus more on sex to compliment the genre.
Il Plenlunio delle vergini (THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT) is probably only interesting as a late example of Italian Gothic horror.
The photography is a mediocre homage to NOSFERATU, the sets pale in comparison to those of earlier gothic horror films (for example, Bava's BLACK SUNDAY), the story is dull and inconsistent, the nude scenes are neither necessary nor particularly erotic, and the atmosphere is less-than-spooky when it isn't unintentional comical.
A pretty good cheesy horror movie.
Some bright red gore, the naked charms of several sexy women, including star Rosalba Neri, and a few unintentional laughs are the main attractions of this otherwise rather tedious vampiric potboiler.
Appearing opposite a bland Mark Damon, Neri plays bride of Dracula La Contessa Dolingen de Vries, who uses the fabled ring of the Nibelungen to lure virgins to her castle.
Damon plays dual roles (when he isn't really up to just the one), that of archaeologist Franz Schiller, who goes to the castle in search of the ring, and of his twin brother Karl, who follows, too late to save his sibling but not too late to end the Contessa's reign of terror.As is often the case in such Gothic Euro horror, there's an awful lot of wandering around the castle, with an obligatory storm raging overhead, all of which is fairly mundane, but at least director Luigi Batzella sees fit to punctuate the boredom with the occasional spot of sleaze: the Contessa has sex with Franz, giving the viewer a good eyeful of Neri's bod; Neri also gets naked whilst taking a blood bath, the red stuff poured all over her chest by faithful housemaid Lara (Esmeralda Barros); the Contessa and Lara have a lesbian romp; and five virgins are stripped naked before being stabbed in the neck, their blood gushing over their bare breasts.
All good stuff.Also reasonably fun: the fight between Karl and a bald hunchbacked vampire; the trippy laughing scene (I haven't a clue what that was all about); Karl hacking off the Contessa's hand; the Contessa turning into a huge bat to attack comely innkeeper's daughter Tanya (Francesca Romana Davila); and the silly surprise ending.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for the hilarious moment when the Contessa holds up the magical ring to Karl and he starts to do Tai Chi. At least that's what it looked like to me..
Mind you, this is nowhere near the incomprehensible mess that ISABEL was but the plot also concerns vampires, sacrificial victims and lookalike protagonists (in this case, Mark Damon as twin brothers).It all starts with the search for the mythic Ring of the Nibelungens, currently residing in Transylvania(!)
which, of course, is the home of Count Dracula.
When one of the Damons goes there, he finds a Countess ("Euro-Cult" starlet Rosalba Neri) living in Castle Dracula; having lost his protective amulet, he soon falls under her spell and is himself turned into a bloodsucker.
Soon after, though, his twin turns up at the castle but, being the more studious of the two, he resists Neri's advances and, thinking something's not right with the place, spends a good part of the running-time roaming its various corridors and, naturally, the crypt (virtually a given for Gothic chillers)!
As it turned out, the brothers happened to pick the time when five local virgins are to be sacrificed (presumably for the reincarnation of Dracula); the film's most erotic yet visually impressive sequence, as a matter of fact, shows the blood of a freshly-slain girl being spilled on the naked Countess residing in one of the crypts by her zombie-like black maid (yes, various horror myths are thrown in for no very good reason and with little real impact!).
The hero leaves the castle with a local girl he had befriended but, in a clichéd downbeat conclusion, she has been turned into a vampire (off-screen) as well given that the driver of the coach is none other than the sinister-looking character occasionally seen prowling the castle grounds
To be fair, the tone of the piece is characteristically dream-like and it all looks pretty good for the little budget the director must have had at his disposal; on the other hand, being at once insufficiently-plotted and highly derivative, it's not memorable enough to live in the memory..
The Devil's Wedding Night (1973) ** (out of 4) Archaeologist Karl Schiller (Mark Damon) is doing research on a mythical ring that was apparently once owned by Count Dracula.
Even though his twin brothers tries to talk him out of going, Karl heads off to Transylvania where he goes to a castle ran by Countess de Vries (Rosalba Neri) and her assistant Lara (Esmeralda Barros).THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT is one of the most popular EuroHorror movies out there but I'm going to guess the main reason is because of its public domain status and the fact that this film has been included in so many cheap releases that most collectors would have bought one of the various versions at some point in their life.
That's not to say that this is a completely worthless film because it isn't but at the same time it's certainly not what one would consider a "good" movie.Like most European films from this era that deals with vampires, this one here has a rich atmosphere as well as plenty of nudity, sex and of course blood.
Neri was one of the most beautiful starlets from this era and she's very effective in the film here.
Damon is also good in his two roles and Barros is effective as well.As I said, director Luigi Batzella does a very good job at building up some atmosphere and a few of the scenes are quite effective but at just 83 minutes there are still plenty of moments where the film becomes quite dull and talky.
THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT isn't a masterpiece or even a good film but fans of Neri will want to check it out..
Within its genre this movie still simply remains a good and original watch, that will most definitely please most of the Italian horror movie lovers out there.To me, this was a movie that was all about its atmosphere.
Horror-wise, this movie is also being very typical for an Italian '70's production, meaning that it's also a quite sleazy at times, in terms of its nudity and female characters.
It's not a movie with any scares in it but it's one that constantly builds- and relies on its atmosphere instead, which is something perfectly dark, Gothic and weird, in a good and original way.Something that is also really worth mentioning is its musical score by Vasili Kojucharov.
"Il plenilunio delle vergini" ("The Devil's Wedding Night" in English) is probably most readily available as part of Elvira's Movie Macabre.
In a way, these horror flicks hearken back to Italy's famous paintings showing scenes of torture and suffering.I don't know if it's possible to obtain this movie on its own.
A top-rate, exquisitely trashy and sexy Eurosleaze Gothic horror treat starring the gorgeously sleek'n'slender brunette hottie supreme Rosalba ("Slaughter Hotel") Neri as a wicked bisexual Translyvanian vampire countess who every year sacrifices five virgins in order to appease Satan and retain her immortality.
The eternally insipid Mark Damon offers twice the blandness as a studious, bookish dweeb and his more loose, fun-loving party hearty womanizing heel twin brother (guess which one falls under Neri's evil, yet irresistibly alluring spell and winds up being turned into a vampire while searching for a precious rare glowing magical red amulet that Neri possesses).
"The Devil's Wedding Night" is a perfect example of everything that bugs me about Eurohorror.
It boasts every cruddy cliché you can think of--magic rings and amulets, chanting Satanists, goofy-looking fake vampire teeth, and nudity out the wazoo--but has none of the style or atmosphere of, say, a Mario Bava film.
Mark Damon (who looks as if he'd done some hard living after starring in "House of Usher" and "Black Sabbath" a decade earlier) plays twin brothers Franz and Karl, both of whom are menaced by a beautiful but sinister countess (Rosalba Neri, who appears here as 'Sara Bay') in her gloomy castle.
If you're not picky about your horror, or if you just want to have a good laugh, I guess "The Devil's Wedding Night" is an acceptable way to pass eighty minutes of your life. |
tt0070328 | Live and Let Die | Three British MI6 agents, including one "on loan" to the American government, are killed under mysterious circumstances within 24 hours while monitoring the operations of Dr. Kananga, the dictator of a small Caribbean island called San Monique. One is killed at a meeting of the United Nations. The second is stabbed on a street in New Orleans while observing a restaurant called Fillet of Soul; his body is secreted in the coffin of a passing funeral procession. The third agent is killed on the island of San Monique during a voodoo rites ceremony; the high priest uses a poisonous snake to kill the man.James Bond is ordered by his boss, M, to investigate the deaths and their connections to Kananga. He is sent to New York City, where the first agent was killed and where Kananga is currently visiting the UN. As soon as Bond arrives in New York City, his driver is killed while taking him to meet Felix Leiter of the CIA and Bond narrowly escapes a potentially fatal car wreck. The driver's killer leads Bond to Mr. Big, a gangster who runs the chain of Fillet of Soul restaurants throughout the United States. It is during his confrontation with Mr. Big that Bond first meets Solitaire, a beautiful virgin tarot expert who has the uncanny ability to see both the future and remote events in the present. Big orders his henchman to kill Bond, who manages to escape unscathed.Bond follows Kananga to San Monique, where he subsequently meets Rosie Carver, a CIA double agent, who is subsequently murdered after Bond suspects her of working for Kananga. Later he meets the boatman Quarrel, Jr. who takes him to the home of Solitaire. Using a stacked deck of tarot cards only showing "The Lovers", Bond seduces her. Solitaire, losing her virginity as a result of sleeping with Bond, loses her foresight abilities and is forced into cooperating with Bond to bring down Kananga. Bond escapes the island with Solitaire on Quarrel Jr's boat and heads for Louisiana. When they arrive, Bond escapes Kananga's men in a small craft airport. He meets up with Felix Leiter and the two go to the New Orleans Fillet of Soul. When Leiter leaves their table momentarily, it drops down into the floor, where Mr. Big awaits Bond. Big harshly demands to know if Bond had slept with Solitaire. Bond says that the answer is a secret between himself and Solitaire and he'll only reveal the truth to Kananga himself. Big suddenly pulls prosthetic makeup from his face, revealing that he is actually Kananga.Kananga explains that he is producing two metric tonnes of heroin on San Monique and is protecting the poppy fields with camouflage and by exploiting locals' fear of voodoo and the occult. Through his alter ego, Mr. Big, Kananga plans to distribute the heroin free of charge on the market, which will drive all the other drug cartels out of business, increase the number of addicts, and give Kananga a monopoly of the heroin market. Using the serial number on Bond's watch, Kananga tests Solitaire's truthsaying powers. She fails but Kananga does not reveal the outcome in front of Bond; after Bond is escorted out of the room, he chastises Solitaire harshly for her betrayal and leaves her in the hands of Baron Samedi to be sacrificed in ritual on San Monique.Kananga turns Bond over to Tee Hee Johnson, a thug with a mechanical arm, who takes Bond to the Farm, a community in the Louisiana backwoods filled with alligators and crocodiles and housing one of Kanaga's heroin labs. Bond is left on a small island to be food for the gators but he jumps on the backs of the reptiles to reach the shore. He sets the Farm on fire, killing some of Kananga's men. He steals a speedboat leading to a furious chase with Kananga's men in pursuit and the local sheriff, J.W. Pepper, and the Louisiana state police trying to blockade Bond and his pursuers. Bond evades them all and is met by Leiter who informs him that Kananga, Samedi and Solitaire left for San Monique.Bond goes back to San Monique, ordering Quarrel Jr to plant explosives in the poppy fields. Bond interrupts the voodoo sacrifice, rescuing Solitaire. While Bond holds the ritual attendees at bay, Baron Samedi pops up from a grave. Bond shoots him, finding he's a ceramic decoy, however, the real Samedi appears. Bond fights the man briefly & the villain ends up falling in a coffin full of poisonous snakes, seemingly bitten to death. Bond and Solitaire travel below ground into Kananga's lair. They find Kananga, who tells Bond that his wet suit was found and that the explosives he used on the poppy fields have done too little damage to interrupt production. Bond and Solitaire are lashed to a small crane over a shark pool; Kananga slashes Bond's forearm several times, drawing blood to bait the sharks. Using his magnetic watch, Bond retrieves a gas pellet from his shark gun and cuts the ropes holding him. After a brief fight with Kananga, he forces the gas pellet in Kananga's mouth, rapidly inflating the villain who floats to the top of the room and explodes.After the job is done, Felix leaves Bond and Solitaire on a train out of the country. Tee Hee makes a last attempt on Bond's life and is ejected from their train compartment at high speed. However Baron Samedi perched on the front of the speeding train in his voodoo ensemble and laughing heartily. | paranormal, blaxploitation, cult, murder, violence | train | imdb | null |
tt4160708 | Don't Breathe | Three Detroit friends, Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette), and Money (Daniel Zovatto), break into the home of wealthy owners. After Alex disables the security system, they begin to grab the nicest-looking items they can get their hands on. When they're done, they throw a rock through the plate glass door and run.Rocky lives with her little sister Diddy (Emma Bercovici) and their abusive mother Ginger (Katia Bokor) and her boyfriend Trevor (Sergej Onopko). Rocky promises to Diddy that she will get both of them out of there so they can start a new life in California.Alex lives with his father, an active policeman, who is never home and is apparently pulling double shifts at the local police station. Alex uses his father's computer connections to look for wealthy people to rob.Money gets a tip from one of his connects about a man living in a house with more than $300,000 in cash stashed somewhere. It's been said that the man is a war veteran and that he lives alone after his daughter was killed in a car accident. Rocky is on board since this could be the last robbery they ever have to pull off, but Alex doesn't agree with the plan. He later relents when Rocky begs him, as he has a crush on her, even though she's with Money.The three stalk the man's (Stephen Lang) house (which is located in a slum neighborhood and is the only occupied house on the street since every other house is condemned) and learn that he is blind. Alex thinks it's messed up to rob a blind guy, but Money says it doesn't mean he's a saint if he's blind. The man's vicious Rottweiler dog then jumps on the car door and frightens the friends.That night, the three initiate the robbery. Alex spots a tattoo on Rocky's wrist that's new, which is of a ladybug. She explains that as a child, her father left her family and her mother blamed Rocky for it. She would cry and then get locked in the trunk. One time, a ladybug flew into the trunk and kept her company. She says she'll have it colored in California and then never mark her body again.The friends head toward the man's house. Money drugs the dog to get him to knock out, allowing them a safe entry into the house. Rocky goes in first through a small bathroom window and disables the security system. While her friends wait for her, Money taunts Alex for his crush on Rocky. She returns and opens the back door. Money goes upstairs and finds the 'Blind Man' sleeping with the TV on. The Blind Man rises and hears a noise. He just turns the TV off and goes back to sleep. Money gasses the room to ensure that the man won't hear anything.The three find a locked door that leads to the basement. They think this is where they'll find the man's stash. Money starts to break down the door, leading the Blind Man to go downstairs. Money starts talking and says he doesn't want trouble, until he decides to pull a gun out on the man. The Blind Man takes a few steps forward as Money holds the gun in his face. As he slowly gets closer, the man grabs the gun from Money's hand and pins him against the wall. The Blind Man asks Money how many of them there are in the house. Money says it's just him and he pleads for the man to let him go. The Blind Man loosens his grip, but then shoots Money in the neck and through the head. He drops Money's body to the floor, and Rocky hides in the closet. The man enters and opens a safe containing his money. Rocky sees the code (2978) as he leaves.Alex goes to find Rocky after the Blind Man starts locking up all the doors and windows. They decide that they just have to sneak in through the basement and out the cellar door that leads outside. First, Rocky opens the safe and puts all the money in her bag. They head toward the basement, but the man emerges from there. The two keep quiet as he holds Money's gun. Someone's phone goes off, and he fires a quick shot. Rocky and Alex then head downstairs as the man drags Money's body outside.In the basement, Rocky is startled by a woman (Franciska Toroscik) who's been chained up to the wall. Rocky and Alex are freaked out and almost leave her until the woman holds up a newspaper article. It reveals that her name is Cindy, and that she's the woman who accidentally killed the Blind Man's daughter, but she was acquitted. Rocky and Alex free her and carry her toward the cellar door. Unfortunately, the Blind Man is there when they open it. He fires the gun and strikes Cindy in the face, killing her. Rocky and Alex hide, and the man finds out he shot Cindy. He cries over her body and yells in rage. Alex picks up the man's keys and decides to try and make it back to the front door. As he and Rocky head back upstairs, the Blind Man turns off the lights in the basement, leaving them all in total darkness. Rocky and Alex feel around for each other as the man shoots the gun. Rocky almost touches the Blind Man until Alex calls her name. The Blind Man catches Alex and tries to shoot, but his gun is empty. Alex pushes a shelf down on him, trapping him. He and Rocky run upstairs.Alex holds the door closed with a crowbar. He and Rocky try to open the door, only to find the dog has woken up and is ready to attack them. They run from the dog and trap it in a room. Unfortunately, the Blind Man has gotten out of the basement and he attacks Alex. He punches him multiple times in the face and appears to impale him with garden shears. He then finds Rocky and knocks her out too.Rocky wakes up in the basement, chained in the same spot as Cindy. She tells the Blind Man that this won't bring his daughter back. He says that's not entirely true. He impregnated Cindy to give him a child to make up for the one she killed, and he would have let her go once she gave birth. With Cindy dead, his unborn child has died as well, and he holds Rocky accountable. He cuts open a hole in Rocky's pants and grabs a baster filled with his semen sample. He prepares to impregnate Rocky, but luckily, Alex has gotten up and grabbed a hammer. He whacks the Blind Man over the head and frees Rocky. They handcuff the man to a pole. She starts kicking the man and then stuffs the baster down his throat. They leave him alone and decide not to involve the cops since the man could easily tell the cops that Rocky and Alex broke in.The two head back upstairs to leave. They manage to open the front door, but the Blind Man has gotten up and he shoots Alex dead. Rocky makes a run for it, just as the man lets the dog out. Rocky runs back to Money's car and tries to make it in before the dog gets her, but she dropped her bag outside the car. Rocky opens the trunk to try and trap the dog in there so she can get out. Her plan works, and she goes outside to get the money, but the Blind Man comes out and knocks Rocky out again.The Blind Man drags Rocky back to his house to finish his job. A ladybug flies onto Rocky's hand, giving her a boost of confidence and hope. Rocky grabs the control to set off the security system, causing the alarm to distract the man. She grabs the crowbar and whacks the Blind Man over the head multiple times until he falls into the basement and has his gun go off, shooting him in the side. Rocky takes the money and leaves the house before the police show up.Rocky is now with Diddy at the Detroit airport, ready to start their new lives. Rocky then sees a news report on TV, stating that the Blind Man was found alive and that only two burglars were reported as breaking into his home, and that he killed both of them. Rocky becomes nervous and then takes Diddy with her, never to look back again. | revenge, suspenseful, murder, flashback | train | imdb | Fede Alvarez just gave Green Room a run for its money with Don't Breathe, an incredibly intense film and glorious exercise in suspense.
Other than that, Don't Breathe is best viewed going in knowing as little as possible.This is Alvarez's first film in three years since his violent and solid remake of Evil Dead, and it is with this sophomoric debut that solidifies the genre filmmaker as someone with obvious talent.
The cinematography is amazing as well as the creative sound design, so much so they are characters within the film themselves.The cast, while small, is great too, including Jane Levy, who can pretty much be titled this generation's scream queen after this and Evil Dead.
He brings a very raw, masculine physicality to his demeanour that truly makes him terrifying at times.I think this is one of the best directed horror/thriller films I have seen for some time.
When you have a thriller filled with so much tension throughout its running time, there's only so much you can do before you start yelling "you gotta be kidding me" at the screen.The cinematography was beautiful and moody and the performances were fine, except maybe Jane Levy, who I felt was too wooden, making her character a little bit unlikable.Don't Breathe was a solid effort and a great addition to the home invasion genre with a little twist..
The director of the renowned horror film "Evil Dead," brings to you a piece of excellence that will have you hold your breath throughout this morality thriller – "Don't Breathe." It is an exquisite play that plays with the audience's integrity and the will to do the right thing while conveying the story in such a way that we feel helpless and uneasy the same way that the protagonists on screen do.
The story starts off with the audience getting to know the three protagonists of the film: Rocky (Levy), her boy friend Money (Daniel Zovatto), and wanna-be boyfriend, Alex (Dylan Minnette).
The reason many horror films always feel incomplete is because they don't have a solid background story to build up to an intense climax; rather they're just a continuity of techniques to give a sense of fear to the audience.
Even though Alvarez shed a good amount of light on Rocky, and the blind man (Lang) later on, he didn't give enough insight on Alex and Money and that's to the film's disadvantage since the audience was not able to fully understand the character traits that define that specific role.
Getting back to the gist of the film, the three teenagers are sick of quickie robberies so they hope for a better job that could possibly change their future and to their luck, Money uncovered an easy gig, which is to steal a good amount of money that sits in a safe in a blind veteran's house.
The audience doesn't know.But we are treated to a bodily fluid screen shot that should have been cut from the film.Right then the movie goes into the gutter.I never seen a group of robbers talk so loud and use guns to open doors and safes in a home invasion.
This was a blind vet who had super strength and power, now the dog in the movie added some decent horror scenes but all in all, not a film my generation can relate to and enjoy.
I really don't understand where all the good reviews come from.The film is so full of plot holes and stupidity, it's just another slasher that should have gone straight to DVD release.Without giving any spoilers, I just want to say the director should have learnt a bit more about blind people before just making one up.
For instance, I read the praised reviews on Lights Out, thinking that,that movie was really gonna be good, only to watch a horrible film and waste time in doing so.
What started off as a great idea( Check out the 1967 Wait Until Dark as that was what this movie wanted to be..without the silliness) Ended up as just a mess of plot holes and silliness.Ridiculous ideas thrown in to bring tension but fell flat..a lot of the audience were laughing at the scene where he tries to ,,,trying not to spoil it,,,let's say "Impress" her.Tension is OK ..but it's like a kid shouting boo at you all day..you get fed up very quickly."No Escape" from last year was the same..tried to overdo the tension and spoiled it.I think anybody aged 15 or so may have enjoyed it but anybody with a bit of common sense will just sit and watch till it goes off..
The eccentric man and apparently blind pretty much turns the tables on three thieving teens in this thriller.The movie starts off pretty slow, but it gives much space for the characters to develop their respective story.
What makes this movie even greater is that Fede Alvarez, the director of the Evil Dead remake, delivers only 4 major characters on the screen if you don't count the feral dog.
It's very much like how I imagine it, the style of bringing the cameras with a very smooth touch especially 5 minutes after they break into the vicinity of the house.Every movie has its black area, the thing that I feel a little over- the-top is the predictable moments, FOR SOMEONE WHO WATCHES A LOT OF MOVIE.
Don't Breathe not only expands a new level of intensity in horror or thriller films, but if it makes enough money it could inspire new waves of actually really good horror movies.
When a horror movie gives characters good development and likability it just makes the film way better.
Other than that I had such an amazing time with Don't Breathe and if your a fan of the horror genre, definitely go into it and if you are interested in having a exciting experience at the movies go and see this film.
just saw this flick and very not impressed.basic story 3 punk kids try to rob an old blind guy ,which they find out is a bad idea .ex war veteran ,trained to kill ,you know the rest.i think whoever made this pile of poop was trying to emphasise kids go naughty because they are forced to and deep down are really decent people trying to survive.rubbish ,only you choose the path in life and i had no sympathy for these little s***s full stop.so i guess that took the point of the film away.anyway the whole movie is shot in the dark so you cant see bugger all ,and the places they find to hide and run i guess it must of been a 50 room hotel.several bits of the plot are ridiculous ,and i didn't make any sense out of them ,unless this guy is a superhero the whole film is based on immpossibilities ,in fact it was so dull and predictable i turned it off half an hour before the end ,so there it is ,dont waste you're dosh..
I think one reviewer here said it best: "Don't Breathe is a grisly, unpleasant exploitation film about characters that you don't like going up against a man who is at first somewhat sympathetic and then turns out to be a ridiculous mess of a (human) monster, and it's directed with some skill.".
this is one nifty little suspense thriller.once it gets going,it grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until the end credits.i don't want to give away the plot,but lets just say that just because someone seems helpless,doesn't mean they are,as our three main characters find out when they break into a house to steal any thing of value.problem is,they picked the wrong house to rob.the owner of the house is blind but far from helpless.so our trio get much more than they bargained for.Stephen Lang plays the blind man and is pitch perfect here.the other here main actors are good,but Stephen Lang steals the show in my opinion.for me,Don/t breathe is a 9/10..
Well-crafted, with twists and turns around every corner, it's one of the scariest films you'll see this year.Starring Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto and Stephen Lang, scripted by Rodo Savagues and Fede Alvarez who also directed this film, the story is about three best friends who've been breaking and entering and robbing several houses, and they want to get to the biggest score so they can finally get away from their broken lives.
Well, the blind man's got some tricks up his sleeves, turns out, he is not somebody you'd want to mess with.Personally, I was surprised by how good this film is because I was not a fan of Fede Alvarez's "Evil Dead" remake a few years back which was more concerned about being gory than being scary.
The thieves see this guy as being easy pickings due to him ending up being blind as a result of serving in the Gulf War, but this homeowner isn't prepared to surrender his home or his money without a fight and our trio find themselves faced with a deadly adversary...Don't Breathe is a wonderful film whereby its very excellence lies with its simplicity; it's another home-invasion thriller and at no point does it try to be anything else (it can hardly be accused of re-inventing the wheel).
The idea that the victim is blind only helps to crank the tension up and helps to keep the viewer on edge - I found myself looking and listening out for the slightest sound which may cause the homeowner to rumble the thieves.Alvarez wisely keeps the direction tight and fluid and most of the focus lies on the thieves and their perilous journey to escape from a man that they feel that they shouldn't have tried to rob in the first place.In some ways Don't Breathe is an odd film from a viewing perspective as you find yourself unsure who exactly you should be rooting for; you can't really root for the thieves (for obvious reasons) and part of you wants to root for the victim, but some twists later in the film kind of make it hard to do this as well.
So what you need to do with this film is just go with the flow and sit back and enjoy this claustrophobic, terrifying and nerve-shredding thriller that basically grips you from start to finish and try not to get bogged down with any moral ambiguities.Simply put this is a top-drawer home-invasion thriller which kept me on the edge-of-my-seat and helped me restore some faith in a genre that has produced rather mixed results over the years..
Evil Dead star (latest one again) Jane Levy takes the lead as Rocky, wanting to get out of Detroit for good and sees this as her great opportunity to do so, lead astray by her Boyfriend Money (Daniel Zovatto) and aided by her secret admirer Alex (Dylan Minnette.) All three are brilliant, though they look permanently shocked throughout, but you can't blame them as the shocks keep on coming.
I know that darkness goes hand in hand with horror movies and that it's a film-maker's tool to add atmosphere to the generally grim feel, but I just found I couldn't make out what was going on!
All in all, if you don't watch an awful lot of horror films and just feel like something that's a little dark with a few jump scares and token blood and gore, then this will probably foot the bill.
Just when you think the story has to end here they kept it going and did it brilliantly.Set in Detroit, which lately with movies like It Follows and Lost River is being filmed to look like the perfect back drop for Horror, Three kids decide to rob this guy of his hard cash.
So what turned out as a simple, (cliched) one-last-time in-and-out heist, quickly escalates into a brutal case wherein the robbers are desperately trying to get out of the godforsaken hellhole that they got themselves into."Don't Breathe" was a fresh infusion into my love for Horror movies, after the massive disappoint that "The Conjuring 2" was.The storyline is brutally realistic, with no supernatural elements whatsoever.
Technical aspects like deft camera-work and sound mixing amplifies the fear factor to discomforting claustrophobia, owing to which the mounting peril on screen becomes directly proportional to increasing stress levels experienced by the viewer.While the actors playing the burglars are virtually unknown, Jane Levy as Rocky and Daniel Zovatto as Money aren't new to horror, having previously starred in Evil Dead and It Follows (2015) respectively.
but Don't Breathe surfaced on our screens and now adds another gem to the genre.Directed by Spanish filmmaker Fede Alvarez who had helmed the amazing Evil Dead remake/sequel, he returns in another hit that gives him the chance to helm a home invasion thriller.
His eye on detail, camera work and the atmosphere reminds us that he can craft a film that can have an impact on us.What I liked and admired about this one was the fact that it feels more like a thriller than horror, it relies on its scenario and how it executes it the moment the criminals are pulling off the robbery.
Another interesting fact was that the violence wasn't over the top or gory, just brutal and nothing else, so this is another good thing that I liked about the film (though personally I am a gore hound fan when it comes to honor but this style can be quite interesting).Stephen Lang's performance as the innocent looking but brutally strategic killer is one for the movie history books, focusing on movement and personality rather than dialogue makes him a worthy actor that should be seen more often (maybe as a hero for once as he's often a villain).
The performances Jane Levy's performance is as great as her role in the Evil Dead remake, and the supporting cast makes it worthwhile.The music score is great, with the returning of music composer of Evil Dead giving the tense game of survival a suspenseful feeling, kudos to his amazing work.There's nothing negative I can say about the film, but Don't Breathe is a solid hour and a half treat that both horror and thriller fans will find great and will overtime become an example of how effective films can be.4/5 - Nick.
What's funny is that with a lot of those film elements, Don't Breathe happens to be a thrilling adventure, all confined in this one house with the goal of getting out.In the slums of a ghost town looking Detroit, three twenty somethings, Rocky (played by Jane Levy), Alex (played by Dylan Minnette), and Money (played by Daniel Zovatto), are robbers who only take small cash and information, thanks to Alex's connection to his father's security who seems to handle most of the local houses alarm systems.
Their decisions to get out of certain perilous situations were actually pretty clever, leaving me thinking, well if that was me, I'd be dead.Anyway, this is an effective thriller movie that's actually more fun than it should be, mainly because Stephen Lang is such an impressive presence on screen, that you'll actually enjoy seeing him every time he shows up, even though you're supposed to be afraid of him.My only question is shouldn't the Blind Man's house at least have a workout room full of weights and exercise equipment?
In Detroit, the burglars Money (Daniel Zovatto), Rocky (Jane Levy) and Alex (Dylan Minnette) plot a heist in the isolated house of a Blind Man (Stephen Lang), who received a large amount when his beloved daughter died in a car accident.
I feel like the horror genre is dying to many filmmakers is playing it safe in not using creature mix with gore and good storytelling for this movie it's basic and forgettable nothing worth remembering because we get another serial killer instead of a new iconic villain or characters that stands out to remember.
Don't Breathe gave another house invasion which I've seen dozen of times in a thriller movie; instead of good storytelling like horror movies.
Don't Breathe (2016) *** (out of 4) Extremely well-made and intense thriller about three small-time criminals (Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto) who make their money by breaking into homes.
The most impressive thing about the film is the fact that you're basically stuck inside the home and yet the director is able to get tension from every room in the house as well as every twist in the story.Levy is wonderful in the lead role as the criminal who is trying to get one last score so that she can protect and move her sister out of a bad household.
the aspect of the "victim" (the old man) being blind also adds to the suspense, characters are holding their breathe and crouching and what not to avoid being captured and each time a scene like this occurs the tension is undeniable.
I couldn't help but feel a little bad for the blind man at the beginning, but the more you see him in action and learn about him, the more dangerous and scary he appears.As with most horror and thriller movies, the storyline was not extraordinary or totally unique, but, it's an intense movie that was very gripping and kept you on the edge of your seat.The only flaw of this movie were some obvious "smarter" choices the characters could of made, but for the most part, there were't many times where I was bothered by their decisions - considering the situation they're stuck in.In conclusion, the story was okay, the set-up was okay.
I hope Fede Alvarez comes up with more such interesting horror movies.Overall, great thriller.A must watch..
"Don't Breathe" is a horror movie in which we watch a group of thieves trying to break into a house in which we will find a massive fortune. |
tt0062622 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | To Richard Strauss' tone poem "Thus Spake Zarathustra," the title sequence shows the sun rising behind the Earth, which is behind the moon.The Dawn of ManIn a sere African landscape, a group of ape-like hominids and some tapirs compete for the meagre green plants. A leopard attacks an ape. While one group of apes is drinking at a waterhole, another group approaches; the two groups scream at each other and one party is driven off. At night the apes huddle in fear among the rocks. In the morning a tall, thin, rectangular black monolith stands among the rocks. The apes are excited but touch the object and calm down. (Soundtrack: György Ligeti's "Requiem.")An ape (Daniel Richter) lifts a femur bone from a skeletal pile and realizes it makes a fine weapon. (Soundtrack: "Thus Spake Zarathustra" again.) The ape realizes that it can destroy other bones with the club. Three turning points in evolution happen simultaneously: proto-humans learn to kill with weapons, to hunt using weapons and eat meat, and to walk upright. Club-carrying apes approach the group that drove them away from their waterhole. The club-carriers bludgeon the other group's alpha male to death and chase off the rest. The victorious alpha male throws his club and it spins into the air.TMA-1, or the Monolith on the Moon(No title card introduces this section of the film)The spinning bone segues to spaceships above Earth. A Pan-Am space shuttle approaches a large spinning space station, its revolutions mirroring those of the ape's spinning bone. As a single passenger dozes in his seat, a flight attendant with Velcro shoes recovers his floating pen. The shuttle pilots carefully match rotation and steer the shuttle into the station's central docking bay. (Soundtrack: Johann Strauss' Blue Danube waltz.)Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) meets an old friend in the arrivals lounge. They go through a voiceprint security check in which Floyd identifies his destination: the moon. The men chat; Dr. Floyd has a connecting flight in one hour. Floyd calls home from a video payphone booth and talks to his young daughter (Vivian Kubrick), whose birthday is the next day. He's sorry he'll miss her party but asks her what sort of present she wants; she asks for a bush-baby. The cost of the call is $1.70.In the Hilton lounge, Floyd stops to chat with some Russian scientists on their way back to Earth. When Floyd mentions he is going to Clavius, the Russians say no one has had contact with Clavius for 10 days and there are rumors of an epidemic. Floyd says he cannot discuss the matter and goes on his way.A smaller spaceship approaches the moon. A flight attendant serves food trays that consist of many compartments of liquid nourishment labeled with pictures -- carrots, peas, and so on. Floyd sips his meal, talks briefly with one of the flight officers, then contemplates the long list of instructions for the zero-G toilet. He watches the moon approach. The craft lands in a domed landing pad then descends underground to the main complex, once again to Johann Strauss' stately Viennese waltz.Floyd is introduced to a group of people in a conference room. He congratulates them on their discovery. He tries to explain the need for secrecy and the epidemic cover story. Floyd has come to get more facts and write a report for "the Council."A shuttle skims over the lunar landscape. Inside, Floyd and two scientists enjoy sandwiches and review the findings. A magnetic object was found and excavated. They're not sure what it is, only that it was deliberately buried four million years ago.At the dig site, a tall, thin, black rectangular monolith -- identical to the one the apes encountered -- is examined by six people in spacesuits. (Soundtrack: György Ligeti's "Requiem" again.) As they pose for a photo the object emits a loud, high-pitched noise and the astronauts grab their heads in pain.Jupiter Mission 18 Months LaterA long narrow spacecraft moves through space, its parabolic antennae pointing backwards. In the crew compartment, Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) jogs around the artificial gravity wheel. Along the narrow corridor formed by the edge of the wheel, he runs past work stations, communications equipment, and five large, coffin-like life support chambers with glass covers. Two are unoccupied and three hold white, sarcophagus-shaped pods containing hibernating members of the crew.Frank is joined by Commander Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea). The two men have a meal and watch a BBC news video from earlier that day. The news report is about them and their ship, the Discovery, 80 million miles from Earth. The report mentions the three astronauts who are in hibernation to save air and food; they will be needed at the destination for a survey. The sixth member of the crew is the HAL9000 computer, which can talk and mimic the human brain. The newscaster interviews Dave and Frank together and then speaks to Hal (Douglas Rain), who states he is foolproof and incapable of error.Frank catches some UV rays on a tanning bed and watches a video birthday greeting from his parents. Hal also wishes Frank a happy birthday. Frank and Hal play chess -- Hal wins. Dave sketches and shows his artwork to Hal. The computer expresses some concern about the mission and secrecy. Hal then announces there is a problem with the AE-35 unit and it will fail with 100% certainty within 72 hours. Dave and Frank discuss the problem with Mission Control; they need to "go EVA" (outside the ship -- extra-vehicular activity) to replace the unit. Dave goes out in a spherical EVA pod to the parabolic dish antennae in the center of the long ship. He leaves the pod and swaps out the black box from a service panel.Later the two astronauts scan the removed AE-35 unit but can't find any defects. Hal suggests putting it back in service to let it fail. Mission Control believes Hal has made an error because their HAL9000 unit, a twin to the one aboard Discovery, finds no flaw in the AE-35. Hal says that similar problems in the past have always proved not to be his fault ("It can only be attributable to human error") and denies any chance of computer error. Dave and Frank go to a pod to have a private chat under the ruse of looking at a communications problem.Dave turns off all the pod's communications switches and the two men share their worries about Hal. If the AE-35 unit doesn't fail as predicted, the astronauts decide to disable Hal's higher functions without disturbing the automatic ship control functions, which Dave says will be tricky to do. Dave also wonders how Hal will react, because no 9000 unit has ever been disconnected before. Hal can see the men through the pod's window and reads their lips.This time Frank goes out in the EVA pod. As Frank approaches the dish assembly the pod sneaks up behind him. Suddenly Frank is spinning off into space fumbling for his air hose, which is disconnected, and the pod is drifting in the other direction. As Frank tumbles away, his voluntary movements slow and stop. Dave goes to the pod bay as Hal says he doesn't know what happened. Dave uses a pod to recover Frank's body. While he's away, a computer malfunction alert goes off and the life signs of the three hibernating astronauts flat-line. A display reads "Life functions terminated." Hal refuses to open the pod bay doors for Dave, explaining that he knows Dave is planning to disconnect him because he was able to read Frank and Dave's lips when they discussed it. He says the mission is too important to allow humans to jeopardize it. Dave says he'll return to the ship through the airlock; Hal replies that Dave will find that difficult without his helmet -- which, indeed, Dave forgot in his hurry to go after Frank. Hal ends the conversation.Dave releases Frank's body and maneuvers the pod to the emergency airlock hatch. He uses the pod's arms to open the door, then lines up the pod's hatch with the opening. Dave holds his breath and jumps over to the ship, where he's tossed around by escaping air before he's able to close the hatch. Now in a helmet, Dave goes to the computer room and climbs into an access compartment. Hal pleads for himself as Dave pulls crystals from the memory center. Hal's voice gets lower and slower as he sings "Daisy Bell" (Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do, I'm half crazy all for the love of you), and fades out as he is completely shut down. (Hal's performance is a nod to a speech synthesis project at Bell Laboratories in which an IBM 704 was programmed to sing the same song.) Suddenly a video screen comes on and plays a recording of Dr. Floyd explaining the secret purpose of the mission: "This is a prerecorded briefing made prior to your departure and which for security reasons of the highest importance has been known on board during the mission only by your HAL9000 computer. Now that you are in Jupiter's space and the entire crew is revived it can be told to you. Eighteen months ago, the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried 40 feet below the lunar surface near the crater Tycho. Except for a single very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter, the four-million-year-old black monolith has remained completely inert. Its origin and purpose are still a total mystery."Jupiter and Beyond the InfiniteClose to Jupiter, another black monolith floats among the many moons. We hear György Ligeti's "Requiem" once again. Bowman leaves the Discovery in another EVA pod. As the monolith and moons align, a psychedelic light show begins and the pod enters a wormhole to the music of Ligeti's "Atmosphères." Dave sees a series of oddly-colored landscapes as if he was flying over them. The pod ends up somewhere in time and space in a bedroom with a luminous white floor and furniture in the style of Louis XVI. Dave gets out, now a trembling grey-haired man. Next door in a similarly styled bathroom, Dave looks at himself in a mirror. Back in the bedroom someone is sitting at a table eating. It's Dave again, now much older and dressed in a dark velour robe. Old Dave has a drink of wine; the glass falls to the floor and breaks. Another man lies sleeping on the bed. It is a still older Dave, who stirs and raises an arm. The black monolith appears in the center of the room. Dave is transformed into a fetus in a sac. Floating in space, the large open-eyed fetus -- the Star Child -- gazes at the nearby Earth. Soundtrack: "Thus Spake Zarathustra." | avant garde, mystery, murder, boring, realism, paranormal, cult, atmospheric, flashback, psychedelic, philosophical, sci-fi | train | imdb | For anybody to dismiss 2001: A Space Odyssey as "boring" they must have no interest in science, technology, philosophy, history or the art of film-making.
It is our shame that the year 2001 did not look like the film 2001, not Kubrick's.Besides the incredible special effects, camera work and set design, Kubrick also presents the viewer with a lot of food for thought about what it means to be human, and where the human race is going.
The music played, all classical, compliment what the eyes are seeing and make you feel the significance of man's journey through his evolution from ape to space traveler.The story, while seemingly simple, is profound.
Instead of writing a paragraph, I'll give four good reasons why 2001 is the greatest cinema experience of all time: 1) It is a visual Odyssey that could only be told on the big screen.
The silence that fills the space scenes not only serves its purpose as accurate science, but also adds to the mood of the film (to be discussed in a later point with HAL).
I can think of no other movie that has such amazing visuals for its time and even of all time (sorry Phantom Menace fans!) 2) Kubrick's directing style is terrific.
As in all his films, Kubrick likes to use his camera as means to delve into the psychology of his characters and plots.
Like classic movies, such as M and Touch of Evil, Kubrick focuses on the characters' faces to give the audience a psychological view-point.
Instead of trying to give my opinion of the what it means and what my idea of 2001's meaning in general is, I'd like to discuss the fact that the ending serves to leave the movie open-ended.
By respecting the audience's intelligence, Kubrick allowed his movie to be the beginning, not the end, of a meaningful discussion on man's past, present, and future.
The beauty of 2001 is that the ending need not mean anything deep, it can just be a purely plot driven explanation and the entire movie can be viewed as an entertaining journey through space.
It's a great loss, and I write about 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, because I feel it is the consummate Kubrick film, the one he will be most remembered for.
It was probably America's first 'art' film and has inspired the likes of George Lucas and countless other writers and directors.Aside from its visual greatness, the reason the film spawns so much discussion and analysis is because so many people have so many different interpretations of it.
But the impression was great enough to make me fall for entire genre of science fiction.The day I learned '2001' got only special effects Oscar and was not even nominated for the Best Picture was the day when 'Academy Award' completely became two words meaning nothing to me..
It is a philosophical journey to the infinite and beyond, a masterpiece of it's genre and still after 32 years technically quite impressive all the way to the powerful musical soundtrack featuring 'Also spracht Zarathustra' by Richard Strauss and 'Blue Danube' by Johann Strauss.Take all the time you want, but eventually you are going to have to see this film.
Beyond that, there is nothing the least bit interesting about the human characters (trite dialogue and no personality or warmth to any of the individuals), the pace is unbelievably slow (so the intellectually gifted can philosophize on the mysteries of space), and the payoff at the end leaves you either breathless with enlightenment or convinced that you have watched three hours of nothingness.I had the same letdown feeling when I watched THE CLOCKWORK ORANGE, so your like or dislike of this movie is purely dependent on personal taste.
Intellectuals will take the position that you are a mentally challenged clod if you dare disagree with their elevated opinion of the movie--so be aware that this is not conventional story-telling in any sense whatsoever and only for those who admire Stanley Kubrick's way with unlikely cinematic material..
That's fine I wouldn't want to rob you of your monkey action or your ship docking sequences but I swear you could do this movie in a short and not lose the message.Maybe that was the point, To do a movie with space imagery and a ton of sunrise images that you can play you're enigma CD with the lights dimmed low as you try and woe some woman with your impressive movie watching resume.
And I have to hand it to him for remaining so tight-lipped that nobody ever knew what his personal feelings were on the matter.The film starts in prehistoric times with a tribe of moribund ape-like creatures on the edge of either extinction or excellence.
I bet that Stanley Kubrick spent the last thirty years of his life laughing his tuckus off that of all of his works, this one most profoundly affected the cultural consciousness which he consistently satirizes.Evidence of this abounds: witness the instantly recognizable creations of the computer HAL, and its synthetic voice; the character "Dave" and the line "What are you doing, Dave?"; and the stylized score based on Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra."There is no doubt that this is a beautiful, confounding picture that says something about the dehumanizing effects of technology.
Of course, works that are incomprehensible are often deemed to be profound, and Kubrick seems to have understood that; in fact, the emergence of drug culture and middle-class spiritual yearnings during the late 60s allowed him to create something really huge and really vague, and pass it off as something really deep.The film opens with "The Dawn of Man," where it is implied that man's evolution was directed by either a) an alien life-force, or b) a God-like creature, represented by a huge black monolith.The former interpretation would be the less mundane, more sci-fi expression, but the relationship between man and alien is never developed.
In spite of this (or maybe because of it), many viewers have hailed the film as a religious experience; many more time their drug hits in order to be stoned during the psychedelic final scenes.2001 does have something going for it - its special effects are masterfully done and may be forever unsurpassed in terms of the visual spectacle they produce.
(Kubrick garnered his one and only Oscar for this film, for Best Visual Effects.)Also, this is a lesson in how to tell a story through images and sounds.
I urge anyone who disliked this film to give it at least one more chance - I can honestly say that the film was way too far off the wall for me to appreciate it the first time I watched it.2001 is overflowing with iconic images, from the opening scene accompanied by Richard Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", to the bone being tossed into the air by the ape.
Although Kubrick continued to direct amazing movies like The Shining, A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket (which were all far more accessible movies) after 2001, he couldn't top this: his crowning achievement.It's easy to see how viewers may be put off by 2001 - it doesn't follow the usual movie formula where the plot comes to a conclusion at the end.
I won't go into the point of 2001 since I haven't read the book and I think it is up to each viewer to decide for himself what it all means.The movie jumps from the very dawn of man's use of weapons to a time when space is heavily trafficked, and continues to show us the fate of some unlucky astronauts at the hands of a super-intelligent computer called HAL-9000.
I won't spoil what happens in the end but I will say that if you could see it coming, you must be some kind of super genius; as far as I'm concerned it is the single least predictable ending for a movie, ever.Kubrick is the only director that I know of who has portrayed space in the most realistic way possible: vast, endless, dark, empty, and soundless.
It's admirable that a director goes out of his way to make sure no sounds are heard in space, but rather than let this make the movie dreary and dull, Kubrick uses this to his advantage: the chilling silence of some scenes actually help build up the atmosphere in a way that no movie has done before.
If you're open minded, this is for you, if Pirates of the Caribbean is your favourite movie of all time, it's not - and I don't say this to insult fans of Pirates, I'm just saying that this film might not be up your alley.I hope I don't sound too pretentious because I know how horrible many of 2001's rabid fans can be.
The meaning of this movie can also be interpreted as you wish yourself, even though I think there are some clear points concerning humanity (also true Kubrick style).
But before you can jump to those conclusions, think about why Kubrick spends time with calm music and a spaceship in the middle of space for several minutes.
I've been wanting to see this film for years and after building my new home theater I deemed that this would be the film I would use for its opening.Wow.I found myself fast forwarding (Something I've never done in a film) through many of the so called 'visual masterpiece's' If it wasn't for HAL I would have broke this garbage into a thousand pieces.
Half of it feels like happy show tunes when the visuals are either somber or nothing (i.e. a space ship flying through space for ten minutes).The ending had the feel that Kubrick was trying to do something artsy and creative...but failed miserably and created only something that was a boring culmination to a boring movie.Avoid this one at all costs...unless you want to take a 2 1/2 hour nap..
One of Stanley Kubrick's greatest works - which is saying something - and still considered by a great many people to be the greatest science fiction film ever made.It is a film that takes us from the very beginning to the very end.
Scenes that created high drama in 1968 are now sadly obvious fantasy that prevented me from enjoying the film.The ending is so obscure that, if you plan to watch the movie, I'd recommend reading the book first.This movie joins a list of others that I never wish to see again, and in fact, I regret having spent time on it this time around.
I think if you were in a Cinerama theatre and had the experience that Kubrick intended, there would be no doubt that you had just seen one of the great films of all time.
I'd love to know what they were on when this film was being made.Its also the most historically-inaccurate film in existence; 2001 has come and gone without any of the events or predictions taking place.Characters are unlikeable, design is simplistic and everything just rambles on without any sense or logic to it.And the ending is probably the worst of it: its supposed to be thought-provoking but the only thought that entered my mind is "What the F$*K is going on?!" I'd say for anyone looking for serious entertainment purposes, AVOID this film at all cost and choose a sci-fi movie that ISN'T stuck up its own @$$..
There is not much new I can say that hasn't alredy been said in regards to the plot points and themes of Kubrick's magnum opus, so I won't even try.What I will say is that I saw this film at a cinema in Belfast where it is being screened to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its original theatrical release.I have seen 2001 many times on a TV screen and always enjoyed it.
The love all of Kubrick's other work, but sorry A space odyssey doesnt come near my list of great movies..
Out of the 16 films that Stanley Kubrick has directed this is the fifth one that I've seen and I can safely say that it's by far the worst of the bunch; it's hard to believe that this bloated bore of a film came from the same man that directed such great films as The Shining, A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket, but hang on folks I have my own theory...Everyone comments on how this film is a ground breaking piece of science fiction and I must concede on those comments; 2001's visuals are astonishing, the special effects are mind-blowing and still hold up well today, the set designs are also authentic and impressive.
It felt to me like Kubrick was more concerned with creating a 'Concorde' moment in the world of cinema rather than creating a film with an interesting story that will actually involve the audience.
In fact, it got to the point where the score became more irritating than anything and there were long stretches when it was used at the expense of both character development and plot development.The only mildly interesting part of this film was when the crew started to have problems with HAL, but this aspect of the plot was short-lived and the resolution to this aspect of the story was far too formulaic.2001: A Space Odyssey really does seem to be a 'marmite' film whereby you either love it or you hate.
None of it really comes together though as there is no sense of collision between these two sections of the film, and hence no cohesion to hold it together other than the appearance of the monolith, which for no discernible reason emits a high-pitched scream at Sylvester and his team of astronauts.The highly touted sequence involving HAL, the ultra-intelligent super-computer who terrorizes a deep-space exploration mission to Jupiter, seems kind of a side note to the greater story, and doesn't really fit in at all with the whole monolith/human intelligence theme.
2001: A Space Odyssey is a film that definitely hasn't stood the test of time, and will do little more than bore its audience during the year it was meant to depict..
I thought it would be boring and plotless, but I was completely wrong.2001: A Space Odyssey is the best film I've ever watched, Sci-Fi or not.
But that's not really the point of this film.In fact, 2001 isn't really a science fiction movie at all.
Kubrick made a film that was made for people to THINK about, not a movie for quick thrills.
Zack Snyder's shots in Batman V Superman made me interested in knowing more about Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey and Yes I was Blown for days after watching this film.Usually before watching any film I spend some time on knowing facts and trivia about it and I knew that way before scientist have reached any other planets, Stanley kubrick had shown everyone how any other planet/world would have looked like.I loved the transitions from era to era, and how well he had made use of what ever resources he had in 1968.
What Stanley Kubrick has created is a work of beauty, insight, and wonder unlike any movie at the time.
This movie is incredible, I have never seen such an amazing film in a long time, amazing soundtrack, great acting, stunning visuals, etc...
That said, I don't think this movie deserves less than 3 stars, simply for the fact that it is a beautifully shot film.
It is a beautiful work of art, and even if you didn't like it (which is perfectly understandable), you should REALLY still appreciate the special effects in this film.
It changed science fiction film history, and just film history in general.I mean, if the Academy hadn't given the Oscar to Kubrick for best visual effects, it'd probably be the biggest Oscar snub of all time!
The film clearly wants the viewers to interpret and analyze it, and that is what makes it even more interesting.Kubrick is clearly one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
2001 A space odyssey is quite possibly the greatest science fiction film (and book) of all time.
When people mention the notion of space travel in film this movie arguably one of the greatest of the 20th century always springs to mind.
Also we must remember this film was released before the days of flashy CGI style special effects yet the way Kubrick gave you the sensation of being in outer space was just awe inspiring.
People may say that in film everything does not have to be about plot, that some how you can just have pretty images on the screen and it is thus a good movie.
But 2001: A Space Odyssey is no Tarkovsky, it is just an awful and boring slow movie.I have to admit that the visuals are great considering that this movie was made in 1968 and I actually think that this is the reason why it got so popular.
But if you take away the awesome visual effects there's nothing left.2001: A Space Odyssey is an extremely overrated and boring movie.
2001: A Space Odyssey, was without a doubt, the lamest, most boring, most unentertaining, poor excuse for a film, waste of time, I've ever seen!
2001: A Space Odyssey is among one of the GREATEST sci-fi movies of all time and has remained a masterpiece for many decades and for so many reasons!
A movie that comments on evolution, technology, time and space.
2001: A Space Odyssey truly is one of the best science fiction films ever and one of the greatest films of all time..
Does it, at times, seem more like an impressive art gallery than a film?
I especially liked the ending of that piece, when the music set in, fading into the space part of the film incredibly well.
In the 1 hour and 40 minutes to come there would be numerous overlong scenes of space ballet that added nothing to the plot and became quite boring over time, as did the whole film. |
tt0060168 | Billy the Kid Versus Dracula | When Franz [Walter Janovitz] and Eva [Virginia Christine] Oster's daughter Lisa [Hannie Landman] is killed by Dracula, the Osters swear to fight this menace. Dracula shows up again in the guise of Uncle James Underhill [John Carradine], newly arrived in town to help out at the Double Bar B Ranch. Dracula has assumed this identity because he is smitten with Betty Bentley [Melinda Plowman], niece of the real James Underhill. Fortunately, Betty's boyfriend is retired gunslinger Billy the Kid [Chuck Courtney]. Billy gets suspicious of the gruff and heartless Underhill and starts to poke around. He invites the Osters to move onto the ranch and care for Betty. Mrs Oster bars the windows with wolfbane until Betty decides all this vampire stuff is silly. Billy talks to the town doctor who advises him to get Underhill before a mirror. If he casts no reflection, he's vampire.Underhill starts to throw his weight around. He fires Billy and drives the Osters out to the bunkhouse. Billy kills a previous foreman in self-defense but gets jailed anyway. Betty begins to awaken with bites on her neck. When Underhill comes to take Betty back to the ranch, the doctor holds up a mirror and sees no reflection. Sure now that Underhill is a vampire, the doctor springs Billy from jail and the three of them (Billy, doctor, and Sheriff Griffin [Roy Barcroft]) pursue the vampire and Betty out to the abandoned mine where Dracula has his coffin stored. The sheriff tries unsuccessfully to shoot Dracula, so Billy throws a gun at Dracula's head and knocks him out. While Dracula is on the ground, Billy stakes him with a kitchen knife. [Synopsis by bj_kuehl] | revenge | train | imdb | MORD39 RATING: ** out of ****Okay, we know that this is a silly premise with an elderly John Carradine in the Count Dracula role, but as far as "bad" movies go, it's definitely much more fun than most other trash.
Right from someplace like "Eddie's House of Horrors" on Hollywood Boulevard, probably where they also got that shiny big red bow for Dracula.Another source of delight is the wide eyed, dopey, open mouthed look of stupefaction and wonder on the young German girl's face as she realizes who Carradine is.
Still in all, you get a lot of the always wonderful John Carradine, playing Dracula yet again, and even better, his main nemesis isn't actually Billy the Kid, but instead Mrs. Olsen from the long ago Folger's coffee commercials!!!
Roy Barcroft (everyone's favorite "bad guy" in almost all of the Rocky Lane movies), Bing Russell (yes, Kurt's daddy), Harry Carey Jr. with only a few lines early in the film, his mom, Olive Carey,(remember her from "The Searchers"?) as the town Dr., and a few others whose names won't ring any bells but whose faces are instantly recognizable to anyone who has ever seen a Western or a Cop movie/TV show.
As viewers noted: a red light is focused on Carradine's face for the "scary" moments, bats are flying courtesy of obvious, visible wires, editing concerns change story continuity repeatedly(guess it all wasn't done in one shot), the actors seem to have been propped up in many instances giving some of the most wooden performances I have ever seen, and then there is the storyline and its inane dialog - tattooing every Western cliché and then even adding a few you wouldn't expect nor should expect.
This movie has Dracula, Billy the Kid, John Carradine, a vampire test, Dracula cruising about by day, and so much more fun that you really need to see it to believe it..
How could I resist a title like "Billy The Kid Versus Dracula."Not only was it incredibly historically accurate, but Dracula was very well played by John Carradine.
The movie has several hilarious lines, such as when Carradine growls "Where can I find this backwoods female pill slinger?" referring to the female doctor portrayed by Olive Carey, and "Oh God, the vampire test!" uttered with all seriousness by Virginia Christine, more well known as the Folger's Lady in the coffee commercials of the 1970's.When Carradine turns into a vampire a red light is shown on his face...no fangs, nothing but this weird red glow and his eyes about to bug out of his head.
It may have also been his worst performance as Dracula, a role he had assumed more than than any other character he portrayed in his illustrious career (at least six times in films and twice on TV, according to his IMDb filmography.) That being said,it's still not half bad as a B western-horror movie.
It may be odd to see a vampire in the old West, but maybe he was looking for Frankenstein's daughter to help her take on Jesse James, the movie which veteran director William Beaudine released just before this one (JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER.) Ironically, this was the last film Beaudine made in a career that lasted from the silent films he made four decades before with Mary Pickford, to a series of Bowery Boys flicks, then on to a string of memorable TV shows like SPIN AND MARTY, RIN TIN TIN and LASSIE.
Sure, the vampire may appear in daylight and the means chosen for dispatching him is something other than a wooden stake, and Billy the Kid would be the last cowboy to give up gunslinging glory to become a sheep puncher for anyone, but this is a Hollywood film after all, so don't expect much accuracy in either historical or literary rendering.
The rubber battery-operated bat, the horrible dialogue and irritating characters (especially the German/Austrian immigrant lady), and especially the obscure placement in time of the film: the 1800s town set; Billy's 70s style ranch house--complete with bead curtain!; even the hallway above the early 1900s saloon which I think was a hallway at the movie studio.
It really isn't good, but at least the actors and director tried to make a film that is reasonably watchable, as they played it straight throughout--as if they expected people to actually watch and respect a film called BILLY THE KID VERSUS Dracula.John Carradine plays the Count, though it seems that the writer had never seen a vampire movie before, since so much in this film violates popular vampire lore.
While the cape and top hat and bright red bow might have fit into these two earlier vampire films, here he just looks pretty stupid out West--especially when no one even questioned this flamboyant attire.As for the plot, the old vampire shows up, inexplicably, in the West and meets up with an amazingly civil and law-abiding Billy the Kid. Mr.
Her uncle (John Carradine) shows up to pay her a visit and soon Billy realizes that he's really COunt Dracula.If you go into a movie called BILLY THE KID VERSUS Dracula and take it serious then you really need to take a long, deep look at your life and wonder why you take things so seriously.
It's clear he knew he was making a low-budget horror movie and he's just making it fun.Beaudine actually makes this look like an actual Western and the film comes off as a real production and not just some cheap film.
Billy The Kid Versus Dracula is cited by many (including the man himself) as the low-point in the career of John Carradine.
Seen in the spirit of the poverty-row horrors and westerns of the thirties and forties (of which director William Beaudine is no stranger), it's actually pretty entertaining.Also, it's a lot of fun to see Carradine reprising his role as Dracula, from Universal's House Of Frankenstein and House Of Dracula, a role that launched his career in horror movies.Don't miss the hilarious climax where Billy the kid beans old Drac in the face with a shooting-iron!.
Too bad the movie really blows.Dracula (John Carradine) is (for some reason) in the West.
"The West's deadliest Gunslinger against the World's most diabolical Killer!"--Ad Line.This is one TERRIBLE feature!I first learned about this dud (movie?) in a Winter 1966 issue of Monster World magazine (a lesser companion magazine to the more popular Famous Monsters of Filmland) which gave both Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula and its co-feature the lamentable Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter considerable coverage (Ouch!).
When I discovered that John Carradine was cast as Dracula being a naive kid at the time I foolishly thought that it might be a pretty exciting film (after all John Carradine DID make a very good Count Dracula in the Universal Pictures classics House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula both of which I had seen on television).It's not the idea of a legendary monster coming to America which is the problem here (it had been capably done before in The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Curse, Son of Dracula, Revenge of the Creature, The Return of Dracula, etc.) but this Kiddies' Matinee Frightfest is SO inept and amateurish completely lacking any sense of the appropriately spooky atmosphere, mood or directorial verve and cinematic mastery on the part of William "One Shot" Beaudine.John Carradine's sickly, frail looking and dentured Count Dracula is just TOO old (despite the slick brilliantine hair dye job) and his intended "bride" the bland, wide-eyed teen Betty Bentley (lamely portrayed by the untalented Melinda Plowman) is just TOO young for the aged, supernatural Grandpappy (a true odd couple!).
This Dracula is able to freely go about during the daylight hours, he drinks whiskey (Olde Red Eye?), his deportment and delivery of dialogue completely lacks any genuine continental bearing or aristocratic flair and Carradine's campy, creaky performance of the Count is much more akin to a cheating, unscrupulous gambler from Baltimore circa the mid-1800s rather than a dignified nobleman from Transylvania.It is a sad commentary that Mr. Carradine (a truly fine character actor) was humiliatingly relegated to this kind of unworthy trash in his later film career particularly when one recalls some of his great work in films like Stagecoach (1939), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and The Return of Frank James (1940) to name but a few.
released later the same year as Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula.Bullets don't affect the Vampire yet when Billy the Kid hurls his empty six-shooter at old Drac's noggin he actually knocks him out and how about that absurdly dumb visibly string-operated rubber bat poorly utilized in those scenes where this hilariously bobbing and wobbly contraption flutters out-of-sight behind a conveniently stationed bush followed by an obvious "break" in the filming after which Dracula immediately pops out from the same obstruction thereby attempting to imply that the bat has somewhat discreetly transformed itself into Dracula .Lastly dig those numerous, unsubtle red lighting effects projected onto Count Dracula's leering (and bleary-eyed) visage.
The Chauvinist!As a historical footnote this outrageous, Poverty Row travesty came out at the height of the Batman (ABC 1966-68) craze on television!A couple of things that I will say about Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula to its credit (and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter) is that it was actually photographed in COLOUR (next to John Carradine's salary the colour film and lab processing was most probably the film's second highest or perhaps single highest cost expenditure) and reliable Republic Pictures serial villain Roy Barcroft is cast in an atypically sympathetic role of Sheriff Griffin (maybe HE should have played Dracula instead?).Actually if you are really interested in a GOOD Horror Western film than check out Curse of the Undead (1959) starring Eric Fleming, Michael Pate and Kathleen Crowley which is a much better effort.
It's available through MCA-Universal Home Video.Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula was commercially issued on home video (along with its co-feature Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter) in the mid-1980s through Embassy Home Video (Embassy Pictures theatrically released both films) but has long since been discontinued (I happen to have both which I bought on sale--REAL CHEAP!).Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter has been recently released again on home video through the MGM-United Artists "Midnight Movies" series so I think it's a reasonable assumption that Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula will also be made available once more (just what the World really needs).Thankfully there were no similar follow ups like The Daltons Against the Wolf Man, Cole Younger Meets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Johnny Ringo Vs. the Invisible Man......Hmmmm!.
John Carradine portrays quite the mean spirited Dracula in this flick, calling an elderly doctor a "backwoods-female-pill-slinger" (HAHA:) One of the funniest things about this movie is the editing.
Silly is the key word in BILLY THE KID VERSUS Dracula: the clash of genres could have been interesting - as Count Dracula, ostensibly originating in the middle-ages and being able to turn into a bat, would have no real problem showing up in the Old West - but this is exploitation fare pure and simple and no attempt to contrast the wildly diverse cultures is made, except from the caricatured portrayals of two superstitious immigrants.
Talking about his Dracula portrayals in the Universal movies of the 40's Carradine said "I played him as evil as possible." This vampire is certainly evil; to satisfy his bloodlust he kills an Indian maiden and sets off the massacre of the passengers of a stagecoach while he escapes.
Despite the ludicrous premise laid out in its title, "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula," of a historical Western gunfighter battling a supernatural, bullet-proof vampire from a Victorian-age gothic horror novel, the film isn't so bad that it's good, and it's not good enough to be other than bad.
Final clash between Billy the Kid and Dracula, that last just few moments, is one of shortest, most efficient and funniest fighting scenes in movie history.
Traveling through the American frontier, Count Dracula arrives in a small frontier town where he poses as an uncle to target a young woman to be his bride, and once the discovery of the switch is made her boyfriend sets off to find the vampire before he is able to make her his bride.This one was entertaining enough to warrant a watch and had some good moments.
And the tile of the film says Dracula for drawing power - makes sense to me.If you liked this film then check out the companion film Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966) also starring John Carradine.
John Carradine who played Count Dracula in two of Universal Pictures finest Gothic horror films, House Of Dracula and House Of Frankenstein gets a third go around as the vampire Count from Transylvania in Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula.
I guess it just comes from spening too many sleepless days not in your native soil.The end of Dracula leaves a lot to be desired here as well.John Carradine who in my opinion appeared in more junk movies than any other actor looked pained during this film.
Carradine confided to me, in his later years, that while making this picture, he truly believed that " Hollywood had turned its back on him." Like it's companion piece, "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein"(1966) this movie enjoys an unwarranted cult following..
We know he will ultimately fail, but right now he has his hands full with Count Dracula, played by horror movie legend John Carradine.
Billy the Kid Vs Dracula is one of those B-List movies that sounds silly, but could had work if written better, had a bigger production, or had a good director under it.
The film revolves around the eponymous ex-outlaw Billy the Kid (Chuck Courtney) trying to save his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bentley (Melinda Plowman) from Dracula AKA James Underhill (John Carradine) whom impersonating as her uncle.
It's gets worst when you find out that his main nemesis isn't actually Billy the Kid, but a bad German accent old woman, Eva Oster (Virginia Christine) who knows Dracula's real identify.
I like how Bullets don't affect the Vampire yet when Billy the Kid hurls his empty six-shooter at old Dracula's head.
Billy the Kid versus Dracula starts late one night in the Old American West where a family of European immigrant's are sleeping in the open, Eva (Virginia Christine) & Franz Oster (Walter Janovitz) manage to scare Count Dracula (John Carradine) off before he bites their daughter Lisa's (Hannie Landman) neck.
Dracula ends up at the town of Wilksbury & poses as Underhill so he can stay at his Ranch with Elizabeth, however Dracula didn't count on the fact that Elizabeth's current boyfriend is the notorious gunfighter William 'Billy the Kid' Bonney (Chuck Courtney) whose suspicions are raised when the immigrant's point Dracula out as a Vampire Lisa is mysteriously killed that night & cattle keep turning up with they're throats cut open, William believes that a Vampire may be at work but will he figure it out in time to save Elizabeth...Directed by William Beaudine I thought Billy the Kid versus Dracula was a fairly fun film to watch if your in the right frame of mind.
One area of criticism that Billy the Kid versus Dracula can't escape is in the special effects department, the rubber bat the filmmakers use looks totally pathetic & surely one of the worst ever committed to film!
The acting is rather flat & no-one puts much effort in.Billy the Kid versus Dracula is a rare breed of film that tries to mix the horror & western genre, there's plenty of horses, gunslinging, macho posturing & fights, Saloons, ranches, concerns over cattle together with Vampires, neck biting, turning people into the undead, rubber bats, & a strange red glow that engulfs Carradines face every so often for no apparent reason so when I think about it it's not entirely unsuccessful at what it sets out to do.
The first being "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter,' the second being this piece of junk, "Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula." Billy The Kid (Chuck Courtney)is apparently reformed (Just like Jesse James in the Frankenstein film), and engaged to marry sweetly Elizabeth (Melinda Plowman).
The movie "Billy the Kid versus Dracula" is 73 minutes of celluloid madness that mixes a horror and western theme and get's an imitation comedy out of it.
"Sparrows" director William 'One-Shot' Beaudine's final feature film "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula" pits the notorious outlaw against the infamous fangster in a life and death struggle over a young bodacious babe in the old Southwest.
Of course, like Billy the Kid, Dracula is just a name in the title that has little direct bearing to the Carradine vampire.
John Carradine, who played Dracula in two Universal films in the 1940's, returns to the role 20 years later and is far too old to be believable as the seductive count.
Chuck Courtney, an actor of dubious talents, is Billy the Kid who battles Dracula for the soul of Dracula's intended mate, Melinda Plowman.Looking as if it was videotaped, not film, it is badly paced and simply stupid, laughable in the one scene which could have made a difference, a brief affect showing Plowman's body being picked up in a mirror with Carradine growling like a bear at the woman who exposes him.
The two films--"Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" and "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula"--served as a perfectly well-matched double feature, both in name as well as subject matter.
Chuck Courtney's attempt at playing the famous gunslinger, Billy, was decent, but you cant expect a high quality actor in a movie like this.
The film also contains some fistfights that are also entertaining.Billy the Kid Vs Dracula was released back to back with another Weird west flick, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter which also pitted a famous historical figure against a famous monster. |
tt0230600 | The Others | The movie begins with Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman) waking up from a nightmare. It is 1945 in Jersey, and her husband was fighting in France but he has yet to return home, even though the war has ended. She lives in a big, creepy house alone with her two kids, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley). Recently, around a week or two ago, all the servants just upped and abandoned them, without a word or collecting their wages.Three servants-- mute Lydia (Elaine Cassidy), Mr. Tuttle (Eric Sykes), and Mrs. Bertha Mills (Fionnula Flanagan)-- come to her door, to respond to an ad that Kidman had posted for new servants. They are all shown around the house by Grace, who explains the rules... one must never open a door without closing the previous one, and the drapes must always be shut because her children are "photosensitive"-- they break out in rashes and sores if they are exposed to light stronger than candlelight.One day, Grace goes to the mailbox and sees that the letters she'd sent out to the newspaper announcing positions are still there. She confronts Mrs. Mills angrily, demanding to know who they are.. and how did they know of the jobs if the ad hasn't even come out yet? Mrs. Mills then tells Grace that all three of them had used to live in the house, and had loved it so much that they come back to see if they could be of any use, as a house as big as Kidman's always needs extra help. When she welcomed them thinking they had answered to the ad, they just did not want to tell her otherwise.Strange things happen in the house. Sometimes, there are people talking and whispering and crying; thuds and noises come from empty rooms; Ann talks to an invisible boy, Victor (Alexander Vince), and insists that there are others walking around the house. Grace refuses to believe her, and frequently tells her to stop and punishes her for "lying"; Mrs. Mills assures Anne that she believes her and that soon her mother will see. Mrs. Mills then tells Grace that sometimes the world of the living gets mixed up in the world of the dead. Grace refuses to believe until one day, she is sewing Anne's first communion veil when she heard thuds upstairs; she races to investigate but there's no one there, and she sees in the mirror that the door is closing all by itself. Grace then goes on a hunt to seek out the intruders, enlisting her whole household (and this is the first of two or three such hunts)... she then wants her house blessed so she goes out to find the priest.Mrs. Mills races after her and tells her not to go; Grace leaves and Mrs. Mills talks to Mr. Tuttle, who's doing the lawn work; she says that eventually it'll all come out and tells him to hide these gravestones on the property. Grace gets lost in the mist and she finds her husband (Christopher Eccleston), who looks lost and very out of it, and brings him home. He won't speak or do anything except for staying in bed. Now Grace, who'd previously started to believe in the "intruders," revert back into stubbornness. Her daughter shows her the picture she'd drawn, of Victor and his parents (including a pianist father who played the piano invisibly one night) (Keith Allen & Michelle Fairley) and of the old woman, with sightless eyes. In one of her hunts for the "intruders" Kidman finds a book of photography, including this book in which there are people posed and "sleeping"-- until Mrs. Mills tells them that those people are dead, and that it's a book of the dead, which the superstitious believed would guard the souls of those dead.Grace and her daughter are putting the finishing touches on her communion dress when Grace has to leave for a moment. She comes back and is horrified to see that not only is her daughter sitting on the floor in her spotless dress, but she's become this creepy old woman-- so she grabs her daughter in a chokehold and starts to scream and hit her. The veil rips off to reveal that it is her daughter, crying; she then runs away. Grace is shaken as she thinks she's gone mad. Then going back to her husband's room, he tells her that Ann has told him of what had happened a week ago. Grace breaks down and cries and protests that it wasn't her fault; but then he tells her that he has to leave and she knows that for all of her excuses he needs something beyond her family and herself. Furthermore, her husband, who had come from within the fog dazzled and confused, finally goes away, saying that he must return to the war. Grace had told him that the war was over, to no avail: he leaves anyway.So he leaves, and the next morning the curtains are gone. The children are screaming and Grace Stewart is demanding from her three servants hysterically where they are; she even grabs a gun and threaten them and tells them to leave, because they're not helping her and they must have stolen the curtains. The children go to bed but they then climb out the window because they want to look for their father and they're kind of scared of their mother. Grace is ripping apart the house looking for curtains; she goes into the servants' rooms and finds an envelope on the bed, containing a photograph of Mr. Tuttle, Lydia, and Mrs. Mills, inscribed 1891, from the book of the dead.The mists are surrounding the island when Ann comes across the gravestones of the three servants, and then she sees them in the distance. They're approaching her and Nicholas, and they both run into the house with the servants following; Grace is there and she locks them out, and tells her children to hide while she fends them off. Mrs. Mills then tells Grace from outside the doors that it's too late, now she has to go and find them herself. Meanwhile, Nicholas and Ann run upstairs into a wardrobe, and hide but the door is thrown open to reveal a white-haired old lady with opaque eyes (Renée Asherson)... and everyone screams, including Grace who has run upstairs by now.The camera then turns to a group of people who are sitting around a table, including the old lady, now acting as the speaker of the seance. She is asking the children why they are lingering around in death? Ghostly Ann and ghostly Nicholas scream that they aren't dead, while ghostly Grace is grabbing the paper and tearing them apart, screaming too, and shaking the table, trying to get the speakers' attention. We see that the papers are flying up by themselves and that the table is shaking but don't see Grace and the kids: we can see only the startled participants of the seance, watching the blind lady scrubbling like crazy on a piece of paper in a rapture. It then stops and the old woman is snapped out of the trance.We discover what had really happened: Grace had smothered her children in their sleep, and then shot herself ("a week or two ago, the servants disappeared -- because their employer, Grace, had died"); The present occupants of the house are the pianist father (Keith Allen), mother (Michelle Fairley), and the child Victor Marlish (Alexander Vince) They three will eventually leave the house due to the hauntings of Grace and her children. The three servants had died in the TB epidemic half a century ago, and somehow, everyone still lives in the house, the living side by side with the dead. Grace admits to having done it. The next morning, when she found herself alive again and the children pillow-fighting, she thought it was another opportunity for her to become a good mother, as if her terrible actions had only been a nightmare.The movie ends as the occupants, unable to rid the house of Grace and the kids, drive away with Grace watching from an upstairs window. The sign on the gate says the house is For Sale. Grace says that she and her children will never leave the house, as they belong there. | dark, mystery, gothic, murder, paranormal, dramatic, alternate reality, horror, haunting, atmospheric, clever, claustrophobic, suspenseful | train | imdb | It makes the film completely opposite than other ghost stories, with Grace not afraid of the dark, and making sure to keep the light out, to save her children.
This movie is chilling, very spooky, with a few moments that will make you jump, but it's a movie that works itself up, and by the end of the movie you feel scared, and like someone has zapped you a few times, chilly from inside out, but fulfilled.People have been comparing this to "Sixth Sense".
Everything relates to everything, you are given clues the entire movie, but it's set up so masterfully the ending is the suprise you've been waiting for.The performance by Kidman and the two children are one of a kind.
It's tense, scary, and very memorable -- I don't think I'll ever forget the image of a terrified Nicole Kidman clutching her rosary beads around her shotgun as she tears down the halls of her dreadful Victorian mansion.Writer/director/composer Alejandro Amenabar creates a dark, dark atmosphere, in which you feel like you can't trust anyone.
Nicole Kidman, in her brilliant performance as Grace, is supposedly the "heroine" of the film, but as I watched the movie I found myself more frightened of her than rooting for her; steely and overbearing, with a hint of psychotic hysteria in her icy eyes.
Every time you think you have it figured out, some of the household help will pop up and throw the whole framework off-kilter.The real attraction in this film is Nicole Kidman, following up her bravura performance as Satine in "Moulin Rouge" with a woman teetering between insanity and iron control.
The screenplay is one of the best of this genre I have seen in the last few years, very carefully revised and misleading, yet at the end everything makes perfect sense, not the mention on the second time you watch it.
Nicole Kidman is Grace, a beautiful young married mother who must raise her two children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley) alone in their gigantic (actually, ridiculously large) mansion on a British isle, around the end of WWII.
Many people will easily become bored, feel tempted to sleep or leave, etc., but I, while not exactly enthralled by that point in the film, was still enjoying it.When we finally are treated to doses of suspense and chills (not so much horror and terror), it is satisfying.
'The Others', directed by the great Alejandro Amenabar (Abre los Ojos) is a stylish, spooky and fun film to watch that doesn't cheapen itself like so many in the genre.
First of all, i have to say that this year (2001) is the one that established Nicole Kidman as a superstar, she was an "A" actress, but here she became "A+", first and mainly with Moulin Rouge and then with this superb movie, i have to say that i saw a few people who gave this great movie a 10, i rate it with a 10 only because there is nothing higher, but i'm sure it deserves a lot of credit.And i have also seen many people complaining of the "borrowed storyline" (Comparing "the others" with "Sixth sense"), bah they touch the same topic of life (and death actually), but this one has a more religious view, and makes you think a lot about that.Nicole did a great job in this movie, nobody can't deny it, her role as a lovely but at moments almost gone crazy mother of 2 was a dualistic and strange thing that fitted perfectly well in the story.
You just want to see it again, because you experience a feeling that only a few, but a few few movies give you; a strong chill crosses your whole body, it is fear, but you like it anyway, it is a fear that awakes curiosity, curiosity for what is happening next...And what a spectacular, but necessary addition is the environment of the movie: an old mansion at the times of War world II, permanent darkness and haze, dead-like servants, photosensitive children so that the house had to be kept in an absolute darkness, no electric light........could it be more scary??
However, I was pleasantly surprised.First off, I'd like to say that I have yet to see The Sixth Sense, so I cannot comment on any similarities between the two films that I have heard exist.Grace (Kidman) and her two young photosensitive (X.P.) children live in a sprawling old house together in England in the 1940's and await the return of their father and husband who went off to fight the Germans in WWII.
Sooner or later, she will have to come to terms with what's going on...Kidman's acting is admirable in this movie, and although I usually have a hard time enjoying her films, I felt she did a very decent job here.
The film is shot beautifully and has a lot of atmosphere, partly due to the fact that since the children are photosensitive, the house must always be dark, and the director definitely likes to play with that.
I watched THE OTHERS simply because Christopher Eccleston in it , a future DOCTOR WHO in a scary movie , now this I've got to see , but to be honest Eccleston's role is little more than cameo while the always consistent Nicole Kidman isn't the real star of the movie - It's writer/director Alejandro Amenabar From the opening shots where the servants arrive at Grace Stewart's house I had the story pegged as to where it was going .
There is a slight problem though if you're familiar to Amenabar's work , especially ABRE LOS OJOS and that is that he's a master of the shock twist ending and I thought with the appearance of Eccleston's Charles Stewart half way through the movie I had the story sussed .
I actually did work out how he fitted into the story and was correct in guessing his fate but I never believed in what the twist ending was so well done Senor Amenabar There is a problem with this type of story and THE OTHERS is no different in that respect - You can only enjoy the movie once since you know the shock twist at the end when you see it a second , third , fourth time and there's another very successful film ( No clues but you'll know the one I'm talking about after you see this ) that has the same idea which means comparison's are inevitable , but it's difficult to compare to one another .
Certainly THE OTHERS has a more creepy atmosphere and probably a better pace and cast with special mention going to Alakina Mann as Anna who plays her role as a totally convincing horrid brat , nice to know Amenabar has resisted the temptation to portray the children as sugery sweet little cherubs which is often the case in Hollywood movies , you might not believe this but THE OTHERS in fact is a Spanish film.
Story-A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.The others is surely one of the best suspense movie ever made.Story is the uniqueness and hero of the movie.Full marks to Alejandro Amenábar for writing and directing such a wonderful movie and that too without any action scene.Nicole Kidman played role of a mother who loves her children and is perfect in her role.This may be her best movie.Both children were also good.Rest of the actors also provided the exact efforts that was required by them.Movie may seem little slow in the starting but suspense movie needs to build characters and story otherwise audience may not digest the conclusion of the movie.Just watch this movie as a regular drama horror movie and by the time this movie is finished , you will be a fan of this movie.Overall this movie can be watched again and again and is a must watch(especially for suspense thriller lovers).I give this movie 10/10.
They will live alone there with oppressive, rare and almost religious rules , until she needs to hire a group of servants (Eric Sykes as Mr. Edmund Tuttle , Elaine Cassidy as Lydia and Fionnula Flanagan as Mrs. Bertha Mills) for them .The motion picture displays genuine chills , suspense, mystery and dark atmosphere with a twisted finale .
That the kiddies have a light sensitive problem gives Amenábar the perfect excuse to keep the whole thing dimly lit: to great eerie effect.With unease in place and the small band of characters firmly established, the other key element of the film starts to kick in, namely the mystery element.
It goes back to the roots of the horror genre, employing an eerie atmosphere and mysterious characters to conjure the chilly backbone of the film.'The Others' is set in the Forties and revolves around staunchly Catholic Grace Stewart, who lives in an old mansion located on the island of Jersey with her highly photo-sensitive children ten-year-old Anne and six-year-old Nicholas.
Grace, deeply ingrained in her religious belief that ghosts don't exist, initially refuses to believe her daughter but soon she questions her faith as she can't deny there is something ominous about the house...Nicole Kidman gives an excellent performance as the almost cold and aloof Grace, who does love her children dearly even if she doesn't always show it openly.
And, of course, like in a successful suspense movie, virtually all the obscure or ambiguous points are clarified making the story incredibly coherent and after the final conclusion (which of course, I won't reveal), the very last sequences have a strong emotional power and it would take a heart of stone to resist them.
The delicate and disturbing sounds we can hear contribute to reinforce the threatening atmosphere of the film and makes us feel a little more ill-at-ease again."The Others" was released when Nicole Kidman had just divorced Tom Cruise and I had thought that she gave the image of a more mature and ambitious actress.
It is only vaguely worth it for its trick ending, and let's face it, if it didn't have an ending like that there would be nothing to the film at all.Everything plods along so slowly, and there are quite a few things which seem illogical, for example how the daughter screams wildly at some things but is very matter-of-fact about sightings of intruders in the house.Because nothing much is happening, it is only inevitable that some major shock ending is coming, and quite frankly, while it is surprising, it's not really that mind-blowing, and certainly doesn't make the whole movie worthwhile.Could have been a lot better..
I left the theater thoroughly convinced I just saw the best damn ghost story ever made.Despite having no special effects at all, and the absence of any hint of gore, Director Alejandro Amenabar managed to put together a truly creepy and chilling masterpiece.
Scenes and lines kept coming back to me, along with the impression of all of the amazing performances in the film.Tonight I watched it for the second time, sharing it with my two 13-year-old sons.
The plot is a simple ghost story that is told with confidence throughout, with a consistently subtle touch from Amenabar; to me he marked himself out as being worth watching with Abre Los Ojos and this film has only made me sure that he can produce the goods.
This movie is long and boring if you don't know the ending and if you are like most people and see it coming in the very beginning of the film then it is excruciating to sit through.
Although the set-up has some originality and there are some good performances, once you figure out the ending 'twist' (well before it's revealed, if you're smart), it becomes hard not to hate this movie for the 'been there, done that' feeling you get.I can't believe the film is so highly rated and getting such good reviews.
For the year 2001, Nicole Kidman recieved an Oscar nomination for her role in the very overrated movie "Moulin Rouge." I thought that her performance in this ghost thriller was by far one of the best performances I have ever seen that year.
The average enthusiastic audience won't notice a few inconsistencies, amazed as they are by the "subtlety" of the movie and the "cleverness" of the final revelation, but I am annoyed by plots that have not been thought through thoroughly and disappointed there is so little discussion about these shortcomings (though it would be difficult to do so without spoilers).The actors are good (notably the little girl and the two adult servants; Nicole Kidman is sort of woody, OTOH I must admit I never liked her), the photography is fine, the scenery is expensive, there is some suspense here and there, but the pace is slow, and I cannot understand how one can call a masterpiece a movie that just uses classic devices of horror movies.
The story telling was amazing and Kidman a surprise in a movie like this, but she was great, as were all actors and actresses.
Is the house haunted?My main gripe with many horror films is that things are revealed too early on, in ghost stories you will see the ghost before any real suspense has been able to build.
With all the terrible horror movies I've seen before I was really hoping this was going to be a good one and it definitely was, with a fantastic cast and brilliant acting from all the actors and an amazing storyline it was definitely worth watching.
When I first heard of The Others, I honestly was that not interested in watching it, it's premise seemed like a generic horror flick and the plot about a mother living with her photosensitive children alone in a large house or mansion sounded as generic as it gets.
It was shocking and was so well handled and executed that it is in my opinion one of the best scenes in horror films even though the scene in retrospect is not that scary but it is the shock factor that makes that scene so great to watch.Performance wise, Nicole plays Grace, the mother of the two children perfectly, she is strict towards her children and tries to discipline them, but is also well protective of them and loves them deeply, she is also depressed about being cut off from the rest of the world due to her children's condition.
Bertha Mills who plays the nanny does a fantastic job in her role as a kind old lady but there is something that always remains mysterious about her especially in the later part of the film where she behaves oddly and it seems like that she is up to something with the other servants.The boy who plays Nicolas was actually good in his role, a kid who is scared, and is a sort of a momma's boy who is deeply attached to his mother, and he is scared about the recent haunting in the house.
And the mystery surrounding the characters is so absorbing that it immediately plunges us into such an unnerving and harrowing atmosphere that at the end of the film, whether we found relief or our hearts were still pounding, we know we'd just have lived an extraordinary experience."The Others" is set in a large mansion inhabited by a young mother, Nicole Kidman as Grace Stewart and her two children, Anne and Nicholas.
Not long into their stay, the mother believes the house is haunted by a family, however a much needed truth is pretty much twisted in a bundle of suspense and mystery...This film is great for anyone who loves to sit on the edge of their seat although you don't want to sit next to anyone who talks a lot either.
You won't find yourself shouting "don't open that door" like one does in desperation at so many awful b movie characters - you'll be looking at Ms. Kidman's face and you'll be right there with her.This film is set some fifty years ago.
With the help of the excellent dialogue they deliver an awe-inspiring performance that absolutely makes the film.Storywise, it is excellent and original in my opinion - and horror movies are my favourite, so I believe I've seen a few in my time.So if you're tired of clichés, of the group-of-teens..
Actually the whole cast is great (yes, even the boy - i am not annoyed at his acting abilities - but at what role he has to play as a character) I also liked the conclusion of the story - i am not sure if this "twist" has been used before - but for me it was quite new, especially the "tone" of it.I have just recently re-watched it (2017) - and the movie has aged incredibly well (of course mostly because it relies on atmosphere and acting, and only on very low key effects (which seem to be mostly practical - or off screen anyway) i can fully recommend this movie..
It provides a few moments of shock in the process but when you reach your destination you may find yourself looking for AnOther.Grace (Nicole Kidman) mother of two young children and mistress of the house opens the film with a frightening scream setting up audience expectation for something really eerie that really never materializes.
It's like The Ring (in as good PG-13 rated horror films).I love this movie because it's like Lost, in which subtle clues are given away little by little until it reaches the twist ending.
If not, don't try to think some up or you'll get mad at the graceful pace the film is moving.Nicole Kidman gives a really great performance in here, as well as many other characters. |
tt0083336 | Wolfen | Former NYPD Captain Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney) is brought back to the force and assigned to solve a bizarre string of violent murders after high-profile magnate Christopher Van der Veer (Max M. Brown), his wife (Anne Marie Pohtamo), and his bodyguard are slain in Battery Park. Executive Security, Van der Veer's client, prefers to blame the murders on terrorists; but knowing that the victim's bodyguard was a 300-pound Haitian with voodoo ties makes Wilson skeptical. At the crime scene, Wilson meets with Warren (Dick O'Neill), his superior. With pressure to solve the case coming down from both the Police Commissioner and the Mayor, Warren partners Wilson with criminal psychologist Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora).
A homeless man goes exploring an abandoned church in Charlotte Street, South Bronx, which was going to be demolished by Van der Veer along with the rest of the ruined buildings in the area, to be able to build apartment complexes. He is suddenly attacked and torn to pieces by an unseen monstrous being. Wilson and Neff arrive to investigate his murder. While investigating the abandoned church, sounds of crying lure Neff up the bell tower. Wilson follows her but does not hear the crying; once Neff is separated from him, he hears a wolf howl. He goes up after Neff and drags her forcibly to safety. Later, during the night, a bridge worker is apparently murdered by the same creature.
Coroner Whittington (Gregory Hines) discovers non-human hairs on several mutilation victims and consults zoologist Ferguson (Tom Noonan). Ferguson immediately identifies the hairs as belonging to Canis lupus and explains that there are 40 subspecies and that these particular hairs do not belong to any of them. Ferguson foreshadows his death when he asks incredulously, "What are you two trying to pin on The Big Bad [wolf]?" He compares wolves to Indians, giving Wilson his first real inspiration.
Wilson finds Eddie Holt (Edward James Olmos), a militant Native activist he arrested some years ago for killing a conservative Indian or "apple," working in construction. While Wilson interrogates Holt on top of the Manhattan Bridge, Holt claims he's a shapeshifter, which implicates him as the killer and he even goes so far as to threaten Wilson with carefully constructed dialogue. Feeling that the conversation is circumstantial and potentially dangerous, Wilson opts to let him alone and tail him later that night on his own terms. Following animal clues, Ferguson goes to Central Park, where the killer ambushes and kills him in a tunnel. Oblivious, Wilson spends the remainder of his night with Neff where they make love. The following morning, a man in a jogging suit rides Ferguson's motorcycle right past Wilson as he leaves Rebecca's apartment. The man crashes, illustrating that he stole the motorcycle.
Back at the station, Whittington is the second person to foreshadow his own death when he says, "If violence comes, I'm ready. I'm a dead shot, and a karate expert". He and Wilson stakeout The Bronx church, armed with sniper rifles and sound equipment; after he almost blows his ears out by opening a beer can near a parabolic microphone, an animal who appears to be a wolf ambushes and kills him. Executive Security apprehends a "Götterdämmerung" terrorist cell in connection with the Van der Veer slaying.
A traumatized Wilson escapes the church and finds himself at the nearby Wigwam Bar, where Eddie Holt and his friends are drinking. The group of Natives reveal the true nature of the killer as "Wolfen", the wolf spirit. They explain to Wilson that the Wolfen have extraordinary abilities and that they "might be gods". Eddie tells Wilson that he cannot fight the Wolfen, stating: "You don't have the eyes of the hunter, you have the eyes of the dead". The leader of the group, the Old Indian (Dehl Berti), informs Wilson that Wolfen kill to protect their hunting ground. Wilson resolves to end his involvement in the Van der Veer case but he, Neff and Warren, are cornered in Wall Street by the Wolfen pack. Warren tries to fight his way out but he is killed when a pack member severs his hand and decapitates him in his car. Wilson and Neff flee and blow up Warren's car with a pack member in it.
When he and Neff are cornered in Van der Veer's penthouse by the Wolfen pack led by its White alpha male, Wilson smashes the model of the construction project that threatened their hunting ground, to communicate to them that the threat no longer exists and that he and Neff are not enemies. The Wolfen consent and just as the police barge in, vanish. Wilson claims the attack was made by terrorists. The story ends on the assumption that Götterdämmerung takes the fall for the murder series. Wilson's voice is heard explaining that Wolfen will continue to prey on weak and isolated members of the human herd as humans do to each other by class conflict. Wolfen will continue to be invisible to humanity because of their nature; not that of spirits but predators, who are higher on the food chain than humans. | suspenseful, psychological, gothic, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | As in the book, the Wolfen are both terrifying and yet somehow noble, and you respect the antagonism between them and the human characters (played very well by Albert Finney and co.), and while the ending is somewhat anticlimactic as opposed to its book counterpart, I was still quite pleased with the film as a whole.
The introduction of the Native American element into the movie's version of the story made sense and was enjoyable (though E.J. Olmos's nudity was a little much), and I should also mention that the shots of New York were atmospheric and gorgeous as well, and when combined with the werewolf element, make a truly one-of-a-kind horror film.
Diane Venora is adequate as Rebecca Neff, Wilson's co-worker and love interest, but Gregory Hines is excellent as the forensics expert, and Tom Noonan brightens his few scenes as a wolf enthusiast.Based on a novel by Whitley Strieber, Wadleigh, who also co-wrote the script with David Eyre, alludes to the killers' identity, but wisely keeps them off screen throughout most of the film.
A great thriller with horror overtones that's a different kind of werewolf film than any other (certainly at the time of release).
Similar to thermography, the technique was later adopted by other horror films such as the "Predator" film series.Although considered a modern werewolf classic, Roger Ebert asserted Wolfen "is not about werewolves but is about the possibility that Indians and wolves can exchange souls." Well, yeah, that is true...
Tom Noonan in his pre-Manhunter existence gives the movie a touch of class as an animal lover who wants to study the "Wolfen." If you're expecting a comedic werewolf movie such as "The Howling" or "An American Werewolf in London" this film isn't for you.
I say this because one might have different expectancy after reading the synopsis and the tag lines.For me (a big horror and art movies fan) it was one of those rare films which didn't just deliver sensations (fear, edge of the seat experience, etc.), but also provides a clear and thoughtful message that stays with you after the credits roll.For those who like symbolism, mysticism, there is a lot to discover in this movie.Although there is no other resemblance, except the profound Eco message, i would put it together with "Emerald Forest"(Earth theme)and the more artsy "Embrace of the Serpent"(Civilization theme).For me, as an animal and nature lover, it had a similar impact, mostly because this was intertwined with the themes of the movies I've mentioned above.
Pulsating synthesisers and point-of-view audio-visual cinematography add a sophisticated dimension to this one of a kind movie, that benefits from an unusual cast who excel in their offbeat characterisations.Perfectly cast is future "Manhunter" (Red Dragon) Tom Noonan as the over-protective zoologist, dancer Gregory Hines as the hip coroner, and Edward James Olmos as the misplaced American Indian whose mystical incantations reveal the true identity of the killer.
In fact it's actually a very thoughtful, suspenseful and instinctive horror film based around a moral rather than trying to force feed you someone else's ideals.Wolfen sets about with the murder of a very wealthy architect businessman and his girlfriend in a New York City park.
He's assigned to the more gruesome cases and his closest friend and the closest thing to a partner he has is criminal pathologist Whittington, played by the late charmer Gregory Hines.Together they stumble upon several leads that begin to pose the question whether what is stalking the streets is a man who thinks he's a werewolf or something unquestionably supernatural, as the Native American Indians working on the skyscrapers want to have Wilson believe.There are a number of factors that work in Wolfen's favour and as I always pointed out, one large factor is that this film's visual effects were stolen some six years later by a certain director by the name of John McTiernan.
That film, where we saw from the killer's eyes as he stalked his prey was none other than Predator.This is a serial killer crime thriller with a huge twist and part of that twist is that the film is so well made that no matter how far fetched it may seem, you truly understand it and enjoy it.The old decayed and abandoned New York is the majority setting for Wolfen, which suits its style to the ground and provides some chilling moments, especially as Albert Finney portrays one of the most unhealthy and out of shape detectives ever devoted to lead character.
Wolfen not wolves, like a terrifically spiritual Edward James Olmos explains it to us is a truly inspired and solid horror film that belongs to the best genre-achievements of the 80's.
Finney and Edward James Olmos are the most impressive cast members, yet they receive good feedback from Tom Noonan (in one of his earliest roles), Gregory Hines (I don't believe I ever saw him in a horror film before) and Diane Verona.
The acting is absolutely phenomenal--I wish Finney and Hines worked together in other movies...the atmosphere in this film really conveys the desolation of the burned out slums, and there is a feeling of like, "Wow, what the hell ARE we doing with the earth." But it never got preachy and I think Finney portrayed the more subtle realizations brought forth by this great film.
Finney is good, as usual, and Gregory Hines, in his film debut shines as a hip coroner working with Finney to solve the murders.The leads, the story line, plus a good supporting cast including Diane Venora and Tom Noonan helps make 'Wolfen' a pretty interesting film..
I read Whitley Striber's novel THE WOLFEN in the early 1980s and though not being much of a horror fan was mildly impressed with it and found out a couple of years later that a movie version starring Albert Finney had been released and I tried to find the movie on video but with no luck and it was several years later until I saw WOLFEN when it was broadcast on channel 4 one night and I was disappointed with it Director Michael Wardleigh directed the classic Hippy concert movie WOODSTOCK and this adaptation has " Hippy anti corporate giant eco warrior " written all over it .
Strangely enough this might help WOLFEN become a sort of cult classic amongst anti globalisation protesters but for a mainstream audience who were expecting a horror film it's a turn off and what really spoils the movie is the ridiculous ending where we're told that it's all the fault of the human race and the Wolfen are really the good guys only protecting themselves from humanity .
Well, we've seen that a number of times on films in recent decades, being part of the PC culture.The unique cinematography, seeing as the wolf sees, with psychedelic-like negative images as he prowls the streets of New York City, is very cool.
*******SPOILERS******* Uneven horror story about super wolves, Wolfen, who take matters into their own hands, or is it paws, when their hunting grounds, the city slums, start to be encroached by big city developer Christopher VanDerVeer and cause havoc in NYC by doing in anyone who tries to disrupt their way of life."Wolfen" starts off promisingly with a pre-dawn attack by unseen, you don't see them but they see you, assailants in Battery Park on VanDerVeer, his wife and chauffeur, much like the beginning of the movie "Night of the Demon".
But as the movie goes on it soon begins to get more and more confusing and not making the point between the attackers or Wolfen and the American Indians whom they seem to have some kind of alliance with and disintegrates into just another whodunit type of murder mystery.
Director Michael Wadleigh throws a lot of red herrings at the audience as to what and why the Wolfen's are all about or if their really wolves at all or are really just disgruntled American Indians upset at how their being treated by the US government in regards to the destruction of their ancient and ancestral homelands."Wolfen" could have been a much better movie if it stuck to the supernatural angle of the Whitley Striber novel instead of trying to be both a crime and horror movie at the same time.
But it would have been much better if it were filmed in the wide open country-side of the American south-west where Indians and wolves lived in harmony for over a millennium instead of a big city like New York where both have really nothing in common.Albert Finney at times looked as confused about what he was supposed to be doing in the movie as was the movie audience who were watching him..
It's an horror that mostly lays its emphasis on its atmosphere.Even though the movie is from the early '80's but is still that feels and moves like an '70's movie, which is a positive thing to note because of the great style and way of film-making that flourished in the '70's.
This of course also adds to the atmosphere of the movie.It shows a lot of scenes from the 'wolves' point-of-view, kind of "Predator" like style.
(Of course this changes more and more when the movie heads toward the ending and its conclusion.) The only real horror and tension is now basically only in its atmosphere, which also suffice enough in this case by the way, since its all done so great.
Oh well, Horner just never has been really known for his originality and he copies his own work more than often, which doesn't take away that his scores are often highly effective for his movies.The movie with Albert Finney, Edward James Olmos and Gregory Hines, among others, features quite some big popular names in it.
Still, I thought it was far and away better than most of the so-called horror films released during the same period.As for the original book is concerned, my best friend and I were both disappointed in Streiber's novel, which we thought was grossly inferior to the movie and filled with errors in logic you just couldn't ignore or explain away.
I am surprised that more people don't talk about this film as it is pretty good but it seems to have escaped major attention due to the Howling and An American Werewolf in London which were released around the same time frame.
This horror/thriller has striking cinematography and sound, fine direction, and a good script, and very good Special Effects.A series of seemingly unrelated murders are being committed in New York City, from the penthouses of the super-rich, to the bombed out appearing South Bronx.
The cast members are not only shown to be technically competent, but also are portrayed to be not at all averse to doses of macabre humor and shop-talk sarcasm along their deductive path.It is the skills of our acting crew, from Mr. Finney to Greg Hines to Diane Venora to Tom Noonan to James Olmos (Mr, Shape-Shift) to Dick O'Neill and others on a less frequent basis, that make this off-beat film an unusually interesting piece of fiction to watch.
Certainly Different than Your average Horror Movie, Michael Wadleigh's Only other Film other than Woodstock (1969), is a Treat of Offbeat Gore and POV Madness.It's Ambitions Fall Short on the Environmental and Mystical Stuff at times but the way it gets there is nonetheless Chillingly Captured.
The Movie may Try too Hard to Show a Number of Different Angles on the Horror of the Story...Native American Shape-Shifting, The Encroachment of Civilization on the Natural World, and Human and Urban Decay.A Fine Film that is a Different Entry in the Genre and until the Rushed and Confusing Ending it Captivates and Entertains as a Sharp and Artsy Thriller.
When all is said and done, most of the people in the film were extremely good actors and the direction was spot on.Bottom line: not a standard horror movie in any way.
It is a question of survival, not good or evil.When Tom Noonan, who works at the zoo, is viewing the murder of wolves, we see man's inhumanity to animals; the fact that the wolfed act as they do makes perfect sense.The POV of the wolf, especially as seen in the South Bronx, is cold and calculating.
While this is not a werewolf movie, or even conventional horror, it is an interesting theme which is worth viewing, and the creature Albert Finney sees on the steps of the abandoned building is rather frightening.
It also has some terrific cinematography, check out those great p.o.v. attack sequences.The cast isn't bad - Albert Finney, Diane Venora, and Edward James Olmos are stand outs.So all around, Wolfen isn't what horror fans would expect, but those seeking a mysterious oddity might find it a great film.** 1/2 out of ****.
With the focus on the investigation taking place for the majority of the film, we get very little screen-time for the creatures who are barely glimpsed even when they do appear since the body-count is depressing and disappointingly low for such a werewolf movie since it's finally nearly ninety-minutes into this one before they even appear which leaves this one feeling like quite a drag.
Wolfen stars Albert Finney, with the most scariest looking mullet in screen history he plays a pudgy cop who is investigating a series of bizarre deaths in the Battery Park area of New York City.
Wolfen is a pack of ancient creatures similar yet more powerful than that of wolves.Wolfen was filmed & released around the same time as The Howling (1980) & An American Werewolf In London (1981).
Needless to say, people who have ADHD won't like "Wolfen." WHAT WORKS: Despite the sluggishness, the film definitely has a lot of mood, a memorable score, a serious and realistic vibe, good acting, excellent New York locations (especially the condemned slum areas) and Class A cinematography to warrant one's respect, particularly the many creature point-of-view shots that "Predator" later ripped-off.Regardless of all these good aspects, the film would have failed if there was no pay-off to the mounting mystery.
"Wolfen" is based on the Whitley Striber novel.A police detective(Albert Finney)is investigating a series of brutal murders in New York City that point toward a wolf-like killer,or possibly a whole pack of them.Director Michael Wadleigh uses the horror movie backdrop as a venue for commentary on class,environmentalism,industrialization and Native American reality and myths.The mystery surrounding bloodthirsty creatures is excellent and there are some truly intense and bloody scenes of hunting.The use of a polarization effect and a steadicam to represent the wolves' POV is stunningly eerie.The film is loaded with the atmosphere of urban decay and the score by James Horner is particularly memorable.Give this highly sophisticated horror film a look.8 out of 10..
This draws him into the underground world of the Wolfen, where he learns to understand and sympathise with their motives.Film plays more like a third-rate detective story instead of a horror, with Finney an annoying bland caricature of the Dirty Harry type of cop.
The Wolfen themselves are portrayed as real wolves which only serves to reduce the horror element even further - the gore effects in the killings are also poor, particularly a laughable decapitation scene.The film is interesting because of its strong environmental message and criticism of modern man and our new civilisation (the film could easily be read as highlighting the plight of the North American Indian and has similarities in theme to some Westerns).
Albert Finney stars as a New York city cop who, while investigating a series of brutal murders that look like the work of a wolf pack, comes to discover that it may be supernatural in origin, something he has a hard time accepting...Albert Finney was a strange choice to play the detective, but then again, this is a strange film!
From director Michael Wadleigh (Woodstock) and author Whitney Striber, (whose personal alien abduction story will probably age better than his books), comes Wolfen; a nifty little creature feature, which at first glance seems like nothing special, but it is perhaps a bit more distinctive than all or any of its hairy or toothy contemporaries.
This movie has good things--it's well-directed; Gregory Hines attacks his role and has fun with it; Edward James Olmos has a surprising nude scene and there is some very good special effects showing how the wolves see things.
That's what surly police detective Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney) has to figure out, with the help of such people as political terrorism expert Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora), coroner Whittington (Gregory Hines), and animal expert Ferguson (Tom Noonan).Director Michael Wadleigh certainly made a highly interesting debut in terms of making a film with a narrative, having previously done the landmark Woodstock documentary.
What I will argue is how the craftsmanship that went into this film far exceeds the multitudes of celluloid treats that have been shot in the last decade.Director Michael Wadleigh truly understood how to embrace the two sensory communicators that movies deliver to an audience, that of sight and sound, and wove a tapestry of motifs that help elevate a mere "super-wolves-preying-on-humans-in-NY" tale into something that "feels" like it's so much more.So many contemporary directors of popular features, notably those who churn out horror flicks, frame scenes and trim shots down to movements and moments that simply, and I mean, VERY simply, propel the plot points.
Got a Little Hokey at End. This is a throwback 80's horror film with Albert Finney, Gregory Hines, and Edward James Olmos.
Everything else worked for me in that film, even though the characters turned into dogs.But, be that as it may, this movie was interesting and the continuous shots of the traveling "wolfen" were well-shot.New York City's getting face-lifts and this isn't faring with a wolf-pack group and they're attacking back. |
tt3062074 | Sharknado 2: The Second One | Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and April Wexler (Tara Reid) are on a plane headed for New York City for a signing of April's book, "How To Survive A Sharknado". The flight attendant (Kelly Osbourne) is a fan and asks for an autograph. She calls Fin a hero, but the events of the last "sharknado" in L.A. have left him rather traumatized and shaken. In a segment reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode, Fin looks outside his window notices thunderclaps and strange things flying in the sky. He sees a shark hit the wing of the plane, and he starts to panic. The flight attendant and air marshal calm him down, but suddenly, a whole bunch of sharks start flying everywhere, and one gets sucked into the plane's turbines. The engine breaks off and opens a big hole in the plane, sucking people out and letting some sharks in. Both pilots (Robert Hays and Rachel True) are eaten, forcing Fin to walk into the cockpit and take control of the plane. April almost gets sucked out, but she hangs on for dear life. The air marshal passes her his gun. She shoots a scarred shark, which bites off her left hand. Fin manages to land the plane very roughly.In the next scene in New York's Times Square, we meet Fin's older sister, Ellen (Kari Wuhrer), along with her teenage daughter Mora (Courtney Baxter), Ellen's husband Martin Brody (Mark McGrath), and their 20-something son Vaughn (Dante Palminteri) sightseeing in the city. Fin and Martin were once best pals but they stopped talking to each other once Martin married Ellen. Martin and Vaughn go check out a Mets game at Citi Field while Ellen and Mora meet up with her friends Polly (Sandra Denton) and Chrissie (Tiffany Shepis) to go to check out the Statue of Liberty. They tell Ellen about the plane accident. She calls Fin, who is at the hospital with April. She is being treated for her missing limb and severe blood loss.Meanwhile, Matt Lauer and Al Roker (both playing themselves) report on the news that strange weather is hitting the Big Apple. There appears to be snow headed by, along with rain.Fin meets up with Martin and Vaughn at Citi Field since Ellen left him a ticket. He learns that since Citi Field is close to the water, the storm and the sharks will hit there first.There, he reunites with old friend Bryan (Judah Friedlander) and Skye (Vivica A. Fox). Skye apparently used to date Fin and still has feelings for him. She kisses him but he tells her he's with April. Bryan also meets one of his favorite baseball players, Harland "The Blaster" McGuinness (Richard Kind), who played a bad game and failed his father. The storm then starts to hit the stadium, with sharks starting to fall on the place. Fin tells his friends to grab what they can from the gift stand, so they grab bats to swing back against the sharks. Harland even ends up whacking a shark into the Citi Field sign.The sharks start coming down all over the ocean as the four ladies leave Liberty Island. On the ferry back to Manhattan, a shark lunges at them, mauling Chrissie's face until Ellen kills it. Chrissie dies from her wounds. Once they get off the ferry, they run for their lives. The storm intensifies so heavily that it breaks off the head of the Statue of Liberty, crushing a man in the process. The ladies make it onto a garbage truck, but the men operating it are also crushed by the head, so Ellen must drive them to safety.Meanwhile, Fin and company board the subway. He and Martin wonder to each other just why they stopped talking to each other when they used to be "the dynamic duo". Unfortunately, the train starts to flood, so Fin orders everybody to move to the next car. Bryan ends up getting eaten by a shark, as does Perez Hilton. Fin fights off the shark that has made it onto the train. Vaughn hits the emergency brakes, and everybody runs out of the subway. For a moment, Fin doesn't appear to get out of the train, but he shows up.On the street, the gang hails a taxi driven by a guy named Ben (Judd Hirsch), who gave Fin a lift to Citi Field and is also a fan of his heroics. Fin devises a plan to throw a bomb into the sharknado to stop it like last time. They just need to find a place that has a lot of weapons, including chainsaws and propane tanks. Ben stops at a pizza place where Fin finds an old friend who owes him something. He appears hesitant, until a shark falls through the ceiling. The man stabs the shark and Fin whacks it into the oven. The guy lets Fin take whatever he needs.The streets start flooding heavily. The cab gets flooded and sharks start surrounding it. They set up a rope to swing to safety. Skye and Vaughn make it across together, followed by Martin. Ben tries to swing, but he gets pulled down and killed by sharks. Fin hops onto the sharks Frogger-style to get to his friends, giving Martin a perfect opportunity to make a "jumping the shark" joke.Fin, Martin, Skye, and Vaughn make it to a hotel, where Ellen and Mora meet them after Polly is crushed by a whale shark. Fin and Skye ride the elevator to the roof to hurl their bombs into the sharknadoes. From their conversation, we learn that Fin and Skye did love each other, but Fin didn't have her father's approval. She says that should not have mattered to either of them. They get to the roof, where they make a slingshot and launch the bombs into the sharknadoes. However, they are not strong enough to make any significant damage. Instead, Fin sets the sharks on fire, which fall down and crush/burn everyone. Downstairs, it starts to flood, making Martin, Ellen, Mora, and Vaughn run upstairs. They are met halfway by Fin and Skye, who are outrunning the flaming sharks. They find a fire escape, but Martin and Fin must distract a shark to get the fire axe to break the door open. They get out, but not before Fin swings his axe at a shark.April makes her way out of the hospital as it starts to flood. She helps a young girl get out safely where she is escorted by a nurse. April then boards a fire truck and finds Fin and the others to take them to the Empire State Building, as a third sharknado is trying to merge with the other two. Fin stands among the New Yorkers and rallies them together, stirring up their confidence with New York pride (and the fact that he chainsaws a shark in half before everyone else), because when something bites New Yorkers, NEW YORKERS BITE BACK!Fin and Skye get into the ESB where they plan to take out the sharknadoes by blowing up a tank of Freon. Fin makes it to the top of the tower, with Skye staying downstairs to make sure the cables stick together. A lightning bolt hits the cables, causing the tank to explode and send an electrical surge into the sharknadoes. The explosion hurls Fin and Skye into the air, where Skye is ripped apart by a shark. Fin rides the scarred shark that bit off April's arm with a hook, impaling it on the top of the tower. All the other sharks come falling down, and the New Yorkers grab their weapons and take out every shark they can. Another shark comes down on the tower, but April takes it out with an electric saw attached to her arm.Fin pulls April's arm out of the scarred shark's mouth and takes off her ring, proposing to her again. She accepts and they kiss. The New Yorkers cheer them on, and a truck full of fireworks blows up, sending colorful explosions into the air. Fin tells April that he loves New York.The final word 'FIN' appears in the form of building lights on the Empire State Building.A scene during the end credits shows Fin eating a slice of pizza at the same pizza parlor where he earlier asked for help. | absurd | train | imdb | The ultimate in guilty pleasure, Sharknado 2 is equally as bad (good) as the original although you can tell they had a bigger budget for the sequel because the special effects are better and there are a ton of cameos.Ian Ziering, I have to give it to him here, he really gives his all and was fun as hell to watch running around New York saving the day, kicking shark ass with his chainsaw.Lots of laughs, a good time, exactly what I was expecting from a made for TV B-movie.
A freak weather system turns its deadly fury on New York City, unleashing a Sharknado on the population and its most cherished, iconic sites - and only Fin (Ian Ziering) and April (Tara Reid) can save the Big Apple.Whether or not this tops the first film is hard to say, but they pulled all the stops when it came to references for "Taxi", "Airplane", "Jaws" and maybe even "Evil Dead".
This brings about the rather fun and enjoyable pace which has all sorts of action spread throughout given the larger city-ground to play with, that gives this a much bigger scope with which to engage those set-pieces, and the confrontations are so much more fun including the chase through the streets by the dismembered statue's head that crashes through the cars and buildings, the battle on the subway car with the different passengers being taken out with the sharks and trying to escape from the flooded streets of Times Square.
Many of the one-off gags and cameos are designed to pay this off and follow the story throughout by constantly employing the sharks to serve as obstacles to overcome and that not only makes them a credible threat but also keeps the energy going by giving this the kind of silly universe that provides plenty of fun to be had not only with the idea of the creatures getting involved in the storm but also the rather goofy concept of providing commentary on the situation.
When Sharks Fly. Things have calmed down since the first "Sharknado" (2013), but not for long
Romantically inclined Ian Ziering (as Fin Shepard) and raspy-voiced Tara Reid (as April Wexler) are on a flight to JFK International Airport in New York City.
Despite the fact that several passengers have their heads eaten by flying sharks, and others are whisked out of the plane, many people are reluctant to believe Ziering's dire warning about another "Sharknado".
Mostly oblivious to the foreboding weather, citizens go about their everyday business...Then, the shark hits the fan...For years, the Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi) Channel has been slaughtering science-fiction film aficionados with the some of the worst "original movies" ever to see the green light of day.
The acting is bad - but it's called Sharknado, the special effects can be done in about an hour with After Effects and any 3D animation software - but it's called Sharknado, the ability to survive an electrocution-enforced explosion on the Empire State building, forcing the person to chainsaw sharks in mid-flight but then surfs on one back down to the ground is impossible - BUT IT'S CALLED SHARKNADO.So, I really don't need to say who would like this movie and who wouldn't.
A freak weather system turns its deadly fury on New York City, unleashing a Sharknado on the population and its most cherished, iconic sites - and only Fin and April can save the Big Apple.In a sort of twisted sense, I kind of love this movie.
Ferrante, written by Thunder Levin and released by The Asylum film studio; which specializes in ultra-low-budget B movies and 'mockbusters' (like 'TRANSMORPHERS', 'AVH: ALIEN VS.
Ian Ziering and Tara Reid reprise their starring roles, from the first film, and this time they battle a sharknado in New York.
Fox, Mark McGrath, Kari Wuhrer, Judd Hirsch and a slew of celebrity cameos (like Robert Hays, Andy Dick, Judah Friedlander, Billy Ray Cyrus, Wil Wheaton, Downtown Julie Brown, Richard Kind, Kelly Ripa, Michael Strahan, Matt Lauer, Al Roker and many others).
After surviving a freak storm in Los Angeles, which caused sharks to be sucked up in waterspouts and dropped down on the city, Fin Shepard (Ziering) and his ex-wife April Wexler (Reid) are traveling to New York City.
He has to deal with some relationship drama as well; involving Ellen's husband (McGrath) and an ex-girlfriend (Fox).I normally hate SyFy Channel flicks (as well as most movies distributed by The Asylum) but I do enjoy watching these 'SHARKNADO' films.
I, for one, am going to invest in a chainsaw, and keep more propane and freon gas bottles around.No one is ever safe from this, just like all of Mother Nature's quirks.In this documentary, the possibility of combining a snownado with a tropical sharknado is explored, and what better setting than gritty New York?The star-studded cast lend credence to our most horrifying nightmare: Sharks in a Tornado, coming at you!Offsetting the grim realism of death by shark is the exploration of human frailty, and what it means to keep a relationship alive in an ever changing modern world, when fame comes easy, and for all the wrong reasons.Sometimes it takes going back to your roots, and the shared experience of tragic personal loss from a Sharknado, to realize who your loved ones really are, and how much they matter to you..
Sharknado 2 is never what you call dull and never tries to do too much or too little, there are plenty of funny moments- intentional and unintentional- like the ending, the saw hand and Ziering's rodeo ride on a big shark and while it is very corny the dialogue raises a number of laughs.
Sharknado 2 does however have its fair share of problems, starting with that the plot is too much of a tired re-hash at times except with a different setting and Tara Reid's unspeakably awful acting, completely expressionless and you know there is something wrong when her scream on the plane is her best acting in the entire movie and even that was bad acting.
That there are many new attractions in Sharknado 2 is admirable and while they are fun to watch a lot of them are too short in length and are further hindered from pretty bad to awful CGI.
The makers of this film knew people would watch and laugh at anything that had Sharknado in its title, and therefore dropped the ball and decided not to revel in the plots absurdities, but resort to continuity porn, product placement, and celebretard cameos.
After a dangerous flight to New York that shows signs of another shark attack, Fin (Ian Ziering) must lead his family members through a shark attack in the Big Apple in this new sequel.You must admit that the Sharknado films are original and there are no films like it.
It also shows how stupid human race, after the weather will be raining sharks, everyone in NY goes outside.My mates and I enjoyed the original and this was a film.we wanted to see but lacked the time to watch all of it so we had to skip the slower parts of the movie, but we shall go back and re-watch it.
In some scenes i was actually wondering if she did some artistic statement by trying to acting like a bad actor imitating a worse one, or just having some kind of a seizure ?There seems to be another one next year, lets hope it crank that sillymeter up even higher.
In my opinion, this was on par if not better and it even had more memorable moments while following sequel rules.People who like to bash these movies obviously don't know how to have a good time.
It's been a long time since there has been a good "B" movie and I do mean as in BAD, it's awful and I love it.
Your super bad acting is stooping to new lows, seriously you embraced this movie and roll like no one else could.
This film is the least bit enjoyable and I don't know how they got Kurt Angle in it I mean he must really be desperate for fame and money he's got to do these types of stupid movies just like the other film he made a couple years ago called Death From Above!
Instead I got treated to everything that makes a film poor with the added slap in the face being that it is not funny!The plot and performances are garbage with a special mention going to Tara Reid who is just in this for the money and can't act at all.
You were good as the bit*h in American pie Tara but time has withered away your looks and acting ability.Cameo are nauseating in this "film" with some people randomly appearing in the film just because they were asked to and needed to pay rent somehow.
For instance there is a scene where Richard Kind plays a homerun guy and hits a shark with a baseball bat then doesn't appear in the movie again
I know how stupid that sounds but it is actually in this "film" for no real reason.
Having survived the Sharknado in Los Angeles, pro-surfer Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and his ex-wife April (Tara Reid) fly to New York City to promote their book, How To Survive A Sharknado, where they find the same thing happening all over again, only on an even bigger scale.I usually prefer my crap movies to be bad by accident, although I do admit to enjoying intentionally crap disaster flick Sharknado just a bit more than I probably should have done.
Ferrante attempts to outdo his first film in terms of sheer silliness, and largely succeeds with some truly ridiculous set-pieces, but with essentially the same plot (full of gaping plot holes, not that that matters one bit), and equally dire CGI effects, I found that the novelty soon wore off, leaving me rather frustrated by the fact that there are now at least two more sequels, and a bloody good chance that I'll make myself watch them..
Ferrante Review It's happening again,O no another asylum piece of crap that is too stupid for words.They have made sequels to those Megashhark movies but know it's the return of the Sharknado.
After surviving a plane ride through the newly produced out of nowhere sharknado that same guy from the first movie lands in new york meets up with family and one friend in the past and go kill some sharks while trying to save his sister.
I expected him to put up a sign that says: "NEW, Shark Pizza soon".4)In one scene the hero says to his friend, "we need a bigger bomb', she should have said, "yeah, like Heavens's Gate".There were some of these missed opportunities, but overall a fun, fast moving film with good homages to other similar movies.
The acting is so bad, the effects are cheesy and there was always a character that died nearly every time they tried to get to safety of run for there dear lives It's not the worst movie but the first one kicked shark tush!
SHARKNADO was a surprisingly entertaining Z-grade movie, probably the most famous Asylum film out there, a film which achieved "so bad it's good" status.
A sequel would inevitably follow, this time shifting the action to New York and bringing back the two main cast members, Tara Reid and Ian Ziering.Sadly, it's a pretty dismal effort which turns out to be far less enjoyable than the ultra-cheesy original.
Saw the first one, had to see this one also, as the first one this is also crazy in many ways, well off course they have to do the most reasonable thing a sequel can do, so they have to top the first one and boy do they manage to do that :)This is New York, and in NY they are more bad ass, they are more though and the movie really tries to make that statement stick by saying it over and over again during the film and making speeches etc.There are less cool scenes in this one, they are trying to hard and not succeeding.
Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)** (out of 4) Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and his ex-wife April (Tara Reid) find themselves in New York City just as a massive storm starts to roll in bringing killer sharks with it.SHARKNADO came out of nowhere and become a massive success in its own right, although I think the title itself was "known" by more people than actually saw the film.
it would have at least been OK had the sharks looked real or even just the water.....cant stand anything with really bad graphics.I feel like there was really NO EFFORT in making this movie...
Sharknado – if someone were to tell you that a movie with that title would've ever been a success you would of laughed in there face, too bad it's actually true and low and behold after the Syfy channels greatest ever hit came and went a sequel was commissioned, the big decision being what to call it?
For bad or for much worse.Here I will attempt to convince you that this year's best worst movie needs to be seen.◦After the success of the scene in the first, expect more flying sharks being dispatched by chainsaws, this time with a super-sized chainsaw.◦If you love z grade celebrity cameos, my goodness will you love The Second One. Such royalty that graces the screen includes Kelly Osbourne, Billy Ray Cyrus and Andy Dick.
The first "Sharknado" is a bad movie that the audiences can watch with the crowd or group of friends and have a good time with.
Including funny Star Wars and Twilight Zone references, and a full Subway advertisement featuring Jared.-I can't really think of anything else to add.-It is violent, but stupid cheesy, so not too bad.-So Sharknado 2 is uber dumb with some very entertaining cameos and references and some pretty cool air fights with chainsaws.
I knew that this was going to be bad and it was just repeating itself again and again and that the acting was going to be bad too and that cameo's would appear by 'famous' actors from the horror genre and that the effects would be ridiculous from the beginning like a lot of CGI used for an airplane and for the sharks itself and I knew that it would be from the cheapest CGI you will come across and I also knew that the teeth of Tara Reid would be new and attract you from the movie and I also knew that continuity doesn't exist at all in this flick.
Fin and his ex-wife April(Tara Reid) are New York bound, when the plane is attacked by swirling and diving sharks inside some bad weather.
Sharks in the streets, on stairwells, falling from the sky, swimming down NYC streets - yep it was completely silly.But, I still enjoyed it because all of the actors did a fantastic job of B-movie acting - not a single one of them acted like they thought the premise was stupid, or the dialog corny as all hell, or some of the special effects unexpectedly dumb.If you're going to make this kind of tongue in cheek type disaster movie, this is the way to do it.Great fun, beyond belief, but an entertaining way to spend a late night couple of hours.It's got to be seen to be believed - don't just listen to what your friends say about it - watch it, it makes every other cheesy movie pale by comparison!Favorite part?
And of course it is up to Fin Shepard (played by Ian Ziering) to save the day and rescue New York from destruction.Effect-wise, then "Sharknado 2: The Second One" was much similar to the first movie.
hence the warning)What a rotten piece of garbage this film was - so much so, I felt the need to jump on and write a review here.The first SHARKNADO was fun, an entertaining B-movie (Big-Time!) because it took itself seriously - one of the markings of a good B-movie.
Bad acting, an unforgivable script, sub-par special effects (yes, even for SyFy Channel), extreme closeups used to hide the fact they didn't have the budget to show the real action, sharks that kill by landing on you instead of biting (a major theme, here), a total defiance of the laws of gravity (not to mention common sense), and more stuff I'd think about if I didn't have a headache by now all, add up to make SHARKNADO 2: THE SECOND ONE a smug, pretentious, self-inflated, trite, and absolutely dull-beyond-belief 85 minutes that I not only had to force myself to sit through (hoping SOMETHING good would happen, because I loved the first one so much) ...
That dynamic was able to jump the requirements for a great B-movie and made the experience fun even though you could feel the apathy coming off the film (with the exception of Ian Ziering, he clearly was giving his all and looked like he thought it was his comeback role).The problem the sequel has is that the producers and crew want to be a part of the joke and pretty much made the film one giant self-reference and it is done with such calamity that I half expected the director to lean into the shot and say, "Ha ha, we're making fun of ourselves.
These Sharknado movies have to be some of the dumbest things ever put on film.
Anyway, Ian Ziering and Tara Reid (and Vivica A Fox and Kari Wuhrer) all must survive in New York City as sharks spin out of tornadoes and fall from the sky towards people (and them).
Its campy and has so many great movie references from films like Airplane! |
tt1029120 | Henry Poole Is Here | HENRY POOLE is HERE is a comedic drama about a disillusioned man who goes hiding in placid suburbia only to discover he cannot escape the forces of hope. Returning to the middleclass neighborhood where he grew up, Henry chooses to live in indulgent isolation. Real life, however, refuses to cooperate with his plans. Nosy neighbors interrupt him with curious visits and prying questions. Then the situation escalates as a stain on Henry's stucco wall is seen to have miraculous powers. His last-ditch hideout becomes a shrine; his backyard turns into an arena for passionate debate about faith and destiny. Seeking anonymous oblivion, cynical Henry Poole instead finds himself right at the center of the human comedy. A modern-day fable, director Mark Pellington's new film investigates the unexpected wonders of the everyday. A faithless man finds hope. A hopeless man finds love. Whether backyard miracles are real or triggered by hope and belief, their personal effects are permanent. | romantic, magical realism, flashback | train | imdb | But veteran Mexican actress Adriana Barraza steals the show as the deeply religious and well-intentioned neighbor, Esperanza (meaning "hope" in Spanish, which is only slightly more subtle than the grocery checkout girl whose name is Patience, or the Rhada Mitchell character named Dawn).If you don't mind slow movies, Henry Poole will reward you with a story that celebrates simple virtues, and suggests that there is plenty of room in this world for kindness and charity and faith and hope.
Luke Wilson does a great job as the main character Henry Pool who suffers a terminal illness.
The story is very inspirational and the music goes well with the message being delivered.I totally agree with the previous commenter on that this film is something to be seen especially if you are interested in becoming a film maker.You don't need blood, violence, language, and screaming to make something people will remember.This is my first review on IMDb as well and I want people to experience this great movie!.
If only real life would work like that.I can just imagine some poor sap, dying of a terminal disease, watching this movie and laughing his behind off while crying at the same time.
This kind of a film is what romantic movies are for real life love: a fairy tale, a beautiful lie that makes one (not terminally ill) feel better about oneself.The acting was top notch, I liked all that character interpretations, the soundtrack was full of Dylan and U2 (can't have faith without good music, after all) and, even if somewhat boring, it was a decent film.However, for me personally, it was annoying as hell.
If neighbours in the US are like that, no wonder some people become serial killers :)Bottom line: if you have faith, watch this movie.
But it is a good example of how a film can be moving, entertaining, and just a plain good movie without promoting or recklessly using drugs, sex, cursing, and other crap like that.I commend the people involved with this project.
If you're Henry Poole, (Luke Wilson), you buy a house in a neighborhood where nobody knows you, numb yourself with booze, and wait around to die - alone.
Henry's plan to fade away unnoticed is disrupted when his neighbor, Esperanza, (Adrianna Barrazza) starts worshiping a water-stained image of Christ she sees on his stucco wall.To make matters worse, Esperanza is moved to share this miracle with her church and friends.
Luke Wilson in a very mature and refined role plays Henry Poole, a character who has given up on the future—in every sense of it.
It's just a character study."Henry Poole is Here" got a limited release having been marketed as a religious film but then failing to win over that audience.
There are so many clever things here that make this superior to other films in the genre like the fact that even half way through you're not entirely sure if Henry is dying and the fact that although you really want his relationship with the equally impressive radha mitchell to get physical, it never really does.
One plan I have is to quit the job, sell off everything, pack some essentials into a backpack, and hit the road to travel round the world, even though I know at some point I would probably succumb to whatever's sapping my life away, and at some unknown place, but man, imagine the adventure where risk is but a word in the dictionary.Or I could opt for what Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) did, buying a house with whatever available cash, binge on vodka and pizza, and live life like a recluse with doors shut and heavy curtains drawn.
He's mean to everyone, in a stage of denial and has this immense rage against the world, despite neighbours such as elderly and religious lady Esperanza (Adriana Barraza), single mother Dawn (Radha Mitchell) and daughter Millie (the cute Morgan Lily who had her 1 minute cut at fame with He's Just Not That Into You), and grocery store checkout girl Patience (Rachel Seiferth) trying their best to connect a little with him and bring him out of his shell.The crux of the story here centers around the mysterious, well, coincidental appearance of a water stain on the wall of his house, and to Esperanza, it looks like the image of Christ.
So begins the mad tussle for his sanity when he has to spurn all Esperanza and her friends' advances into his property to pay homage to their God. And to compound matters, miracles start to happen all around Henry on the people he knows, thus challenging his very core beliefs through doubt.Religious allegory aside, the theme here is primarily of hope and not giving up.
Watching this modestly pace film allows you ample time to ponder over what you would do, if you were in Henry's exact same situation.Well rounded great acting by the ensemble cast makes this one man journey toward redemption pretty engaging to watch.
I salute the director for this movie, absolutely superb, if you enjoy films with quality direction and acting like "Life before her eyes", watch this.
I know where the Kleenex are.I thought Luke Wilson did a seriously good job of playing a curmudgeon with a negative medical prognosis, but I think the story is a little lopsided in that it goes right to polar extremes for its choices.
NEVER did I see a movie star on screen; I saw real people behaving in real situations.The plot centers around a man who may be dying and wants to be left alone versus a stain on a wall that may or may not be the face of Jesus Christ and which attracts far more attention than the man wants.
I've not seen Wilson before--or if I did, I didn't want to remember it--but he too is very convincing as a fellow who believes in little but champagne, Krispy Creme donuts, and pizza.I'm Christian but can't stand to be around blatant, do-gooding, overbearing, preachy Christians, and the writer and director balanced Henry's initial desires to die in peace with the hubbub this so-called image creates.Highly recommended.
(read this before watching.) yes 1 star is pretty low, but i leave the detailed ratings to the real movie commentators i can simply tell you if A movie is worth watching or not, and if your not going to convert to Christendom any time soon i serious doubt this is A movie for you, because there is little to no non-religious-substance in this movie, yes the acting is proper and it actually has an interesting beginning, but then you soon realize that the story is A closed circle with little to no escape, and then suddenly its to late, and you wasted 2 hours of your life.Kind regards: Concerned Viewer..
After a promising beginning, with the right tones, some subtle camera moves, and a quiet modulated performance by Wilson, the film starts picking up speed, volume, and a few other bad moves that derail the entire promising premise, one that could taken the film into amazing heights, would have most likely stirred some controversy, and could have gone a long way.
Instead, this is a deadly long pseudo rock 'n' roll video that wants to be a movie.Miracles in modern day are rare, mixing this with a touch of sarcasm, a dash of silliness, and some comic actors in the right place, and we could aim very high.
I found after reading some of the reviews that many people were getting hung up on their personal religious or atheist beliefs and perhaps forgetting the experience the movie presents.
A serious indication of the spiritual immaturity of the contemporary Hollywood approach, "Henry Poole is Here" is an overall silly film with a few good moments that show the seriously botched execution of what could have been a great story.Set in a California suburb with an apparently prominent Hispanic population, Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) moves into a small house near his childhood home hoping to recapture the only time in his life that he ever felt safe.
Meanwhile, the originally dour Poole realizes that fixing to die is so hard, that one might as well choose to live.As a study on doubt, spirituality and faith the movie seriously fails, what with every character preaching at you about the wonders of faith in God as they experience His miracles.
While Luke Wilson tries his best as Poole, the plight of his character is seriously compromised by what happens to him in the end, in a twist that reveals that he may be in fact a whiny jerk who loves to stew in his own juices, and why should we care about a character like that?
Also a lack of discipline in the script and an abundance of extraneous scenes fail to keep in check the attempts at ambiguity that are at least fostered by the script for an overly compromised, "feel good" experience where a more ambiguous and thought-provoking one is required."Henry Poole is Here" has good moments of cinematography, some subtle special effects, and some good music, but it is an overall too silly and lacking in credibility to work..
Christians may like Mark Pellington's little homily about hope, but I suspect those who enjoyed his X-Files-like Mothman Prophecies will be disappointed by the lack of mystery and the surfeit of plain old preachy religiosity.Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) is understandably depressed, sad, and angry about his doctor's diagnosis that he will die soon from a rapidly-acting disease.
The rest of the film is dedicated to Henry debunking the miracles of an almost blind girl seeing and a six-year old mute neighbor girl speaking while he also shoos away the usual religious gawkers.
August is a grim time for film critics, and the feckless Henry Poole is Here is as good an example as any of why I award more low grades now than in any other month of the year.I could pray for a miracle, but I don't want the wall of my house defaced with an image of George Bush on an aircraft carrier or some such sacrilege.
But as the story continued, the music and the whole surrounding gave some hints, that something was very wrong.Great acting by Luke Wilson and as well the side characters were doing very nice job to give little bit of magic to the audience.
This is a movie about living in the present (if anything this is Zen, not at all Catholic, the basic tenet of Catholics being: suffer now, get a prize later..), about how even misguided people may have positive feelings, how death in a predominantly Protestant culture like the contemporary USA is something people are unable to deal with, how the "good neighbourhood" tradition and customs may occasionally appear empty of meaning.
If not, one could easily give this independent production a miss.Directed by Mark Pellington of The Mothman Prophecies, Henry Poole is Here keeps the story much more simpler, yet at the same time, discuss the complex inner conflicts between a man who believes he is dying soon, and how the faith of the Catholics around him makes him believed that there are miracles.Henry Poole (Wilson) bought a house in Los Angeles to spend his last days in solitary, as he was told by the doctor he is dying of some rare disease (which keeps the audience guessing, as it was not mentioned in the film.) Believed that he is dying soon, he drowned himself in alcohol and junk food, which draws the curiosity of Patience (Rachel Seiferth), a cashier in their neighborhood hypermarket.
Poole thinks otherwise, strongly believes that it is just a water stain.Millie, the autistic daughter of Poole's neighbor, Dawn (Radha Mitchell), enters the life of Poole by taping down Poole's conversation with the people around him using a tape recorder.
When Dawn strongly believes that it was the wall that makes Millie start to talk again, it changes the view and perception of life for Poole.One do not need to think too hard to understand Henry Poole is Here.
It was well portrayed on the conflicts between an atheist and one who strongly believes in God. What was lacking in the movie was what makes Henry Poole do not believed in the water stains is more than something else.
No explanation was given, which we could only see some old family photographs appears in Henry's house.Being the leading character, Luke Wilson wasn't give much chance to explore on the depressed, inner bound personality to the movie.
Though it fails as it becomes a jumbled affair with too many characters sending too many mixed signals.The movie begins with an apathetic, unshaven Luke Wilson buying a rather pricey small house in California, literally drinking his life away.
I did actually laugh in a few places, but at its core, this movie is an art film about hope, faith, the angst of human existence and the redeeming power of love.
Why when a film makes one feel like a human being, and gives one faith in miracles it doesn't get the press it deserves?
Here is just a man lost in the world, played with even more hangdog than usual by an excellent Luke Wilson, whose neighbor thinks she sees a manifestation in a plaster stain on Henry's wall.I don't remember the last time a film started so slowly and just grew and grew into something this good.
I thought this was going to be more of a skeptical movie about the way religious people fool themselves into believing what they want to believe (a little like the sentiments behind "Life of Brian").
But no, the start is deceptive, as the film progresses, it actually wants to start to make you believe that a stain on the wall of a (supposedly) terminally ill mans house is the face of god, sheds blood and has magical powers.
There was only one scene that I actually found funny and it frightened all the other 7 people in the theater and other than that I was just laughing at how seriously in love everyone was with Jesus.The low down goes like this, Henry Poole has some type of mystically rare disease that they never mentioned and he's going to die.
In this case, Henry Poole is Here attempts to force-feed you a pro-hope message, counting on the dialog to keep you ignoring the fact they filmed this movie down the street from your house in about a day and a half.
How odd, considering the film had me mesmerized with the first 30-40 minutes.In Act I, we are introduced to Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) as he seems to spontaneously purchase a suburban home from perky Realtor Cheryl Hines by directing her to avoid negotiation and repairs.
Her little girl Millie, goes around with a portable tape recording eavesdropping on her neighbor, who doesn't find it amusing, until he is told the girl doesn't speak because of the trauma caused by her deserting father who has gone away without explanation.Henry Poole has to reflect on his life and his death; he drinks a lot, something the friendly cashier, Patience, at the supermarket he shops, tells him.
The screenplay is by Albert Torres.Luke Wilson, an actor that has played a lot of comedy in his career, shows a serious side of himself, no doubt guided by Mr. Pellington to give an outstanding performance as Henry, a man that finds himself at a crossroad in his life.
He tells her "I won't be here very long." Luke Wilson is really good here, playing his character in a very low-key manner, reminding me of Bill Pullman's usual acting style.Radha Mitchell is really good as Dawn, the single mom next door who has a very young daughter who hasn't said a word since her dad left.
Truly extraordinary dramedy about a sad and angry young man (Wilson in arguably his best work to date) who upon learning he is dying, buys a home in his old childhood memory and finds himself at the center of attraction when a mysterious stain appears on his house prompting a relentless next-door- neighbor (the wonderful Barraza) to claim it as a possibly miracle : since the stain looks like Jesus Christ.
However when the house he buys develops a water stain in the stucco in the back which a neighbor takes to be the face of God, he's forced to interact with the people around him.Amusing little tale that somehow puts together all of its wild characters and makes it into an enjoyable comedy about how one person's faith affects those around him.
In fact, watching too many films like this might just TURN me into an atheist.Luke Wilson must have been fooled like the rest of us, thinking he was signing on for a comedy instead of a movie about a grieving filmmaker's religious beliefs, along with the requisite distrust of science...~NN.
Luke Wilson made a surprisingly well done acting performance, one could call that in itself a miracle(no pun intended)?Radha Mitchell character too stereotypical(just can't have a movie without a pretty mom and A blonde one at that present???).
It's about Henry Poole (Luke Wilson), a man who is living what remains of his life in a pessimistic, waiting state.
The 'something' in this story turns out to be what one neighbor -- and soon the whole neighborhood -- believes is the image of Jesus in a stucco stain on the side of the main character's house.I actually liked this movie.
Wilson over acts and churns out predictably as Henry Poole, a terminally ill, depressed and broody man who just wants to be alone.
henry poole is the feel good movie of the summer.
When I encounter a film like Henry Poole is Here, I must reveal something personal. |
tt0257106 | Scary Movie 2 | A teenage girl named Megan Voorhees (Natasha Lyonne) becomes possessed by the spirit of Hugh Kane, the house's previous owner. During a formal dinner party she emerges in her pajamas, insults her mother and the guests, then proceeds to urinate profusely on the floor. In response, Megan's mother (Veronica Cartwright) seeks help from two priests, Father McFeely (James Woods) and Father Harris (Andy Richter). After paying a trip to the bathroom, the men attempt to drive Hugh's ghost out, but the exorcism does not go as planned. After a chain of projectile vomits and various instances of pedophilia, Megan insults Father McFeely's mother. He responds by pulling out a gun and shooting Megan.
Meanwhile, Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans), and Shorty Meeks (Marlon Wayans) are at college, trying to live new lives since the events of the first film. Cindy and Brenda get tagged by a socially maladjusted girl, Alex (Tori Spelling). Shorty is still the same stoner he was before. Ray, still confused about his sexuality, has two new male friends, Tommy (James DeBello) and Buddy (Christopher Masterson). Buddy becomes romantically interested in Cindy, but she rebuffs him.
Professor Oldman (Tim Curry) and his charming paraplegic assistant, Dwight Hartman (David Cross), plan to study the paranormal activity at a local haunted mansion called Hell House. They use Cindy and her friends as test subjects. At the mansion, Cindy encounters a foul-mouthed parrot and Hanson (Chris Elliott), the caretaker with a badly malformed hand. Later, the group is joined by sexy newcomer Theo (Kathleen Robertson). They sit down for dinner, but soon lose their appetite due to Hanson's repulsive antics.
Later that night, Cindy hears voices directing her to a secret room, where she and Buddy discover the diary of Hugh Kane's wife. Seeing her portrait, they note Cindy's resemblance to her. Meanwhile, other teens also experience bizarre encounters. Hugh Kane's ghost has sex with Alex in her bedroom, but retreats when Alex expresses her interest in becoming the new Mrs. Kane. Cindy gets involved in a fistfight with the house cat, Mr. Kittles. A toy clown (Suli McCullough) attempts to kill Ray, but in a strange turn of events, the clown doll gets raped by Ray instead. A weed-monster rolls Shorty into a joint. It tries to smoke him, but gets distracted by munchies and lets him escape.
Professor Oldman is seduced and killed by the ghost of Hugh's mistress. Shorty later encounters the same ghost, but seduces and has sex with her. After Dwight equips the teens with weapons that can injure their spectral enemy, they are pursued throughout the mansion. Buddy and Cindy get locked in the walk-in freezer. Cindy gives Buddy a handjob and "revives" him, resuting him to release semen blasting Cindy to the door. Cindy then uses a collection of random objects in the room to produce a Caterpillar tractor and escapes the freezer.
Hanson gets possessed by Kane and kidnaps Shorty, who is high on drugs. In the dining room, Hanson sets up a cooker and cuts off the top of Shorty's head. Instead of a brain, there is a small man rapping (Beetlejuice) inside. Cindy, Brenda, and Theo team up to fight Hanson, but wind up defeated. Dwight regroups with the teens. Cindy acts as bait to lure Kane into a device that will destroy him. The plan succeeds, freeing the group from the house's curse.
Two months later, Cindy and Buddy are in a relationship. They are out on a walk when Buddy disappears and Hanson shows up. As he closes in menacingly, he gets hit by a car. The car's driver is Shorty, who is receiving a blowjob from the ghost that he seduced earlier. | comedy, murder, stupid, bleak, cult, horror, humor | train | wikipedia | But again like most brainless comedies, I walked in the theater with a good mood and expecting a laugh and I got that with "Scary Movie 2".
I mean people are being so harsh on this film, I understand, I know this isn't the greatest movie or comedy.
But if you aren't expecting fun and laughter, I think normally you just feel like bashing the movie then.We have some of the old cast members from the original Scary Movie: Anna Farris, a surprising return of Regina Hall, and Marlon and Shawn Wayne.
This Scary Movie took on the films like The Exorcist(hilarious scene by the way), Poltergeist, The Haunting, Mission Impossible, Charlie's Angels, and What lies beneath.
Since the first Scary Movie completely ripped off Scream, at some points scene for scene, the film had a very developed, rich storyline which was filled with tons of hilarious gags.Half of that works in the sequel.
This is a great idea, but the story is not developed enough and after watching the film, I couldn't even remember why the characters ended up in the house in the first place.Yet, the film's cast and writers give constant hilarious moments to add to the weak storyline and make a great film.
This movie was not a disappoint to me either, because I thought it lived up to Scary Movie perfectly.There were a lot of funny parts in this film, such as the opening song, the Charlie's Angels spoof scene, the scene were buddy gives back Cindy's book, and the Cindy singing in the car scene.
I just got back from "Scary Movie 2" just about an hour ago and I'm still laughing from thinking about it.The cameos by James Woods, Veronica Cartwright, and Natasha Lyonne are funny enough just to pay for admission.
But that's before the film starts to get funnier as the Wayans spoof "The Haunting," "Hannibal," "Save the Last Dance," and "Charlie's Angels." The only (semi) downside to the movie was that the sex jokes in this were racier than the ones in the original film, especially the spoof of "Titanic" that ends very messily.But besides that, "Scary Movie 2" may probably be the most fun you will probably have at the movies this summer..
Unfortunately, it is the latter, and the movie is `Scary Movie 2.' This sequel of the funny teen-horror spoof `Scary Movie' has none of the subtleties, parodies, or even big laughs the original film did.
I feel sorry for every person associated with this project.The story line is actually a little more involved for `Scary Movie 2,' as if you needed a plot to set up the horrendous `laugh scenes,' which are fewer and far between this time.
Of course, this group contains most of the kids from the first `Scary Movie,' including innocent Cindy (Anna Faris), loud-mouthed Brenda (Regina Hall), marijuana-obsessed Shorty (Marlon Wayans), and sexually questionable Ray (Shawn Wayans).
However, sometimes it works, such as in the original `Scary Movie,' `American Pie,' and even at the far end of the scale, `There's Something About Mary.' There, the gross out is permissible because there are characters we mildly care about, or there are other types of humor going on as well.
It seems to me that many scenes in the film were robbed of their comic potential so our seven scriptwriters could fit more vomit, feces, and other unmentionable bodily concoctions into the film.There are a few laughs that harked back to `Scary Movie,' and those scenes always feature one of the two Wayans brother's characters.
If you have any desire to be thoroughly disgusted, or like your humor from the bottom of the barrel (and I mean bottom!) then check out `Scary Movie 2.' Otherwise, go on living your life with the knowledge than unlike myself, you managed to escape this waste of a sequel..
Well, the first movie was OK at least due to the "originality".But the second only reinforced the failures of the first film.The moments I got a laugh were so few that I can count them withthe fingers of one hand.The parodies of some movies were great.
but they were spoiledfor so many gross jokes about sex and bodily functions, that theWayans ruined the intended effect.I don't know, but the people who likes this bad film, must bepeople either very young or very inexperienced moviegoers,because I can tell you, with my 38 years of moviegoing, that thisopus from the Wayans Bros., is a total waste of time & money..
Yes ladies and gentleman, these are their main character traits.For a supposed comedy, the film fails on every single level.It's quite ironic, because in the first movie, the Wayans brothers wanted to not only parody horror movies but also the countless teen movies that have recently come into existence since the mid 90's.
The Wayans brothers are still pretty good, but I've seen a lot better (and funnier) results from them than from Scary Movie 2..
The unexpected success of "Scary Movie" demanded an immediate sequel and all the Wayans' brothers could come up with was this uninspired, irritating story that (attempts to) spoof Haunted House horror films such as the "House on Haunted Hill", "Poltergeist" and "the Haunting".
Apart from a bearable intro, in which a deranged James Woods performs a wacky exorcism, "Scary Movie 2" is nothing but a dreadful series of unfunny jokes, exaggerated graphics and gags that show no insight in the wonderful genre of horror.
I have to say that writing about Scary Movie 2 is a painful experience, but not as painful as actually watching the ridiculous film that we are given by Keenan Ivory Wayan and his crew.
I did not laugh once, which shows where it fails for me.So I am not going to deeply analyse this film, just tell you that it is not funny, has virtually no moments of greatness, the performances are pretty poor from all involved (including the Wayan brothers, Anne Faris, Malcolm in the middle star James DeBello, Tori Spelling, in a career destroying role, James Wood and Natasha Lyonne).
Scary movie (2000), the very original movie spoof, was a surprise in the cinemas, taking off some of the great horror movies of our time much better and was more to my liking.
After turning this film off four times in disgust, the best part about this movie was seeing the closing credits, knowing that it was finally over and I was out my misery.P.S. Now seeing that there is a 'Scary Movie 3' out, I just sit, cringing in silence, hoping that this is the end to these bad movies.
The humor obviously tries to offend, and it certainly succeeds; they just forgot to make it funny, in the process of thinking up stuff that will make plenty of people find the film disgusting(what's wrong with the Wayans', anyway?).
Throughout the entire run-time(which is less than 90 minutes, what's wrong Wayans', did you run out of material?), there was only one single gag that was mildly amusing; a spoof of the Nike commercial that was on TV back in '01, which of course doesn't seem funny now, when they're not sending that commercial.
I guess you could basically sum up my opinion of this "film" by quoting the very words my father said when he saw the first few minutes of the first Scary Movie; "All that sex and violence...
This sequel started out about the same, but soon the parodies were dropped to make way for the Wayans brothers' running gags, the same as in the first movie.
I did laugh when the plant rolls a joint with him inside, but other than that, it wasn't funny at all.The only part that works is the Exorcist spoof in the beginning, but even that is ruined with crap, pee and vomit jokes.
Speaking of parodies, the few redeeming parts, such as the Nike basketball commercial rip-off and the scenes with the parrot were sufficient to prevent this film from making an all-time worst movie list, but that's hardly a compliment.
I thought that "Scary Movie" although not a great movie was very good and funny.
"Scary Movie 2" on the other hand was boring, not funny, and at times plain stupid.The Exorcist/Amityville spoof was probably the best part of the movie.
The routine between the wheelchair guy and Hanson (Chris Elliott) was amusing at first but it kept getting repeated and ended up stupid and even tasteless.Some jokes even got repeated from the first movie.
The scat humor was excessive though and rather unneccessary in the second film.Tori Spelling was annoying and really had no place in this movie.But I did enjoy Shorty (Marlon Wayans) who in my opinion was the funniest character in the first film.
I don't think I have ever in my entire life seen a film so funny and original have such a TERRIBLE sequel.
(see tagline of "Scary Movie (2000)" The first film was VERY good, I can't stress that enough, frankly I haven't laughed that hard in a movie theatre since.
The prologue, like any other Scary Movie films, spoofs The Exorcist.
It was funny and gross.The acting is some-what good but a film like this only focuses on the jokes, which is a good thing.
This film made me laugh so hard at some scenes and others were tend to be too gross and not funny at all.Unlike David Zucker's Scary movie films, the Wayans push their Scary Movie films to be rated R.
Fans of the Scary Movie films might be disappointed by this sequel..
The Exorcist, House on Haunted Hill and The Haunting are but a few of the horrors spoofed in this film.Scary Movie 2 is of much higher quality than the first, and is laugh-a-minute.
However, with disappointing box office revenues and harsh criticism, it goes to show many people did not like "Scary Movie 2".
This movie is scary, because it isn't funny and just terrible to watch..
The 'movie parody' parts are hardly parodies at all, and the scenes outside of this are weak, weak, weak on comedy.The very first movie parody is of The Exorcist and I'd love the writers to explain to me how they have expanded the original to make it funny.Whereas movies like Airplane or Naked Gun used killer humour, this goes for a simple 'pie in the face' or 'fart' scenes, some of which are unintelligible to anyone outside of American sub culture.The Wayan brothers certainly have a charmed life in Hollywood.'Airplane' started all of this - but at least that was funny, witty and had some sort of plot..
But considering the rest of the movie is completely laugh-free, "amusing" is good enough.After the opening Exorcist spoof (enjoyable thanks to James Woods parodying Max Von Sydow), Scary Movie 2 fails to make its audience smile even once, despite the presence of people like Tim Curry and David Cross (priceless in Arrested Development, boring as hell is this film).
You can easily guess what's gonna happen next.The first Scary Movie wasn't very memorable, but it had some good moments under the crude, puerile surface.
I do have some respect for the Wayans Brothers (and the endless list of other writers involved) for at least trying to parody different movies this time around, instead of sticking to the same ones as the first (although a few of the same jokes do show up again here).
There are a few really funny jokes, but not nearly as many as the original Scary Movie, and not nearly enough to fill an entire movie.Rating: 3/10.
Sadly this is followed by loads of very obvious spoofs very loosely held together in the "haunted house" plot but mostly it is loads of penis and sperm jokes that were not funny and were actually pretty unpleasant to watch not something I wanted from a supposed comedy.
It gets no better and I can't remember laughing once, it relies far too much on gross-out stuff that I just found puerile and painful but I suppose that if you like that sort of then this will do the joke I don't and this didn't.The cast match the material by being sick and childish.
The film is worth a watch for people who have absolutely nothing else to watch or just want to see an OK scary movie spoof.Overall, the film is bad but with a few exceptions which at times is quite clever (Many jokes were ruined by swearing though).
This movie is not funny in any way and the less than disgusting jokes are incredibly stupid.
While its predecessor was creative and often laugh-out-loud funny, this sequel just goes way too far.The feeble jokes are for the most part, just plain disgusting.
Which is also ironic considering that the original Scary Movie was actually quite funny in places.
This is hardly surprising since, in a Christian-dominated society such as America, hardly anyone is going to properly understand what Hollow Man was about, but trying to match wits with one of Western Europe and Hollywood's most ingenious political satirists with a string of fart/body fluid/stoner gags is like trying to take on the entire American armed forces with a .22 - it just ain't going to work.Lastly, while the America-centric humour of a lot of the gags in Scary Movie was countered by the possibility of seeing the original commercials or films, the former being shown on a "greatest commercials" show ("Whazzup!" is actually an ad for Budweiser beer for all those people from the antipodes who don't watch "greatest commercials" shows), it falls flat in Scary Movie 2.
Even though I like to think I am more cultured than most of my peers, I am also stumped on what the hell that gag involving Shorty's "brain" was about.So to sum up, Scary Movie 2 is an unfunny film written by a bunch of juvenile dipsticks, much like the original, but this time nobody thought to edit the script and bring some semblance of humour into the film.
Despite the grotesque humor of the first Scary Movie, I have to say that I liked it, and was interested to see what the Wayans could conjure up for the sequel.
(B) HOW did it ever get released?SCARY MOVIE 1 was hysterical, laugh-out-loud funny.
It had some clever jokes, and funny movie spoofs.
Ok, just to set the record straight, I though the original 'Scary Movie'was tons of funny and really hilarious.
The only thing I liked about this film was Tim curry other than that the movie lacked enjoyment with its crude nature and comic sex scenes, with only a few funny scenes the opening scene being the funniest in the entire movie.
There are so many funny moments I can pick out, Hanson's hand and the dinner, Ray and the Clown, but I can't help rewinding Cindy's scene with the cat, that's just too funny.I think this, like the first was such a great movie, but then they had so much material at the time to work with, so much to parody.
Scary Movie 2 is a awesome hilarious astounding comedy spoof that you need to see if you love spoof films!!.
was parodying and can enjoy the jokes 10, even 40 years later..NO ONE remembers a stupid Nike basketball commercial, so people watching Scary Movie 2 pretty much any time after 2004 will be wondering what the hell is going on.I gave it a 5 solely because it is better than all the parody movies that have come out since.
Scary Movie 2 continues in the vain of its prequel, with hilarious spoofs of infamous movies!This time, the main film that is having the mickey taken out of it is The Exorcist, with references to other horror movies such as Chucky!The film once again revolves around the majority of the main cast from the Scary Movie 1, but this time they have been falsely led to a haunted house by their university professors!From the beginning, this film is hilarious, with the opening scenes involving the priests' exchange with the possessed child being absolutely hilarious!The film maintains its humor throughout, with Anna Faris & Marlon Wayans deserving extra credit for their part.At times, the jokes can be a bit too silly, nonetheless, its not one to watch with expectations of a gripping plot, and much more funny if one is familiar with the films that are being imitated.
Scary Movie is quite funny, this isn't!
One thing I did like about it though was it's short length, making the people who may deem it one of the worst movies of all time say "at least it was short." So this one is an okay watch, just not for everyone..
Some of the spoofs are clever and funny including the Exorcist parody with a great cameo from James Woods, and the scene during dinner with a running joke about the hand.
Scary Movie 2 is a pretty funny sequel to the first film even though it may be a tad worse than the first one.
It's about a group of college friends who stay in the same haunted house for a so-called college project.There were a bunch of stars here that made this movie funny such as James Wood and Chris Elliot.I liked all the spoofs here.
One good thing about Scary Movie 2 is that it doesn't make you bored all the way unlike its prequel, which even though was better, but was dragging towards the end.
It's only 83 minutes long, which is one of the two good things about it, the other being Anna Faris."Scary Movie 2" is filled with bad jokes (I laughed about 3 times while watching it, but I don't remember on what, and I'm writing this a day after watching it), cliches and copy-paste scenes from other movies.
The plot is copied from other horror films, mostly from "The Haunting", I guess...Actually, the first "Scary Movie" had a few scenes which could really scare you. |
tt0036775 | Double Indemnity | Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), a successful insurance salesman, returns to his office building in downtown Los Angeles late one night. Visibly in pain and sporting a gunshot wound on his shoulder, he begins dictating a confession into a Dictaphone for his friend and colleague, Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), a brilliant claims adjuster. The story, told primarily in flashback, ensues.
Neff first meets the alluring Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) during a routine house call to remind her husband (Tom Powers) that his automobile insurance policy is up for renewal. They flirt, until Phyllis asks how she could take out an accident policy on her husband's life without his knowledge. Neff deduces she is contemplating murder, and makes it clear he wants no part of it.
However, he cannot get her out of his mind, and when Phyllis shows up at his own home, he cannot resist her any longer. Neff knows all the tricks of his trade and devises a plan to make the murder of her husband appear to be an accidental fall from a train that will trigger the "double indemnity" clause and pay out twice the policy's face value.
After Dietrichson breaks his leg, Phyllis drives him to the train station for his trip to Palo Alto for a college reunion. Neff is hiding in the backseat and kills Dietrichson when Phyllis turns onto a deserted side street. Then, Neff boards the train posing as Dietrichson and using his crutches. He makes his way to the last car, the observation car, and steps outside to the open platform to supposedly smoke a cigarette. A complication ensues when he meets a passenger named Jackson (Porter Hall) there, but he manages to get the man to leave. Neff then throws the crutches on the railway tracks, jumps off at a prearranged meeting spot with Phyllis, and drags Dietrichson's body onto the tracks by his crutches.
Mr. Norton (Richard Gaines), the company's chief, believes the death was suicide, but Keyes scoffs at the idea, quoting statistics indicating the improbability of suicide by jumping off a slow-moving train, to Neff's hidden delight. Keyes does not suspect foul play at first, but his instincts, to which he refers as the "little man", pointing to his stomach, starts nagging. He wonders why Dietrichson did not file a claim for his broken leg, and deduces he did not know about the policy. Keyes tells Neff of his theory outside Neff's apartment, while Phyllis hides behind the door. Keyes soon concludes that Phyllis and some unknown accomplice murdered Dietrichson for the insurance money, but needs more proof.
Keyes, however, is not Neff's only worry. The victim's daughter, Lola (Jean Heather), comes to him, convinced that stepmother Phyllis is behind her father's death. Lola's mother also died under suspicious circumstances, when Phyllis was her nurse. Neff begins seeing Lola, at first to keep her from going to the police with her suspicions and then because he is plagued by guilt and a sense of responsibility for her.
Keyes brings Jackson to Los Angeles, suspecting that the man aboard the train had not been Dietrichson, but rather had been Phyllis' accomplice in Dietrichson's murder. After examining photographs of Dietrichson, Jackson is sure the man he met was not that old, but at least 10 years younger. Now certain that he can prove murder, Keyes is eager to reject the claim and force Phyllis to sue. Neff warns Phyllis not to pursue the insurance claim in court and admits he has been talking to Lola about her past. Phyllis, however, insists on filing suit to pursue the claim despite the risk to both her and to Neff. Lola eventually tells Neff she has discovered her boyfriend, the hotheaded Nino Zachetti (Byron Barr), has been seeing Phyllis behind her (and Neff's) back.
When Neff learns that Keyes suspects Nino of being Phyllis' accomplice, Neff sees a way out of his predicament. He arranges to meet Phyllis at her house. He informs her that he knows about her involvement with Nino, and guesses that she is planning to have Nino kill him. He tells her that he intends to kill her and put the blame on Nino. She is prepared, however, and shoots him in the shoulder. Seriously wounded but still standing, he slowly comes closer and dares her to shoot again. She does not, and he takes the gun from her. She says she never loved him "until a minute ago, when I couldn't fire that second shot." Neff doesn't believe a word she says, and as she hugs him tightly, Neff says, "Goodbye, baby," and shoots twice, killing her.
Outside, Neff waits for Nino to arrive (something Neff had orchestrated). Neff advises him not to enter the house and instead go to Lola, the woman who loves him. Nino is reluctantly convinced and leaves as told. Neff drives to his office and starts speaking into his Dictaphone, as seen at the film's opening. Keyes arrives unnoticed and hears enough to know the truth. Keyes sadly tells him, "Walter, you're all washed up." Neff tells Keyes he is going to Mexico rather than face the gas chamber, but sags to the floor from his injury and blood loss before he can reach the elevator. A weakened Neff tells Keyes the reason he couldn't figure the case out was because the guy he was looking for was "too close, right across the desk from you." When Keyes replies "closer than that, Walter." Neff replies that he loves Keyes too. As Neff had done, lighting Keyes' cigars for him throughout the film, Keyes lights Neff's cigarette as they await the police and an ambulance. | mystery, boring, murder, bleak, cult, atmospheric, flashback, suspenseful | train | wikipedia | Barbara Stanwyck (as Phyllis Dietrichson, the murderous femme fatale in Double Indemnity) and Fred MacMurray (as Walter Neff, her victim'), have amazing chemistry on screen.
This is one of the best-liked classic films of all time and I am among that large group of fans as well.Few movies have ever had dialog this entertaining.....at least the conversations between Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray.
I think it's a big appeal to this movie, except to younger folks who look at it as "cheesy."I read the book, Double Indemnity written by James Cain, and was surprised that the film's snappy dialog was not in it.
He can even make a speech about something as boring as insurance and still keep you riveted to the screen.Stanwyck was no sex symbol (at least to me) but she looked great here in the most seductive of 1940s clothing and, like Robinson, has a distinctive voice and accent that keeps your attention.This film was the inspiration for the 1980 movie, "Body Heat," starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner.
Robinson is perfect in the role of Barton Keyes and just about steals the moment every time he appears on screen.I personally love a good Noir film and this is right up there with the best of them.
Then, the lucky break in getting the right man to direct it, Billy Wilder, a man who knew about how to make a classic out of the material that he adapted with great care and elegance with Raymond Chandler, a man who knew about the genre."Double Indemnity" works because it's a story we can relate to.
Edith Head's costumes are absolutely what a woman like Phyllis would wear right down to her ankle bracelet.This film shows a great man at his best: Billy Wilder!.
Double Indemnity is based on a novel by James Cain adapted to the screen by great novelist Raymond Chandler, who made here his most important contribution to the cinema history in his career, though somehow matched by following screenwriting work for 1946 Howard Hawks' classic The Big Sleep, and Billy Wilder, who previously worked as a screen writer for Ernest Lubitsch and had been already nominated three times for Academy Awards in the process before making Double Indemnity, which nevertheless played the key role in establishing him as one of the best writer-directors in Hollywood, and giving him his fourth Oscar nomination as a writer and his first one as a director.Double Indemnity was the third feature Wilder directed after 1942 The Major and the Minor and 1943 Five Graves to Cairo, but it was definitely the first film, his primary American tragedy where the author for the first time revealed his black and somehow hopelessly pessimistic view of the American society and of the human society in general, blackishly desecrated in the film simply by populating it with exceptionally sordid characters, who independently of being a victim or victimized, of being the protagonists or just simple supporters are never really able to transcend the utterly low and devilish motivations in theirs as a consequence sordidly painful lives and reach such a state where the viewer might get relieved by considering one of them as a positive element.
Instead the characters' lives shown in a continuous noir flashback of Fred MacMurray's not-a-confession are driven from the start to the very end by an utter greed in a form of double and not only indemnities with consequential and inherent to it risks and fears in a rather unsure world of insurance.An insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), a man with `no visible scars', starts to lose his already shaky dominance over his mind's yearnings when glimpses on a horizon a possibility of becoming a recipient of a monetary fortune along with no less seductive desire from a part of unhappily married and as devilishly beautiful as resourceful in pursuing her zany in its deadliness schemes, an ultimate femme fatale blond Phyllis (marvellously portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck).Initially apparent as a romantic, the relationship gradually mutates into double confrontation of the two fears of the two characters in their greedy and ambitious pursuits, a conflict which at one point apparently results in a sort of humanization of Phyllis' character, appearing hiding the eyes of her soul behind the sun glasses, a humanization which is let to happen by her only to accentuate later her unchangeably fatal nature.The double confrontation gradually evolves into a triple one when the threatening presence on the scene of no less and probably more resourceful character of Barton Keyes (Edward G.
Permeated right from the start to the very end with the flavour of unstoppable fatality in an extent that a few other film-noirs achieved, accentuated by the wonderful music score by Miklos Rozsa, Double Indemnity's story is motored by the money like in nearly all of Billy Wilder films.
There were some superb thrillers coming out of Hollywood in the forties which did not rely on the private eye conventions but somehow the best of them were spread throughout by the same cynicism, the same realism, the same ruthless suspense
Best of all was Wilder's "Double Identity." It was based on a real-life assassination in New York in 1927, when a wife and her lover killed the husband for his insurance money
In the film, a near-breaking-point tension was reached and sustained in the passion of an insurance salesman and a passionately sensual femme fatale an intense desire for each other and for money; in the murder of the poor husband; and in their useless attempts to escape the ability of a fast-talking investigator.
Robinson) , not knowing his colleague is involved in it , suspects murder and sets out to prove it .This first-rate and entertaining American classic Noir film draws its riveting tale and power from the interaction of finely drawn roles as well as drama , emotion and moody atmosphere .
Twisted film Noir about murder , troubled relationships , treason , dark secrets , including an unforgettable dialog ; being based on the James M Cain's novel , which in turn was based on the true story of Ruth Snyder, the subject of a notorious 1920s murder trial , being screen-written by the prestigious Raymond Chandler and the same Billy Wilder .
And gradually, the film reveals that the relationship between Walter and Keyes is even more complex and interesting than that between Walter and Phyllis."Double Indemnity" will always be watched because of its role in establishing the conventions of film noir, but more importantly, it's still an entertaining movie--even if, sixty years later, it's sometimes entertaining for reasons the filmmakers never intended..
*Possible Spoilers!* Released in 1944 - Double Indemnity's story of vicious betrayal may be somewhat flawed and inconsistent - And, its 3 principal actors may have been miscast (especially Barbara Stanwyck as the deceitfully wicked femme fatale in a really cheap-looking wig) - But, overall, it's quite easy to see why this vintage, Hollywood Crime/Drama is considered to be a true "classic" of 1940s Film Noir.Containing plenty of loaded dialog, shadowy settings and frequent flashes of well-timed tension, Double Indemnity's story of murder and deception comes together quite nicely like that of a master jigsaw puzzle where all of the scattered pieces of its plot-line eventually become one.Even though I view Double Indemnity as essentially a "Chick Flick", its story is told (chiefly in long flashbacks) by a man who was directly involved in this double-crossing crime-of-passion that went seriously haywire.Fred MacMurray plays Walter Neff, an over-confident, yet naively gullible insurance salesman, who, thinking that he's got it all figured out, gets played for an all-time sucker when the seductive, well-to-do Mrs. Dietrichson snares him into a diabolical plot to kill her husband in order to collect $100,000 through the double indemnity clause in his life insurance policy.Needless to say, once Neff gets himself completely tangled up in a web of establishing alibis (while setting the wheels of the "perfect" crime into motion), things literally begin to come apart at the seams once he inadvertently learns about the treacherous activities (both past and present) of the calculating and conniving Mrs. Dietrichson.Filmed in glossy b&w, Double Indemnity's story was co-written by the famed crime-novelist, Raymond Chandler.
All I can say is that the suspenseful twists and turns of the the classic film-noir plot and the moral ambiguity of Walter and Phyliss brought to life by truly memorable performances by MacMurray and Stanwyck (and Robinson in his key supporting role as Keys) left an indelible mark on my cinema mad mind even before I had become aware of the film's deserved legendary reputation.
Although POSTMAN is probably the better film, INDEMNITY is the most famous--possibly due to the story's truly psychotic edge, which is given full life by Barbara Stanwyck in one of her most celebrated performances.Like POSTMAN, INDEMNITY offers the story of a married woman who plots with her lover to murder her husband.
Robinson, who endured decades of type-casting, is equally good as the blustery, slightly comic, and absolutely honest insurance man whose job it is to ferret out suspicious claims; it is largely due to his performance, which gives the film a moral center, that we are able to buy into the otherwise off-beat performances that drive the action.This was one of director Billy Wilder's first major hits, and he deserves considerable credit for making the weird elements of the story work as a whole, keeping the film smartly paced, and heaping it up with atmosphere.
I was aware that it was regarded as a film noir classic, and Billy Wilder is a great director, but I was put off by the casting of Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in the lead roles.
Phyllis Dietrichson, Barbara Stanwyck, seduces the insurance agent Walter Neff Fred MacMurray into murdering her husband to collect his accident policy.
There's not an ounce of superfluous material anywhere in this tightly plotted film classic about a wealthy middle-aged woman named Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) and an insurance salesman named Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray).
Walter Neff gives one of my favorite lines: "How could I have known that murder could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?"The film's excellent structure is organized around Neff's confessional, spoken into a Dictaphone and directed at his insurance company boss, Barton Keyes, played by the inimitable Edward G.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY is nothing less than a requirement for anyone who asks, "What is film noir?" For all the ingredients are present: the cold-hearted criminal plot, the adulterous romance, the step-by-step implementing of the deed, the anxiety-ridden moments as a steadfast mind zeroes in on the guilty parties, and the inevitability of the final justice---all filmed in grim black and white.Did Fred MacMurray ever have a greater moment in his acting career playing Walter Neff, the Los Angeles insurance agent knocked out by a bored housewife who ropes him into her diabolical web?
The classic "Double Indemnity" is one of the greatest of all "film noir" movies, and it has everything you could ask for: great acting, interesting characters, an imaginative plot, and lots of tension.
Billy Wilder's earlier vintage work, DOUBLE INDEMNITY is an unapologetically thrilling film- noir, without any fluffy fillers, this morally shocking murder tale has justified itself as a textbook exemplar of how cinema is able to be a heavyweight platform to narrate a story, apart from all those auxiliary foils (both visually and sonically), the marrow here is a neat but impeccable script (by Wilder and Raymond Chandler).The impending tragedy has been explicitly unraveled since the very beginning, the storyline starts as a flash-back, our protagonist, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), suffering from a bullet wound in his shoulder, has stated that he neither got the money nor the woman after executed a ruthless murder, then the film jumps to the overture to delve into the details of Walter's fated encounter with Phyllis Dietrichson (a gracefully confident Barbara Stanwyck to portray a standard femme-fatale character), as an insurance rep, Walter is smitten with her and assists her to murder her wealthy husband so as to get the so-called "double indemnity" insurance compensation.
It's quite unimaginable that Robinson had been snubbed for a supporting acting nomination while the film has acquired 7, including BEST PICTURE, DIRECTOR and LEADING ACTRESS (without win though); while MacMurray, had been eluded by the Academy throughout his wholesome career, potentially had delivered his best work in depicting an ambiguous figure with all he had; Stanwyck's role is a tad feeble due to her not-too-copious presence but she is just marvelous to watch with each gesture and expression entangled with her own breed of complexity, but the final convolution of her heartlessness-turns-soft tactic is a self-conscious compromise, woman falls prey of a man's world is just an illusionary chimera, which has been haunting us until this moment and will thrive on and on..
What I will say about the plot, just so you have an idea if you don't already know, is that insurance salesman Neff (Fred MacMurray) and his client Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) have a criminal plot to carry out, and claims man Keyes (Edward G.
The noir hero is never good, just kidding himself, living in ignorance of his dark side until events demonstrate it to him.' That character in `Double Indemnity' is Neff, a man who thinks he's carrying out Phyllis' plan because of his love for the woman, but indeed is not.
But like I was saying, this story's about an insurance scam, a dirty deal that all starts when Mr. Walter Neff (MacMurray), a salesman with a head a couple of sizes too big for his hat, makes a house call and runs into a dame, and not just any dame; her name is Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck), a woman with the kind of beauty that stops traffic, turns heads and makes monkeys out of guys like Neff, guys that think they got it knocked when all the time they're standing in quicksand and don't even know it till they're in up to their ears and gasping for that last breath.
Fred MacMurray's performance, as the insurance man besotted with Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G Robinson's as his boss help make this film memorable.
Robinson) does not buy the version and suspects that Phyllis has murdered her husband with the help of another man.In my opinion, Billy Wilder was the greatest director of Hollywood ever, directing many masterpieces including "Double Indemnity" among them.
For now and the future, "Double Indemnity" remains one of the best film-noirs I have ever seen, probably alongside the likes of "Sunset Boulevard" and "The Third Man" (both of which are movies I can only urge you to check out if you haven't seen them already)..
Although I did not read the novel, I imagine it translated almost to perfection on the screen.I've seen this a number of times and it seems I enjoy it even more so each time.This must be MacMurry's best role.Stanwyck is excellent.Billy Wilder's direction is superb.This is indeed a classic and I'm happy to see that it hasn't been destroyed by some idiot(s) with their "sicko" process of turning great black and white films into color.Near perfect.
Double Indemnity's passionately, devious script, along with its excellent pace, and extraordinary dialogue, not only gives you a real sense of the lingo for that time, but it also shows Billy Wilder's early directorial talent, not to mention you'll forget your watching a movie in a 1:37:1 screen ration format, its that good.
Walter Neff, an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) and Phyllis Dietrichson, an unhappy wife (Barbara Stanwyck) set up a (near) perfect insurance scam in this genre classic.
The movie is about Walter Neff, an insurance salesman played by Fred MacMurray, who is manipulated by Phillis Dietrichson, a married woman played by Barbara Stanwyck, in to attempting to kill her husband.
Film noir classic, directed by Billy Wilder, about an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) who falls for a married woman (Barbara Stanwyck).
Barbara Stanwyck is unhappily married but not helpless in this hypnotic Billy Wilder film classic, "Double Indemnity," based on the James Cain novel.
Many people will invest a lot of time in Billy Wilder's stylized technique of movie-making and his attention of each minute detail and the incredible dialogue and script, co-written by Raymand Chandler, and perhaps Fred MacMurray's best performance on screen, but while all this is true and all these factors come together to make a perfect film.
About the only reason I don't score it a 10 (and it sure came very close) was that, for Film Noir, there wasn't a whole lot of action or even suspense in the movie--considering you KNOW that MacMurray is making a confession so he isn't going to get away with the murder plot.
If you want to know why Robinson was a screen legend just see him in this film.MacMurray's character is interesting because you wonder why a likable guy like him would ever get involved with a spider like Stanwyck.Stanwyck plays the conniving wife for everything she's got.Double Indemnity is a classic of film noir and is ranked #38 on the American Film Institute's top 100 movie list.
The movie is widely regarded as a great American classic because of its film noir atmosphere and sharp dialogue, but I don't think it holds up so well.It makes a big deal on solving a murder case plotted by Stanwyck and MacMurray.
The use of flashbacks to tell the story sort of gives away the direction the plot is taking.Good work by Fred MacMurray as Neff, Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis and Edward G Robinson as Keyes.
It is a muse for a lot of films that have been made since this 1944 masterpiece.The story is about an insurance representative, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), who falls in love with a woman, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck).
So as the movie progresses, the audience again starts to feel empathy, this time for how Robinson might react when he finds out his best salesman is a murderer."Double Indemnity" has all the makings of a great film. |
tt0377107 | Proof | The movie opens with Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) talking to her father Robert (Anthony Hopkins) after he startles her watching TV in the middle of the night. He gives her a bottle of champagne for her birthday, which she starts drinking from the bottle, commenting on how bad it is. They chat for a while about the nature of insanity and how he is crazy, but then she challenges his admission that he is crazy, pointing out that he had just admitted that the nature of insanity is that you can't acknowledge your own insanity. He reminds her that he's not just crazy he died last week and his funeral is tomorrow.Awoken from this dream, Catherine realizes that there is someone still upstairs -- Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a former student of Robert's. Robert was a professor in the University of Chicago's math department and Hal is a fledgling mathematician, struggling to advance in the field with any sort of developments of his own. In his younger years, Robert had made many advances in mathematics, revolutionizing the field twice before 22, and is quite famous and well regarded for it, but struggled with mental illness for the last 20+ years of his life.Catherine asks him why he is still there and he confesses that he thinks that somewhere in Robert's books of notes there has to be additional products of his mathematical genius. Catherine asks him what there has been in the notes he's made it through. Hal confirms that it was gibberish, but tells her that it would make a career for someone to find even a fraction of the advances Robert made in his early to mid twenties. She asks if he is trying to steal her father's work, and he says that, no, he would credit the discovery to her father. She demands to see his backpack and pulls it off of his back, dumping it out while trying to find any of her father's belongings. Nothing found, she apologizes and he gets ready to leave. As he's walking out the door she picks up his folded up coat from a chair, thinking he is forgetting the garment, but a notebook falls out. She yells at him, and calls the cops, but he tells her that he was going to give it to her as a present because it has something complimentary written about her in it. He leaves, and the cops pull up, but she sends them away.The next day, for the funeral, Catherine's sister Claire (Hope Davis) arrives in a town car. A huge contrast to the unkempt Catherine, Claire is an overly put together, bordering on completely neurotic New Yorker. Relations between the sisters are tense, and Catherine can't stand her sister's constant harping on appearance-related issues. Catherine is also upset that Claire didn't care for her father as much as Catherine did in his final years. Catherine's ultimately futile struggle to keep up with her own studies as her father ceases to be able to care for himself is documented in a series of flashbacks. She had started math grad school at Northwestern (Robert asks her: "You actually want to live in Evanston?") and fell behind in her coursework after she returned to check on her father and found him living amongst dirty dishes and sitting outside. He tells her that his brain is working again after the mental illness had interrupted it for a number of years, but she stays to take care of him.At the funeral, a lot of this frustration on Catherine's part comes out. She is upset at the high number of people there, in this very somber ceremony planned by others, and held in Rockefeller Chapel, a huge Gothic structure that is part of University of Chicago. She interrupts a string quartet and yells at everyone for not being there for her father while he was alive, and ends by saying she's glad her father died. After she storms out, Hal follows her and asks if she needs to be walked home. She declines his offer.Claire is set on selling Robert's house back to the University, and Catherine is upset that she will be kicked out, since this is where she's been living for the past few years. Claire wants to bring Catherine to New York, and it comes out that Catherine may be struggling with the same mental illnesses that her father struggled with. They have a wake at the house the night after the funeral, and Hal's band plays. Claire gets smashed drinking with a theoretical physicist from the University, and Catherine and Hal end up sleeping together.After they consummate their affections, Catherine is seemingly comfortable with Hal's intentions toward her family, and gives him a key to her father's desk. He goes up to the office and finds a notebook which contains a lengthy but apparently very important proof a mathematical discovery of sorts. He is very excited and shows the discovery to Catherine and Claire, saying that this discovery could get anyone tenure at any math department in the country. He asks Catherine how long she knew about this and why she didn't tell him about it. She tells him that she wrote it. This is met with silence from Hal and incredulity from Claire. The handwriting looks like Robert's, but Catherine claims it is her own. Claire pushes Hal into a corner and forces him to admit that he is somewhat doubtful that Catherine could have written the proof. She gets upset and tries to tear the book up, but Hal takes it to have people in the math department look at it and see if the proof is accurate.The next day as Claire and Catherine are packing up in separate parts of the house, Catherine suddenly goes berserk and starts throwing things before collapsing on her knees and crying. Claire comforts her and Catherine sobs "I stole it from him, I stole it from him." Claire says that it is okay and that she was living under a lot of stress with their father.Hal takes the proof to be examined by his colleagues, who believe the proof to be valid. He comes to the house as Claire and Catherine are leaving. Claire has convinced Catherine to come live in New York, and Catherine has apparently not said a word since her breakdown. Claire tells Hal to leave. He wants to see Catherine. She emerges from the house and appears completely depressed and broken. She is terse with him, but he tells her that the proof works, but that he doesn't think that her father wrote it because there is newer mathematics in it (he says it is a "hipper" proof than someone of her father's generation would have written). She is unmoved as he tells her that he thinks she wrote it and wants her to explain it to him sometime. The sisters get into a car and head to the airport. Hal sprints after the car and throws the book through the window and onto Catherine's lap.They arrive at the airport and are sitting in the terminal. In another flashback, it is revealed that after Catherine dropped out of school to care for her father he challenges her to work on math, which she does, and there are scenes of them sitting across from each other studying math books and writing. She becomes engrossed and doesn't heed his calls to come talk as promptly as she had. She is working on the proof and really was the one who wrote it. When she comes to show him, she realizes that her father has slipped back into his illness. When she walks into the room he is too excited to look at what she wants to show him, demanding that she read aloud a proof that he has written and says is ground breaking. She reads it aloud and begins crying as she does, as the "proof" is in fact complete nonsense. She locks her own proof, the truly ground breaking one, into his desk drawer, where it presumably stays until Hal discovers it, because she realizes that her father is now incapable of understanding what she has accomplished. So it seems that when she sobbed that she had stolen the proof from him, she was speaking of her guilt for doing her own work and not supporting her father as she worked on the proof. She is also troubled because she sees herself in her father, realizing that if she has his genius, then she might also slip into serious mental illness like him.Back in the airport, Catherine has begun to come to terms with her own genius and her own flaws, aided by Hal's confidence in her. She decides that she does not need to go with her sister to New York and runs out of the airport. She returns to University of Chicago, and the movie ends with her and Hal meeting up on some benches on campus and discussing the proof, as students mill around them. | insanity, romantic, flashback | train | imdb | But if this movie is worse than its stage counterpart, it must have made one damn fine play.The acting in this film is its major attribute, and director John Madden is wise enough to realize the talent of his ensemble and stand out of their way.
But mostly, he lets the actors strut their stuff, and the four principals make the most of meaty roles.Most of the acclaim has been falling, and rightly so, to Gwyneth Paltrow, who gives a full-bodied, textured and powerful performance as Catherine, who has inherited her genius at math from her father and is deathly afraid that she may have inherited his madness as well.
I don't know that Paltrow has yet had a role as substantial as this one, and she flexes her acting chops in a way I have not seen her do outside of her underrated performance in "Sylvia." Hope Davis matches her scene for scene as the astringent older sister; it's refreshing to see Davis break away from the mousy, mealy persona she so frequently adopts and play this crisp, overwhelming character.
Anthony Hopkins has been dismissed as hammy here, but I think he does an effective job of portraying mental illness, and creates heartbreaking moments that could have been ruined had they been played differently."Proof" feels entirely honest about the dynamics of dysfunctional families; you just know David Auburn is writing from personal experience.
Hope Davis and Jake Gyllenhaal also gave solid performances, but their as with Hopkin's role were really nothing more than support Paltrow.The biggest disappointment for me was the almost total lack of any 'real' mathematics.
Thank goodness she was selected over the bitter Mary Louise Parker.The assembled supporting cast is impressive in name; however, Sir Anthony Hopkins is solid, but not great in the relatively small, but crucial role as Paltrow's once genius, then insane, now dead father.
The casting was an ideal one, Mary Louise Parker, Larry Briggman, Johanna Day and Ben Shenkman, playing Cahterine, Robert, Claire and Hal, respectively.Mr. Auburn and Rebecca Miller, a movie director, herself, took the task of adapting "Proof" for the screen.
The result, directed by John Madden, opens the play in cinematic terms, no small undertaking in presenting the movie to a wider audience who might not be interested in science, and much less in the advanced math that plays an important role in the proceedings.If you haven't seen the film, please stop reading here.Catherine, the 27 year old, at the center of the film, is a woman who has stayed behind to take care of her aging father, a man much esteemed in academic circles, who is suffering from, perhaps, a neurological illness that is killing him slowly.
Catherine love for math, in a way, makes her realize her place is in the same institution where her father made mathematical discoveries as she will be following his steps.Gwyneth Paltrow makes an excellent Catherine, a role she had played on the London stage.
In fact, it has been a while since we saw this actress in a film.Hope Davis, another excellent actress, plays Claire, the materialistic sister who has arrived and who wants to transform the frumpy Catherine and mold her to her own taste.
In fact, Mr. Gyllenhaal, with his dark good looks, seems to be someone who would not be interested in math at all."Proof" is an immensely rewarding film thanks to what John Madden's vision..
there's not a lot to the story of the movie, but the depth in the performances - paltrow, hopkins and hope davis - is worth the ticket.
Not having been overly impressed with any of her previous performances, in Proof, Gwyneth Paltrow brings a highly emotional, nuanced, and so finely-tuned performance, I must say this movie this movie a stand-out.She inhabits her character so fully, I was pulled in and so completely entranced the entire time.
Jake Gyllenhaal's was strong, but perhaps not to the level of his rather awesome performance in Brokeback Mountain.Good things aside, the one thing that irked me about this film, was that given the strong link to mathematics, how unbelievable some of the dialogue was regarding the 'math.
Hope Davis was great as the more "normal," but controlling sister Claire, her second best performance ever, after the under-appreciated one she gave in "American Splendor" (be sure to rent THAT movie if you haven't seen it), and she manages to be more sympathetic than the actress who played her in the stage version.
Two, it is not believable that in a crucial scene towards the end of the movie, that neither Catherine and especially the more materialistic Claire would not care what ultimately happens to the proof, especially when being told of its possible value.Aside from these flaws, if you are looking for intelligent fare and a break from mindless action films and the mostly unfunny comedies of the past summer, you owe it to yourself to see this film.
The flashbacks cut effectively back and forth and smooth out where each character is coming from."Catherine," the daughter of a brilliant mathematician who is somewhat modeled on John Nash's struggles with madness which were portrayed in "A Beautiful Mind," is still the focal point of attention.
You really see that she is emotionally ravaged from putting her life and mind on hold for a father with a very strong personality.Anthony Hopkins is unusually paternal as the father and you understand her attractions and fear of him, as well as why the sister had to flee how insecure she felt there, as Hope Davis manages to breathe some life into a strident character.
When I got out of the cinema, I was still thinking about the film -how Paltrow, Gyllenhaal and Davis was near to perfection, how a good theater can be adapted to movie screen!!- I think Gwyneth Paltrow made one of her greatest decisions accepting to play Catherine,maybe she has slowed down but this is a good proof of her acting ability that she has lost nothing from her performance while she was away...By the way, I want to say a few words to Anthony Hopkins' performance.
It wasn't bad,it was very good actually but I think his performance was so alike with his previous films..But generally, I liked the movie and the actors,plus-congratulations to John Madden for his great return....
Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the 27 year-old daughter of a recently deceased mathematician, played by Anthony Hopkins.
It's been at least a year since I have watched a film so annoying as "Proof".You would think that for a film wherein mathematics is a central focus of characters' lives, there would be dialogue references to "differential equations", or "convergent series", or "double integral", or "binomial expansion", or other math concepts.
And Gwyneth Paltrow's annoying nasal voice makes her character almost unendurable.A much better movie could have been made if they had dumped Catherine, and zeroed in on the Anthony Hopkins character.
Robert is the name of her father, (Anthony Hopkins) who thinks he is writing a proof in mathematics, which is a step further in the mathematician field of science.
Gwyneth Paltrow is a young woman trying to find out who she is in "Proof," a 2005 film also starring Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal and Hope Davis.
The film goes back and forth in time, keeping the audience wondering about the outcome of the story.The basic premise is that after Catherine's father dies, a student (Gyllenhaal) finds a notebook among his papers with a mind-bending, phenomenal mathematical proof.
As a further subplot, Catherine finds herself attracted to her father's student.Though this is a wonderful film that does not stray too far from the script, and the performances are wonderful, Catherine's announcement, which changes the entire story, comes in the play at the end of Act I and produced an audible gasp from the audience.
Hope Davis does a great job as Claire, the detached sister who tries a bit too hard and can never be on Catherine's wavelength; in fact, she seems to doubt Catherine's mental and emotional stability.Truly a lovely film and powerful in its own way.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays the daughter of a dead mathematician (Anthony Hopkins) who finds a groundbreaking mathematical proof in his office and claims it as her own.Math is something I really hate.
After the funeral a wake is held back at the house and Catherine gets together with Hal. The following day she gives him the key to her father's desk where he finds just what he's been looking for, a brilliant mathematical proof.
Well I guess I'd be giving too much away if I told you here.First off, really great performances from both Gwyneth Paltrow as Catherine and Hope Davis as Claire.
His younger daughter Catherine, played beautifully by Gwyneth Paltrow, put on hold of her life to take care of him.The movie flipped back and forth between before and after the passing of Robert as we see the toll it took on Catherine.
As the story develops, we may question ourselves whether the sacrifice of Catherine made her crazy, or whether the sacrifice worth it.I had no doubt before seeing the movie that the writing is great since the play, wrote by David Auburn who also co-written the film, won Pulitzer Prize.
It was the acting of the four main characters, particularly those moments between Anthony Hopkins and Gwenyth Paltrow, made the movie worked powerfully..
Superb acting is the chief selling point of "Proof," the generally interesting film version of the David Auburn play, adapted by Auburn and Rebecca Miller and directed by John ("Shakespeare in Love") Madden.Anthony Hopkins plays an aging math genius whose career was cut tragically short when he fell victim to some form of mental illness in his late 20's.
The fourth main character is Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young math professor who admires the work of the once-great Robert and who, as both a friend and potential romantic interest, really doesn't believe that Catherine is losing her mind at all.In thematic terms, "Proof" makes us ponder where exactly that fine line is that separates sanity from insanity and how we can ever really know if and when we are crossing over it.
The film centers around Catherine ( Gwyneth Paltrow) as a young girl in her 20 who has inherited her fathers math brilliance as well as her father's possible mental illness ( the father played by Anthony Hopkins).
It also shows Catherine's struggle with trying to learn to trust her sister (the great Hope Davis) and her father's student ( Jake ) I really like this film.
See if you can spot any of your college math books in the bookshelf close-up in the movie.On a more subtle plane, you will get a feel about the mathematics in this love story in many other ways: a) when you are on-board with how mathematicians view how they "do work," and berate themselves for wasting time and not "doing work." b) on the fierce dichotomy between research in mathematics that seems to lead somewhere, versus research in mathematics that is ho-hum and dead-end, and the pressure to do the former while you are "young"; c) just how deep (read, "socially challenged") mathematicians get in an effort to be true to their discipline, and yet, "there's nothing wrong with you."!
The premise, mathematician Robert (Anthony Hopkins) and his caretaker daughter Catherine (Gweneth Paltrow) who also is an uncommonly bright 27-year-old mathematics mind and has spent the glowing years of her youth caring for her recently deceased father.
We were as disappointed after Secret Window (Johnny Depp) which tried to function in two dimensions and instead became a sorry imitation of a good story and a good movie.The plot elements are convoluted, the actors don't do a good job of portraying their emotions, and the ending is a disappointment.If you must see Proof, Hope Davis' role was outstanding as a cameo supporting actress.
In conclusion : only if you want to see Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins (even they are acting nothing), you have very much free time to lose and another person pays to go to this film..
In Chicago, on the day of her twenty-seventh birthday, Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) receives her sister Claire (Hope Davis) from New York for the funeral of their father Robert (Anthony Hopkins), who passed away a couple of days before.
In this movie, Gwenyth Paltrow plays a woman who's existence as a person had minimal validation at best with a famous father, obsessed with his own work and a mother who we never meet except perhaps as an echo in the materialistic sister who arrives to "save" Gwenyths character.
He had a silly grin on his face the entire movie, which reminded me of that one line from The Terminator when Kyle said to Sarah Connor "What?..." except Jake had the look throughout.Gwyneth Paltrow was adequate, her strongest part being the Church scene where she talks about her Dad. That was the best scene.I love Anthony Hopkins, but sorry, I felt he sleep walked his way through this one, very comfortably, never stretched to really get in touch with this character.
Not every novel that won a Pulitzer can be transformed into a good film screenplay, that what happened in this movie, nonetheless the acting was extraordinary.Gwyneth Paltrow is shining like a star in every single moment of the film, this is absolutely Oscar i don't know what on earth could she have done better to earn the nomination.Anthony Hopkins,Jake Gyllenhaal and even Hope Davis did not disappoint me, no comment about Hopkins one of the greatest of his time,Gyllenhaal is a very talented and emotional actor the chemistry between him and Paltrow was fantastic, thanks to the good direction.beautifully acted, smartly directed, a very good film..
Catherine Llewellyn (Gwyneth Paltrow) is struggling to deal with the death of her genius math professor father Robert (Anthony Hopkins).
This film, while not for everyone has an intriguing story and Anthony Hopkins portrays mathematical professor Robert, whose daughter Catherine is now going through a period of worry that she will inherit her father's mental issues.
Jake Gyllenhall as Howard Dobbs, a graduate student who wants to help Catherine, but doesn't quite know how.Overall an interesting theme which will make you want to read the story, it is slow at times but a good subject matter and the performances are not overblown and exaggerated ("A Beautiful Mind" was a good film but assumes the audience has no clue as to how to interpret mental disturbances and disorders).Someday perhaps Hollywood will step into the 21st century and acknowledge brilliant people can also have emotional disorders without being "crazy".
The formula for this film is as follows: (1) capitalize on the John Nash-Russell Crowe success of A Brilliant Mind's theme of the mad mathematician (2) further capitalize on the controversy spurred by Harvard President Lawrence Summers when he speculated that one of the possible reasons why there are comparative less women in the highest levels of pure science might be related to innate capacity (3) Cast two still-appealing actors who may not be too expensive to hire because they are on their way down, namely an overweight Anthony Hopkins and oh-ever-so-inexpressive Gwyneth Paltrow (4) cast an actor on his way up but yet not too expensive (Jake Gyllenhaal) (5) hire a cheap scrip-writer (6) cast an Indian actor for the small role of a mathematics professor as India is known to have produce a fair share of mathematical geniuses (7)Do all the rest on the cheap.
This is the question that eats at Catherine throughout the story.Jake Gyllenhaal (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, 2005) plays Hal, the love interest, as well as a math student trying to come up with his own proof (i.e. mathematical breakthrough).
It felt real.As Catherine, Paltrow has been the caregiver to her mentally ill father, played by Anthony Hopkins, who in his past had been a brilliant mathematician.
What's interesting and easy to miss so early on are the quirks that these characters have: Catherine's sister likes to make lists; Catherine seems to say 'no' to absolutely everything, refusing to let people interfere even if it is for the good; Hal is someone who seemingly doesn't quit until he has support of other people and perhaps most tragically; Robert was a failed genius who died just as he seemed to strike gold.Like A Beautiful Mind, Proof attempts to explore that fine line that Hollywood seems to want us to believe is there between mathematical genius and mental illness.
Proof turned out to be a very good movie with excellent performances, as usual, by Paltrow and Hopkins.
Rounding out the cast are Anthony Hopkins as her father, Hope Davis as the "practical," list-making elder sister and Jake Gyllenhaal as a student of Hopkins who is given Paltrow's proof after a night of love-making and then doubts whether she could possibly have written it.
Add in the excellent Jake Gyllenhaal -Hal-(as the professor's student and as Paltrow's love interest) and an equally good Hope Davis -Claire- as the older sister, who might care but doesn't understand and cannot enter the world inhabited by Catherine and her father.The film is quite simple and therein lies its strength.
Hope Davis annoyed me to death as Catherine's (Paltrow) older sister, but her character is supposed to play the antagonistic role, so she was exactly on target in her performance.
Her collaboration with director John Madden here follows their success in working together on the 1998 film, "Shakespeare in Love." Catherine is an intellectually gifted but neurotic single woman, daughter of a brilliant, world class mathematician, Robert (Anthony Hopkins, in a minor role), a fictional character not unlike John Nash ("A Beautiful Mind").
Gwyneth Paltrow stars as the daughter haunted by following in the footsteps of her genius mathematician father (Anthony Hopkins) whom she cares for the years before his death while he went mad. |
tt0479952 | Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | The movie starts in the past, in an African reserve, when Alex the Lion was just a little cub, being tutored in the art of being a lion, by his doting father, Zuba, who is also the Alpha Lion. Alex is full of life and more interested in playing the fool, by dancing around and doing the "happy face/angry face" gag with his paw. Zuba shows him his paw, which has an Africa-shaped birthmark on it, which Alex also has on his paw. Just then, Makunga (Alec Baldwin), a scheming lion who wants to be Alpha Lion, challenges Zuba. Leaving Alex alone for a while, Zuba kicks the pride out of Makunga. As the fight is going on, Alex notices a piece of rope moving on the ground and follows it. He goes off the reserve and is captured by poachers, who dump him in a crate and put him in the bed of their truck. Zuba notices that his son is missing. He sees the truck moving along the fence of the reserve and hears his son, crying out for help. He runs and jumps on the truck. He manages to free the crate of its binds, when one of the poachers shoots him, causing him to fall off the truck. He doesn't notice that Alex's crate has fallen out of the truck-bed and into a nearby river. Despite the painful hole in his ear, he mourns the loss of his son.Meanwhile, in the box, Alex sits timidly. Finally, he reaches New York City and is fished out and put in the New York City Zoo. When he sees all the people looking at him, he starts to dance around, much to the audience's pleasure. As he vamps for the people, behind him, a young Marty the Zebra tells a young Gloria (the Hippo) and Melman (the Giraffe) that Alex is a show-off. Years later, Alex is still a huge hit with the zoo spectators. Marty (Chris Rock) tells Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman (David Schwimmer) that he still thinks he's a show-off. Marty then expresses his desire to go out in the wild...which, in his mind, means Connecticut.Then, we see a TV news report on the four animals' NY escapade (from the previous movie) and their encounter with the fearsome Nana (Elisa Gabrielli). After they were recaptured, animal rights activists demanded that they be sent back to the wild. During their voyage, their ship went missing, much to the sadness of New Yorkers.Next, in the island of Madagascar, we see that the four animals are now preparing to go back home, thanks to the airplane that the penguins supposedly fixed. As they climb up to the huge platform that the lemurs built, they groove to the tune of "I Like to Move It". They exchange warm goodbyes to the lemurs, at least most of them. King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), dressed as a lady in a cake, and Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) are coming along. When the creepy little Mort tries to come along, Julien turns security loose on him and herds everyone into the plane. The two monkeys, Mason and Phil, are also there. With the lemurs' help, the plane is catapulted into the air.As they fly through a storm cloud, Alex is scared by what appears to be a gremlin. However, when the sun comes out, he sees it's only Mort. When Mort waves to Alex, he loses hold of the wing and is blown off, leaving Alex to think it was his imagination. Inside the plane, the animals talk about Madagascar. Gloria mentions that, when they reach NY, she might get into the breeding program, which makes Melman a bit jealous. She shrugs it off and puts on a mask to take a nap. In the front of the cabin, Julien and Maurice sit in "first-class", eating shrimp.As Skipper talks to a hula dancer-shaped bobblehead doll, the plane runs out of fuel. Although Skipper initially solves the problem by smashing the warning light with the manual, the engines give out, and the plane falls out of the sky. As Marty, Alex and Melman scream in terror, King Julien treats it like a roller coaster ride. Their hatch falls open, and he and Maurice are sucked out, with a parachute deploying, causing Julien to yell out, "I can fly!" As Marty and Alex say their goodbyes, Alex confesses that he broke Marty's iPod back at the zoo. Marty's brief anger, however, is interrupted when Melman blurts out that he loves Gloria. Gloria is still asleep, and he has to backtrack on it to his friends.Right before they crash, Skipper orders Rico to pull up (he had been diving the plane just for fun), and they skim the ground. The landing gear deploy, but break off because the plane is moving too fast. The plane skids through a forest, the wings stripping off, leaving just the airframe. When it flies off a cliff, the penguins deploy parachutes, leaving the plane's carcass to float to the ground, where the oxygen masks finally deploy. Finally, Gloria wakes up, and finds Melman hyperventilating in one of the masks.When the dust settles, they look around, wondering where they are. Skipper and the other penguins celebrate their landing, being able to "live with" two unaccounted for (Julien and Maurice). Skipper tells the animals that they will need 6-9 months, with the monkeys' help, to rebuild the plane. Alex and Skipper initially quarrel over the repairs (with Private pulling a switchblade knife at one point), but Alex eventually gives up and leads his friends away to contemplate their fate.Initially believed to be in the middle of nowhere, they are proved somewhat wrong when a jeep approaches, filled with tourists who click pictures, then quickly drives off. Alex runs after the jeep, trying to get help, but is attacked by Nana (who's on the jeep). After a brief, comical fight with her, he ends up on the losing side. The jeep drives off, but Alex got her handbag. He takes her cell phone and is about to call someone, when they look down the cliff they're on and see several animals - hippos, lions, zebras and giraffes, among others. Although Melman initially thinks again that they're at the San Diego Zoo, they quickly realize they're in Africa. (Though it's a good thing they realize they're "home"...the cell phone has no service.)They go to the watering hole, where the animals are assembled. Alex tries to make contact with the natives, but quickly finds out they can understand him just fine. They ask how the four of them got into the reserve. At that moment, the Alpha Lion, Zuba, and his mate (Sherri Shepherd) approach. Zuba doesn't recognize Alex, though Alex feels he's seen Zuba before. Suddenly, Zuba's mate recognizes Alex and looks at his paw, with the Africa-shaped birthmark on it. Zuba and Alex's Mom are overjoyed at the return of their son, as is Alex at being reunited with his parents. All the animals around rejoice the return of Alex, the "King of New York". And, surprisingly, so does Makunga. He is going to use Alex against Zuba, to become Alpha Lion. Julien and Maurice show up and partake in the celebrations, thinking it's for them.Marty meets the other zebras (who all sound exactly like him). They welcome him into their fold. Gloria meets the other hippos and becomes the object of attraction for Moto Moto (Will.i.Am), the hippo "hunk". Melman meets the giraffes and asks about medications. They say that now that their witch doctor, Joe, is dead, if any giraffe gets sick, they go into a hole and wait for death. Horrified, Melman volunteers to become the giraffe's witch doctor.Makunga speaks to Zuba about banishing Alex as he has not performed the rite of passage that all young lion cubs should perform. Alex, thinking it to be a breeze, accepts. Meanwhile, Marty finds out that his "water-spit" trick is no longer exclusive to him, as all the other zebras learn it immediately. He is surprised to see that all zebras are exactly like him. Melman, after having helped out a young giraffe with a broken leg, is informed that the brown spot on his neck is a symptom of "witch doctor's disease" and he has 48 hours to live.Meanwhile, the penguins hijack safari jeeps to use to fix the plane, rendering many of the tourists (including Nana) stranded in the African reserve. The monkeys bring a whole bunch of monkeys as extra help for fixing the plane. Nana (having just gotten her beloved handbag back) leads the stranded tourists, who are all from New York, and tells them that, as New Yorkers, they can survive anything.Alex prepares for the rite of passage, thinking it to be a dance-off. As he prepares, Makunga comes along and talks him into choosing Teetsi, who Alex thinks will be his dance partner. When the time comes for the rite of passage, Alex does indeed choose Teetsi, who turns out to be something like the Incredible Lion Hulk. Alex still thinks it's a dance-off and dances around, to the confusion of his father, until Teetsi levels Alex with a punch. Now that Alex has been defeated, Makunga says that Alex should be banished. Unable to do it himself, Zuba tosses away the Alpha Lion scepter and abdicates. Makunga obligingly decides to become Alpha Lion. Alex is made to wear a ridiculous fruit hat, as his punishment.Zuba berates his son for shaming him. Alex walks off in a huff. In the wreckage of the plane, Alex, Marty and Melman sit, moping. Alex is sad about being banished, Melman is distressed that he has only 2 days to live and Marty is upset he's exactly like all the other zebras. Gloria comes along happily and gloats about the great time she's having. When she mentions Moto Moto and his interest in her, Melman gets jealous and they quarrel and stalk off in separate directions. Alex and "Marty" are left behind, until the real Marty comes along, and is offended that Alex could not tell the two zebras apart. Accusing Alex of only thinking of himself, he walks away.As Melman sits inside a giraffe death hole, Julien and Maurice come to him. Julien advises Melman to tell Gloria how he feels. Gloria is at the hippo's watering hole, being charmed by Moto Moto. She asks why he likes her. Besides her plumpness, he can't answer anything else. Melman comes over and sees them together. He tells Moto Moto to take care of Gloria, and expresses his love for her in a way far more profound than the male hippo is capable of, before leaving, having shocked Gloria with his feelings.Inexplicably, the watering hole dries up, leaving only a tiny amount. Makunga comes along and suggests that the animals fight each other for the remaining water. Alex shows up and says that he will go and look for the reason for the water stoppage, which is off the reserve. If any animal goes off the reserve, it is fair game for hunters. Makunga, hearing the dissent among the other animals, says that he will confer with Zuba. Before leaving the reserve, Alex goes to the zebra herd and looks for Marty. Unable to find him, he shouts out that he's sorry. However, he recognizes Marty (the only one not facing him, revealing the scar left from his bite mark in the last movie) and asks him to accept his apology. Having made up, Marty accompanies Alex into the woods outside the reserve. Meanwhile, Makunga tells Zuba and Mom that Alex has gone out of the reserve. Zuba runs off immediately in search of his son, while Makunga laughs evilly.At the watering hole, Moto Moto tries to dig for water, but only finds diamonds and gold. Julien and Maurice show up and declare that an animal sacrifice to the volcano will please the water gods. They need a volunteer. Melman, thinking that he has less than a day to live, volunteers. Cheering, the animals lift him up and take him to the volcano. Gloria protests, trying to talk Melman out of it, but he has made up his mind.Alex and Marty go through the eerie woods and come up to the source of the water blockage - a dam erected by the New York tourists, led by Nana. They are suddenly attacked by spear-wielding tourists. Alex is caught in a rope trap. He tells Marty to go get help. Marty runs off.At the volcano, Melman stands shakily at the edge of the precipice, overlooking the red-hot magma. Suddenly, the old witch doctor, Joe, shows up. He says that all giraffes have brown spots, so there's no such thing as "witch doctor's disease". Gloria runs up to Melman and tells him not to jump. However, as she runs up to the precipice, she stumbles and cracks it. Melman starts running towards her, past the crumbling precipice. She grabs him by his horns. They profess their love for each other. Just then, Marty runs in and tells them that Alex is in trouble and they need the plane.At the crash site, the monkeys are on strike, Mason and Phil are negotiating with Skipper, and demanding maternity leave (even though the monkeys are all males). Gloria, Marty and Melman run up and tell them to get the plane ready immediately, but Skipper can't until he "breaks the union". However, Phil comes up with "incriminating" photos of Skipper and his bobblehead doll. Skipper grants their maternity leave, and the monkeys get right to work.Alex is taken to the tourists' colony, where they plan to roast him for dinner. Just then, Zuba shows up and frees Alex. Seeing that the tourists are New Yorkers, Alex starts doing his famous dance. The tourists recognize Alex, who they thought was dead. At first bewildered, Zuba also joins in the fun. However, Nana still wants to eat them and aims the shotgun at them. Suddenly, the plane flies overhead and drops a bucket down, with a monkey-chain (several monkeys holding hands) holding onto it. The lions get inside and, thanks to some miscommunication up the monkey-chain, the penguins are ordered to take out the dam. Nana stands on top of the dam and tries to shoot the plane down. One of the bullets goes through the plane's windshield and blows off the bobblehead doll's head, prompting Skipper to scream for a medic (Private with duct tape). Out of bullets, Nana waves her hand bag right before the bucket strikes the dam like a wrecking ball, smashing it and sending the water back down the river.Meanwhile, at the volcano, Julien and Maurice stand alone at the precipice, wondering about the sacrifice. Suddenly, along comes Mort, who survived the fall and the ocean, and is currently trying to survive the huge, scary shark that's followed him inland. As the shark lunges at the lemurs, they hang off the edge of the precipice, while "Jaws" plummets to a fiery death below. At that moment, they see water flowing towards the watering hole, leading them to believe that the sacrifice worked.The parched animals are overjoyed to see the water back. They are happier when they see Alex and Zuba standing proudly on the capsule, floating on the water towards them. Makunga comes along and haughtily tells them that, though they brought the water back, Alex is still banished. Alex tells him that he has a gift for him and gives him Nana's handbag. Makunga takes it happily, but the gift has an accompaniment inside the capsule - Nana! Seeing her handbag around Makunga's shoulder, she screams "Bad kitty!" and attacks him, leading him away by the ear. Zuba picks up the fallen scepter and offers it to Alex. Alex refuses, but Zuba insists they at least share it, both as Alpha Lions, as the animals rejoice.We then see the animals at a wedding. Although initially Gloria and Melman are seen in the center of the wedding party, it eventually pans down to the real couple: Skipper the penguin and his hula dancer bobblehead doll, her head held to the body with duct tape. Melman comments off-hand that the marriage will never last. The penguins and monkeys fly off in the plane for a honeymoon in Monte Carlo, to be paid for with the earlier-found diamonds and gold. Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria and the lemurs are content to wait in Africa until they return. Alex tells Zuba that they'll be staying with them. Zuba has an angry look on his face, but does the "happy face/angry face" gag, with his paw. They all laugh. Melman and Gloria look lovingly at each other, and Melman blubbers about what he loves about her. Marty ribs Alex, saying he's not Marty. Alex laughs, but just for confirmation, looks at Marty's behind for his bite mark again, causing Marty to bump him. They walk towards the watering hole. | comedy, humor, queer | train | imdb | Rarely have I seen animated family sequel movie that's as good or better than its predecessor but speaking as a movie freak who didn't like the first installment, I gotta say I'm very much entertained by MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 Africa and it way funnier than the original movie.
Kids will love it, Parents will be glad about it, and the rest of us will find it to be very amusing.MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 Africa will feel like too short of a movie, but that's also something that I can appreciate because I don't think it has any intention of trying to be all Oscar worthy, it's nothing more than telling a light, enjoyable story with good moral value lesson and that's about it.
While it's the usual pop-culture jokes and witty one liners that plague recent animated films, there were some gems in that movie, the ones which stuck suck as the crowd favourite penguins stealing the whole show, as well as the madcap rave party tune Move It!Beginning directly where we last saw Alex the Lion (Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Rock), Melman the Giraffe (Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Smith), the penguins have finally built a plane that ought to bring our merry crew back to New York, together with Julien the lemur (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his sidekick (Cedric the Entertainer), but of course should that happen, there'll be no sequel to begin with.
So we have the crew crash land into the continent Africa, thereby guaranteeing yet another tale of being from the outside, but now having a habitat that's much closer to their natural environment, one which sees the animal types in question grouped together into one reserve for storytelling convenience.Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, who also provided the voice of Skipper the head penguin, the storyline might seem like a poor man's cousin to Disney's The Lion King, what with exiles and alpha-lions battling it out to be king of the habitat.
You have Alex's return and reunion with his parents, with adversary coming from an earlier generation, there's Marty who discovers that he's no longer unique but the same as every other hundredth zebra out there, Glora looking for love with other hippos now that there's no lack of suitors, and Melman fighting his own cowardice to reveal his feelings for Gloria, as well as being appointed the witch doctor for the land.And if you think that the primary voice cast is already A-list, the film piles on to that list with the likes of the late Bernie Mac voicing Zuba the alpha-lion, Alec Baldwin again in a villainous role as his rival Makunga, and Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas in a hilarious role of hippo-Casanova Moto Moto (the name's so good you have to say it twice!) The songs department falls up a bit short this time round, though thankfully "Move It!" wasn't conveniently and lazily played ad-nauseam.
Given the army of illustrators working on the project, you can't expect quality to drop from its predecessor, though there's nothing new to be injected into a mature presentation.Despite the plundering of the same old family values / theme / storyline and the importance of establishing strong friendships, this new Madagascar managed to deliver on multiple fronts, joining the ranks of the few whose sequels are superior than the original.
That being said, it's still a fun, entertaining, and unpredictable movie that continues the zaniness that made the original a personal guilty pleasure of mine.In Escape 2 Africa, we follow the New York zoo animals, the psychotic penguins, the monkeys, and the lemur leaders as they unexpectedly are stranded in the middle of Africa.
While the original four characters take a backseat and add emotion to a franchise that's too fast-paced for this sort of stuff, we have the penguins and Julien taking over the movie and keeping it from being another totally disappointing animated sequel like every straight-to-video Disney sequel, the ugly Shrek sequels, or Ice Age 2.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is also proof that those hilarious penguins need their own movie, pretty much immediately.Yes, right now..
But the whole story was just a blast to watch.Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman are still looking to go back to Africa, everything seems to be a good and they start to fly back with the penguins as well as Julien.
But the plane runs out of fuel and crashes, they are still in Africa, but bump into an animal pack where Alex finds his long lost parents, Marty finds out that all zebras are like him(imagine being surrounded by 1,000 Chris Rocks*shudder*), Gloria has a hunky hippo who is crushing on her, and Melman becomes the giraffe witch doctor of his group.
Alex is about to be initiated into his pride, but one lion does not want him part of the group and will do anything to become leader.Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is definitely worth your watch, it's not the animated film of the year, but it was a lot of fun to watch.
The same characters are as charming as ever, but this time, they're much fleshed out especially King Julian and Maurice.Some of the new characters are great and I think the villain named Makunga voiced by Alec Baldwin isn't that bad of a villain, though he was underused and I liked Alex's parents as well.
There was also a scene that involved a relationship between Gloria and Melman which was so romantic and sweet to watch.The only two problems that I do have with this film is that while the story does have more heart than the original film, it's still predictable and does have it's similarities to the Lion King and Happy Feet and several scenes were dragged a lot throughout the movie.
Part Twos are usually scary territory, but I daresay this one outdid its predecessor in terms of storyline and packing in the laughs.It starts where Madagascar One ended: Central Park Zoo animals Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) find themselves still stranded and eager to leave the island.
The original Madagascar film was one of my favorite animated movies of the decade because it was very original and outright hilarious, in addition to having the most amazing penguins the world has ever seen.
In the second installment, however, the screenplay is sacrificed for better animation, and while it looks good, the film doesn't carry itself well, despite having a very short runtime.Our favorite zoo animals have been kicked out of New York and end up in Africa, where they quickly fit in with a pride of lions and other animals.
It's hard to believe they spent almost 3 years making this movie.Of course, most animated films are only as good as the voice actors, and while the big four of Stiller, Rock, Schwimmer, and Pinkett Smith are enjoyable, it's Sacha Baron Cohen who steals the movie once again as King Julien.
Madagascar 2 is simply hilarious: the crazy and extremely violent granny, Moto Moto being too macho for words, the crazy king, the hippo lady being in the mood for some love, the love sorrow of the hypochondriac giraffe (whose voice is being done by ever funny David Schwimmer from friends) and the extremely smooth mafia penguins...
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a great movie with a very well written storyline and a terrific voice cast.The movie is a very fresh sequel to Madagascar that I think is just as good,in fact probably better,than the first one.Its filled with more interesting characters and each of the four main characters are given their own story,which I really liked.I liked seeing all four of them dealing with a new life in Africa,particularity Marty as we see him hanging around a ton of Zebras who look and sound exactly like him,I thought this was a funny set up and seeing how sensitive Marty was about being unique,it was a good choice.Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a very enjoyable movie that fans of the first one will definitely enjoy.
At the time, I thought that 2005 DreamWorks Animation effort, as successful as it turned out to be, was fairly disappointing and not good enough to make me want to watch "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa".
Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippopotamus, Marty the Zebra, and Melman the Giraffe are still in Madagascar, but are about to leave on a repaired crashed airplane with Skipper and his military penguins, along with lemurs King Julien and Maurice, and the chimpanzees, on a flight back to New York.
As the penguins and chimpanzees try to repair the damaged aircraft, Alex, Gloria, Marty, and Melman have each found other members of their species, but this leads to complications for each of the four former zoo friends.At the beginning of this sequel, with a flashback sequence showing Alex (then named Alakay) as a cub, I wasn't sure how much I was going to like the film, but that soon changed.
The poacher chase is a good action sequence, and when the film gets to the present day, we see the animals boarding the plane in Madagascar, which is a very humorous part, especially with the King Julien character, once again voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen.
Maybe not everything about this DreamWorks Animation film is great, but overall, it's another very good animated family movie, and unlike some sequels, this one is not a clone of the original, as it definitely has new things to offer.
Hans Zimmer's musical score is equally spectacular.At the beginning of Cohen's narrative we discover the origins of lion cub Alex, and his fated path to the Central Park Zoo. Following the logical conclusion of "Madagascar" our heroes Alex (Stiller), Marty (Rock), hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), and giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) are flying back to New York aboard the airplane piloted by head penguin Mort (hysterical Andy Richter) and his crew.
The first of the two Madagascar sequels was funny and original, and the second is almost great as the first one, with many new characters.Here Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria leave from Madagascar with a decrepit plane ''fixed'' by the lemurs and the four penguins, but it suffers a crash-landing and they end in Africa.
After a fight encounter between Alex and the old lady, the quartet discovers that they are ended in Africa, and soon: Alex is reunited with his parents, Gloria meets an handsome male hippo, Melman becames the witch doctor of a giraffe group and Marty meets many other zebras identical to him.But then problems begin: there is another lion, Makunga, that uses the excuse of the rite of passage to dethrone Alex's dad and replace him as the king; Marty considers that he is not unique, and only Alex helps Marty to be different because of his qualities; Melman thinks that he is soon to death and Gloria doesn't like Melman anymore.
And at the beginning the three penguins replace the boy in the Dreamworks logo.The animation is always great and colorful like in the first movie, the soundtrack is also good (and in the end credits there is Will.
In "Madagascar 2" pretty much the same happens, only this time, the writers did their homework and provided enough development so the plot and the dozens of worthy subplots could fill in a one-hour-and-half format.So, the more I watched "Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa", the more the first opus looked like a first draft, the thing you write and then realize it doesn't work and improvement is much needed.
And the sequel allows us to know more about Alex, who used to be Alakay, son of the local Mufasa: Zuba, voiced by the late Bernie Mac.The film's beginning is familiar material, the cub is taken by hunters while his father tries to rescue him but Alakay ends up in New York City and becomes the main zoo attraction, while his new friends comment his tendency to be a show-off.
They'll even use the chimps to repair the plane, because they have opposable thumbs (damn Darwin), but they're not superior mammals for nothing and they'll know how to raise their voice for their workers' rights.So our friends discover Africa and when they admire the landscape, Alex has a feeling of déjà vu, probably remembering his childhood but it doesn't take a genius to know that this is a clever nod to Disney, and yeah, "Dreamworks" make a hilarious come-back to Africa with a story that is as entertaining and appealing; it's got love, fights, dancing, tribes' codes, and great character developments through many plots and subplots.
It's not the "remember who you are" but the "stay true to yourself" (I just love the way he keeps the hat of shame all the time) as if there was really a little gay subtext with the references to dance as an opposition to fight.Watching "Madagascar 2", I thought of what I said about the first, it's like a long exposition and I can't wait to see the sequel.
This film was (very) memorable, fun, (very) crude but a high- quality movie.So, the film starts off with giving you a bit of background on how Alex got to the zoo in New York and then goes to the present where the animals you got to know and love in the first film (Alex, Gloria, Marty, Melman, the penguins, King Julien, Maurice, Mort, and the two monkeys) get ready to go to New York.
The beginning of this movie is great as it shows how Alex the Lion got to becoming a popular attraction at the Central Park Zoo. The transitioning to showing where we last left off with the main characters is also great as we see that they are leaving Madagascar to try and head back to New York.
His father is voiced brilliantly by the late great Bernie Mac. Marty, Melman, and Gloria run into many of their own kind.This movie is full of fun and some new adventures and schemes from the ever awesome penguins.
The original 'Madagascar' was one of the funniest animated films I'd seen in a long time, characterised by witty humour, hilarious one-liners and some brilliantly funny characters.
The plot involves Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melmen the giraffe (David Schwimmer) as they wind up fleeing the country of Madagascar in the very beginning of the film in a junkyard plane, flown by the pesky penguins, with hopes of reaching New York City.
Sometime during the three year break between Madagascar and its sequel, the brewing franchise found direction, hope, and audacity and created a sequel effectively better than the first - a rare quality indeed.Continuing on with the plot, the film opens with nice backstory showcasing how Alex, whose birth name was apparently "Alakay," was born in Africa to two loving parents.
King Julian must have had something with his ears as well when Melman had to repeat more that he loves Gloria..Penguins were great again and my daughter's favourite is Moto Moto now:-).Despite that scenes of "harrasing the old lady" I like this even a little more than the original..
To his amazement Alex finds he has returned to his birth home and has been united with his parents while the other animals all learn what it is to be part of a tribe and outside of the confines of the zoo community however it is not long before the friends find themselves being separated.The second Madagascar film didn't get great reviews off the critics, with it generally being met with a collective shrug with nobody having anything specifically bad to say or specifically good and, as a result I figured this would be fine on DVD rather than the cinema.
They land in the plains of Africa and Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria find themselves encountering their own kind and realizing this is where it all began.Most of the characters from the original return in the sequel, but the movie do have new ones as well.
And like I said before, the penguins are awesome and I would love to see them in Antarctica in the next movie.Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a great family movie and it didn't disappoint.
With the first sequel, returning directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath have pulled the same trick again, only this time dumping its hapless entourage onto the brutal plains of Africa, with Hollywood again apparently forgetting that Africa is a continent, not a country.After the adventure on Madagascar, zoo animals Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) and a small group of militaristic penguins have fixed the crashed plane and are readying to fly back home.
Nevertheless, I sat down with my 7 year old son to watch the sequel and I must admit that we were both quite entertained and amused with this movie.The story was quite good and you instantly gets swept up and carried away into the storyline.The characters in the movie were likeable and funny, and it really worked to their advantage that they had such a great ensemble of voice actors to perform the various roles and voices throughout the animated movie.
There was a good combination of music and singing and ordinary cartoon here, without it turning into a stereotypical animated movie like those seen produced by Disney."Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" is definitely worth taking the time to sit down and watch regardless of your age..
As are Chris Rock as Marty the Zebra, David Schwimmer as Melman the giraffe, Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria the Hippo, and Sacha Baron Cohen as the little animal Julien.New actors include (deceased) Bernie Mac who does a great job as Zuba, the father of Alex. |
tt0119978 | The Rainmaker | Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) was brought up in a slum. His father, who was a severe alcoholic, abused him and his mother. After studying at Austin Peay State University, Rudy, who has an interest in social justice and civil rights, decides to attend law school. When he graduates from the University of Memphis State Law School, he, unlike most of his fellow grads, has no high-paying employment lined up. He is forced to apply for part-time positions while he serves drinks at a Memphis bar.
Desperate for a job, he reluctantly goes to an interview with J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone (Mickey Rourke), a ruthless and corrupt but successful personal injury lawyer, who makes him an associate. To earn his fee, Rudy is turned into an ambulance chaser, required to hunt for potential clients at a local hospital.
Soon he meets Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito), a less-than-ethical former insurance assessor turned paralegal, who has gone to law school but failed the bar exam six times. Deck is resourceful in gathering information, and practically an expert on insurance lawsuits.
Rudy manages to get just one case, concerning insurance bad faith. It may be worth several million dollars in damages, which appeals to him because he is about to declare himself bankrupt. He rents an apartment above the garage in the home of elderly Miss Birdsong (Teresa Wright), a client whose will he has been drafting.
Bruiser is suspected of racketeering, and his offices are raided by the police and FBI. Not knowing what else to do, Rudy and Deck set up, without so much as a secretary for help, a two-man practice. They file a bad faith suit on behalf of a middle-aged couple, Dot and Buddy Black, whose 22-year-old son Donny Ray (Johnny Whitworth) is going to die from leukemia. Donny Ray would most likely have been saved by a bone marrow transplant had his medical claim not been denied by Great Benefit, the family's insurance carrier.
Although Rudy passes the Tennessee bar exam, he has never argued a case before a judge and jury. He finds himself up against a group of experienced and devious lawyers from a large firm that is headed by Leo F. Drummond (Jon Voight), a showman attorney who uses unscrupulous tactics to win his cases.
The original judge assigned to the case, Harvey Hale (Dean Stockwell), is set to dismiss it because he sees it as one of many so-called "lottery" cases that slow the judicial process. But after Hale suffers a fatal heart attack, a far more sympathetic judge, Tyrone Kipler (Danny Glover), takes over the case. Kipler, a former civil rights attorney, immediately denies the insurance company's petition for dismissal.
While preparing his case, Rudy gets to know a young woman whom he met at the hospital, Kelly Riker (Claire Danes), a battered wife whose husband, Cliff (Andrew Shue), has beaten her so savagely with a baseball bat that she must be hospitalized. After a particularly violent attack, Rudy persuades Kelly, to whom he is attracted, to file for divorce.
Going to Kelly's home to pack her belongings, Rudy and Kelly are violently confronted by a bat-wielding Cliff. After Cliff injures Rudy then pulls a gun on him, Rudy grabs the bat and incapacitates him. Kelly insists Rudy leave, then finishes Cliff with the baseball bat. To prevent Rudy from being implicated, Kelly tells the police she was alone and killed her husband in self-defense. Rudy promises to defend Kelly if the case goes to trial, but the district attorney declines to prosecute, knowing Kelly would never be convicted.
Donny Ray dies, but not before giving a video deposition. The case goes to trial, where Drummond capitalizes on Rudy's inexperience. He gets vital testimony by Rudy's key witness, former Great Benefit employee Jackie Lemanczyk (Virginia Madsen), stricken from the record, and attempts to discredit Donny Ray's mother (Mary Kay Place). Due to Rudy's single-minded determination and skillful cross-examination of Great Benefit's unctuous president Wilfred Keeley (Roy Scheider), the jury finds for the plaintiff with a monetary award far exceeding all expectations.
It is a great triumph for Rudy and Deck, at least until Keeley attempts to flee the country after looting the company and Great Benefit declares itself bankrupt, making it unable to pay the Blacks or any other claimant. Despite no payout for the grieving parents, nor fees for Rudy or Deck, Dot Black is relieved that Great Benefit is out of business and unable to hurt other families like hers. Drummond, who also will not be getting paid for his services, calls up and commiserates with Rudy telling him that everybody lost.
Convinced his success will create unrealistic expectations for future clients, Rudy abandons his practice to instead teach law with a focus on ethical behavior. He leaves town with Kelly, wanting to retain a low profile and protect Kelly from any possible retribution by Cliff's vengeful relatives. He leaves the legal profession after just one successful case. | revenge, comedy, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0050825 | Paths of Glory | A voice-over narrator explains that Germany and France entered World War I in August, 1914 and, with the construction of a continuous line of fortified trenches stretching from Switzerland to the English Channel, a costly military stalemate set in. By 1916, "successful attacks were measured in thousands of yards and paid for by casualties in the hundreds of thousands."General George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou), an elderly member of the French General Staff, arrives from Paris at the headquarters (a magnificent chateau) of his subordinate, General Paul Mireau (George Macready), to inform him that a major offensive is planned for General Mireau's sector and, in preparation for this offensive, General Broulard wants Mireau's division to capture a well-defended German position nicknamed the 'Anthill'. Mireau balks at the idea, claiming that his division is in no condition to defend the Anthill, much less capture it. Broulard reluctantly mentions that, in a completely unrelated matter, he was thinking that Mireau was due for a promotion, not that this should sway his decision concerning the feasibility of an attack on the Anthill. After explaining to Broulard at great length that the men he commands mean more to him than "all the stars and decorations in France," the ambitious Mireau concludes that an attack on the Anthill just might work.Mireau undertakes an inspection of the front line trenches with his loyal and cynical staff officer, Major Saint-Auban (Richard Anderson). The general stops to ask several soldiers (who later become major characters) the question, "Ready to kill more Germans?" When one soldier (Fred Bell) fails to answer, merely staring straight ahead, his comrades reply that the soldier is suffering from shell shock. Mireau says there is no such thing as shell shock. When the general enquires about whether the soldier has a wife, the soldier replies that he'll never see her again since he's certain to be killed, to which Mireau scolds the soldier for acting like a coward. When the soldier replies that he is a coward, Mireau flies into a rage and strikes the soldier across the face, yelling that he wants this "little baby" transferred out of the regiment. As they continue through the trenches, Maj. Saint-Auban says that the general was right to do what he did and adds that he thinks that the high morale of the 701st Regiment is the direct result of the general's inspections, which Mireau denies, saying that their fighting spirit was just born in them.The commander of the 701st Regiment, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), is greeted in his headquarters bunker by Mireau. When Maj. Saint-Auban makes a disparaging remark about the enlisted men, Dax takes offense and Mireau asks the major to leave them alone to discuss the coming assault. Dax is informed by Mireau of his plan to launch an attack on the Anthill, for which Dax shows little enthusiasm. Mireau criticizes Dax's lack of enthusiasm and threatens to have him relieved of command if he does not agree to his plan. Not wishing to be "taken away from my men," the colonel reluctantly agrees that the 701st Regiment will (attempt to) take the Anthill.That night, a patrol is ordered to be sent out to reconnoiter no-man's land, the space between the opposing trenches. Corporal Paris (Ralph Meeker) is among the two men chosen to accompany the half-drunk Lieutenant Roget (Wayne Morris) on this patrol. Cpl. Paris' fellow soldier remarks that the corporal does seem to like the lieutenant, to which Cpl. Paris replies that he knew Roget before the war and didn't have much respect for him then either. Lt. Roget, having sought to bolster his courage with alcohol, leads the patrol through the barbed wire, water-filled shell holes, and general wreckage that is no-man's land. When they come to a halt, Lt. Roget orders the third member of the patrol to scout forward on his own, against the objections of Cpl. Paris. As they wait for the third soldier to return, Lt. Roget becomes increasingly nervous, saying he must have been killed. Finally, in a panic, Lt. Roget throws a grenade into the darkness and runs back to the French lines, leaving Cpl. Paris behind. Cpl. Paris, crawling forward, discovers the third soldier lying in a shell hole, having been killed by Lt. Roget's grenade.A little later, when Cpl. Paris shows up at Lt. Roget's command bunker, the lieutenant acts as if he's happy to see that the corporal is still alive. But Cpl. Paris confronts him with his crimes: drunk on duty, cowardice in the face of the enemy, killing a fellow soldier, etc. Lt. Roget pretends to be sorry and points out that a court of inquiry is more likely to believe the word of a lieutenant than that of a corporal, so Paris might as well forget it all happened. At that moment Col. Dax arrives to pick up the report on the patrol, but Lt. Roget states that it isn't finished yet. Dax clearly sees there's something going on between Roget and Paris, but doesn't pursue the matter.Dax has a final meeting with his officers to explain how the attack on the following day will proceed. One officer asks what the weather is supposed to be like, to which the colonel replies "Too good" -- meaning no rain or fog to provide cover for the troops advancing across no-man's land. Another officer asks how long they will have to hold the Anthill once they've captured it. Dax replies that they will have to hold it (against enemy counterattacks) for the entire day. While the officers discuss the details of the assault, the enlisted men consider what they will face in the morning. Conversing in whispers with another soldier, Private Arnaud (Joseph Turkel) considers what his fellow soldiers are most afraid of: poison gas, high explosive shells, a bayonet in the gut... He points out that what everyone is afraid of is pain, not death, since everyone knows that he's going to die some day. His comrade, rolling over to get some sleep, replies "You're too smart for me, professor. All I know is, nobody wants to die."The following morning Mireau, accompanied by his ever faithful lackey Maj. Saint-Auban, stands in an observation post waiting for the attack to commence. He offers his fellow officers a drink and they respectfully decline, leaving the general to toast the success of the assault on his own.In the trenches, Dax is walking past the men of the 701st Regiment who are pressed up against the sides for cover against the artillery barrage, which is intended to screen the men as they advance towards the enemy (this was known as a 'creeping barrage'). The shells roar overhead and many fall perilously close, showering Dax and his men with clods of dirt and waves of dust. (In his initial discussion with Dax about the assault, Mireau included a figure for the likely percentage of men who would be killed by their own barrage when calculating the possible casualties. This was, in fact, an unavoidable reality in the First World War.) A whistle between his teeth and a revolver in his hand, Dax climbs a ladder as Sergeant Boulanger (Bert Freed), staring at his wristwatch, counts down "...three, two, one, zero!" As Dax blows his whistle and waves his men to "go over the top," a mass of French soldiers emerges from the trenches into the open of no-man's land. Carrying heavy packs, with their bayonets fixed, the men move forward as fast as possible, over torn remnants of barbed wire, down into and up out of shell craters, seemingly an inexorable wave. But shells burst amongst them and enemy machine gun fire can be heard. The men go down, a soldier here, another there, and more and more fall, individually and in heaps. Others behind them step over the bodies, only to drop and add to the piles. In the deafening confusion, covered in mud, Dax asks a sergeant next to him where 'B' Company is, to which the sergeant replies he doesn't know.Mireau in his observation post also notices the failure of 'B' Company to advance. The general flies into a rage and orders his artillery to commence shelling the trenches occupied by the troops of 'B' Company in order to force them to advance (if only to escape from the shelling). The Battery Commander, Captain Rousseau (John Stein) refuses to comply with Mireau's order. "Sir, you have no right to order me to shoot down my own men without an order in writing and signed by the general. What if you're killed, then where will I be?" The psychopath Mireau replies: "You'll be in front of a firing squad, that's where you'll be! Hand over your command and place yourself under arrest for an immediate court-martial!"Meanwhile, Dax, racing through the wreckage of his trenches, reaches Lt. Roget and 'B' Company. The drunk Roget pleads with Dax that they've already tried twice and taken far too many casualties. Ignoring him, Dax climbs a ladder while blowing his whistle, trying to encourage the men to "give it another try," only to have a dead soldier falling from above knock him off the ladder. Around them, all the soldiers are falling back to their trenches. Mireau is informed in his observation post that the attack has failed all along the line. He instructs Major Saint-Auban to have the 701st Regiment pulled out of the line and to assemble a general court-martial. "If those little sweethearts won't face German bullets, they'll face French ones!"The following day, Dax meets with Broulard and Mireau at headquarters, where the cynical Mireau accuses the entire 701st Regiment of cowardice and proposes to have 100 men from the regiment randomly executed. Dax strongly objects and Broulard intervenes to break up their argument. Broulard says they don't want to slaughter the French Army, they just want to set an example, to which Dax replies that if it's an example that's needed, the logical choice is the officer most responsible for the attack. (Implying, of course, that if anyone should face a firing squad, it should be the scumbag General Mireau.) Broulard loses his temper and shouts, "This is not a question of officers!" Regaining his composure, Broulard suggests that one man from each of the regiment's three companies should be chosen to be tried for cowardice in the face of the enemy. Although he initially objects, Mireau accepts Broulard's proposal. Before they leave, Dax requests to be appointed defense attorney for the accused men and Broulard agrees, chiding Mireau for "hiding" Dax, an obviously talented officer, from him. (Earlier in the film it's established that Dax was one of France's top attorneys before the war.) Outside in the hallway, Mireau confronts Dax and virtually orders him to step down as the defense attorney, but the colonel refuses. Mireau rails against him for his apparent disloyalty and promises to ruin his career when this is over. When Mireau catches up with Broulard, they are met by the Battery Commander, Captain Rousseau, who says that Mireau had ordered him to meet with the general. Thinking fast, Mireau lies and says that he wanted to speak to the captain about some of his shells falling short and dismisses him. Broulard recommends a public hearing, the last thing Mireau wants, but Mireau talks Broulard out of it and the matter is forgotten.Dax meets with the three accused men. They include the intellectual Private Arnaud, who was randomly picked by lot; Cpl. Paris, who Lt. Roget chose because he knows what Roget did during the patrol in no-man's land the night before the battle; and Private Ferol (Timothy Carey), who was chosen because his Company Commander considered him to be a "social degenerate." Dax explains that the reason they were chosen is irrelevant, since they are all charged with cowardice. He explains that he doesn't have much time (the trial is that afternoon) and he needs to prepare. Dax urges them to show the same courage that they have shown in the face of the enemy.At the chateau, Arnaud, Paris, and Ferol sit in chairs in front of a group of officers behind tables in a large room. The officer serving as the chief judge of the Court Martial (Peter Capell) begins the proceedings by calling one of the men to testify, but Dax immediately objects, pointing out that the men have the right to hear the charges against them read out. The officer serving as the chief judge replies that the court does not wish to waste time with technicalities and that basically the charges are that these three men showed cowardice in the face of the enemy during the attack on the Anthill. Having been appointed (by Mireau) as the prosecutor, Maj. Saint-Auban grills each of the three men in turn, with Dax cross-examining them to show that they are not cowards, all to little avail. The entire trial is a farce. Dax sees his men's rights violated by the cynical military judges (who are clearly acting under the orders of Mireau, sitting nearby). Dax is barred from entering any evidence relating to the case.In his closing argument to the judges, Saint-Auban asserts that the actions of the 701st Regiment during the attack on the Anthill were a stain on the honor of France and, as such, asks the court to find these men guilty and impose the penalty of death to make an example of them. Afterwards, Dax protests in his summation about the nature of the trial. Mireau speaks up, asking Dax if he questions the legitimacy of the court, to which Dax replies that he objects to the fact that he was given practically no time to prepare his case, no written indictment was ever made against the accused, that he was prevented from introducing evidence that would have been vital for the defense, that the prosecution presented no witnesses to back up their claims, and on top of all that, that no stenographic records of the trial were being kept. He says that the attack by the 701st Regiment on the Antihill was no stain on the honor of France, but this trial is such a stain. He warns the officers serving as judges: "Gentlemen of the court, to find these men guilty would be a crime to haunt each of you till the day you die," and pleads for mercy. The judges adjourn to deliberate.The next day, Sgt. Boulanger is placed in charge of the guards for the prisoners. He strides up and down the line of men under his command, explaining the regulations and pointing out that he has been made personally responsible for anything that happens involving these prisoners, but that he will ensure that, if there are any mistakes, he will pass on any punishment with interest to the men under his command.Inside the stable in which they are being held, Arnaud, Paris, and Ferol consider their options. Ferol thinks he's going to get out of it somehow. Paris is worried what his wife will think. Eyeing a cockroach on the table, Paris ruminates over the fact that if he's executed the cockroach will have more contact with his wife and children than he will, it will be alive, while he'll be dead. Ferol slams his hand down on the table and mutters, "Now you've got the edge on him." Dinner is brought in to the men. Ferol is suspicious that the food is drugged to make them groggy. Arnaud thinks Ferol is being stupid, but Ferol refuses to eat anyway. Finally a priest (Emile Meyer) arrives with news of the verdict; they've all been found guilty and will be executed in the morning. Ferol breaks down and the priest tries to comfort him. The priest asks Paris if he would like to make his confession, but Paris says that he's not a religious man and that if he began praying now, he would feel like a hypocrite. The priest tells him that that would be an error and promises him that God is there for him and that death comes to us all. Arnaud, being eaten alive by the injustice of their situation, doesn't take this well and mocks the priest, holding up a bottle of wine he is drinking and pretends to pray to it. The priest says that he is there to help them, but Arnaud replies that back in his home town there was a cafe with an amusing sign above the bar that read, "Do not be Afraid to Ask for Credit, for Our way of Refusing is very Polite." Arnaud becomes increasingly angry, while Paris tries to restrain him, but he breaks free and punches the priest. Paris then gets between them and warns Arnaud not to try anything, but Arnaud lunges forward and Paris is forced to slug him. Arnaud stumbles backwards, hitting his head on a stone column and a doctor is summoned. Having patched him up as best he could, the doctor remarks that Arnaud has a very serious skull fracture and he may not live through the night. The priest asks whether they intend to execute a man in this condition, but the doctor informs him that the death sentence will be carried out and recommends pinching his cheek to wake him up in the morning if he still alive, since Mireau wants him to be conscious when he's executed.That same night, Lt. Roget arrives at Dax's quarters, asking what the colonel wanted to see him about. Dax asks Roget why he chose Cpl. Paris to be court-martialed, saying that, of course the lieutenant had no personal motives for picking Paris. Visibly nervous, Roget replies that of course he had no personal reasons for choosing Paris, it was just that someone had to be chosen. Dax explains that he has the same problem, he has to find someone to be in charge of the firing squad and asks Lt. Roget if he would like the assignment. Taken aback, Roget protests by telling Dax he has never overseen an execution before. Dax explains that it is a simple matter: the two primary responsibilities are to offer the men a blindfold and to put a bullet in each man's head after the firing squad has finished. Despite additional protests by Roget, Dax dismisses him curtly from his quarters, telling him he's got the job. As Roget is leaving, the Battery Commander, Captain Rousseau, enters and tells the colonel that he has some information that may have an important bearing on the courts martial.Broulard is attending a lavish ball for general officers and other dignitaries when he is called away to the library, where he privately meets Colonel Dax. Dax confesses that his is not entirely a social visit, and the general protests that he doesn't want to go back over the whole affair, though he admits that, judging from the casualty reports, the 701st Regiment did make a serious effort. Dax asks him why, if that is true, the three men should be executed. Broulard says perhaps the attack was doomed to fail, but, on the other hand, with a little more effort, the 701st might have captured the Anthill. Broulard then gently accuses Dax of taking a narrow view of things, reminding him that the general staff is subjected to all sorts of unfair pressures from the press and politicians. Moreover, there's the matter of the troops' morale. "You see, colonel, troops are like children, and just as a child wants his father to be firm, troops crave discipline, and one way to ensure discipline is to shoot a man now and again." Dax asks the general, "Do you sincerely believe the things you've just said?" Broulard, making a tactical retreat, excuses himself to return to the party, but as they walk towards the door Dax brings up the subject of Mireau's order for his artillery to fire on his own troops during the attack. Broulard immediately slams the door to the library shut and turns around to face Dax while he continues to describe what happened. The general asks Dax if he expects him to believe something so fantastic. Dax produces the signed statements of Battery Commander Rousseau, the telephone operator, and his own observations, asking the general what the press and politicians would do with such material should it ever be made public. Losing his temper, Broulard shouts "Are you trying to blackmail me?!" Dax calmly explains that "too much has happened and someone has to take the blame. The question is who? A general launches an impossible attack and, on the same day, orders his artillery to fire on his own men. But when that same general tries to have three innocent men executed, those men are saved by the intervention of the general staff." Broulard pauses for a moment with the documents in his hand. Looking up at Dax, "If you'll excuse me colonel. I've been rude to my guests for too long." Broulard exits the room, leaving Dax alone.At dawn the next morning, Sgt. Boulanger opens the door to the stable to announce that it's time to leave. Cpl. Paris, struggling to act normal, tells the sergeant that he missed some great food the previous night. When the sergeant asks what they had, Paris can't answer, but asks if the sergeant has anything to drink. The sergeant hands him a canteen and tells him to take a swig. Paris begins to laugh, telling the sergeant that remarkably he hasn't had one sexual thought since the court martial and then crumbles to the ground weeping. The sergeant tells Paris to pull himself together, but Paris, sobbing, asks why he has to die. The sergeant reminds him that many of his comrades are likely to die in the near future in combat, but Paris, still sobbing, says he doesn't care, he still doesn't want to die. Finally, Sgt. Boulanger tells Paris that they have to go and that there are reporters present; how does he want to be remembered by his wife and children? Either he can walk out or be dragged out, in the end it's the same. Cpl. Paris collects himself, stands up and puts on his cap.With the rolling sound of drums in the background, the men of the 701st Regiment, standing at attention, are lined up on both sides of a path in a huge courtyard in front of a chateau on a beautiful sunny morning. The three condemned men slowly make their way down the path: Paris marching upright, staring straight ahead, Arnaud, unconscious and strapped to a stretcher, is carried along, and Ferol, completely unhinged, sobbing uncontrollably, has his arm around the priest who is accompanying him. They pass row upon row of soldiers; they pass the Regimental Band, drums still rolling; they pass a press photographer who takes their picture; they pass Broulard and Mireau, and they pass Dax. Finally they reach the posts they will be tied to in front of a wall of sandbags. Off to the side is a flatbed wagon with three coffins on it. The drums stop. The only noise is the sound of the firing squad's boots on the loose gravel as they march into position, with the cowardly Lt. Roget in command. Roget walks forward with blindfolds. Arnaud's stretcher is tilted up against the pole and the Sergeant pinches his cheek. In a groggy state, Arnaud looks with horror at the scene and appears to pass out once more. Skipping Arnaud, Roget offers Ferol a blindfold and, still crying, he accepts. Roget then comes over to Paris and asks if he wants a blindfold. Paris angrily says "no". Roget meekly says he's sorry for what he's done to him. Paris doesn't speak, but nods his head, implying that he accepts Roget's apology. Roget marches back to the firing squad, while Major Saint-Auban comes forward and, in a weak and halting voice (in complete contrast to his performance as the evil and cynical prosecutor) he reads out loud the orders for the execution. For a moment the only sounds are the chirping of the birds on a sunny morning. Lt. Roget shouts out: "Ready, aim, fire!"A little later in the château over breakfast, Mireau expresses his pleasure that the executions went so well, that none of the condemned men spoiled it by doing something that would leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. "It had a certain splendor about it." Broulard, choosing his words carefully, notes that he has never seen an affair of this kind carried out so well. When Dax arrives, the gloating Mireau compliments him on his men dying well. Angry and disgusted, Dax says nothing. Suddenly, and to Dax's surprise, Broulard mentions to Mireau that the colonel had come to him the night before claiming that during the attack on the Anthill, Mireau had ordered his artillery to fire on his own men. Mireau flatly denies the allegation, but Dax states that he has signed testimony from numerous witnesses. Broulard says that it doesn't matter for he's certain that the general will come through it. "Come through what?" asks Mireau with concern. "There will have to be an investigation. An inquiry," but, Broulard notes, "the public will forget." Horrified, General Mireau stands up and shouts: "So I'm the scapegoat, the only completely innocent man in this whole affair!" Aware that his military career days are numbered, Mireau storms out of the room, claiming himself to be a true soldier.After Mireau leaves, Broulard comments that France's armies and military destiny cannot be guided by arrogant fools like General Mireau and then, turning to Dax, asks: "How would you like to have General Mireau's job?" Dax is again taken completely by surprise, and replies "You're offering me General Mireau's command?" The elderly general responds "Come come, my boy, we all know you've been after it from the start." Dax responds angrily: "I am a lot of things, but I am not your boy." Broulard sternly tells Dax not to get defensive around him, but with Mireau's days in the French Army numbered and aware that he will be forced to resign his command regardless of the inquiry to be brought on him, his command needs a replacement and Broulard assumes that Dax will do just right and it would be a shame for Dax to lose the promotion before it is ever given to him. Dax replies: "General, would you like me to suggest what you can do with that promotion?" Broulard becomes furious with Dax and shouts: "Colonel Dax, you shall apologize at once or I will have you placed under arrest!" Speaking in a subtle tone that quickly turns into anger Dax replies: "I apologize.... for not being completely honest. I apologize for not showing my true feelings. I apologize for not telling you sooner that you're a sick, degenerate, heartless, sadistic old man. And you can go to hell before I apologize to you now or ever again!"Briefly stunned by Dax's furious and defiant outburst, Broulard slumps back and sighs, now realizing that he was wrong about Dax. In a calm tone, Broulard shakes his head and responds by saying: "Colonel Dax, you are a disappointment to me. You've spoiled the keenness of your mind by wallowing in sentimentality. You really did want to save those three men... and you were not angling for General Mireau's command." The impassive and unfeeling Broulard then ridicules Dax by adding: "You're not a soldier. You're an idealist. For that I pity you as I would the village idiot. We're fighting a war, Dax. A war we've got to win. Those men wouldn't fight, so I had them shot; you brought charges against Mireau, so I demanded that he answer to them. Wherein have I done wrong?" Dax replies, "You really don't know the answer to that. I pity you for that." Dax leaves.Now outside, Dax wanders over to a tavern where he hears men from his regiment having a good time. (It's not clear if these are merely troops from the 701st or, perhaps, the men from the firing squad.) The proprietor (Jerry Hausner) brings a young German woman (Susanne Christaina), who is clearly frightened, on stage to entertain the troops. The men hoot and whistle and jeer; "Talk in a civilized language!" one yells out. Dax, standing outside, cringes in disgust, seeming to reflect his general disillusionment with not only generals Mireau and Broulard, but the entire human race. But as the girl begins to sing the German folk song, "The Faithful Hussar", the catcalls and whistles gradually die down and the men, captivated by the only decent, innocent being they've come in contact with for a very long time, begin to hum along; some of them even begin to shed tears.Outside the tavern, Sgt. Boulanger appears before Dax with word that the 701st Regiment has been ordered to return to the front. Dax, his faith in common humanity restored, tells the sergeant to give the men a few minutes more, and walks away to his office as his smile turns into a hardened look once again.THE END | bleak, anti war, boring | train | imdb | Although Kubrick's films are marked by their massive variation of genre and tone, one theme that crops up again and again is a strong anti-war sentiment, and this was never stated more strongly than in Paths of Glory.
This excellently staged and wonderfully acted production is as much an acting showcase for Douglas as it is a directorial masterstroke by a young Stanley Kubrick who adapted this to the screen from a novel based on actual accounts.Kubrick displays a great control of sound effects and camera movement in the brief but effective battle scenes that expertly depict the controlled chaos that was trench warfare during WWI.
Therefore, the significance of the film lay not so much in its anti-war message, but in its brilliant expose of the "monsters within" the general staff, superbly acted by Adolphe Menjou and George Macready.
They're kind of like the posse in The Oxbow Incident, just an ordinary group who become ennobled in martyrdom as they go to the firing squad for the sake of politics.Paths of Glory is one of the best anti-war films ever made.
In France, in the First World War, the insane and ambitious general Gen. Paul Mireau (George Macready) orders Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) to lead his men in a suicide attack against Germans in the unattainable Ant Hill.
The entire ensemble cast is superb with special mention to George Macready as the utterly pompous power-mad glory-seeking "soldier", General Mireuo (who thinks nothing about ordering his troops to open fire on his own men for not charging out of the trenches and dying for his "country"; which smells a bit like ME ME ME).
This is just one of his many masterpieces, but Paths Of Glory is probably as good a film as any of Kubrick's other best works.
The arrogance and total disregard for the welfare of the soldier as beautifully portrayed by Menjou and McReady, in opposition to the care and concern of the Colonel so humanly portrayed by Douglas adds to the reality of what the world was like in the days of the "Great War." Additionally, the roles played by Wayne Morris, Ralph Meeker and the self serving aide to McReady add to the greatness of this memorable motion picture.
Incredible acting performances from Kirk Douglas, George MacReady and Adolphe Menjou attract the viewer's attention and become the central focus in a war film with scarce amounts of action.
Paths of Glory' is easily one of the most powerful films of all time and a pejorative anti-war statement where the only real failing is the short length of the movie and occasional poor performances from the supporting cast.
There is no glory in Stanley Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY, a devastating anti-war film that looks at the Generals who command soldiers as cowards themselves.
Kubrick's camera angles and photography, as usual, were a treat for the eyes.Although Kirk Douglas gets top billing, I thought George Macready was the unofficial "star" of this film, playing the obsessed "General Mireau." Douglas' picture dominates the cover of the DVD and is featured in most of the stills seen here on the IMDb home page of the movie.
Paths of Glory is one of the two war movies Stanley Kubrick directed throughout a splendid career (the other being Full Metal Jacket).
The only person who seems to understand what is really going on is Col. Dax (Kirk Douglas), and it is his difficult job to convince his superiors of the necessity of the squad's behavior.Anyone who is even vaguely acquainted with Kubrick knows this is not going to be a fairy tale: Paths of Glory is one of the most effective anti-war films ever made because it is not afraid to expose the more rotten aspects of what happens in these situations (and it invites comparison with the M*A*S*H episode where Alan Alda makes a documentary and says :"This is no way to end a movie, I know that, but war is no movie").
The director openly criticizes the very nature of conflict by immediately taking Dax's side, showing that he, unlike Mireau who admires the size of the trenches (one of the most beautiful of Kubrick's many tracking shots) and only wants to be remembered as a great general, is more concerned about bringing his men back home as unharmed as possible, putting glory aside.One scene in particular supports the filmmakers'point more than anything else: the trial.
While the prosecutor just wants to have the three soldiers sentenced to death and barely pays attention to them, Dax (played with solemn authority by Douglas) allows them to explain what actually occurred during the attack and uses this to openly express his contempt for what the war has done to everyone around him, depriving them of any reason and consideration for human life.
Let me preface this review by stating that if anyone has seen Paths of Glory and afterward is unable, for whatever cockamamie reason, to give the biggest kudos to Stanley Kubrick's writing and directing work, then he/she quite simply is swine before whom those of us in the know ought not to cast our pearls.The film is a masterpiece.
From the brilliant choice to shoot in black and white cinematography (thus giving a gritty, darker feel to the entire story, and refraining from sugarcoating the absolutely hellish experience that trench warfare must have been), to the effective use of zoom-ins, to the short, poignant dialogues, and to the generally minimalistic approach to the anti-war message of the screenplay--it all mixes together incredibly.
It is however the mark of a director well on his way to greater things that he nails the themes, conflicts and most striking images of the movie with just five tracking shots - General Mireau inspecting the shellshocked soldiers inside the trench, Col. Dax moving through the trenches before the attack, Col. Dax and the division moving through the wartorn battlefield full of ditches and old fenceposts, the guests of General Broulard dancing, and finally the three soldiers being escorted to their deaths.Interested more in the moral dilemmas pertaining to war and those who wage it as opposed to the physical act of war itself, emphasizing the absurdity and futility of sending out men to die by the thousands for a couple yards of shellshocked dirt, perhaps the best observation on the human nature Paths of Glory has to offer is that idealism has no place in the act of war.
At any rate, Kirk Douglas does a wonderful job of portraying quiet, white-hot rage, and I especially liked Ralph Meeker, who reminded me a little bit of a young, goateed Orson Welles.The black and white really stood out as well-I really liked the scenes in the basement of the chateau.If I had to criticize anything about the movie, I suppose the very end with the German girl and the men didn't really work for me.
We're still wondering where Stanley Kubrick wanted to go with this Paths of Glory.Even though the historic facts on which it relies on are far from being uninteresting, the plot is, the dramatic tension is almost non-existent and the story goes from one subject to another from scene to scene with not much coherence.As for the form, granted the cinematography is beautiful with some excellent tracking shots in the trenches and an exceptional travelling shot in the no man's land, but the mise-en-scène is sometimes almost ridiculous when for example two characters are climbing stairs, then stop halfway through, then separate in opposite directions.To sum up, it's hard to grasp Kubric's logic, what he wanted to tell, the level of analysis is superficial and even though the movie is barely an 1h30 long, you just want to get to the end of it..
The movie is infamously known not only as a damning anti-war film but as one of Kubrick's first great masterpieces in a career marked by nothing but.
Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory is holding up rather well these days, in fact it's as pertinent and relevant as ever.It's 1916 and the French and German armies are in opposing mud trenches, when the French are ordered to undertake a suicidal assault on a German held hill, many of the soldiers are quick to realise it's an impossible order to see through to its conclusion and retreat, something which brings charges of cowardice from the military hierarchy.
Which leads to the astonishing finale, heartbreaking whilst inducing fury, and crowned by an elegiac song that brings tears for characters and viewers alike.A monochrome masterpiece full of technical skills, towering performances and writing to die for, Paths of Glory, candidate for one of the greatest anti-military films ever crafted.
Stanley Kubrick's 1957 war film, "Paths of Glory" based on a novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb is more of an anti-war statement.
The story of the first world war French soldiers sent to an almost sure death by their corrupted generals and then randomly court-martial-ed and sent to death for cowardice when they face the predictable failure is turned by Kubrick into a splendidly built and beautifully filmed pledge for humanity.
That's the general message of Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory," but it's not meant in the sense of people killing other people is bad, it's because war makes us dehumanize ourselves, make poor decisions and devalue human life.
When the general charges the survivors with cowardice punishable by death, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) must defend the lives of three of his men from the military powers that want to make an example of their execution.
Each prisoner's battle becomes a microcosm for the initial conflict of the soldiers retreating or in some cases not even leaving the trenches."Paths of Glory" is an incredible statement film about war's dark side, about how we're taught to fight for certain things like glory and patriotism and to obey all orders.
The way the soldiers end is not happy but the last scenes of the movie give a spark of hope which can be a little bit silly for some viewers, which I understand, but I liked the ending.It is a good court drama, with great acting and I like these kind of films.
It follows the planning and potential execution of a suicide mission in World War One. If you can use your suspension of disbelief and accept the fact that no one in the movie has a French accent, you'll be in for a very riveting, well-acted film.Adolphe Menjou and George Macready are big-wigs in the French army, and they plan out a mission for their boys in the trenches that has virtually no likelihood of success.
There's not much one can add here to what has been said regarding this excellent and classic War World I film based on actual facts.Perhaps just point out that in a brilliant cast (Kirk Douglas renders one of his best performances ever and George McReady his best), the one who steals the show is Adolph Menjou in my opinion.In his General Broulard character Menjou shows superb acting.
The movies uses three soldiers for the storyline.On a time when the French and German army developed into a continuous line of heavily fortified trenches a selfish overambitious French general during World War I orders a regiment on a suicidal mission to take the Ant hill to get promotion he has been promised.
The general's order to open fire on his own squad and his accusations of mutiny of the simple soldiers display how Paths of Glory,with a masterly finesse, is making a mockery of the idiocy of high-ranking officials in the army.It depicts the wanton characteristics of the homo sapiens who could just rule out his entire nation for his personal ambitions.Kirk Douglas as the Colonel Dax, who leads the soldiers in the attack and is the counsel of three soldiers before the court-martial is totally great.
I was surprised how any one could criticise this film,I've always believed this to be one of the greatest anti war films ever made,it is so powerful.It was first shown on British TV in the early 80s,and before it was shown it had been announced that it was banned in France,i don't know if it still is,but they were not happy about this film,this maby why it was late being shown on British TV,after all our British Generals had our soldiers executed on ridiculous charges,so we cant be hypercritical.About 300 British soldiers were executed, the French about twice the amount,so this film is really important,and Stanley Kubrick was probably the first director to pick up on these terrible injustices.In Britain we have had campaigners trying to pardon our men,because the sad thing is their families at the time or their descendant's at the moment can not march pass at the centopath on Remembrance Sunday as where the soldiers were executed this is not allowed,and yet the majority of these men were executed for falling a sleep while on duty,one example that springs to mind was of a soldier who was executed for refusing to put on a wet cap,he was executed for insubordination.Paths of Glory really does open peoples eyes to what these poor soldiers were up against during WW1 as there are a lot of people out there who still don't realize what went on .For a 1957 film this is very harrowing stuff,you know that once the three men are going on trial their fate is already sealed they haven't a chance in hell.And the worst part about it all is that the French Generals actually believe the men had a fair trial,its all ludicrous but sadly true.I believe this film did get people more interested in learning more about WW1 as there were many cover ups and many untold truths like the amount of British soldiers bodies that keep being unearthed in France and Belgium at the rate of about 7 a year and sometimes as many as 20-30,our government kept this quiet for years,so it seems that WW1 is destined not to be forgotten..
For a time, the film wasn't permitted to be shown in France, and it holds the dubious distinction of joining the ranks of a small number of other films that the Defense Department BANNED from being shown at US military base theaters.The only other military theme films (tho not war films) so "honored" by the Pentagon that I know of are Rod Steiger's THE SERGEANT (which depicted Steiger as a homosexual noncommissioned officer), and Kirk Douglas' TOWN WITHOUT PITY (which tells the story of the court martial of four American occupation troops in Germany who are charged with the rape of a German teenager).Were PATHS OF GLORY to be released today, it would probably STILL be banned from post movie houses; it asks far too many questions and reaches too many conclusions that make the military uncomfortable.PATHS OF GLORY shows the results an ill conceived (and ultimately unsuccessful) attack, ordered by officers who are far more concerned with their own egos, images and reputations than they are with either the successful prosecution that attack or the wellbeing of the troops...
Paths of Glory (1956) **** (out of 4) Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece anti-war drama centers on a Colonel (Kirk Douglas) who led a group of soldiers on a suicide mission but when the troops refuse to leave the trenches, three of them are hand picked to be executed on grounds of cowardice.
Incensed, the general accuses his men of cowardice in the face of the enemy and orders one man from every company to be executed by firing squad.This doesn't sit well with Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), the regiment's leader, and he appoints himself as their defense at the court-martial.It's an early Kubrick film and thus it doesn't have quite as many "But what does it mean?" scenes than his more famous films.
This black and white Stanley Kubrick movie quite isn't one that shows great action scenes of war, it is more about the moral aspect of it and has heart and brain.
The only German that is shown ( The female singer in the final scene ) is depicted as an array of light and hope, instead of hate and anger as is usually associated with the enemy.The acting is generally superb, with in particular an outstanding performance by Kirk Douglas in the lead role, who truly seems to be the sole 'human' officer depicted in the film.
It's World War I: Upon the orders of his superior officers, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) leads his entrenched regiment of the French Army into a battle to take "The Anthill", an impenetrable German stronghold.
There's a throbbing human passion in the way he attacks the character, as there is throughout the entire film, somewhat rare for Kubrick, whose later movies would tend toward the emotionally detached.A surprisingly candid film for its time, "Paths of Glory" would be tough medicine for people to swallow today, when everyone wants to believe that the military establishment has nothing but our best interests at heart.
Pathes of Glory (1957) has to be one of the greatest anti-war films ever made.
The name of this movie is Paths of Glory and it is a story about men who are fighting in the WW1.These men refuse to continue with an impossible attack and they are accused for cowardice and are sentenced to death.Kirk Douglas plays Col.Dax and he does it brilliantly.All the other actors are great too.Stanley Kubrick was an amazing director and he didn't make one bad movie in his career.This movie is filled with scenes that make you catch your breath.This is a very realistic portrayal of war and makes you see how horrible thing war really is.It hurts to think that people would kill other people because they're afraid.Afraid of dying.Cowardice is not a crime.It's only humane..
PATHS OF GLORY (war/classic, 1957) France 1916: During WW1 Col. Dax (Kirk Douglas) is ordered by General Meraud (George McReady) to advance the enemy and take an important 'ant hill'. |
tt1288403 | Universal Soldier: Regeneration | A group of terrorists led by Commander Topov (Zahari Baharov) kidnap the Ukrainian prime minister's son and daughter and hold them hostage, demanding the release of their imprisoned comrades within 72 hours. In addition, they have taken over the crippled Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and threaten to detonate it if their demands are not met. It is revealed that among the ranks of the terrorists is an experimental Next-Generation UniSol (NGU) (Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski), who was smuggled in by rogue scientist Dr. Robert Colin (Kerry Shale). U.S. forces join up with the Ukrainian army at the plant, but quickly retreat when the NGU slaughters most of them effortlessly. Dr. Richard Porter (Garry Cooper), Dr. Colin's former colleague on the Universal Soldier program, revives four UniSols to take down the NGU, but they are systematically eliminated.
Former UniSol Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who is undergoing rehabilitation therapy in Switzerland with Dr. Sandra Fleming (Emily Joyce) with the goal of rejoining society, is taken back by the military to participate in the mission. As the deadline nears its expiration, the prime minister announces the release of the prisoners. The terrorists, having gotten what they wanted, rejoice and shut off the bomb. Dr. Colin, however, is not pleased with the outcome, as he feels his side of the business is not done. As the NGU is programmed not to harm the terrorists, Dr. Colin unleashes his second UniSol: a cloned and upgraded version of Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren) - Deveraux's nemesis - who quickly kills Commander Topov. However, Dr. Colin never considered Scott's mental instability, and he is killed by his own creation. Scott then reactivates the bomb before heading out to hunt the children.
In the midst of the chaos, Capt. Kevin Burke (Mike Pyle) is sent in to infiltrate the plant and rescue the prime minister's children. He is successful in locating them and leads them toward safety. On their way out, they encounter the NGU. The children flee as Burke tries in vain to hold off the NGU, who stabs him to death after a brutal fight.
With 30 minutes remaining on the bomb's timer, a re-conditioned Deveraux is geared up and sent to the plant, where he kills every terrorist he encounters. He searches the buildings and finds the children cornered by Scott. Scott, who has distorted memories of Deveraux, is about to kill the children when Deveraux attacks and a grueling fight ensues. In the end, Deveraux impales Scott on the forehead with a lead pipe and fires a shotgun through it, blowing his brains out.
As Deveraux escorts the children to safety, they are attacked by the NGU. Deveraux and the NGU take the fight to the site of the bomb, with less than two minutes remaining. During the melee, Deveraux removes the detonator and jams it in the back of the NGU's uniform as they both jump out of the reactor chamber. NGU pulls the detonator off his back as it explodes, taking him with it. U.S. soldiers quickly arrive on the scene and tend to the children as Deveraux leaves. Burke's body is placed in a black bag and taken away, as well as recovered pieces of the NGU.
In Langley, Virginia, Burke's body is shown stored in a cryogenic chamber as a new UniSol, along with multiple clones made of him. | suspenseful, murder, violence, cult, good versus evil, action, revenge | train | wikipedia | From the moment the movie starts, the action never lets up until the very end.The story is brief: The Russian Prime Minister's children get kidnapped by terrorists looking to extradite prisoners in exchange, to make things serious they plan to detonate a nuclear plant in Chernobyl.
Amazingly enough I went into this movie thinking it would be complete crap because of JCVD and Dolph "I can't act" Ludgren, but it was much better than a lot of other action movies, including Terminator: Salvation.A lot of people might be hesitant because of the conflicting reviews, but ignore the whole "This is bad because it has Jean Claude in it..." stigma and you might be as surprised as I was after watching it.
This film is not really about the aging action heroes but rather, they play a part in the outcome of things, very similar to Snipe's role in Blade 2.As for quality...the movie is shot to look like the Bourne Identity and even has a cool chase scene like it, too.
Whether we're talking the television universe movies or the Van Damme universe ones they are dumb action flicks with a mediocre concept which they don't even manage to capitalize on.Here we have Van Damme returning again as Luc who is being forced to return to the field for one last mission and yadadadadada.Cue generic fight scenes, gunfire, explosions and a plot so thin a fart would tear it.One for fans of the franchise and those who enjoy take your brain out paint by numbers action tosh.The Good:Emily JoyceThe Bad:Lungrens presence felt a bit pointlessIt's all so very genericThings I Learnt From This Movie:Lungren must have had more lawyer fees to pay.
Hyams made his feature length film in 1997 when wrote, directed, and produced the critically acclaimed "One Dog Day," , he subsequently filmed this ¨Universal Soldier: Regeneration¨ and ¨Dragon Eyes¨ , in which displayed an acute understanding of the action genre .-Series : The best film of the series was the original ¨Universal soldier¨ by Roland Emmerich with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Dolph Lundgren , Ally Walker , Ed O'Ross ; it was followed by ¨Universal soldier : the return¨ with Jean-Claude Van Damme , Michael Jai White , Heidi Schanz , Xander Berkeley and Justin Lazard as subsequent Universal Soldier films ignore the events of The Return and outright contradict it in a number of ways ; while still an official entry, it is no longer considered part of the series canon .
¨Universal soldier : day of reckoning¨(2012) by John Hyams with Scott Adkins , Andrei 'The Pit Bull' Arlovski , Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme , but here they have not scenes together .
I have a confession to make – I have never seen a Universal Soldier film, not in its entirety anyway, nor even the original way back in 1992 when it starred Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as these programmed super soldiers who are impervious to pain, and a small troupe can take out battalions of a conventional army.
The response of course is for the coalition to send in their own Uni-Sols, which are painfully outdated and obsolete when faced with the NGJ, so all hopes rest on one man, Jean Claude Van Damme, erm, his Luc Deveraux that is.Director John Hyams keeps it tight and relevant here by creating a film that doesn't try too much fanciful stuff.
Also Dolph Lundgren makes a welcome special appearance as Luc's ex-captain Andrew Scott, who we last saw way back in the first movie Universal Soldier.A new talent is seen in this film: MMA fighter Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski and this guy has some really awesome moves which we see early on in the film and this also showcases the level of action we are going be seeing.Plot: A group of terrorists led by General Boris (Aki Avni) kidnap the Russian prime minister's son and daughter and hold them hostage, demanding the release of their comrades within 72 hours.
I was really interested in watching Universal Soldier: Regeneration.I found the original Universal Soldier, from 1992, to be very entertaining, and with the precise combination of honesty and excess to show it did not take very seriously to itself and that it was not going to stop at anything in order to bring us a good time.Besides, I always though its primary function was to validate the careers from Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, who back in that time, seemed destined to become into immortal heroes from the action genre.Now, 18 years later, we see that that did not happen, because both actors (or athletes?) have been for a long time trapped in the niche of straight-to-DVD action cinema.And even though they occasionally appear in good movies (JCVD; Direct Contact), I think they have never had the chance of resurrecting the fame Universal Soldier brought to them.Before watching Universal Soldier: Regeneration, I did not know whether their it was going to be a good film or a desperate strategy in order to exploit Van Damme's and Lundgren's fans.The answer was fortunately the first one, and even though it is not a very memorable film experience and it is not at the same level of the original film, it shows Van Damme and Lundgren on a good shape and it is entertaining.By the way, I think this is the most proper moment to say that Universal Soldier: Regeneration ignores the mediocre sequels of the original film made in the 90's...and I will do the same, because I found those films to be absolutely mediocre and mercenary.Even though the strongest point from Universal Soldier: Regeneration is the new confrontation between Van Damme and Lundgren, I took a good impression with the presence of Andrei Arlovski, an expert in "sambo" and worldwide champion of Ultimate Fighting.I will not say he is a good actor, because his character does not bring too much material to act; but he shows an incredible physical presence and enough charisma.As for Van Damme and Lundgren, their confrontation left me satisfied despite the fact it is too short.And I also liked the realistic way in which the action scenes were filmed.So, it may not be an excellent movie, but Universal Soldier: Regeneration is a dynamic and entertaining action film.And I think that is enough reason to recommend it..
So finally it happens, the original Universal Soldiers JCVD and Dolph Lundgren return to reprise their roles as Luc Devrau and Andrew Scott in what can only be described as an explosive action-packed extravaganza!
"Universal Soldier: Regeneration" is a great action movie and is in many ways just as good if not better than the original 1992 "Universal Soldier" film.
I would like to suggest everyone to watch it and then decide about the movie being worth your time and money.The Plot is bit different in this movie, Its shot in Russia or some East European country were some Kids of High official are Kidnapped by some renegade group having technology and money to revive Universal Solder program for their devious conspiracy, and how US with Russia revives their own Universal Solder Program, Rest of the plot I would leave it to the viewers to find out!One thing I can assure the movie lovers is that even if you don't like JCVD or action flicks this movie will not disappoint you, as it involves relationship, emotions and thrill!I would suggest watch it to realize that this movie is not at all bad, as suggested by some viewers!So in the end I would say go and enjoy!
Oh my God!!Where do i begin.I've just seen this turd last night and I'm in shock.What happened to JCVD??He looks tired and ill.Why did Dolph Lundgren sign up for this mess??Andrew Scott was the light of the party in the first movie,he had great lines and a strong presence he practically erased JCVD's character Luc Deveraux.
The sets were extremely cheap and the story made no sense whatsoever.Until this instant i don't understand why this was called universal soldier.This looks like it was directed by ED WOOD or something,the action is very poor and after a while gets too repetitive.I was expecting something in terms of a plot similar to the first flick,i was waiting to see JCVC and DOLPH working together and later watching Dolph's character go crazy again and killing the entire platoon.That didn't happen and instead we see a pointless fight between the two of them.On top of that Dolph practically makes a CAMEO.
At long last, Jean- Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren have re-teamed for Universal Soldier: Regeneration; yet another sequel to their 1992 hit.
Eventually, when things get desperate, the government recruits Luc Deveraux (Van Damme); one of the originals of the 'UniSol' program.Universal Soldier: Regeneration was written by Victor Ostrovsky and helmed by newcomer John Hyams.
The latest reincarnation of the "Universal Soldier" saga gives fans plenty of reasons to cheer the return of Jean-Claude Van Damme in an action genre movie that allows him to flex his acting muscle.
that's the only thing i can't get my head around although it is a bloody good film that has a lot of action/fight scenes and some cool music to go with it not to mention JCVD making a comeback to the franchise and really want to see him in these type of movies because i do like the early stuff like Bloodsport, A.W.O.L and Black Eagle so all in all a good film with a good plot.
The gun battles are extremely satisfying (especially the sound effects), the hand-to-hand combat is brutal and in places quite creative, and some of the sequences are amongst the best I've seen from straight to DVD action.A few scenes stuck out as particularly well done: A sequence with Van Damme entering a building and systematically taking out the terrorists with only his knife was excellent.
Not to mention they looked too old for this movie.Watch this if you are bored and have never seen the first Universal Soldier and you would probably enjoy this like those who give this a good rating..
Plot sucks (very week, probably was created in a 5 minute brainstorm meeting, like: 'shall we try to squeeze out a little extra by making the third part?' - 'Yeah, sure, just make sure budget doesn't go over 1 million USD' - 'okay'), acting is awful if there's any (random people from the street could have been better), no special effect...but the worst of all: no more good fight scenes, no more Van Damme moves.
But all is not well in the terrorist camp as well and after some internal power scuffle, Dr Colins reveals a second UniSol: the reanimated Andrew Scott, Luc's nemesis.Despite budget limitations, Universal Soldier: Regeneration manages to look just as good as any Hollywood blockbuster thanks to the masterful directing of John Hyams and the cinematography of his father, Peter Hyams.
A small flashback or so would have made Luc and Andrew's rivalry a lot more believable but other than a small exposition narration that details what a universal soldier is, anyone who has never watched the original movie would only see Dolph Lundgren's character as just another powerful foe for Jean Claude Van Damme to bust out his moves on Universal Soldier had potential to delve in to deeper issues but never even tries to tap into that.
Human drama is at a minimum as the production favors pushing the action to the next adrenaline pumping gun fight over exploring more thought provoking themes about the human condition and the nature of combat.The franchise of Universal Soldier has been in a runt following disappointing direct-to-video sequels and a terrible "official" feature film sequel.
of course you understand it more as you mature which made it all the more awesome.i have to admit i was truly excited about this, especially after the trailer, but i was surprised to see it was a straight to DVD release.i loved it, it had the action, the story line was good, fight scenes amazing, great stunts, van damme has still got it, and it was nice to see dolph lundgren, but i was really hoping to see more from him, and it was kind of a let down to see how he died.
All in all it would have been nice with a bit more money spent on this film and maybe a few named actors as I do think this would have been a good chance at showing movie goers Mr JCVD can still make a good no brainer action movie, and I mean that in the best way as it's been a long time since I saw fight scenes this good..
What I got to watch instead was a straight up action movie that was far better than anyone would expect.Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren reprise their roles from 1992's Universal Soldier.
A long car chase ends when the getaway car reaches "da-choppa" – as Arnie would say – and off they go.The scene is perhaps 10 minutes, totally dialogue free and works very well.Promising so far.It turns out that the kidnappers are bad guy terrorists who have set up base camp in Chernobyl and are threatening to set off a bomb that will release all the pent-up radiation trapped since the 80s meltdown.(Now logic says that the threat of another nuclear meltdown would be enough to demand attention from the government and that kidnapping the kids of a dignitary is a little redundant and unnecessary; but if there is one thing that action movies have taught us over the years it is that you can't rescue a bomb.) The first Universal Soldier introduced the concept of super-soldiers created from reanimated corpses.
The punches and kicks seem to have real impact and there were a few blows that made the lips purse together in an "ow that musta hurt" way.All in all Universal Soldier: Regeneration is solid B movie "weekly-rental" fare, for guys aged 16 – 39 at least, the inclusions of Van Damme and a Lundgren cameo aren't likely to get you misty eyed but they don't hurt either, and the big Larry Unisol is legitimately fearsome and capable as the dead-eyed robotic bad guy.I had low expectations from the point I pressed play, this met all of them and exceeded a few.
Universal Soldier: Regeneration is a sequel to the previous Universal Soldier movies, i never saw Universal Soldier: The return, but according to some reviews, this is a HUGE improvement from the last movie.The violence is brutal and bloody, that's a good thing and it was a "surprise".The cinematography and the direction of John Hyams is superb (his father, Peter Hyams, directed Timecop, also starring JCVD).The tone of the movie is darker than the previous movies, also the plot is more "realistic" and "complicated".Jean Claude Van-Damme and Dolph Lundgren where better than ever and they delivered awesome fight sequences.Too bad that the main audience was too busy for get their pants wet for Terminator Salvation, this is better than any "sci-fi action" movie of the last 10 years..
Universal Soldier:Regeneration is a decent enough picture in a low expectations kind of way, in that the production values, action sequences, acting and story are far better than what you usually get from these movies.
"Universal Soldier: Regeneration" is the return of a well known franchise featuring 90's action star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren come back on the big screen together for the first time since the 1992 original and it's been well worth the wait.Van Damme returns as "retired" Universal Soldier Luc Deveraux, who is struggling to adapt to life among humans, and is quickly brought to Boone Industries to help the military stop an Eastern European terrorist group from setting off a bomb in the disused Chernobyl power plant that will unleash a powerful radioactive cloud on the world.
Apart from the little mistake, its really very good, a lot of work went into this film and it does show.I loved seeing Dolph Lundgren back in the action, it is good to see him back in more films now, it was pretty spot on, not many words and a great fight scene between the two of them...However I would say this, I do think this is better than the first film, which is a hard act to follow, yeah I know its not the best in the world and I gave it a full score, however I do think its better then the 5 most of the other people on here have given it...My advice is rent it or buy it, keep it because you will want to watch it again, some pretty impressive stunts and fights are on the menu, if you like action, this film is for you..
When the first Universal Soldier (1992) film came out, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren were very much in their prime of popularity.
Camera-work and music aren't that good but Dolph Lundgren and Jean- Claude Van Damme are fun watch on screen again and the action is good too..
Fast, Loud and Fun. Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The third film in the series has a group of terrorists creating a updated, faster and stronger universal soldier so the government sends in Luc (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who must try to defeat them while also dealing with his old nemesis Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren).
Some quality action and impressive fight scenes makes of "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" a movie with good attributes, nice to be appreciated.
The fighting machine that in the end takes over Van Damme delivers some brutal violence, which pretty much reminds us of the last John Rambo movie.This last Universal Soldier sometimes even looks like an anti-action movie.
The 2009 sequel reunites original Universal Soldier stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. |
tt0120657 | The 13th Warrior | Ahmad ibn Fadlan is a court poet to the Caliph of Baghdad, until his amorous encounter with the wife of an influential noble gets him exiled as an "ambassador" to Northern Barbarians. Traveling with Melchisidek, his caravan is saved from Turkic raiders by the appearance of Norsemen (presumably Varangian). Taking refuge at their settlement on the Volga river, communications are established through Melchisidek and Herger, a Norseman who speaks Latin. Ahmad and Melchisidek are in time to witness a fight, which establishes Buliwyf as heir apparent, followed by the Viking funeral of their dead king, cremated together with a young woman who agreed to accompany him to Valhalla.
A youth enters the camp requesting Buliwyf's aid: his father's kingdom in the far north is under attack from an ancient evil so frightening that even the bravest warriors dare not name it. The "angel of death", a völva (wisewoman), determines the mission will be successful if thirteen warriors go to face this danger—but the thirteenth must not be a Norseman. Ahmad is recruited against his will.
Ahmad learns Norse during their journey by listening intently to his companions' conversations. He is looked down upon by the huge Norsemen, who mock his physical weakness and his small Arabian horse, but he earns a measure of respect by his fast learning of their language, his horsemanship, ingenuity, and ability to write.
Reaching King Hrothgar's kingdom, they confirm that their foe is indeed the ancient "Wendol", fiends who come with the mist to kill and eat human flesh. While the group searches through a raided cabin they find a venus figurine. On their first night three of their number - Hyglak, Ragnar and Haltaf are killed. In a string of clashes, Buliwyf's band establishes that the Wendol are humanoid cannibals who appear as, live like, and identify with bears.
Their numbers dwindling and their position all but indefensible, an ancient völva of the village tells them to track the Wendol to their lair and destroy their leaders, the "Mother of the Wendol" and their Warlord who wears "the horns of power". Buliwyf and the remaining warriors infiltrate the Wendol cave-complex and kill the Mother, but not before Buliwyf is scratched deeply across the shoulder by her poisoned "fingernail claw".
The remaining warriors return to the village and prepare for a final battle they do not expect to survive. Buliwyf staggers outside before the fight and inspires the warriors with a Viking prayer for the honored dead who will enter Valhalla. Buliwyf succeeds in killing the Wendol Warlord, causing their defeat, before succumbing to the poison. Ahmad ibn Fadlan witnesses Buliwyf's royal funeral before returning to his homeland, grateful to the Norsemen for helping him to "become a man, and a useful servant of God". He is shown at the movie's end writing down the tale of his time with them. | fantasy, murder, violence, cult, good versus evil, action, romantic | train | wikipedia | Its easily the most underrated movie I have come across, and can best be described as a hidden gem for the ones who like historical adventure/action-movies (Braveheart/Gladiator/Kingdom of Heaven/Robin Hood) and fantasy-movies.
It should be viewed as a fantasy, even though the vikings portrayed and their buildings/settlement is the most realistic I have seen in any movie to date.Btw: To all you who like the above-mentioned movies for the big battle-scenes and sword-fighting, don't expect this one to have its major impact in that area (even though it got them).
There is a fantastic cast in this movie, with Banderas, Storhøi and Kulich making their characters come truly alive.This is a great adventure of a movie, which should be regarded alongside the other movies I mentioned above.9/10 - Must see for all who like adventure/fantasy.
The band of 13 is led by the huge and intimidating Buliwyf (read Beowulf), a hero among his people who must battle both the Wendol and their deadly "mother." Alexander Gudonov lookalike Vladimir Kulich is the hero of this film, and delivers a strong, amazing performance.
The casting is great, with standout performances by the aforementioned Kulich as well as Dennis Storhoi as Herger, Banderas's translator and only friend; the handsome Scottish actor Tony Curran (in an unlikely kilt, but who cares?!?!) as the Celt Weath and the woefully underrated Richard Bremmer as the intimidating tattooed redheaded (and damn sexy!) Skeld.
The direction and the cinematography are all top notch, while the cast is great specially the actor who played Beowulf..his commanding presence on the screen totally ruled the movie..
makes it easy to understand why this is the land of such creatures.The movie tells the story of an Arab courtier / diplomat who was sent to the barbaric North as a punishment for falling in love with the wrong woman.
The Arab, however not believing that these mythical creatures from the forests really exist, joins them in their battle against the Wendol...Normally I'm not too much of a fan of Antonio Banderas' work, but this time I really liked him as the Arab with the impressive name of Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan Ibn Al Abbas Ibn Rashid Ibn Hamad (I guess you better don't try to say that 10 times in a row).
The other actors all did a very good job as well, even though I have to admit that I've never heard of most of them before.The story is nice and well written, the way it was all shot is done properly and overall I must say that I really enjoyed watching this movie.
Antonio Banderes plays an arab who is picked to fight as a warrior against an unknown race of people who attacked a village of Vikings.
On route, he is accepted as the thirteen warrior and invited to join a group of adventurous Vikings who are requested to return to the mother country to defend the villagers against a monstrous flesh eating peoples called the Wendol.
Slowly I stated to understand the plot and the point of the movie and just found it all interesting and great to watch.All around it was interesting to watch and see what people believe the Vikings did for one another..
the movie provides a vehicle to learn or experience the characters in a different manner than reading about the events, which from the account of the narrator are somewhat bland and overly factual.this is a great effort to stay true to the story provided and i personally find that the strange connection and distance that you encounter with the main characters convey the true meaning of what it would be like to experience an event like this - that is without the language and social skills of the environment one is thrust into.so on the whole i think that this is a respectable attempt to recreate the story as documented, without taking too much license at "artistic additions" in the film version.
A lot of people slate this movie for its lack of plot, its supposedly weak story line and apparently poor acting and minimalistic scenes.
I would like to remind those people that 13th Warrior is set in a place where expansive scenarios don't just appear and landscapes are not necessary when the movie is based around such a small area.
After a troubled production that saw the budget balloon to nearly $160 million and writer Michael Crichton step in and take over directing duties from John McTiernan ('Predator', 'Die Hard') on a series of re-shoots, 'The 13th Warrior' (Based on Crichton's novel "Eaters Of The Dead", well worth reading on its own), opened to scathing reviews and weak box office.
It's a really good movie.Featuring a classic stranger in a strange land formula and moving without any wasted motion--without sacrificing story or character, 'The 13th Warrior' is a rousing, old fashioned adventure tale.
Accompanied by a stirring score from the great Jerry Goldsmith, The 13th Warrior sits atop my list of the most underrated films of certainly the last few decades, if not all-time.
the 13th warrior is surely one of the best action thrillers ever made.inspired from michael crichton's bestseller ''eaters of the dead'',the movie lives up to the reputation of the book.john mctiernan proved again and again why he is one of the most versatile and sought after directors of the action/thriller genre.right from the beginning ,the movie gives u that chill-up-ur-spine feeling with it's silent background themes.the direction:perfect,the cast stars big names :antonio banderas,vladimir kulyich and noted British actor andy curran .the action scenes are extremely well directed suiting the viking style.on the whole my rating is definitely an 8.3 after complete analysis.critic rating:a must see!.
As has already been said, Antonio Banderas is a civilized Arab in the land of the Vikings in this well done adaptation by Michael Crichton's of his novel Eaters of the Dead.
A nice surprise to find a story we all heard of in school so well done on the screen!In school we read about the Arab who encountered Vikings far away from their homeland, and the film follows his description thoroughly (beautiful but dirty people).
They have tried to make Viking behaviour believable and have managed all right there, if you have read Nordic sagas.In our country we prefer to hear people talk the language they are supposed to speak on the screen, but in a Hollywood production like this we can here at least hear Nordic languages spoken for a time.I particularly like the way the film showed how the Arab (Banderas) learns the Nordic language.As a whole: an alright adventure story with a good ancient atmosphere..
I do know the author (Michael Crichton)also enjoyed it however.I find that this movie is by far an away the coolest if not best personification of viking warriors that I have seen.
Not the travelogue of many adventure movies, here the weather varies rapidly from brilliant sunshine on verdant forests to gloomy, drenching rain to haunting mist, which becomes a major plot element.For action, imagine an Arabian poet, exiled as Ambassador, having to join a band of warriors led by Buliwyf, i.e., Beowulf, in defending King Hrothgar against a large army of "Wendol", the "eaters of the dead", which the Northmen fear are demons.
Shortly after , he is enlisted to battle a mysterious evil force, creatures of the mist (though never explains who the ravenous-hunger "mist monsters" actually are and in the novel, they were the descendants of the Neanderthals) attacking by night as supernatural head-cutters (Wendol) and devouring human flesh that threaten the village existence .This epic movie initially titled ¨Eaters of the dead¨and subsequently ¨The 13th Warrior¨ begins with a real sense of wonder and surprise and winding up with continuous struggles against the body eaters .
The costumes, the sets, the way the characters react to situations.Antonio does a great job as an arab poet forced into adventure by these warriors.
There is a lot of fun to be found here, such as a fight between two of the Northmen, one older and one younger, which is a prime example of how quality sound editing can really make or break a one-on-one battle- a flaw that doomed Troy's Achilles-Hector fight scene.I don't understand why people criticize this film's minute details as if it was a historical epic.
Even after six viewings in total, I am still noticing new minor but significant details.I have no doubt that The 13th Warrior will one day be considered as one of the best films of the 20th century, ranking alongside The Seven Samurai, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Great Escape (to name just three movies that share some of its characteristics) as a cinematic landmark action/adventure.
This complementary difference is probably best explained by Ahmed when he explains how he learned his companions' Norse language: "I listened!"; Buliwyf responds by explaining how he could write a complicated Arabic phrase after seeing it just once, weeks earlier: "I watched!"The basic plot of the movie is simple: Banderas is chosen as the non-Norseman member of a mystical party of 13 warriors who are needed to combat an invasion by a mystery horde of flesheating invaders, the Wendol (who seem to be modelled on the ancient Picts).
However, I wasn't too sure whether or not I should like this movie adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel, so I decided to watch the whole thing online feeling a little underwhelmed at first, but as the film progresses, I said to myself, "You know what?
This is a great adventure romp that any geek will love.You've got a nice little story, good, memorable characters (especially Herger), great music and battle sequences - what more can you ask for?
Resigned to his role as an ambassador and accompanied by a family friend, Melchisidek (played by the excellent Omar Sharif), he gets more than he wagered by being named by a soothsayer to help the nordic warriors in their quest.What follows is really a growth story for the main character, who shows his true worth when his time of testing comes.I've read "Eaters of the Dead" and to be honest I much prefer this adaption!.
A Great Adventure Move: Easily the best Viking movie ever made..
Antonio Banderas is very good as the Arab diplomat, that comes to live amongst the Vikings and adopt many of their ways.
I love the way the Vikings are depicted in this movie, not as mindless brutes, but as extremely intelligent, calculating, warriors.
I have watched The 13th Warrior over 20 times.The music is very good, the story is believable: hominid anthropology overlap credible, holds together well, and I have always thought the film's portrayal of Ibn Fahdlan's learning transition, learning Old Norse by listening quietly to the other characters, makes his (our) transition to understanding all of the characters speech quite believable.
Good job, there.The battle scenes are great, well constructed, lots of long-shot perspective, avoids cheap close-ups, the cannibalistic bear warriors fierce, the horse riding first rate, and the cave fight scary.
As I do not like enclosed spaces, this portion is very believable.While the only notable actor, besides a short cameo by Omar Sharif (Melchisidek), is Antonio Banderas (Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan); I thought the ensemble acting of the others including Dennis Storhøi (Herger) Vladimir Kulich (Buliwyf) were very good.
Maybe that's because i've seen this movie when i was 15- 16 years old, and i saw it like 5 or 6 times, yes, loved this film at the time.
This blend of historical adventure and horror maybe somewhat incoherent at times, but it's hard not to be caught up in this tale of an Arabian nobleman recruited to be 'The 13th Warrior' by a band of Norsemen who have been called on to defend a village from apparently supernatural flesh-eating creatures.Antonio Banderas is effective as our audience identification figure, a cultured civilized poet, in a fish-out-of-water scenario with the uncouth Norse folk he's with.The battle scenes are impressive, with Antonio and co taking on the monstrous marauders.
I don't know any guy that would turn down the chance to join "Ibn" and this band of Vikings deep down.A great film that men of the modern age could try to aspire to...to be strong, brave, honorable, and just...and deal with our weaknesses as best we can.
I really enjoyed this movie; it was authentic; there was a lot of action scenes, and I think that the setting dialog, and clothing, and actors were great making the movie seem real..
visually stunning and set designs that transport you back in time for 100 mins.this is not a histronic epic but matinée popcorn b movie and i mean that in good way.a film like this is one you buy and every 6 months you can watch without any qualms.
i have seen 13th warriors over 10 times so i know what I'm talking about.viking movies are always good value but is one of the best.with only the vikings as a close second.
I couldn't help laughing every time Banderas's character Ahmed Fadlan opened his mouth to add narration to the story , when he said " We traveled to the lands of the north " I kept expecting him to say " So I could meet some really sexy blonde ladies , ah really really lurve Abi Titmuss " Seeing as this brought amusement to the proceedings I'm glad I was reminded of Avid Merrion because that's the only entertainment to be had by the first hour of this movie whose narrative is entirely taken up by Ahmed traveling with a group of viking warriors to the lands of the north which is even less exciting than it sounds .
I would have also preferred a non-existent love affair over the one in the movie.I have not read the book this is based off (Eaters of the dead) but the movie is most likely inspired by the Japanese classic "Seven Samurai", not enough to make it seem like a copy, but enough that if you've seen both you'll see the connection for sure.In all: Very good movie, entertaining and dark and gritty, you'll find your hands sweaty and your eyes not blinking during some parts of the movie and if you enjoyed shows like Vikings, King Arthur, 300, and even films such as Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, and The Last Samurai, you might very well like this one.
Give it a shot despite the scores and keep in mind it might not have aged exceptionally but it's got that 90s charm.Expanding a little bit:A lot of Norse mythology went into this movie of course, it being inspired by the story of Beowulf, but I would have loved to see some other references in there.
i mean that this is the first modern movie, before the gladiator, to have big fight scenes, and war like action.
The evolution of the main character is done very well, and not only that Banderas is not really the main character if you really watch the movie, hes just the guy that goes along with the vikings to their land because that bone oracle said so, and there he doesn't do much just help kill thous things, but the story is seen through his eyes, he is the character we can identify with, he knows as much as we do bout whats going on.
This is a great action adventure movie that should have been much better.
I have watched this film approx 5 times and really enjoyed it.I thought the way Banderas learned a new language was quite novel.The story and subject were fresh,and I would like to see previous adventures of the Vikings brought to the screen.The brotherhood of the group of fighters was apparent early in the film,and I liked the almost book like/theatre like, chapters/acts that we were treated to.You quickly find yourself becoming attached to the very different characters, whom, on the whole all play vital roles in their ultimate goal to overthrow the growing evil mystical cult which threatens to engulf that part of the world.
It has so many great actors in it, Antonio Banderas, and Omar Shariff and others that I had seen in other movies.
I really enjoyed both the look and feel of this movie which I believe is destined to become a favorite of not only Antonio Banderas fans but also of this great action director.
In the same vain of great movies like "The Vikings" with Tony Curtis & Kirk Douglas, and the all time classic "Spartacus" or the little known film "The 300 Spartans" starring I believe Richard Egan as the Warrior King, the 13th Warrior is an entertaining and enjoyable movie that can be watched over and over and enjoyed as much as the first viewing.
At times, "13th Warrior" reminds me of *Beowulf* and at others, "Erik the Viking," but I think that the Vikings themselves would have found it at least a good story if nothing else.I know nothing about Michael Crichton's book, but I'm assuming that Antonio Banderas' character "Ahmed Ibn Fadhlan" was actually based on the Arab Ibn Fadhlan, who in the 920s encountered a band of Vikings on the Volga in modern Russia and wrote of his experiences with them, which this film (and I'm assuming Crichton's book) merely dramatizes and adds monsters too.
It's a well known story (or at least it should be) and so the need to spell out every little detail seems extraneous.The characters ARE quite well developed and I saw in Buliwyf (sounds a bit like Beowulf doesn't it?) the quintessential Viking warrior/king.
Great movie with humor, action, and story.
If this film starred Gibson or Arnold Schwarzenegger as Buliwyf (played instead by veritably unknown Vladimir Kulich), and spent a little time developing him as a leader, I'm sure everyone would have thought it was a great movie.They only real flaw in the plot was premise that an Arab that they just met, especially one who was not a warrior by profession, would be selected as the 13th warrior. |
tt0085937 | Microwave Massacre | Donald (Vernon) is a construction worker with a big problem: his shrew of a wife May (Claire Ginsberg) has started to only cook gourmet foods in a Hyacinth Bucket-style misguided effort to make themselves seem classier than they are. While his friends Roosevelt (Loren Schein) and Phillip (Al Troupe) dine on simple bologna-and-cheese sandwiches for lunch, Donald is saddled with crab sandwiches and other cooking atrocities. To his horror, he discovers his wife has bought an unusually large Major Electric microwave oven, which makes the meals worse in half the time.
After coming home drunk one night and getting into an argument with May, Donald loses his temper and bludgeons her to death with a large pepper grinder. He wakes up the next day with a bad hangover, no memory of the night before, and a growling stomach. He discovers May's corpse in the microwave and after the initial wave of horror passes, he starts to take it in stride, telling his co-workers that he and May separated. After work, he then cuts up May's body and stores it in foil wrap in the fridge. A running gag involving May's head retaining some sort of sentience is introduced during this scene.
Looking for a midnight snack one night, Donald unintentionally takes a few bites of May's hand, and (again) after the initial wave of horror passes, he realizes it's the best thing he's ever eaten. He even brings some to work with him and shares it with Phillip and Roosevelt, who concur. He soon starts picking up hookers and using them for meat in his recipes.
While cooking one night, Donald has a mild heart attack and goes to his doctor, who tells him of a pacemaker that was put in when he had some excess weight, but says he is fine overall. May's equally shrewish sister Evelyn (Sarah Alt) shows up, having not heard from her sister in some time. She finds her head, and is gagged with bread and thrown, tied up, in Donald's closet.
Donald's lunches continue to be a hit with his friends, and he decides to cater an outing to a wrestling match with a new recipe he calls "Peking chick." When Roosevelt and Phillip show up to pick up Donald, they discover him dead on the floor of a heart attack, and some body parts in the microwave. They leave in horror and disgust, realizing what Donald had been serving them.
Some time later, the house is up for sale and movers are taking the furniture out. A repairman examines the microwave and discovers a problem with the wires, commenting that it would be bad for someone with a pacemaker. We then zoom into the fridge, which opens to reveal May's head. Her eyes glow orange as the film ends. | violence, murder, comic | train | wikipedia | It makes Ed Wood (R.I.P.) movies look like the best movies out there.The movie follows a construction worker named Donald as he kills his wife when he is mad at her and accidentally eats some of her flesh while looking for a snack.
Far from being the worst horror film of all time, and really not much of a horror movie at all but more of a black comedy for lack of a better description.
Jackie Vernon plays Donald whose wife refuses to give him solid, working-man food but rather inundates his lunch box with crab sandwiches and other gourmet meals.
From there he realizes he loves the taste and begins to eat women all the time(yes, that pun and every possible one under the sun was used in the film!).
If you are renting a movie titled "Microwave Massacre" hopefully it means A)you have a campy appreciation for bad movies, or B) You are so stupid that title actually might mean a quality film to you.
For me the irreverence of "Frosty the Snowman" doing these perverted acts was very funny...unfortunately one joke can't carry a movie.
This film NEVER takes itself too seriously, just look at who is playing the lead character...Frosty the Snowman himself Mr. Jackie Vernon (or as he is more commonly known old "Mush Mouth") How can anyone be terrified by this man?
The acting is awful, the effects are hideous and the jokes are lame but all of this adds to the chaotic fun that is known as "Microwave Massacre".
You have been warned, this is the most awesomely bad movie in cinema history...but also the most fun...watch it with some sort of chemical assistance, trust me it helps!.
Described by its original DVD distributor as "The Worst Horror Movie of All Time", this 1983 black comedy doesn't quite live up to that promise, but it's a close thing.
The painted cover art is fantastic, and typically unrepresentative of the lousy content of the film.Donald (Jackie Vernon) is a depressed, disillusioned construction worker who returns each evening to his frumpy, nagging wife, May (Claire Ginsberg).
She feels she doesn't get the gratitude she deserves for "slaving away" at her new microwave all day.One night Donald snaps and murders May. Naturally, the only way he can destroy the evidence is by cooking and eating her.
Combined with the film's weirdly languid pace and Leif Horvath's eerie electronic score, it's quite an unsettling experience – although this is mostly due to it being an outright tonal disaster, rather than any controlled sense of atmosphere.With the humour and delivery of a 70s sketch show, it's a movie badly in need of canned laughter, if only to inform us of when we're supposed to laugh.
Genuine humour comes in the briefest of snatches: Donald's encounter with Dr Van der Fool (Ed Thomas), who doesn't know which side the heart is on; or the scene where May's sister stops by and Donald has to prop May's disembodied head in the bed to pretend she's still alive ("She looks awful pale...").It's a movie of a mercifully bygone era in which all the women are nags or sluts, although this is par for the course in trash horror of the time.
Given that the microwave was just becoming a household essential in the 80s, promising the death of the conventional cooker, this has to go down as an opportunity missed – we get none of the consumerist satire of The Stuff, nor the grotesque farce of the more enjoyably outrageous Street Trash.Microwave Massacre just about claws its way into the midnight movie slot through a certain uniqueness and, frankly, its brevity (it comes in at around 75 minutes).
But the death comes with the face of her art, the cooking and to be more specific, the microwave she orders from the first place The rest is history and you should rent or buy this movie to find out You will enjoyed this ONLY if you are a true fan of horror comedies and independent cinema.
If a movie is "bad", but still entertains me, I think it's good.
Stand up comedian and sometime actor Jackie Vernon had his last movie role in this laugh riot camp horror film.
Jackie plays Donald, a construction worker whose wife May (Claire Ginsberg) is trying to get him to eat her experimental dinners.
He comes to realize that he likes the taste of human flesh, so goes out and kills more people to feed his newfound appetites.Written and produced by Craig Muckler and Thomas Singer, and directed by Wayne Berwick, "Microwave Massacre" is a pretty tasty morsel when it comes to horror comedy.
We have a hooker named Dee Dee Dee (Lou Ann Webber), a psychiatrist (John Harmon, who'd acted for director Berwicks' father Irvin in things like "The Monster of Piedras Blancas" and "Malibu High"), a doctor with the childish moniker of Von Der Fool (Ed Thomas), a hottie foreigner (Anna Marlowe) who makes a living dancing in a chicken costume, Donalds' fellow construction workers Roosevelt (Loren Schein) and Philip (Al Troupe), and Sam (Phil De Carlo), a grumpy bartender who doesn't want to hear his patrons' sob stories.
Ginsberg is perfect as the kind of nagging wife that would drive any husband mad.This movie keeps coming up with enough wacky and irreverent shtick to sustain it through a very reasonable one hour 17 minutes run time.
Perhaps he was inspired by this film to be a movie maker, but then failed, so he decided to eat people instead.
If Hitler had only gotten into architecture school, his monstrosities might only have been architectural.I suppose this review is a warning: don't see this movie if you don't want to remember campy, kitschy horror scenes for the rest of your life..
Construction worker Donald (Jackie Vernon) is having a hard time getting anything good to eat since his wife has decided to only cook gourmet foods.
And different meats.AllMovie wrote, "Despite utterly failing as comedy, horror and pornography, Microwave Massacre is grotesque enough in design and attitude to be fascinating, much like a car accident." That summary is perfect.
"Microwave Massacre" is bad in almost every way, especially Vernon's acting.
The drive-through scene is especially humorous, and for those who know Vernon mostly as Frosty the Snowman's voice, this will twist what you think of Frosty.Now, maybe not too much should be expected for a film with a budget under $100,000.
So that might make this film's background a bit more interesting...The producers originally wanted Rodney Dangerfield, but ended up with Jackie Vernon.
His acting is awful, and actually the worst thing about the film, but he does offer a few ad libs.
I love bad movies as much as anyone, but for me this really is not one of the great forgotten gems.Regardless, Arrow Video has done what they do best and put their heart and soul into making this as good as it can be.
There is a brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative, which looks pretty good for such a low budget film.
(Because Muckler has certain phrases he uses a lot, the commentary would make a great drinking game.) Lastly, we have "My Microwave Massacre Memoirs" a new making-of featurette including interviews with Muckler, director Wayne Berwick and actor Loren Schein.
(Hmmm...as if any of the other actors are convincing.) I/m sure that this film probably wouldn't have been made at all if he hadn't been attached to the project, but he's just not very good/interesting/funny in his role.On the bright side, the producers somehow managed to scrape together quite a few pretty good-looking women and get them to take their tops of.
Oh, yeah...and it's not at all scary or even gross.The only big question that I had after watching this was, "How did the huge, industrial microwave fit into that little shipping box that you see in the beginning of the movie?" Recommended for people who are tired of artsy-fartsy horror films..
The terribly annoying construction worker Donald, who loves old-fashioned baloney and cheese sandwiches, is depressed because his wife just bought a gigantic microwave and now just exclusively serves disgusting experimental TV-dishes.
I thought, when I bought this, 'hmm, this looks interesting.' The idea of a comedy with someone microwaving women and eating them sounds quite interesting, it's just to bad that it's really badly, written, acted, shot, directed, etc.
The Massacre of the Microwaves is undoubtedly part of the hooligan movies and without complexes that were filmed in the eighties.Just read the title to know what one is going to find and certainly the film does not disappoint.Absurd situations, grotesque humor, and total lack of budget.The actors of course of a level to the height of what is expected of a film like this.With everything we must recognize that it has the best start that can be seen in a horror film series B, because this movie is horror, NO?.
I suppose they're trying to make a comment on the idea that "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach", but even that would be hard to argue.It is fairly amusing, and there are some slightly gratifying moments, but overall I think you will find it fairly stupid - (just HOW he becomes a cannibal is as laboured as his motive).The video cover made me think of melting flesh in a microwave, but I had the wrong idea.
We worked our way through most of the obvious ones...the entire Ed Wood canon, Herschel Gordon Lewis, rubber suiters and bad creature features...and for a while it looked as though The Creeping Terror might take the prize.Then we saw Microwave Massacre.
Poor Donald, the regular guy construction worker is tormented by his shrew wife and her insistence on having "gourmet" microwave meals.
Donald is played by comedian Jackie Vernon and the movie is full of classic deadpan one-liners.
I can't really say I went into Microwave Massacre with high expectations, as the film has a barrel load of bad hype; but even so, I really thought it would be better than it actually was.
Donald, the husband, is getting annoyed because his wife keeps cooking silly gourmet food and he wants to eat properly like a man should.
Overall, Microwave Massacre might sound like a fun film - but unfortunately, it isn't.
Jackie Vernon (the voice of Frosty the Snowman) plays Donald, a man who can get no respect from his wife.
Yes, the humor is VERY corny, but it's funny and some of Jackies facial reactions are gut-splitting And although my head will NOT let me giving it a passing grade, my heart for good bad movies will not let me give it a failing one.My Grade: D+ Eye Candy: Marla Simmons, Lou Ann Weber, Anna Marlowe, Cindy Gant, and some unknown nude girl.
OK, why does Microwave Massacre NOT make you want to rush forward to push its candidacy for World's Worst Movie?
You Are What You Eat. Microwave Massacre (1983) ** (out of 4)Donald (Jackie Vernon) is a hard-working construction worker who sadly is married to a not-so-great woman.
Donald finally snaps and kills her and this leads to a new life when he realizes that human flesh is quite good for the body.MICROWAVE MASSACRE is a film that I truly, truly hated the first time I watched it.
I'm sure a lot of people are going to hate the humor style here but if you can get where they're trying to go then MICROWAVE MASSACRE is an interesting, if not completely successful, little film..
A rare comedy / horror film that makes Ed Wood look like Orson Welles.
"Microwave Massacre" has the astoundingly awful acting of a John Waters film, along with more one liners than a Rodney Dangerfield comedy.
"Microwave Massacre" falls into that ultra rare class of film that is so bad it's good.
However, if you - like me - are the kind of person willing to go out of their way to see this film, you should know what you're in for and enjoy it.The premise of the movie itself is worth a laugh.
This is definitely a great, funny, satisfying movie if you're into so-bad-its-good movies.I've no idea what to rate it - as a movie it deserves somewhere around 3 or 4.
As a trashy 'so bad its good' movie (sorry to keep using that phrase, I promise that's the last time) it's worth somewhere around 7 or 8.
Throw in some editing that appears to have been done with a lighter and a can of hairspray and Vernon doesn't have a chance of making this one funny.MICROWAVE features a few ridiculous gags and setups, like a naked girl who gets slathered with mayo, covered with a giant piece of wonder bread and then sawed in half.
Well, this totally ineffective and often painfully unamusing clinker makes for a particularly sad example of just how horrendous a horror comedy can be when said necessary skill and expertise never manage to materialize in the film itself.Late, great wiseguy comedian Jackie Vernon portrays a meek, hen-pecked construction worker who offs his peevish wench of a shrewish wife, chops her up into itty-bitty pieces, wraps the body parts up in tin foil, and stuffs the remains in a freezer.
Pretty soon Jackie starts killing comely, flirtatious, available young lasses so he can ravenously eat their sweet delicious meat in order to appease his insatiable sicko appetite.Wayne Beswick's flaccid direction fails to inject any much-needed hopped-up vitality into this tired'n'tasteless tripe, thus letting "Microwave Massacre" crawl along at an excruciatingly gradual and seemingly never-ending lethargic tempo.
How bad can it get to make me hate a movie?" The new barometer for bad has been found and it is Microwave Massacre.Donald (Jackie Vernon, a raunchy comedian who was also the voice of Frosty the Snowman, which still kind of blows my mind) works construction by day and has another job by night: dealing with his wife.
Then, his wife buys a gigantic microwave, which makes even worse meals.Our hero, such as he is, comes home and loses his temper about all the bad meals and ends up killing his wife.
And a visit by his wife's sister, who he has to tie up and gag with bread.Of course, all good - or bad, this movie is Troma level bad - things must come to an end.
MICROWAVE MASSACRE is an extremely broad, bad-taste comedy horror flick about an overweight guy who tires of his wife's bad cooking and decides to bump her off before devouring her body.
It's not one of those intentionally bad movies, it is one where those making it really thought they had something but the end result could not have been what they intended.The story involved mild-mannered Donald (Jackie Vernon), a construction worker whose wife May is intent of elevating herself and Donald to a classier lifestyle.
And lucky for us it didn't end with anything that looked like a sequel could happen.So much is bad about this movie.
As I look back I find nothing that works or is well done here.And yet the movie has a certain charm for fans of really bad films.
When you watch the extras you get a glimpse into those people and what they thought about the movie they were making at the time.Arrow Video has once again saved a cult film from disappearing forever and you have to give them credit for doing so no matter how bad the movie is.
If bad movies make you laugh, make you smile or make you appreciate good movies just that much more than by all means you need to watch this film.
Mmm Hmmmm.Pretty silly movie about a guy who kills his wife because she's a bad cook, puts her in the freezer (which gets more screen time here than any microwave) and then accidentally begins eating her.
Mission accomplished, I guess!The late Jackie Vernon (a former Vegas lounge comedian probably best known as the voice of Frosty the Snowman in that kid's holiday special they run every single year) comes off like a poor man's Rodney Dangerfield in the lead role, in part because of the awful and seldom-amusing dialogue.
Quite a bit of bare breastage in this one, too, including a nude woman on a giant slice of foam bread being smeared with globs of mayonnaise.Any film that boasts right on the box that it's the "worst horror movie of all time" has a mighty big barrel to scrape.
Movies like this, with their intentional bad acting, stupid dialogue, awful one-liners and pea brained visual gags, usually lack the charm and humor of films made by people who went in with good intentions but didn't quite have the talent to pull it off.
Congratulations on making your movie so stupid and awful!"Don't get me wrong, there are many good examples of films that have been able to successfully incorporate some of that wink-wink, nudge-nudge style of self-parody.
As far as being "the worst horror movie of all time" is concerned...
This is one of the most stupid, schlocky B-movies I have ever seen, which means although it's a horrible film it is quite entertaining.
And, of course, when the guy feeds his work buddies the human flesh sandwiches and they're like "Mmm, this sure is good." In terms of really bad B-Movies, Microwave Massacre has little competition.
Jackie Vernon plays Donald a man who just wants a good meal and hates his wife May and her cooking so he decides cannibalism is the best option and boy the effects and makeup are the greatest they are so bad its incredible.
The comedy in this movie hits but in all the wrong places and Jackie Vernon performance is brilliantly bad it seems like he didn't care but at the same time I know the movie a comedy and I think that might have been the aim with his performance. |
tt0092546 | Amazon Women on the Moon | Fictional television station WIDB-TV (channel 8) experiences problems with its late-night airing of science-fiction classic Amazon Women on the Moon, a 1950s B movie in which Queen Lara (Sybil Danning) and Captain Nelson (Steve Forrest) battle exploding volcanoes and man-eating spiders on the moon. Waiting for the film to resume, an unseen viewer begins channel surfing—simulated by bursts of white noise—through late night cable, with the various segments and sketches of the film representing the programming found on different channels. The viewer intermittently returns to channel 8, where Amazon Women continues airing before faltering once more.
These segments feature:
Arsenio Hall as a man who nearly kills himself in a series of mishaps around his apartment;
Monique Gabrielle as a model who goes about her daily routine in Malibu, California, completely naked;
Lou Jacobi as a man named Murray, zapped into the television, wandering throughout sketches looking for his wife;
Michelle Pfeiffer and Peter Horton as a young couple having trouble with eccentric doctor Griffin Dunne delivering and then concealing their newborn baby;
Joe Pantoliano as the presenter of a commercial recommending stapling carpet to a bald head as a hair loss prevention measure;
David Alan Grier and B. B. King in a public-service appeal for "blacks without soul";
Rosanna Arquette as a young woman on a blind date, employing unusual methods of investigation to reveal the qualifications of Steve Guttenberg;
Henry Silva as the host of a show entitled Bullshit or Not?, clearly intended as a spoof of Ripley's Believe It or Not! with Jack Palance and In Search of...;
Archie Hahn as a man who dies after a critical mauling of his life (by Roger Barkley and Al Lohman, mimicking Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert), then is roasted at his funeral by a variety of people, including Steve Allen, Henny Youngman, and even his own wife;
William Marshall as the leader of the Video Pirates, who hijack an MCA Home Video ship, uncover a vast amount of videotapes and laserdiscs, and promptly begin illegally bootlegging the media;
Ed Begley, Jr., as the son of the Invisible Man, having trouble with his formula;
Angel Tompkins as a president's First Lady who is also a former hooker;
Matt Adler as a sexually frustrated teenager trying to purchase a pack of condoms, with unexpected results;
Marc McClure renting a personalized date video that spills over into real life;
An epilogue at the end of the credits, with Carrie Fisher and Paul Bartel in a black-and-white ephemeral film warning about the spread of "social diseases" in the style of Reefer Madness.
=== Alternative versions ===
An alternate version of the "Pethouse Video" sketch was filmed for the television broadcast of the film, with Monique Gabrielle in lingerie instead of appearing naked throughout the segment. However, most European television broadcasts of the film retained the original theatrical version. Bullshit or Not? was retitled Baloney or Not? for the television version.
The American television edit, in addition to the alternative "Pethouse Video" sketch, features an additional bridging sequence between the death of Harvey Pitnik and his subsequent celebrity roast. In it, the mortician successfully cons Pitnik's widow into having the celebrity roast as part of the funeral, and her performance gets such strong positive feedback, it becomes a continuing performance series lasting for weeks.
The DVD release features an unreleased sketch titled "The Unknown Soldier", starring Robert Loggia. Some television broadcasts of the film featured the sketches "Peter Pan Theater" and "The French Ventriloquist's Dummy", which were not present in the theatrical version. | cult, comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0295178 | Austin Powers in Goldmember | Dr. Evil plans to travel back in time to 1975 and bring back Johan van der Smut, aka "Goldmember", who developed a cold fusion unit for a tractor beam which Dr. Evil names "Preparation H". He intends to use the tractor beam to pull a meteor into the Earth, striking the polar ice caps and causing a global flood. Moments after this plan is revealed, Austin Powers and the British Secret Service attack the base and arrest Dr. Evil. Austin is knighted for his services, but is disappointed when his father, the famous super-spy Nigel Powers, does not attend the event. Basil Exposition later informs Austin that Nigel has been kidnapped, and the only clue is that the crew of his yacht have had their genitalia painted gold.
Austin visits the imprisoned Dr. Evil, who tells him that Goldmember is behind the abduction. Time-travelling to 1975, Austin infiltrates Goldmember's roller disco club and is reunited with his former lover, FBI agent Foxxy Cleopatra, who is undercover as a disco singer. With Foxxy's help, Austin locates his father, but is unable to rescue him. Goldmember takes Nigel through Dr. Evil's time machine into the present day. Foxxy wants revenge on Goldmember for murdering her partner, and accompanies Austin in his pursuit. In the present, Dr. Evil and Mini-Me instigate a riot in their prison, allowing them to escape. A British Intelligence mole named Number 3 informs Austin that Dr. Evil has moved to a new lair near Tokyo. Austin and Foxxy travel to Tokyo and confront Fat Bastard, who is now a sumo wrestler, but still does work for Dr. Evil. Fat Bastard explains that a Japanese business man, Mr. Roboto, is working on a device for Dr. Evil and Goldmember.
Austin and Foxxy later meet with Mr. Roboto, who pleads ignorance about Nigel's whereabouts. Unconvinced, Austin and Foxxy infiltrate Roboto's factory where the command unit for the tractor beam is being loaded in Goldmember's car, and Roboto hands Goldmember a golden key needed to activate the beam. Foxxy confronts Goldmember while Austin attempts to free Nigel, but Goldmember escapes with the command unit and flees to Dr. Evil's sub. Unable to settle their differences, Nigel and Austin part ways when they disagree on how to deal with the situation. Meanwhile, Dr. Evil's son, Scott Evil, has become increasingly evil in an attempt to prove himself to his father, to the point that he too is going bald. Scott presents his father with sharks with laser beams attached to their heads, a request that had gone unfulfilled in the first film. Dr. Evil replaces Mini-Me with Scott as his favored son; the rejected Mini-Me defects and joins Austin.
Austin, Foxxy and Mini-Me infiltrate the sub, but Austin is captured. Dr. Evil prepares to activate the tractor beam, but Foxxy has stolen the key and frees Austin. Austin prepares to shoot Dr. Evil, when Nigel appears and reveals Dr. Evil and Austin are brothers, separated when they were toddlers when an assassination attempt killed their mother, and Dr. Evil was found and raised by Belgians. Dr. Evil and Austin embrace, enraging Scott, who flees to pursue his own vengeance, whilst Goldmember commandeers the tractor beam's controls, unzipping his pants to reveal his gold-covered genitals to be a spare key. Goldmember activates the tractor beam, but Austin and Dr. Evil work together to reverse its polarity, destroying the meteor and saving the world. The heroes arrest Goldmember, who turns to the camera to reveal the entire string of events was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Cruise as Austin, Kevin Spacey as Dr. Evil, Danny DeVito as Mini-Me, and John Travolta as Goldmember. Austin, Foxxy, Dr. Evil, Mini-Me and Nigel are in the audience of a Hollywood theater watching the film. Upon exiting the theater they run into Fat Bastard, now thinner but flabby, thanks to the Subway diet. As Austin and Foxxy kiss, in Dr. Evil's Hollywood lair, Scott – now completely bald, dressed like and laughing in a manner similar to his father—declares he will get his revenge on Austin and begins dancing like Michael Jackson. | comedy, cult, flashback, humor, satire, entertaining, blaxploitation | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0866439 | Made of Honor | On Halloween night, 1998, at Cornell University, Tom Bailey, Jr. (Patrick Dempsey), in costume as Bill Clinton, slips into bed with his pre-arranged date, Monica. It turns out to be the wrong woman, Monica's roommate Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), and Tom likes her because she is so honest and does not fling herself at him. Ten years later, Hannah and Tom are best friends. Tom is very wealthy because of his creation of the "coffee collar" and gets a dime every time it is used. Tom is with a different girl every week, while Hannah focuses on her career in an art museum. He is very content with his life, suspecting that Hannah is too.
After Tom takes Hannah to his father's (Sydney Pollack) sixth wedding, Hannah tells Tom she must go to Scotland for work. While she's gone, Tom discovers that without her, being with another woman week after week is not very fulfilling. He realizes that he loves Hannah and decides to tell her his feelings when she gets back. Upon returning, Hannah surprisingly announces she is engaged to a wealthy Scot named Colin (Kevin McKidd). Hannah asks Tom to be her maid of honor for her wedding. After discussing it with his friends, Tom decides to be her maid of honor, only to spend time with her and try to convince her she does not even know Colin, as well as making her realize that he loves her and she should be marrying him.
After arriving in Scotland at Eilean Donan Castle for the wedding, Tom realizes he is running out of time to stop Hannah. He meets all of Colin's family and must perform in a variant of the Highland Games, in which the groom must compete to prove himself worthy of his bride. Tom is also in the competition with Colin but loses in the last round. Tom takes Hannah out for a walk, hoping to tell her how he feels. The other bridesmaids interrupt for Hannah's bachelorette party. On her Hen Night, Hannah parades around a pub and sells her kisses for change. As she goes around, Hannah then kisses Tom. Though it just started as a peck on the cheek, it turns into a passionate kiss.
That night, Hannah confronts Tom to ask about the kiss. When she gets to his room, her drunk cousin is there, trying to have sex with him. Hannah leaves and Tom runs after her. He knocks on her door, pleading for her to let him in. She refuses and asks about the kiss. He tells her he knew he, not Colin, was the one for her. She refuses to say that she thinks so too and instead tells Tom that she still expects to marry Colin the next day. Tom cannot go through with watching Hannah and Colin get married so he decides to go home.
When questioned about his sudden departure shortly before the wedding is to take place, Hannah informs Colin that Tom is just afraid of losing her. On the way home, Tom realizes that he must stop the wedding and goes back on horseback. Just when the priest asks for objections, Tom is sent flying off his horse and through the chapel doors. Seeing her best friend on the floor, Hannah rushes to him. As he struggles to stand up, he tells her that he loves her more than anything and that she should marry him. They then share a kiss. Hannah tells Colin that she is very sorry and that he is the perfect guy, just not the perfect guy for her. Colin's grandmother then tells Colin, in Scots, to "deck" Tom, which he does without hesitation.
Hannah and Tom eventually get married. Melissa catches the bouquet and then links arms with Tom's dad, to which he says "Number 6?" and his lawyer says "7". Hannah and Tom go on their honeymoon. Tom turns on the light just to see if he has got the right girl and Hannah replies "You do". The two kiss and as Hannah turns off the light, Tom says "Oh, Monica" and Hannah replies "Oh, Bill." | romantic | train | wikipedia | The one thing I did really enjoy about it was that this wasn't a sad girl trying to get the guy like many other movies like this are, it was shown through the guy's perspective which isn't quite as over done.I won't give out any details you don't already see in the trailer for the movie: Patrick Dempsy's character is great with women and his best friend is a successful intelligent woman.
That being said the movie isn't bad, but you certainly aren't going to walk away with the feeling you'd get from classics like "When Harry met Sally".Not bad but, a charming On Par addition to the Romantic Comedy genre.a modest 5 out of 10.
Okay, after 10 minutes of "Made of Honor" it is crystal clear that best friends Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) are madly in love with each other, and should be together.
There isn't much to say about this movie, in fact is not boring and the performances of Dempsey and Monaghan meet the required level to make tolerable they as a couple, but the film falls into a number of same places that we watched in other movies thats why Made of honor lost among so many films of the genre and at the end of it nothing new provides.Neither idea is the most original or the jokes the most successful, in fact the plot falls on an abuse of sexual humor that at times results unnecessary and it only is used to start a laughter of a story that had no where to find the funny.
The movie takes way too long to get moving and doesn't know where to end....the final scene is tacked on.It's hard not to give away plot points since this film seems glued together from bits and pieces of 1960's comedies as well as things you've watching on the Lifetime Network.
A very safe romantic comedy that plays exactly by the rules and wins the general audience over because it manages to have the key ingredient that makes this genre work: chemistry between likable leads.Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) have been best friends since college, where their animosity has comfortably settled to fond affection.
Until of course, a compelling event sets off the requisite sense of urgency for Tom to finally pursue Hannah.Dempsey is at his leading man best as the charming bad boy who changes for Monaghan, the sensible pretty woman with the non-threatening art job who gets the guy by being understanding and patiently waiting.
Made of Honor spells chick flick all over it, the perennial formulaic romantic comedy that tells its entire story in the trailer, but that's not going to stop couples from hitting the cinemas for their date movie flick, does it?
What I thought was peculiar was that the original US rating for this was R, meaning a lot more sexual material thrown in, versus the now released PG-13 version which was re-edited, and over here, the rating of PG that allows for everyone to make a beeline if they want to escape from the week's blockbuster.The plot's nothing new as well, with movies like My Best Friend's Wedding, and even from as far back as Three Men and a Little Lady where the best friend tries his/her very best to convince the bride/groom that their choice for eternal companionship, is of the wrong one, and of course, to make away with their respective selves to live happily ever after.
And if you think the premise is a ludicrous one, where a man will take up the duties of a maid of honor, then Singapore perhaps just legitimized it with a wedding in a cinema last Tuesday, where indeed a male did grace the occasion of his best friend's wedding as her MOH.For a man who doesn't seem to have a job and have a huge trust fund behind him, Patrick Dempsey shed his uptight role as a dad from his debut big screen outing with Enchanted, for a playboy called Tom who lives by certain rules in his dating game, and amongst them, no back to back sex with the same girl, no dates with the same girl unless it's a week apart, and never to call someone new in the next 24 hours, never bring them to weddings and family events, and the likes.
The ideal bachelor lifestyle I'd bet, with a constant flow of money, women, and good pals to shoot hoops with, none of them seemingly poor enough to hold down regular jobs.However, he has his best friend and confidante in Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) with whom he spends his weekends with, and just when he discovers that he truly loves the girl, she drops the bombshell that she's going to marry a Scot whom she met during her business trip, and talking about whirlwind romances, will be getting married in 14 days.
While at the same time juggle his role as the maid of honor and going through the many girlie things that they're supposed to do for the bride.While it is a formulaic story, what works, and so long as it does, this type of movies will forever be made, is the chemistry between the leads.
You just can't deny that both Dempsey and Monaghan look good together on screen as a couple, and you can't help but find yourself rooting for them past their characters' stupidity to realize that they're made for each other, after 10 years of being together, with little clues left unanswered with questions such as "why do you like him" going unanswered.
I love chick flicks and I love Patrick Dempsey...and I was so disappointed with this film IT SUCKED...The "humorous" parts were not funny at all...and I just think the script was a good idea but they just didn't know how to execute it right.
Since the beginning you could tell it wasn't going to be a good movie...I even enjoyed 27 dresses but this had a lot side stories that just didn't go right with the main plot...I also don't get why it opened first here in Mexico...I mean I don't mind that because usually movies get here months after they've opened in the US but I would like to have read a review before just going because I wanted to see Patrick Dempsey...my husband wanted to kill me...we laughed because we couldn't believe how bad it was....
Only Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his "best friend" of ten years, has the strength of character to call him on his shallowness - even though anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of romantic comedy knows full well that the two of them are just made for each other (apparently, the only people in these situations stupid enough not to realize this universal truth are the couples themselves).
Unaware of how Tom feels about her, Hannah asks him to be her "maid of honor" at the wedding, a role he reluctantly accepts, believing that this will place him in the perfect strategic position to sabotage the nuptials.As with virtually all romantic comedies these days, "Made of Honor" takes place in a squeaky-clean, never-never land version of New York City, where everyone attends swanky functions, dines at five-star restaurants, and drinks café mocha lattes, with nary a hint as to what any of these fantastically well-off characters do to earn all their money.
Made of Honor although it is identical to My Best Friend's Wedding except for the ending, believe it or not it is a very enjoyable romantic comedy.
If you're a fan of romantic comedy, or if you've had to spend some evenings on the couch with a fan, you know the basic plot of this movie all too well.Patrick Dempsey plays a charmer who adamantly refuses to settle down and Michelle Monaghan is his long time friend looking for stability and a serious relationship.
It's certainly not the best entry but it's superior to many recent movies and you don't feel like skipping any part, which is already better than 27 dresses and other films of that ilk.Patrick Dempsey was OK as Tom Bailey but unfortunately, I think he lacks the comedic chops and sex appeal to pull off his part.
Made of honor is supposed to be a "Romantic Comedy" but I had a hard time finding any humor, Or even a "romantic feel", in this movie about a guy who sleeps with a different woman every night except the one that he is in love with.
the movie is quite slow and in my opinion full of "non-humorous sexual humor" The Character "Tom" is a womanizer, but does not decide to pursue his best friend, whom he is in love with, until she leaves the country and finds "the perfect man".
I do appreciate that the director insisted on casting actual Scottish actors for the parts.It also bugged me that the (American) minister who is asked to perform the wedding ceremony is another cliché, but I suppose that's only to be expected - as a rule, Hollywood filmmakers seem not to have attended a church service in decades, and so have only their childhood memories from 30+ years ago to guide them when creating the role of a clergyman.The third thing that bugged me was the director's penchant for "ugly" visual jokes - "Tiny Shorts Guy", whose weird appearance is direct evidence of his unworthiness as a human being, and the three bridesmaids who are made to look like the 3 ugly stepsisters when they first appear (especially the short, fat one).Then there are the usual boring conventions - no one has any money worries, the hero doesn't need a job, his father's gold-digger bride can demand $30,000 *a month* in her pre-nuptual agreement, etc.I was a little surprised that the film made such a big deal of a man being a "maid" of honour.
I personally know of at least one man who was his best (female) friend's wedding attendant, and a woman who did the same for her male best friend, and neither wedding raised too many eyebrows (and we're not talking about avant-garde circles here, just regular people).One more thing: I agree that the film gives Tom and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan)'s friendship rather short shrift before shifting into romance mode, so it's kind of hard to see *why* the two of them are such friends, especially given his sex life.The trouble is, this could have been a good movie, but the film-makers just didn't want to do the work of coming up with any original ideas.
Patrick Dempsey plays Tom, a man who is best friends with Hannah (Michelle Monaghan).
The few occasional laughs and good chemistry from the two leads just save this from being a total disaster, but we have already had to many of these formulaic romantic comedies (What Happens In Vegas, 27 Dresses) in one year that it doesn't feel like anything new or different..
For Tom (Patrick Dempsey), life is good: he's sexy, successful, has great luck with the ladies, and knows he can always rely on Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), his delightful best friend and the one constant in his life.
The like-able characters/actors (male lead is extremely popular with the female crowd as I realized with this movie, haven't watched his TV show yet), the believable background story are all nice and good ......
Made of honor (2008) is very cute romantic comedy starring Michelle Monaghan and Patrick Dempsey.
A romantic comedy ought to make you smile, make you laugh, tug a little at your heart, make you want to root for your hero/heroine, and come out of the movie feeling blissfully able to believe there is such thing as love and happily ever afters.
This movie, in my opinion, accomplishes this.I liked the actors; I thought there was pretty good chemistry; the supporting characters did a decent job; the dialogue was entertaining; and the plot is able to maintain your interest throughout the duration.
At least they make the movie watchable.Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) have been best friends for years, a platonic relationship for womanizer Tom.When Hannah returns from a business trip in Scotland engaged to Colin (Kevin McKidd) Tom had already resolved that Hannah is the woman for him and planned to propose marriage.Instead he now has been asked to play the 'maid' of honour for her forthcoming wedding in Scotland.
Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) are college friends.
This is the basic skeleton, and from it, usually the producers try to pretend to change somethings, so they can say they are doing something new, while delivering exactly what has been done thousands of times before and which is in most cases, what most people want.In recent years, we had a few number of films which, although obeying more or less to the formula, playing really interesting games on it (Love Actually and Across the Universe come to mind).
I have an announcement for the world I am Kenneth Owen Dunn engaged to Cindy Faith Tran the best friend I have ever had in Calgary Alberta Canada my birthday was September 16 the day that this movie came out on video and the first time I have ever seen this movie the first scene the movie starts in 1998 at the first year I would have started college so the main actor played by Patrick Dempsey is my soul mates and my exact age 29 I asked my fiancé for my birthday to buy her wedding dress and to show it to her mother.
Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) have been really close friends for 10 years.
I doubt many guys would consider this a good movie, but for all the ladies that like romance and weddings, then this film is for them.Tom and Hannah are best friends; they've known each other since college.
So, he gets advice from his friends to be the best moh ever, and there are some funny scenes with the other bridesmaids, one of whom he's slept with.They all go to Scotland for the wedding and there are times Hannah sees some things in Colin that she isn't crazy about.
I mean, I love Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, both great actors and are a lot of fun to watch on screen.
Hannah comes back, but she's got a new thing going on, she's engaged, and Tom's plan to tell her how he feels is now ruined when she asks him to be her maid of honor.
Made Of Honor is an unfunny, unromantic comedy with Michelle Monaghan and Patrick Dempsey as best friends Hannah and Tom. Right when Tom is about to tell Hannah his true feelings about her, Hannah is getting married to Colin (Kevin McKidd).
There is no real bad-guy, the 'villain' is the Dempsey character's lack of self-respect, his shallow manipulation of sexual intimacies, and his failure to understand himself - or his devotion to his long-time friend.I noticed that once the notion occurs to Tom, during Hannah's trip to Scotland, that he is in love - he stops playing around.
Still he manages to keep things to a normal sort of pace for the American crowd and not be overtly outrageous in the film which will bode well at the box office.America's TV Male Sweetheart McDreamy himself Patrick Dempsey heads the cast as the macho, sex obsessed, and women user Tom. The unique thing about Made of Honor is Tom, who is the main character, is kind of a creep and not a very nice guy overall but he's learning from his mistakes the hard way and Dempsey is adorable and macho enough that you do like him despite his major short comings and you want him to end up with the girl even if he doesn't deserve her.
Long time supporting actor Michelle Monaghan is Dempsey's best girl friend Hannah who he has spent 10 years being completely platonic with.
I think McKidd might be one of the stronger actors with talent on the cast but his role is fairly small but he does get some great comedic moments with Dempsey.Made of Honor will likely be described as very predictable and doesn't try anything different at all from the romantic comedy recipe and that's very true.
Made of Honor is a romantic comedy film that stars Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan together with Kevin McKidd,Kathleen Quinlan and Sydney Pollack in his last film role.The story was about a handsome and successful bachelor is taken aback when his dream girl asks him to be the "maid" of honor in her upcoming wedding.
His spirits crushed but his love for Hannah stronger than ever before, Tom reluctantly agrees to be the "maid" of honor so that he can prove his love in no uncertain terms and convince her to call off the wedding before true happiness slips through his fingers.Too bad that there is nothing original about Made of Honor.It is something that we have already seen many times in a romantic comedy that it has become a very tired and familiar love story.It has a plot that's recycled, inane, and unbelievable.And lastly,a preposterously lazy finale.What's worse,the good performances of the leads - Dempsey and Monaghan can't save this forgettable and formulaic film from its comic failings..
The chemistry between the two lead parts (Tom - Patrick Dempsey and Hannah - Michelle Monaghan) is near perfect in the film giving an enticing feel to the story.
The story begins by showing how Tom and Hannah, played by Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, first become best friends and from then on remain inseparable.
His good friend Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) has always been there for him, and he's always had feelings towards her, but was never able to express it properly.Hannah goes to Scotland where she meets Colin McMurray (Kevin McKidd), and when she comes back to the states she tells Tom that they're getting married, and wants him to be her maid of honor. |
tt3894340 | Ellos Volvieron | Ellos Volvieron (They Returned) starts with three children, Lucio (Lauro Veron), Lionel (Juan Ignacio Molina) and Sabrina (Valentina Sartorelli), aged about 11 years of age playing near a vast abandoned hospital in the woods in Argentina. As it gets dark, the children do not return home, and using a series of cut-aways, it appears that they remain missing for at least a full 24 hours. Then the three children are seen naked, walking zombie-like through the fields towards their homes.The parents rush out to meet their missing children who stand lifeless and seemingly unaware of their nudity as the parents hug them. Blood begins to trickle down the inside of Lucios thigh.Next, in their class, the intense middle-aged teacher, Sergio (Julio Mendez), tells the children's classmates that they must all pull together to help the kids overcome this terrible tragedy. The three returned children are brought into the class by the headmistress, and throughout almost the entire movie, they act as though oblivious to their surroundings, something that Isabel the school counsellor (Romina Pinto) attributes to selective mutism as a result of their trauma.The other parents in this small town are revealed to be overcome by fear. This is shown by them all arriving at school to collect their children, and by increasing paranoia, suspicions and hostility towards each other throughout the movie. Although for some strange reason, even on their first day back to school, the three kidnapped kids are allowed to walk to school on their own...The other children are bewildered by what has happened, but supportive towards the returned.The school counsellor is introduced as she tries to draw the three victims out of their silence, and an out-of-town Jewish federal inspector Cohen (Jorge Booth) arrives to investigate the case. As he arrives, the towns seniors; Sophia the judge (Edmee Aran), Maria the head mistress (Rosana Rossotti), mayor Rostagno (German de Goycoechea), school counsellor, and others, are together, and it appears as though there are mild tensions between them. The headmistress implores the mayor for overdue money to repair the schools dilapidated basketball hoop. The female judge, is particularly assertive and seems to have strong ideas about who is NOT guilty.The inspector starts interviewing people and it is revealed that most of the towns people are descended from Nazis, although they are all in denial about their past. The hospital is built on land formerly owned by the Himmels, and forcibly taken from them by the government. A last member of the Himmel family (Manfred Hesper), described as "the old lunatic", lives in a shack by the vast decaying hospital.Lucios mother Paola (Camila Cruz) lives with her father (José Veron) and son. She reveals to the inspector that she is considered the town's "easy slut" and that she allowed a local called Juan (Oscar Mira) to court her in the hope that he would provide for her son. When Juan got religion, she discarded him. Throughout the movie, in a series of flashbacks, she is seen with a child in a blanket, standing in a stream, presumably about to drown the baby.Lucio and Lionel are seen in the showers after a soccer game, and as the boys turn, the reaction of the other boys to their genitalia makes it clear that something is terribly wrong. A subsequent conversation between the inspector and the local police talks about the nature of their injuries, and reveals possible teeth marks.Lionel's family takes the unresponsive boy with their other kids, to the river for a day out. Nearby, one of the town children is fishing with his father. Lionel sits simply staring at the boy. The boy senses he is being watched, and despite his father's instructions to ignore Lionel, cannot but help keep turning to look at the boy, seemingly mesmerised by him.Sabrina has a birthday party, during which she remains unresponsive, and in an unsympathetic comment, one of the parents makes it clear that the girl cannot even dress herself.Lucio's mother asks to talk to the school counsellor, and it is clear that they have some history together.The three abductees are seen walking through sunny fields towards the abandoned hospital and the town children are surrounding them. There is a long scene in a room with a locked door, during which a young boy is goaded into putting his penis through a small hole in the door on the promise that he will be fellated, although no-one can tell him by whom. The boy finally agrees, and just as he puts his penis through the door, crazy Mister Himmel arrives and chases the kids off. They run away laughing, except for the three who remain on a balcony. Himmel approaches menacingly, and even strikes Lucio on the arm with a log, The kids just stare at him impassively. It is subsequently revealed that Himmel has fallen from the balcony and his death recorded and uploaded to the internet. The suggestion is made that even a 5 year old could have pushed him.One of the younger children is discovered a few days later to have drawn a picture of the man's death, before the death was publicly known. When the counsellor asks him about it, he reveals that he saw it on the internet. She questions him about a second picture he has drawn depicting a woman hanging. He reveals that the woman is the counsellor herself. She asks "Who killed me?" "You" the young boy answers.The counsellor has a conversation with Sergio, the school teacher, and he starts to talk about ancient evil in the town. She presumably reports him to the inspector and the police go to his one-room house and search it, looking in the freezer for the boys' missing parts later revealed to be their entire genitalia. There is an allusion that the school teacher fled his previous job because of something bad that happened. The teacher expands upon his belief that something is evil and out of balance in the town that needs rebalancing. The inspector becomes increasingly annoyed at the man's claims.The local padre is interviewed, and he also talks about the evil in the town. The inspector asks the padre if he has trouble with celibacy (hinting that the padre may have something to do with the sexual crime), and the formerly pleasant padre shoots back with a nasty comment about the inspector's crippled leg.Various shots show the town children watching the death video on the internet, playing sadistic games, and torturing animals. However, there is an air of innocence, as though none of the children are aware that their behaviour is bad.The inspector talks to Lucio's mother again, and she reveals that her father was an out of towner tasked with building the hospital on the confiscated land. When the hospital project went wrong, he had his equipment confiscated and was imprisoned by the townspeople led by the judge.Lucio's mother visits the counsellor, and it is clear that they were once friends. They have a conversation about an unspecified event in the past that affects Lucio, and the counsellor makes it clear that she has kept the secret. The mother reveals that Lucio reminds her of a past that she is trying to forget.All of the kids return to the hospital and go crazy, smashing the place up, cutting each other, torturing a wild dog, and generally going wild. But it is all done with anair of trance-like innocence. As they calm down, Sabrina leads them to an outside window that opens onto a basement room. She looks through, and inside are the naked and motionless bodies of herself and the two boys, both of whom are still unmutilated at that point.That evening, the town mayor is driving home. It is dark, and the streets are deserted. He sees Lucio sitting alone by a kids park. He approaches concerned, but then Lucio speaks for the first time. "You took their lives away. You didnt just take bricks away, you took their lives away." The mayor gets angry and defensive, and it is revealed that he took bricks from the hospital, which somehow belonged to the Nazis. [This may be metaphorical]He relents and offers the boy his hand and leads him towards his car. Lucio takes his hand, but as they near the car, Lucio pulls free and walks on ahead. The mayor collapses in the road, and Lucio disappears. A moment later, a random car comes down the road and accidentally runs the mayor over.The counsellor has another conversation with the teacher, during which he expounds his increasingly crazy-sounding opinions about the ancient evil that pervades the town.The inspector goes to the town's judge to request records about the purchase and work on the hospital. She is hostile and obstructive, clearly hiding a secret. Nevertheless she grudgingly agrees to provide the requested documents. From this point on, the townspeople are increasingly hostile towards the inspector.
A couple of townspeople are seen having a fight after a car crash, perhaps indicating the towns simmering hostility to everything, and its gradual unravelling.The judge sets up a national press conference, and in spite of her advisor's strong objections, she insists that the three returned children must be by her side.The inspector interviews the school teacher again, revealing that the teacher is a suspect. The teacher expounds further upon his theories.Sabrina's uncle is brought into the police station for stabbing his neighbour but the arresting officer confides to the inspector that it was actually Sabrina who stabbed the man. The man is covering for his niece. Whilst left alone, the uncle opens the crime folder left on the desk, and sees the mutilation done to the two boys. Both are missing their genitals and have many gouges in that area, as though somebody went crazy. The uncle is duly sickened at the sight.At the school, the children exit from the class and wait in the hall for an unknown reason with a normal babble of youthful activity. The headmistress accompanying them, glances out of the window and notices two children outside using the dangerous basketball hoop. She goes outside to warn them off, but as she passes the equipment, it immediately collapses. She comes back in, says something incomprehensible, then collapses, with the back of her skull bashed it. The basketball children come in, and they and all the other children simply wander off, seemingly oblivious to the dying woman on the floor.Julio's mother is bathing him. He is unresponsive, but she tells him how much he matters to her, she gets angry at his unresponsiveness and goes outside to seek consolation from her father. It is revealed in a flashback, that her father had sex with her, and Lucio is the product. When she returns, Julio is missing. She goes to find him and he is sitting naked in the shallow stream behind their house.She has a final flashback where it is revealed that she is seen deciding against drowning the baby - Lucio.The police discover the video of old Himmler dead from his fall, which has been filmed by one of the children and uploaded to the internet.The counsellor confronts the teacher Sergio about his apparent craziness, but the man reveals that he knows all about the town's unsavoury past and Lucio's conception. She is stunned into silence.The inspector visits the padre again, certain that the man is holding back information. The priest reveals that the whole town was disgusted by Lucio's mother. The inspector implies that the priest was moved to the town to avoid trouble elsewhere.The small child who drew the counsellor killing herself, turns up at her house and delivers a rope pre-tied in a noose. She picks it up stunned and clearly still unsettled from her conversation with Sergio.The judge holds a press conference with the three damaged children by her side. She goes on a self-righteous tirade against sex offenders, and midway through gets a nosebleed which rapidly grows to an unstoppable torrent of blood. She collapses to the floor, presumably dying, whilst the three kids wander off, followed by the town children.On the recommendation of Lucio's mother, the inspector goes looking for Juan who lives in an old caravan. The children are already there. One of them is filming everything on his phone as always. In a flashback, Juan is seen murdering Lucio, Sabrina and Lionel one after the other. He strips their bodies, takes the clothes, then leaves the basement, distraught at what he has done.Lucio enters the caravan and Juan tearfully apologises, saying "I didnt want to hurt you." In a flashback, Juan witnesses Lucio's mother and father sleeping together, and Juan says that the boy was "born of evil."
He sees Lucio sitting with his hands cupped in his lap and says "I never touched you there". Lucio says, "I know. You left us. The dogs came. We were just meat". A wild dog is seen gnawing at something.The counsellor is seen hanging herself.The detective races to interview Juan.Lucio shows tenderness to Juan. He says, "You need to resolve this".Juan gets into his minivan with the three children, and starts hurtling along desolate high mountain roads. They pass the inspector going the other way. Lucio tenderly strokes Juans cheeks, then presses the mans knee down, forcing him to push the gas pedal. Juan does not resist. The other two kids move close, almost tender, happy at last. The van flies off the road and tumbles hundreds of feet down the steep mountainside before bursting into flames. Sergio, the school teacher stands on the remote road, inexplicably in the right place at the right time and watches the van burn.The scene changes to show the three children, happy and normal, playing alone on a beach as sun sets.The credits roll. | murder | train | imdb | null |
tt0129871 | Desperation | In the Nevada desert, a couple, Peter (Henry Thomas) and Mary (Annabeth Gish) Jackson are driving and pass by a 50 mile speed limit sign which a dead cat has been tied to. Mary points it to Peter, who was driving and didn't see it. Soon they are followed by a police car. Without rhyme or reason, they are stopped by a sheriff, Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman). He soon learns they are in possession of marijuana. In response, he takes them to jail. After they enter the police station, they see a little girl, dead, on the floor and Collie shoots and kills Peter. Mary is thrown in a jail cell along with a young boy called David Carver (Shane Haboucha), his parents, Ralph (Matt Frewer) and Ellen "Ellie" Carver (Sylva Kelegian), and an old man, Tom Billingsley (Charles Durning). It's also learned the little girl is the Carver's daughter named Pie Carver (Sammi Hanratty). In jail, David is praying to God and he's been doing it because of his best friend, Brian Ross (Darren Victoria). David and Brian were riding bikes just as a crazy drunk guy (Glenn Wilder) in a car was coming towards them. David saves himself while the car hits Brian's bike making him fly. The car crashes and injures the man while Brian flies and smashes his face on a nearby house, causing David to pray for him, which works. The doctor at the hospital where Brian had to go called it a "miraculous recovery".Meanwhile, Steve Ames (Steven Weber) is in his moving company truck following famous author John Edward "Johnny" Marinville (Tom Skerritt) who is 50 miles up ahead. Steve soon picks up a young female hitchhiker named Cynthia Smith (Kelly Overton). Johnny stops in the desert to urinate just as Collie shows up behind him and puts the same weed with the smiley tag he got from Peter and Mary under Johnny's motorcycle seat and "arrests" him, not after dancing in front of him singing out "You say tomeito, I say tomato" and then punching him. Johnny phones Steve but the connection is very bad, and they can't almost make out what the other one is saying. While Collie is driving Johnny to the village, he sneezes and blood stains the front mirror.Later, David realizes Entragian's skin is breaking out and he keeps saying "Tak" because he is possessed. Collie then takes Ellen so he can shift his spirit into her body and puts a vicious dog in charge of things. Pie's ghost appears, at the beginning jumping rope and looking quite happy and contented in heaven, and gives David a bar of soap although the sheriff, with a bleeding face, appears in spirit to scare Pie away. However, the bar of soap appears inside the jail magically. The young boy proceeds to scrub his body with the soap and while the dog is distracted by the rest of the prisoners, David slips through the bars of the jail cell and gets out of the room, although his head seemd to be about to become stuck between two bars. David searches the police station and finds a gun on the corpse of another sheriff. He returns to shoot the guarding dog to free everyone.Meanwhile, Steve drives up to where Johnny was arrested by Entragian to find Johnny's motorcycle hidden behind dry bushes. Cynthia and Steve later search the town of Desperation, where they find all the residents dead. That night, they both meet up with the gang. They gather at a theater and Tom tells a story that took place 120 years ago, when Chinese workers digging in a mine discovered an evil spirit named "Tak." The now possessed Ellen sends in a mountain lion and Tom is killed. Mary is captured by Ellen so that she can have a new body.David sees the ghost of Pie in the theater again and she leads him to the movie editing machine revealing the truth of how Tak came to the town. Pie tells her brother to watch a particular piece of film and he does so. There, he can see how Chinese miners were beaten and mistreated by the white overseers. They don't retaliate until they find a particular room in a cave and a spirit dust makes them violent. With their pickaxes, the miners kills many ex-owner. The mine gets blown in the process. Two Chinamen are about to be hanged, because everybody thinks they were the culprits of the mine sabotage. However, when they are standing in the scaffold, they began to change physically, becoming monsters of their own and showing that they have been possessed by Tak. David becomes entranced while seeing the film, until he is rescued.Mary wakes up to find herself trapped in a shed waiting to be the next host for Tak. With the help of Pie, she manages to escape, while seriously injuring Ellen's body forcing Tak to take over the body of a raven.Johnny later confesses 40 years ago in Vietnam he (Tom Parker) saw a guy, possessed by Tak, blow up the bathroom of a bar killing 87 people. The group decides to return to the cave with some explosives they found to put an end to Tak. At the entrance, a vulture comes out and kills Ralph. In order to redeem himself, Johnny goes into the mine and falls in a hole leading to a small hole where Tak is. His motorbike helmet kind of protects him from the yellowy dust which is the shape of Tak while it is not possessing a body. The arm of that yellowy substance pulls Johnny in the well. They can talk to each other while Johnny is doing his thing. Tak tries to convince Johnny to let him / it be, promising anything he may wish for. Johnny is in huge pain. Johnny ignites the explosives, blowing up the mine while the rest of survivors drive away in Steve's truck.They drive through the avalanche and the fire which ensue. The dust arising from the explosion, as seen by the survivors from the town looks as the mushroom from a nuclear bomb. They enter their vehicle once again, just in case. Along the route driving away from the town, they pass by the RV vehicle owned by David's family and Peter's sister's car. Mary tells Steve to stop the truck to retrieve an overnight package from the car. In the back seat Mary finds an album belonging to Pie, which Steve identifies as being signed by Johnny. | insanity, violence, murder, storytelling, flashback | train | imdb | Besides a mediocre performance from Tom Skeritt this adaptation of Steven Kings 600+ page novel is up to par with some of his best big screen productions.
If you read the book you'll notice that they changed little things to get with the times, like the hitchhikers shirt instead of being Pete Tesh is Bob Dylan, and there's a small reference towards the end to Donald Rumsfeld and Adam Sandler.When I saw that there was going to be a TV movie version of this book I was worried because of the graphic sequences needed to do Desperation justice.
Everyone else was good, down to the Chinese actors who had absolutely no lines.In summary if you read the book you will like this movie the only thing that wasn't in the movie was the tree-house that David went to in his mind (not necessarily a bad thing).
I could go on and on about how the acting is terrible and the script sounds like it was written by a middle schooler and the cheap special effects for TAK, but i'm just gonna leave it at...trust me...read the book, skip the movie.
This has to be, by far, the worst movie adaptation of a Stephen King book ever, and that's definitely saying something.The script is absolutely terrible, with the characters saying some of the most unbelievable and bizarre comments that I've ever heard.
The acting is sufficiently B grade for a bad horror film, and the plot fantastically predictable.One of the most painful things about the movie is the complete lack of a connection between the actors or characters.
Even when the script indicates a strong emotional connection, there is no spark between the actors.Like with most Stephen King adaptations, the storyline skips ahead rapidly in parts, with characters discussing issues which were introduced in the book but omitted in the movie -- so they come as a complete surprise, or just as a confusing side remark that leaves the audience wondering where the heck it suddenly came from.
Well-done television adaptation of the Stephen King horror novel proves not only to be quite faithful to the novel, but an enjoyable treat for any horror fan.Folks driving through rural Nevada are being captured by a crazed policeman, but something far more evil is at work in the town of Desperation.Director Mick Garris is no stranger to the works of author Stephen King, in fact I believe this is his sixth film adaptation of one of King's stories.
Between Garris directing and King himself having written the screenplay, Desperation comes off as a very faith adaptation that also keeps the same sense of suspense and bizarre atmosphere of the novel.
When Stephen King's work started being turned into movies, they were always great, but the newer stuff, has really been hit or miss.
Unfortunately, about half way through this film, the movie changes focus to young David, played by the kid from the Stacy's Mom video, Shane Haboucha.
So I am a big fan of Stephen King novels and movies alike and there is rarely a time i argue about a movie that deviates from a book.
It runs at about two and half hours and – sometimes – feels every bit as long.It's about a collection of various characters who all get (unfairly) 'caught' by – the slightly unhinged – Sheriff of a town in the middle of nowhere, subtly called 'Desperation.' Then, once incarcerated inside his cells, they have to come up with a way of escaping from more than just the immediate bars that surround them.First of all, it's worth mentioning that we have Ron Perlman on the cast list, who – as usual – turns in a brilliant performance as the afore-mentioned nutter-Sheriff.
for the most part, like most Stephen King movies (not all), this was a B-rate film!
For me, movies are good if you get so caught up in them you feel it's real, but with the "redrum" stuck on the wall it brought up "The Shining" and it kind of ruined the pace.The one thing I did like was the solid acting by the actor who played Collie.
One of the problems in translating such a novel to the screen is to keep intact the cohesive eerie feel that the whole book has, and the organic way King links the horror and religious aspects of the text.
I have not read the Stephen King book, but if it's anything like the movie I'm not missing anything.
No way does it stand a chance with the Stephen King favorites like "The Stand" and "IT!" Did it ever explain how the town got in that condition and who this demon was possessing people?!
I have been an avid King fan for years but all I can say is I hope the book was better than the movie.
At the end of the film a yearbook magically appears in the back of a car they decide to look at on their way out of the area and inside it there is a photograph of 2 people who died during the film (and had not previously met before the adventure) holding hands etc etc so they all give thanks to god and pray.Apart from various other goofs, there are some good points which horror fans will enjoy: Sudden and rather meaningless killings seemingly just for the hell of it.
Acting varied lot, but in average it was good I think; at least it didn't bother me.If you like movies with mysteries and battle between the true evil and true good give a shot and watch this film..
Ron Perlman makes this movie work he is just as written in the book,their are various scenes lifted directly from the page to the screen in a deft and exacting manor.
He captured the character from the book totally and was the best character interpretation from any actor.I get a bit miffed when I read other peoples reviews in here, and how they are put off by the religious content of film.
The fans of King should enjoy this movie for one simple reason; it follows the book very closely (thanks to the screenplay of the master himself) and it is always a joy to see his works come to life on the screen and produced with a generous budget..
If you haven't seen the movie yet, I recommend reading the book first, and If you really like the story, then watch the movie, if you just thought the book was OK then pass on the film.
In my opinion, this is one of the best stories I have ever heard, I hope they make a re-make of the movie, or make a really good sequel to it based on the second book called "the regulators" I'm in the middle of reading that one now, so I can't really judge it yet, but so far it's 2 thumbs up, just like the first one..
When watching this movie and the end, I know a lot of people were disappointed...But you have to remember, Stephen King's movies are based on his books, and Desperation is not a lone story -- it ties in with The Regulators.
OK were to start.I'm a massive Stephen king fan but recently I've been disappointed in 2 TV productions of his, this and nightmares and dreams capes.1} now the film stared of OK, started like hills have eyes kind of.then it went downhill, little boy's character was prolly the only one acting in the film, Ron pearlman's dialect was hard for people with half a brain to understand loll my girlfriend was asking too many questions loll2} most of the film was SO obvious it was unreal.
The whole god thing is in there which is good as the film is an adaptation of said book.Every time a new Stephen King book is made into a film everyone goes on about it not being as good but i think this one has done the book justice.
I read Desperation (and its twin, the Regulators) years ago when they were released and like most King novels, though "gee, this would be a good movie if done right." I never knew about the miniseries and found it here on IMDb. Upon that discovery, my internal argument went: "Five stars, meh.
The movie itself plays out more like a horror flick of King's in the vein of Carrie or his earlier work, which is not a bad thing, but I felt it detracted from the deeper story underneath at times.
Kudos to King for providing the back story that is necessary to the plot in a concise way that the movie format needed instead of trying to weave it in more subtly.My wife, having not read the book, had more questions about what was going on at times but agreed that it kept her interest right up through the end.
I read this book some years ago and at the time thought what a great movie it would make.
This is the DVD version, I'm not sure if it differs from the TV version.I read this book a few years ago and thought it was one of Kings best novels.
It's fun to watch a movie come together so poorly that a scene with Charles Durning, Matt Frewer, Stephen Weber and Tom Skerrit can actually unfold in a way that makes you wince at the ham fisted delivery of dialogue that sounds like it's coming from a poorly rehearsed high school play.
Additionally, a scene where retired town veterinarian Charles Durning explains the history of Desperation brings the movie to a halt (in their defense, I don't know where else King or Garris could have inserted this necessary bit of exposition).But when all is said and done, "Desperation" is a keeper.
A film can be true to a book and still be awful because the original material is so ridiculous.Had this film/book perhaps not included an actual 'holy' presence and simply someone who believed they would be saved, who subsequently got offed in some gruesome manner and therefore put in their place, it would have made it sooo much better :P I really think personally that Ron Pearlman was wasted in that respect as he played the role so well, only to be thwarted by a little boy and his 'god' + a green bar of soap, bah, what a crock.So rarely you see a good horror/thriller these days where evil prevails in some way, shape or form and gives religion the kick in the teeth it deserves.After seeing this film and being told that King's films are often based on religion, I don't think I'll be watching any more of them, its such a spoiler to an otherwise cracking set and great acting.That being said, for the couple of laughs, especially at the end (not funny if you are religious I suppose as you may find praying a serious business), the acting by Peralman and some decent horror sequences, I'll give it a 3.5 (or 3 as there's no .5).
As much as I admire King, I never even read the book after learning of the plot, the first book of his I missed.Anyway, like I said, routine, and pretty good considering who made it, which I'm sure many will echo.
Stephen King is a good writer but this is without discussion his worst movie.It's got a bad plot and a bad story.
"Stephen King's Desperation" is a fine if somewhat-flawed entry.**SPOILERS**Moving to the Nevada Desert, Mary Jackson, (Annabeth Gish) is arrested by Collie Entragian, (Ron Perlman) a local policeman and hauled off to the town's jail.
The Shining was the only movie/book worth watching/reading coming from Steven King.
This is one of the most pathetic tries to make money based on a trademark (Stephen King's).All the common tricks seen in old-fashioned movies, those that maybe 10 or 20 years ago could produce some kind of fear and surprise on us, well, you will see them one more time.
The question is, what can someone really expect of a film based on a Stephen King's movie?
But that goes for all the characters I've mentioned here.The rest of the cast fits pretty well, Ron Pearlman, should have played a bit more on the false sense of security and kindness Entragian originally uses.The speed of the movie, I don't get.
I think this was a good way to spend time watching a movie if you're a Stephen King fan.
It seemed like everyone in the movie was acting in a high school play written by a social retard whose perception of human interaction was forged only through reading comic books and Judy Bloom novels.
Desperation is a horror movie based on the novel by Stephen King.The film has a very interesting plot narration where in the initial 30-40 minutes the whole action takes place along a highway.
One of the good TV movies based on Stephen King's novels.
Once things finally pick up, out of nowhere 25 minutes from the end of the movie some story is given about miners and it is never really connected in the film to what has happened up to that point.
I love the book Desperation (ok, big King fan, I admit) and I adored The Stand and The Shining (I thought the The Shining miniseries was amazing) but this movie...
Now I know it's always a gamble with Stephen King adaptions from book to film.
Whether or not you're a fan of Stephen King (books of movies) this film should be avoided at all costs!.
Wait, Stephen King didn't write "The Apostle," and this was actually "Desperation..." The book was far better, as I remember.
I've Read the Book Roundabouts of Twenty or so times, one of my Favorite SK Novels and Am Quite Displeased with both Characters and Ending of movie.Point A.
The characters especially David Carver talk a lot about faith and God and although King always has a bit of a religious tone to his books in one form or another this film especially really does preach a faith driven message.
Instead of having her in the story they just gave Tom (the old drunk who lived in Desperation) more lines to describe things and keep the audience up to speed although it was still way confusing if you didn't read the book.
Also, They didn't show them trying to escape and the road being blocked, which if I didn't read the book I'd be like, "what the hell is your problem, just drive out of town, why are you still there?"What really bothered me though, is this - David had these voices he heard, which were meant to be the voice of God. In the movie it was his dead sister talking to him.
It all came together in a really cool way like an episode of Lost and was the coolest thing about the book and NONE OF IT HAPPENED in the movie.
And the worst part is, if I try to tell someone how good the book is and they've seen the movie they're gonna be like, "oh yeah, I saw that on TV.
If you haven't seen this movie version of "Desperation" then I say you should definitely read the book if you like Stephen King novels.
I haven't read the book which is an adaptation of Stephen King to the screen so I can't tell you how close to it this film is.
However there are many blanks and failures in the plot which can make you really confused and angry with it.But what stroke me most was the fact that it was the first movie I've ever seen which is called thriller and involves god and religion so much at times that you feel you are watching an informative show about religion being led by a 15 years old boy who seems to know the gist but gets entangled at the same time.What really annoyed me was that stupid correlation with TAK "god" which makes ordinary people wonder "this film involves the god we all know with...
Like I said, lazy.Without these flaws it could have been a good movie, but as it is you might want to look for something better to spent your time on..
So when I saw that a made-for-TV film based on Desperation was out there, I felt compelled to check it out.The characters read very much the same dialogue from the book (the teleplay was written by King), but they lack the conviction and emotional balance that was a big part of the book.
It's not rife with bad attempts as wit, just a dude who's losing his family and is going through hell.Shane Haboucha SEEMS like he's giving a go at the same thing (and he CAN act, quite good, I've seen him on Law & Order, CSI, and Monk), but both the script and the director (Mick Garris, in his sixth Stephen King adaptation) seemed to pass him off as a breathy, holier than thou zealot that's totally unlike the book's version of David.
I watched this after I read the novel, which I thought was awesome.The actors I thought were pretty good, especially Ron Pearlman who played the psychopathic cop, Collie Entragian.
Steve King's work is often changed dramatically from print to movie (see Dreamcatcher as an example, much better as a book), so I was surprised to see how well it followed the novel.
And I think it was the best Stephen King movie ever!.
If you have not yet read the novel or seen the TV Movie, reader discretion is advised.) I am a fan of Stephen King.
One movie of adaptation of one of King's books that I can recommend is "The Green Mile".
I'm glad to see that there are others still making good stories and movies.I want my time back.
i never read the book but i liked the movie so i'll try to get it someday.
Desperation is classic Stephen King good v evil. |
tt0390521 | Super Size Me | As the film begins, Spurlock, age 32 at the time the movie was filmed in 2003, is physically above average, as attested to by three doctors (a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner), as well as a nutritionist and a personal trainer. He enlists all three to track his health during the month-long binge. All of the health professionals predict the "McDiet" will have unwelcome effects on his body, but none expects anything too drastic, one citing the human body as being "extremely adaptable." Prior to the experiment, Spurlock ate a varied diet but always had vegan evening meals to appease his then-girlfriend (now wife), Alexandra, a vegan chef. At the beginning of the experiment, Spurlock, who stands 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall, had a body weight of 185.5 lb (84.1 kg).Spurlock starts the month with breakfast near his home in Manhattan, where there are an average of four McDonald's (and 66,950 residents, and twice as many commuters) per square mile (2.6 km²). He also elects to ride in taxis more often, since he aims to keep the distances he walks in line with the 5,000 steps (approximately two miles) walked per day by the average American. Spurlock has several stipulations which govern his eating habits:He must fully consume three McDonald's meals per day (at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time).
He must sample every item on the McDonald's menu at least once over the course of the 30 days (he managed this in nine days).
He must only ingest items that are offered on the McDonald's menu. This includes bottled water. Any and all outside consumption of food is prohibited.
He must SuperSize the meal when asked, but only when asked. He is not able to SuperSize by his own accord.
He will attempt to walk about as much as a typical U.S citizen, based on a suggested figure of 5,000 standardized distance steps per day,[5] but he did not closely adhere to this, as he walked relatively more while in New York than Houston.
Day 2 brings Spurlock's first Super Size meal, at the McDonald's on 34th Street and Tenth Avenue, which happens to be a meal made of a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Super Size french fries, and a 42 ounce Coke, which takes 52 minutes to eat. He experiences steadily increasing stomach aches during the process, and promptly throws up in the McDonald's parking lot.After five days Spurlock has gained almost 10 pounds (4.5 kg) (from 185.5 to about 195 pounds). It is not long before he finds himself with a feeling of depression, and he claims that his bouts of depression, lethargy, and headaches are relieved by a McDonald's meal. One doctor describes him as "addicted." He has soon gained another 8 pounds (3.5 kg), putting his weight at 203.5 lb (92 kg). By the end of the month he weighs about 210 pounds (95.5 kg), an increase of about 24.5 pounds (about 11 kg). Because he could only eat McDonald's food for a month, Spurlock refused to take any medication at all. At one weigh-in Morgan lost 1 lb. from the previous weigh-in, but it was hypothesized by a nutritionist that he had lost muscle mass, which weighs more than an identical volume of fat.Spurlock's girlfriend, Alexandra Jamieson, attests to the fact that Spurlock has lost much of his energy and sex drive during his experiment. It was not clear at the time if Spurlock would be able to complete the full month of the high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, and friends and family began to express concern.In Day 21, Spurlock has heart palpitations. Consultation with his concerned internist, Dr. Daryl Isaacs advises him to stop what he is doing immediately to avoid any serious health problems. He compares Spurlock with the protagonist played by Nicolas Cage in the movie Leaving Las Vegas who deliberately drinks himself to death over a similar time period. Despite this warning, Spurlock decides to continue the experiment.Spurlock makes it to day 30 and achieves his goal. In thirty days, he "Supersized" his meals nine times along the way (five of which were in Texas, three in New York City). All three doctors are surprised at the degree of deterioration in Spurlock's health. One of them states that the irreversible damage done to his heart could cause a heart attack even if he lost all the weight gained during the experiment. He notes that he has eaten as many McDonald's meals as most nutritionists say the ordinary person should eat in 8 years (he ate 90 meals, which is close to 8 years of eating it once a month).Findings
Text at the conclusion of the movie states that it took Spurlock 5 months to lose 20 pounds (9 kg) and another 9.5 months to lose the last 4.5 pounds. His girlfriend Alexandra Jamieson, a vegan chef, began supervising his recovery with her "detox diet," which became the basis for her book, The Great American Detox Diet."The bottom line, they're a business, no matter what they say, and by selling you unhealthy food, they make millions, and no company wants to stop doing that."The movie ends with a rhetorical question, "Who do you want to see go first, you or them?" with a cartoon tombstone for Ronald McDonald ("1954-2012") as a backdrop. The cartoon of the tombstone originated in The Economist where it appeared in an article addressing the ethics of marketing toward children.In the DVD release of the movie, a short epilogue was added about McDonald's discontinuation of the Super Size option six weeks after the movie's premiere, as well as its recent emphasis on healthier menu items such as salads, and the release of the new adult happy meal. However, it is shown that the salads can contain even more calories than hamburgers, if the customer adds liberal amounts of cheese and dressing onto them prior to consumption. It is claimed by McDonald's that these changes had nothing to do with the film.Another issue that Spurlock focuses on is the way McDonald's targets young children with ads before the kids themselves realize how harmful the food is. In the movie, Spurlock jokes that he will battle the socialization of his children by punching them in the face every time they pass a McDonald's so that the golden arches do not elicit happy memories | comedy, boring, entertaining, clever | train | imdb | My only fear of this film is that many viewers will look at McDonalds and say 'they are to blame, lets get them' and simply ignore that it is very easy to eat an unhealthy diet go to any supermarket and you'll find 'easy' food served up quickly but without the things your body needs.
I was challenged because I can easily veg out for several days and be too tired to cook decent food and this reminded me why I need to hopefully many viewers will take that challenge and not just turn from one fatty diet (McDonalds) to another (ready meals).I personally didn't find the film as funny nor as shocking as many commentators have said it was but it was still consistently entertaining and interesting, true not the most scientific of experiments but that is not the point.
True, very few people eat McDonalds every day but many, many people do eat foods high in saturated fats everyday even if they are not all happy meals and, in this way, maybe Spurlock's experiment wasn't so far-fetched and, lets be honest, like their own lobbyist said McDonalds are part of the problem.
It may seem unfair and I can understand why McDonalds has been quick to counter it and call it unfair and, in a way it is unfair why should they carry the whole blame for an overwhelming surge in unhealthy eating, but I suppose that's what you get for being the market leaders!Overall this was a very entertaining film that mixes its gimmick well with humour but also a good core of a documentary with interesting talking heads who don't rant or rave but simply look to the figures in most cases.
However, I would say this; if you only see this film to sneer at those visibly unhealthy or to tear a strip off McDonalds then you are missing the bigger point it is easy to eat unhealthy, cheap food no matter what brand it is eating it every day and having a poor diet is a major problem and, if nothing else this should challenge all of us to look at our own habits and not just point and laugh at others..
Think there's a connection?In "Super Size Me", a documentary from talented debut filmmaker Morgan Spurlock that manages to be both entertaining and horrifying, he attempts to draw a parallel between the fast food culture we live in and the rampant (and ever-increasing) rate of obesity in America.
How children could be expected to show "personal responsibility" above and beyond that exhibited by their likely-obese parents in such an environment of brand franchising, 2nd-rate meal "programs", and cutbacks in PE/recess time is a matter that I invite all fast-food apologists at IMDb to explore.For pure entertainment value, I have to deduct points for an uneven pace (especially near the end) and insufficient exposition from some of the people in the film.
This documentary film by Morgan Spurlock asks the intriguing and topical question: What would happen to a normal 33-year-old man in perfect health who stands six feet two and weighs 185 pounds if he ate nothing but McDonald's fast food for thirty days?Well, it is not recorded that he shrunk.
In fact, Spurlock, forsaking his vegan girlfriend's healthy cuisine, gained about 25 pounds and saw his cholesterol level shoot up to dangerous levels as he huffed and puffed his way three times a day through myriad Big Macs and fillet o' fish sandwiches, milk shakes, sodas, fries and other not-so-delicate items from the menu of the world's largest purveyor of fast food.
However, some people feel that the advertising has been so insidious for so long and the food so addictive to susceptible individuals that McDonald's ought to be taken to court just as the tobacco companies have been.For more information on the epidemic, its consequences, and what can be done about it, I refer the interested reader to The Hungry Gene: The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin by Ellen Ruppel Shell; Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fastest People in the World by Eric Critser; and Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.
His girlfriend, a vegan chef no less, looks forward to the month with a mixture of humor and alarm."Supersize Me" has lots of scientific information on the nature of fast food and its impact on an America that eats out more than it dines at home, a change from a past where mom or a wife faithfully prepared most meals.
Nutritionists decry the change in our culture, educators point out the impact of fast food in school cafeterias on kids' health, a former Surgeon General gravely decries the menace and the usual person-on-the-street suspects shock viewers by their bumbling inability to define such terms as "calories." A food industry spokesman is blithely unaware that he is being set up to look like an ass.
Since congress passed the "Cheeseburger Bill" which states that you cannot sue McDonald's (or any other fast-food establishment) for making you fat, here's my take: If "Super Size Me" caused McDonald's business to suffer in any way, shape or form, no way can they sue Morgan Spurlock for making this movie.
Morgan Spurlock's documentary, "Super Size Me," is an eye-opening look at the world of fast food, and the McDonald's company in particular.
The most shocking aspect of this film was seeing the effect this has on our most valuable asset: today's children.Until I watched this movie, I did not realize how many public schools have allowed commercial fast food restaurants to infiltrate their school lunch programs.
When I first heard about Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary "Super Size Me", I was pretty jaded, because common sense would dictate that if one eats fast food, they are going to have weight and health issues.
Indeed, this is what happened to Spurlock, however the magnitude of the health deterioration was astounding.Presented in a sometimes humorous format, "Super Size Me" is an experiment conducted by Spurlock in which he would only eat McDonald's food, three times a day, with the caveats that he would have to eat everything off the menu at least once, and that he would limit his exercise to the amount of exercise the "average" American gets per day.
Other than the experiment itself, "Super Size Me" is peppered with facts about the fast food industry and various interviews with industry insiders.I definitely found the film enjoyable, and somewhat informative (though having read Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a lot of the information was old news) but there was something missing that is hard to grasp; perhaps the film needed a little more substance and cold hard facts instead of watching him constantly eat.
and fast food.Determined to get under the sagging skin of America's dysfunctional eating habits by existing on a McDonald's-only diet for one entire month, Morgan Spurlock deftly shows how closely these three are related.Eating three squares a day from the chain's menu and going super size whenever he's invited to do so, it's a long and painful odyssey as he throws up his first lunch and surfs downhill on a tide of grease from there.Even with regular medicals, it's not long before the processed fats, sugar and salt are turning his liver to paté, piling on the flab, killing his libido and leaving him depressed, lethargic and fighting off headaches relieved only by the next fix of junk food.In fairness to the Golden Arches, Spurlock guns for America's eating habits and the fast food industry as a whole, but there's little doubting McDonald's is among the worst offenders the way it ruthlessly markets itself at children is perfectly captured with a montage of Ronald McDonald capering with the kids to Curtis Mayfield's Pusher Man.In a gluttonous First World intent on filling its boots with unhealthy, unethical garbage, Spurlock's is an intelligent, perceptive and often droll plea for sense and moderation not to mention essential viewing for parents and anyone else who thinks the siren song of fast food is just a bit of harmless fun..
Morgan Spurlock's film is based on an experiment that uses himself as a guinea pig in which he ingests nothing but food and beverages sold by McDonald's for 30 days to see the results.
Super Sized Ego. The startling conclusion of this documentary is that if you stuff yourself with nothing but junk food and take no exercise for 30 days you'll get fat, and your body chemistry will be so banged up that on paper you'll look more like a flashlight battery than a human being..Spurlock must be an interesting guy.
In "Super Size Me", Morgan Spurlock takes a look "behind the counter", so to speak, in order to show us what that business really looks like.The premise of Spurlock's little experiment is quite simple: He will eat nothing but McDonald's food for an entire month (three meals a day), and has to super-size the meal if asked.
I have had an overeating problem my entire life.I have frequented all of the big name fast food joints you can name.I have always known that this was not the healthiest food in the world,but something over the years has always kept me going back.When I rented this film,I pretty much knew what to expect going in.Something told me that this man was going to really drive the point home about how unhealthy this food really is.Really,I was hoping to be scared into going on a permanent diet.It worked,at least for the most part.I watched this film about two months ago,and I have been on a diet since.I won't lie and say that I haven't been to a fast food place since.I have.I get in a hurry sometimes and don't have time to grab anything that's healthy.Part of the reason these places exist is because they know we often get in a hurry and have little choice but to get something that's made quickly.
For the most part though,I have eaten a lot healthier since viewing this,and I have shed pounds and am feeling much better,though there is a long way to go.This movie frightened me as well as any horror flick has over the years.Who would have thought a documentary could do that?I did object though to the scene where the film's maker,Morgan Spurlock,lost his lunch out of his car window.I don't believe it was necessary to see this.Otherwise,it was a true eye opener.It won't be going in my personal video collection though.Once is enough..
He would eat nothing but McDonalds for 30 days to see what would happen to him, highlighting the health consequences of over indulging in fast food--trying to explain the "obesity epidemic" that is taking place in the United States.But, what goes down has been proved to be incorrect and wrong.
And with his nutrition logs for that times never being disclosed, there's no way to prove anything.The documentary, by Spurlock, implies that people who eat fast food are lazy people who won't lift a finger if it doesn't mean picking up a hamburger.
Spurlock's documentary also suggests that people who eat fast food are stupid and the fast food industry is holding a gun to our heads to get that value meal or "super size"; which isn't true.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead (preferably not a McDonalds!)*Avoid At All CostsDocumentary film-maker Morgan Spurlock attempts to eat nothing but McDonalds for a month.He sets himself a few ground rules:1.)He must try everything on the McDonalds menu at least once.2.)He must eat a McDonalds snack for the three main meals of the day,breakfast,lunch and teatime.3.)If ever he is offered the chance to go "super-size" (which he frequently is) he must do so.Along the way,he enlists the help of three medical experts who monitor his health as he pursues his experiment.My interest in this film up to the point of actually going to see it fluctuated from eagerly anticipating going to see it when I first heard of it,to turning against it shortly after it's release after starting to consider the premise rather stupid.But having looked forward to it for so long,I decided to go and see it just to be sure.And,while Spurlock's idea remains a little silly,the film does itself an almighty favour by casting an all round critical eye on America's obesity epidemic without focusing on the knawingly irritating premise too much.We learn of the 19 and 14 year old girls who unsuccessfully attempted to sue the McDonalds Corporation for causing their overweightness problems,how they entice kids into their unhealthy eating plan with indoor play areas,merchandising gifts inside kids happy meals and such and how their empire has expanded into such unlikely locations as airports,service stations and even hospitals!All this manages to keep the film on an engaging track,along with all the other interesting facts and figures we learn along the way.The film hardly ever manages to be as funny and to apply as much comic relief as it had the potential to,scenes of graphic surgery and Spurlock vomiting will doubtless upset any particularly sensitive viewers out there and the film does sort of manage to drag a bit towards the end.But that's it's bad points.2004 has been the year of the documentary,and along with Michael Moore's box office breaking Fahrenheit 9/11,this attention-catching flick has managed to be an earning little gem.It is a documentary,and certainly worthy of it's title,as,despite it's flaws,it still manages to engage you right through to the end.It obviously didn't have that much of an effect on me though!Where did I go straight after seeing it?!?Straight down Broad Street......for a McDonalds!!!****.
I believe, that most people already know that junk food isn't the healthiest of all options, but they accept it, thus they have to live with the consequences.As I said, on the DVD there's bonus material that sets a few things right, as well as some deleted scenes (one of which is actually quite alarming concerning the daily garbage McDonald's produces, another one with an interesting experiment with fries, on which further investigation would have been of interest).
But the director also wants to make a point here, and denunciate MCDonalds that encourages customers to eat more (super size your meal type of commercials and at the counter) and the other hand says that eating its food is not dangerous.And the fact of showing in a spectacular way (you can see his health getting worse day after day) the effects of eating mc do for a month in a movie for a large audience will probably make people realize them more.Foe example everybody knows that driving fast is dangerous and can cause death (this is obvious right ?), but many people need to see dead corpses and accidents to really realize it.
The film shows Morgan Spurlock's fast food journey over a month of eating only McDonald's everyday.
Concerned about the fact that America has become the fattest nation in the world Morgan Spurlock looks at the hypothesis that part of this tendency is due to the exaggerated amounts of fast food that people are eating combined with their lack of physical exercise.
Yes, most people know that this stuff is bad for us, yet millions of us still eat it, some of us with frightening repetitiveness.Anyone with an ounce of empathy will find watching this film to be a harsh experience, even if one doesn't indulge in fast food fatality-baiting themselves.
During those 30 days he has to try every item on the menu and supersize any meals where the staff ask him.In between detailing the dire effects on his health, Spurlock includes a series of more detailed studies of aspects of fast food culture, including talking about addiction, "heavy users" and "super-heavy users" (McDonalds' terminology apparently), children's meals, branding, the lobbying power of the food industry, legal issues...I would rate the movie as a must see - but only once.
It definitely overshadows any efforts by "documentary" maker Michael Moore, with his legendary "facts".Seeing the effects on the body of a month of eating at McDonald's 3 meals a day and as an analysis of their mass marketing techniques, this was thoughtful, insightful and well structured.Definitely a must see, and the only disconcerting thing was how much his GP looked like Saddam Hussein !
Whats so effective about Super Size Me is that it takes a truism like fast food is junk and bad for the system, a fact self-evident to most but not important enough to effect their eating habits, and cystializes it, making it a real threat as opposed to an abstract danger that a lot of people acknowledge but don't act upon.
***No real spoilers ahead, as it is a documentary!***This was a great movie looking at the effects of fast food on a persons health.I know where it is coming from because I used to weigh 230 pounds (I am a barely 5'8" male) and lost 100 of them by cutting out bad fast food, as well as pasta, rice and other assorted heavy foods.After viewing this, my wife did not want to eat McDonalds again.
Interesting, illuminating documentary on the fast-food industry.Observing the obesity epidemic in the USA, a documentary film-maker, Morgan Spurlock, eats only MacDonalds meals, three times a day, for 30 days.
Morgan Spurlock's documentary "Super Size Me" shows just what a fast food diet will do to a person.
In the case of Super size Me, we have an individual, Morgan Spurlock, who makes a bet with himself that he will eat nothing but McDonald's food for a whole month and will record his progress through film.
The obvious reason is that the subject and conclusion of the movie finds relevance and resonance with a lot of people concerned about health and looks.Morgan Spurlock, writer, director and main "actor" in the documentary who seems like a health buff whose girlfriend is a vegetarian chef, undertakes to eat nothing but McDonald's fast foods for one month. |
tt0097814 | Majo no takkyûbin | After listening to a portable radio one afternoon, a young witch named Kiki goes to her parents, claiming that the evening would be perfect for her to leave home. Kiki's request is due to the custom that when a witch turns 13, she is to leave home and find a new place to settle. Naturally, Kiki's parents are sad to see her go, but Kiki is ecstatic to go on her big journey.That evening, her family and friends see her off. Kiki's mother gives Kiki her broom for the journey, and after a shaky takeoff, Kiki and her cat Jiji are on their way. Along the way, they encounter another young witch who has already found her town to reside in, and tells fortunes about love. Eventually, a thunderstorm causes Kiki and Jiji to seek shelter in a train car.The next day, the two depart, and find themselves near a seaside town. Kiki loves the environment, and soon finds out that there isn't a witch that resides there. Kiki almost gets in trouble when she almost causes a traffic accident, but manages to escape from the officer who accost her. However, her flying into town is seen by a young boy named Tombo, who seems to have developed an immediate crush on her. Kiki ignores him and intends to find a place to stay.She soon encounters a pregnant baker's wife named Osono, who is trying to return a pacifier that was left in her shop to a woman. Kiki offers to help, and returns to Osono with a thank you note from the woman. Osono also thanks Kiki by giving her some coffee, and providing Jiji with some cream. When Kiki explains that she is unsure where she can stay, Osono offers to allow her to lodge in a spare building on her and her husband's property. The structure is more of a storehouse, but Kiki doesn't mind, as it also provides a lovely view of the ocean. Jiji notes a white female cat at a nearby residence, but grows indignant when she seems to ignore him.The next day, Kiki wakes up and helps Osono and her husband get bread ready for the day. Overnight, Kiki has decided that her witch's talent will be to work as a delivery service. Kiki and Jiji then clean their new home, and then go out shopping. On a trip to get supplies, Kiki feels self-conscious when she sees some other girls walk by with nice clothes, compared to her dark purple witch's robes. Kiki and Jiji purchase supplies, but are also seen by the boy from the day before. When he claims that people can 'tell she's a witch' by her clothing, Kiki gets upset and walks away.Returning to the bakery, Osono claims that Kiki has a customer. A woman has arrived with a black stuffed cat toy (that looks just like Jiji!) in a birdcage, and wishes it delivered to her nephew. Kiki and Jiji head off to deliver it, but end up falling into some trees, where they rile a group of crows. The crows turn defensive, and Kiki and Jiji fly off. However, once they get away, Jiji notes that the toy cat has fallen out of the cage! Given that she has to deliver the gift by a specific time, Kiki has Jiji pretend to be the stuffed toy while she finds the real one.After delivering Jiji in the cage, Kiki returns to the forested area. Nearby, she finds a log cabin, and a young artist named Ursula. Kiki notices the stuffed cat in Ursula's cabin, but notes that has gotten damaged. Ursula offers to mend it if Kiki will help her clean her cabin. Finally, the job is done, and Kiki returns to collect Jiji and replace him with the stuffed toy.After her first delivery, business slows down considerably until one day when the bakery is visited by the young boy who Kiki saw from before. As he drops off an invitation to a party that evening, but Kiki suddenly finds her hands even more full when she receives a call for her services, and a man drops off a large parcel for delivery.Kiki delivers the parcel, and arrives at the house where the phone call was made. The old woman and her housemaid who lives there want Kiki to deliver a herring pie to her granddaughter for her birthday. The two older women note that the electrical oven is not working, but Kiki notices they have a wood-burning oven nearby. Having worked with one, Kiki helps the women cook the herring pie, and also helps them with a couple other chores around the house. However, when the hour grows late, Kiki quickly gets the pie and takes off, but runs into trouble when a rain storm breaks out.Kiki and Jiji arrive at the granddaughter's party, but are rather downtrodden to be soaked, and the granddaughter vocally criticizes that her grandmother sent her a herring pie even though she doesn't like them. Kiki and Jiji return to the bakery, and note the young boy leaving, carrying an umbrella. Instead of going down to see him, Kiki goes straight to her room.The next day, Osono finds Kiki has gotten sick from flying in the rain. She makes her some oatmeal to help her get better, and also mentions that the young boy came by earlier to see her. However, pretty sure that she did not want to be disturbed, Osono sent him away.Eventually, Kiki recovers, and Osono has a delivery assignment for Kiki. Kiki looks for Jiji, but instead finds him talking to the white cat he had seen earlier. Noting they seem to be having a nice time, Kiki leaves them be, and walks to the delivery spot.Upon arrival at the house, she is shocked to find the boy from before, and that he claims the delivery is for him! Kiki is relatively sure this was something that Osono and the boy put together to get him to meet her. The boy then introduces himself as Tombo, and shows Kiki a bicycle with a propeller on it that he showed at the party the other night. Tombo explains that it's part of a project to make a bicycle-propelled flying machine.Tombo offers Kiki a ride on the bicycle, and they pedal off down a coastal highway towards where a large dirigible is tied down. Kiki and Tombo have a quiet conversation until a few of Tombo's friends appear and offer to take him on a ride on the dirigible. Tombo invites Kiki along too, but she quietly leaves.Kiki returns home, but feels listless. When she tries to tell Jiji how she feels, she finds him only meow'ing to her. Kiki then realizes that she can't understand him anymore, and in a state of fear, attempts to fly on her broom, only to come crashing to the floor. Later on that evening, she attempts to do so on some hills near the store, but her attempts only end up breaking the broomstick's handle.Growing more listless, Kiki carves out a new broomstick, but perks up a little when Ursula shows up at the bakery to visit her.Kiki confides to Ursula about her powers becoming weak, and Ursula invites Kiki to come back to the cabin for a short stay.Upon arriving, Kiki finds that Ursula is working on a large painting, and would like to paint a portion of Kiki's face on it. During the session, Kiki confides into Ursula that magic used to come easily, but is wondering why it has stopped. Ursula tells Kiki that her magic sounds like her with art. Sometimes you just need to step back and take a little break, and it will most likely come back.At the end of her time away, Kiki calls Osono, who tells her the old woman she made a delivery for would like to see her again.Upon returning to the seaside town, Kiki stops by the woman's residence, who has fashioned a cake for Kiki as an added thank you for her services. However, the happy moment is interrupted when a television set tells of the dirigible in town being blown free of its moorings. As the airship is blown aloft, the camera captures an image of Tombo holding onto a rope, hanging from the airship.Kiki rushes out of the house, following the trail of the airship, but soon tires from running. When a street sweeper with a broom inquires if she's alright she asks to borrow his broom. After concentrating, Kiki starts to fly, and eventually makes her way towards the dirigible, which has crashed into the town clocktower.After Tombo loses his hold on the rope, Kiki swoops in to save him, and the crowd of people around them cheer on her rescue.After this, a series of images are shown to the audience- Tombo successfully finishes building his flying machine, and Kiki and him fly around the seaside area.- Osono has had her child.- Jiji and the female cat he met have had kittens.- Kiki's parents receive a letter from her, telling how even though life is not easy, she's doing well. | comedy, fantasy, cult, feel-good, psychedelic, romantic | train | imdb | Having already been familiar with and a great admirer of some of Miyazaki's other Ghibli films, including Princess Mononoke, I turned to Kiki's Delivery Service on the recommendation of someone who suggested it as "light-hearted" fun.
Being an eighteen-year-old male, I didn't think it would be much more than thata guilty pleasure to indulge in once in a while, something I could watch and then say, "Aw, what a cute film!" But Kiki's Delivery Service is so much more than "light-hearted fun." For one, it is a beautifully animated work of cinematic art, with Miyazaki's usual flair for gorgeous landscapes and astonishing detail.
As in his recent films Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Miyazaki's brush paints a beautiful world.There is not much to be said about the plot itself: Kiki is a 13-year-old witch who has just left home to begin a year of training on her own, and she moves to a seaside European town, befriends a husband and wife baker, and sets up a flying delivery service.What sets Kiki's Delivery Service apart from many of Miyazaki's other works is the personal, rather than epic, nature of the story.
In fact, the doldrums of life are what form the heart of this film, as Kiki finds that she begins to lose her witch's abilities and can no longer fly.Kiki's Delivery Service is a masterpiece, one of my all-time favorite films, and Kiki's search for the heart within herself is a tale that adults may appreciate more than their children.
Even though the movie a about a witch, the only supernatural acts in the movie are Kiki flying on a broom and talking to her cat.The movie is about a young girl witch who leaves home with her cat Jiji, moves to a new town, and starts a delivery service.
This may seem a rehash of the previous comments, but I only now got to see the Disney dubbed release.I owned a bootleg copy of Kiki while it was still in Japanese theaters; I fell in love with the movie after first seeing the spectacle of the dirigible crash near the tail end.
Though not as entertaining for real young children as Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro, pre-teens with a long attention span (nearly two hours) and who prefer pacing and atmosphere over flashing lights and singing characters will likely love this movie.
While the animation is amazing and the characters are colourful, the best thing about his films is that they have heart.Miyazaki's beautiful 'Majo no takkyûbin' tells the story of a young witch who travels to a new city in order to make it on her own.
Kiki, whose best and only skill is flying, ups broomstick and leaves for a coastal town, where she befriends a bakery owner who suggests she uses her talent to set up a delivery service for the townsfolk.In comparison to the 'blockbuster' animated films, "Kiki"'s pace is sedate, and for this reason younger viewers with a taste for frenetic action scenes and characters bursting spontaneously into song may well lose interest.
Instead of the paint-by-numbers heroes and villains of usual animation stock, the characters of "Kiki's Delivery Service", like all of Miyazaki's films, have a depth and realism rarely found elsewhere - they could, by all rights, be real people with genuine thoughts and feelings, dreams and fears.
For anyone looking for a light, charming and inoffensive piece of escapism, this is second to none.Whilst "Kiki's Delivery Service" cannot match the big-budget animated features for in-your-face visual impact, the film carries its own style; every scene bears intricately-rendered backgrounds bursting with colour and detail.
That said, Miyazaki's films strive to avoid the shortcuts often found in eastern animation, and the city streets bustle with activity in even the simplest of scenes.As to be expected from a Disney release, the voices of the characters are near spot-on; no easy task when considering that the English dialogue is dubbed onto an existing picture.
Likewise, the voices of the other characters feel and sound 'natural' - you would be hard pressed to tell that the film had been over-dubbed."Kiki's Delivery Service" is not a film that will ever be as recognised, as publicly lauded or as widely merchandised as the latest cinematic feature animation, but its quiet charm and genuine inspiration lend it a presence and credibility as a work of art as well as entertainment..
Its basic coming-of-age story coupled with Miyazaki's eye for detail and a hint of magic, make this movie fun for all ages.A must see for all those who think anime is merely giant robots destroying cities or sexy young ladies being ravaged by hideous monsters.
I did not want to leave the romantic magic seaside town that Kiki and her ironic talking black cat Jiji chose to stay, where everyone (well, almost) seems to respect, like, and to help to one another, where Kiki established reliable "Witch Express Delivery" using her flying skills and where "the things are sometimes difficult but she is fine".
While I have heard many refer to director Miyazaki as "the Japanese Disney", this isn't very accurate, as the style of his films is so very different from American animation--not better, not worse--just different.So overall, this is about as good as you'll get for an anime movie and it should appeal to all ages provided they are open-minded enough to give a foreign film a try..
It's a little strange to think that Disney would bring animation other than its own to American audiences, but that's what they did with Kiki's Delivery Service.
Kiki's Delivery Service is simply a beautiful film.The animation is amazing; bright, colorful, and affluent in life.
That alone signifies a great movie.Kiki's Delivery Service is an excellent movie for kids, but it's simple beauty and compelling story makes it suitable for any age or group.
I'm a huge (new) Miyazaki fan who has only seen English-dubbed versions of his films -- Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and now Kiki's Delivery Service.
I don't know whether the Japanese version has the cheesy introductory pop song, but then cheesy pop songs are a staple of anime anyway.I guess it's a double-standard that I, who would never dream of watching a dubbed version of a film by Kurosawa or Ozu, can enjoy the work of Miyazaki in such fashion.
While different from most anime I am a fan of, I still found Kiki's Delivery Service to be a good movie...
Take a look at Kiki's Delivery Service, whether in dubbed or subtitled format, because either way you'll get really nice animation, a fine story, and an hour and a half of entertainment..
I had recently gotten into anime, and despite the fact that this movie was dubbed (I knew that most films were better subtitled) and that it was also on the Disney Channel, I expected to be in bed at ten thirty.
That wouldn't have done it if it weren't for the perfectly drawn and conceptualized town, a beautiful setting that gives me that forlorn feeling that never will there be a time when bakeries are personal, when people will give you friendly directions, when you can get a job and boarding simply by offering to work for the establishment, when the streets and nicely painted homes are clean, when club parties require dressing nicely, when high technology is a dirigible, when girls wear dresses normally, when people laugh simply for the sheer joy of it, and when the world is absolutely perfect.
But there isn't really a lot of story or character to make a feature length film out of.I watched the English dub with Kirsten Dunst doing the voice of Kiki and the late, great Phil Hartman doing her talking cat Jiji.
I didn't see improvements or progress, it's the same faces and same animation as his other films, just with a different story or plot.I don't really know what else to say about this movie, it was alright.SilverRating: 6/10.
Kiki's Delivery Service is a good movie with a very nice and simple storyline and some beautiful animation.It certainly not Hayao Miyazaki's finest film,its a lot more childish and has no violence or strange and unusual characters like you would see in his other films,but its still a very enjoyable movie.The voice cast in the movie is perfect,my favourite character without a doubt being Jiji,Phil Hartman did a perfect job voicing this sarcastic cat,I really enjoyed his voice roles on the Simpsons,and he did a really great job in this as well,he wassd my favourite part of the film and I wish he was in it more.Kiki's Delivery Service is not as interesting or exciting as Hayao Miyazaki's other work,but its still a great movie for the whole family to enjoy.Tells the story of Kiki,a young witch whose job delivering bread is threathened when she loses her powers..
So, watch it subtitled if you can, otherwise I would take two or three stars off this film, as it is seriously impaired in the Disney version.So, beginning the review of the film with the Japanese voice acting, despite its rather silly title (Kiki's Delivery Service), this film is much more than a kiddie film.
Kiki's Delivery Service is not an epic like other Miyazaki films I've watched as of late, but has more in common with Totoro in that it's a smaller film about children.
Kiki is a coming of age film about a young witch who leaves home for her year of training.
The American dub is just fine, although very different in tone from the Japanese dub--but it contains a warm performance by the late Phil Hartman as Jiji the cat.What I really liked about the film was how realistically it portrayed little Kiki.
Hayao Miyazaki is a legend of Japanese animation and he has made many delightful films, including his coming-of-age fantasy Kiki's Delivery Service.Set in a world that is cross between Europe and America in both the 50s and 80s Kiki (Minami Takayama) is a 13-year-old witch who decides to complete her rite-of-passage that witches need to complete by leaving home for a year so she can become a fully fledged witch.
There is plenty verbal and visual humour to please all the family and has an engaging simple story about a girl who rushes to grow up but finds out the journey and reality is much harder then she imagined.Filled with excellent music and Miyazaki signature style and look Kiki's Delivery Service is a lovely little film for the whole family.
That film would be Hayao Miyazaki's adaptation of Kiki's Delivery Service, which was originally a children's novel by Eiko Kadono.
Although Kiki's Delivery Service isn't Miyazaki's deepest movie in terms of plot, it has a touching message, a relatable main character, and wonderful animation and voice acting.Following the aforementioned children's novel, Kiki's Delivery Service follows 13-year-old Kiki, a young witch living in a small village with her parents and her best friend, her cat Jiji.
Although Hartman's sarcastic, joking rendition of Jiji differentiates from the original Japanese script, Hartman manages to create the most memorable character of the whole movie.Kiki's Delivery Service is also full of simply beautiful animation.
Unlike Hayao Miyazaki's previous works, Kiki's Delivery Service has more of a European feel rather than a Japanese one.
Kiki's Delivery Service is a charming film by director Hayao Miyazaki, one of his best really.
And now I'm 20 years, I throw a new look at the movie, I am deeply touched by the story of a little girl Kiki who are struggling to live her own life.
Along the way she meets various different people, like baker woman Osono and her quiet husband, young artist woman Ursula and Tombo, inventor boy to whom flying is almost an obsession.Though "Kiki" has more plot than "Totoro" has, they are both the most delightful films Miyazaki has made for all families to watch.
I don't know how he has manages to capture such a good feeling to these animations, but I for one am brightened up by "Kiki" and I didn't see this movie till I was 17-18 year old.
Leading the way is Hayao Miyazaki, who is well known for his wonderful films, and this is no exception.Majo no takkyubin, or Kiki's Delivery Service, is an affectionate look at growing pains, responsibility and friendship, told through the eyes of a very kind and appealing witch.
I saw "Kiki's Delivery Service" for the first time on the Disney Channel, and fell in love - with the story, whose pace is perfect and whose events are natural progressions rather than overblown set pieces, and with the characters, who evoke sympathy and pride as they travel through the tale.
In the Disney-released American version, Kirsten Dunst voices the plucky young Kiki, leaving home at the age of 13 to hone a special skill for a year in accordance with the tradition of witches.
(This is the review I wrote a long time ago, when the English dub and the original Japanese version were listed seperately).Though not as entertaining for real young children as Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro, pre-teens with a long attention span (nearly two hours) and who prefer pacing and atmosphere over flashing lights and singing characters will likely love this movie.
Unlike most American films, the movie shows a girl realizing her own power as a person not chanting feel-good slogans ("I am not a victim" American Beauty) but through hard work and being herself.As part of her witch training, when Kiki turns thirteen she has to live away from home for a year.
Unlike most American films, the movie shows a girl realizing her own power as a person not chanting feel-good slogans ("I am not a victim" American Beauty) but through hard work and being herself.As part of her witch training, when Kiki turns thirteen she has to live away from home for a year.
The new Disney dub into English of the Miyazaki classic, _Majo no Takkyuubin_ (known as _Kiki's Delivery Service_ here in the US) is much, much better than most of the drivel one finds in most American video stores.
This film has a lot to offer people of all ages.Full of Miyazaki's trademark attention to detail, both in the visual and conceptual aspects of the film, Kiki's Delivery Service is a beautifully done portrayal of a young girl struggling towards finding confidence and herself.The struggles that Kiki faces and the richness of the characters that she meets has kept me, my husband and my children (3&4) glued till the very end several times over.The question of how people/we define our own identity is a common one in Japanese animation -- do we define ourselves?
Kiki's Delivery Service is a very good film, and Disney did not dub it down for it's United States release.
No major lessons are learned and if anything this is the most Disney like of Miyazaki's films.I'd give the English dub a 3/10 and the Japanese version a 6.4/10.
It's an oft-told story, but in "Kiki's Delivery Service," Hayao Miyazaki tells it well.Kiki, a witch-in-training, is only thirteen when she sets out to make her way in life, but her situation will be familiar to anyone who's moved to a new city, or went off to college for the first time, or switched careers.
Kiki's story isn't just that of a child growing up, but of a human being moving from one stage of her life to the next, and that gives the film a universal appeal."Kiki's Delivery Service" isn't as awe-inspiring or powerful as some of Miyazaki's other work (specifically "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke").
I recommend listening to "A Town With An Ocean View" online to get a sense of not only the score but for the tone of the film as a whole.Overall, Kiki's Delivery Service is a wonderful coming-of-age story about a girl finding herself in a strange place.
Hayao Miyazaki animated feature of a 13-old year witch leaving his parents and settling in a new town to form a (broom-based) delivery service is irresistible.
Hayao Miyazaki animated feature of a 13-old year witch leaving his parents and settling in a new town to form a (broom-based) delivery service is irresistible.
OVERALL: 8/10 STORY: 7/10 ANIMATION: 9/10 SOUND: 9/10 CHARACTER: 7/10 ENJOYMENT: 7/10Another Miyazaki's movie.
Hayao Miyazaki is like the Steven Spielberg of animated directors.The story to Kiki's Delivery Service is about a young witch striking out on her own.
Kiki's Delivery Service is another fantastic film by him the master of anime himself.The animation in this movie...now where do I even began with the animation.
All the characters in the film feel like people you could come across in real life and that makes this charming movie all the more special.
I especially like the personality of Kiki's cat JiJi.The animation is gorgeous in this film.
Even by today's standards this film is beautifully animated, and it has a very distinctive feel, as if I could look at a movie with this style and instantly know "Yep, that's a Miyazaki work right there." I could gush over the visuals alone for hours on end.The characters were great too.
Like I said with Nausicaa, Kiki's Delivery Service for me isn't quite a top 5 of my favourite Ghibli movies, it makes for a solid position in my top 10.
This may come as a surprise for people watching a movie that asks us to sympathize with, above all else, a 13-year-old witch, the titular Kiki (voiced in the dubbed American version of the film by Kirsten Dunst).The Japanese must have a radically different view of witches and witchcraft than Americans do, because this is one of the few animated films about witches that I can recall where we're asked to make this sort of emotional connection with them, much less have them be featured as the story's protagonists. |
tt0022100 | M | It's noon. Concerned parents are lined up outside the schools waiting to escort their kids home for lunch. Signs along the street ask "Wer ist der Morder?" (Who is the murderer?) of eight children killed over the past year. Little Elsie Beckmann [Inge Landgut] has just become victim number nine.Who is the murderer? It could be anyone (the viewer knows that it is Hans Beckert [Peter Lorre]). Neighbors are turning in neighbors and fingering strangers in the street just for talking to a child. The police are on the job 24 hours a day, but all they have turned up so far is some Ariston cigarette butts, some sugar grains, and a bag that held candy. They have investigated over 1,500 clues and have compiled 60 volumes of documents. Every thicket, every bush, every hole in the area has been combed. Every place from flop houses to underworld hangouts are being raided every night.In fact, the police investigation has been so thorough that the Underground is getting worried about the shakedowns. Underworld boss Schränker [Gustaf Gründgens] has come to the conclusion that the child killer must be found before the police ruin business. After a lengthy discussion with all the Underworld bosses in attendance [there is a wonderful scenario where the Underworld bosses discuss strategies while the police do the same, such that it hard to tell the difference between Gangsters and Police], they decide that the best solution is to monitor all children at all times and that the best persons to do that, the only ones who can be seen on the streets without arousing suspicions, are beggars. So, every street has its beggar sitting in a doorway, having a smoke on the corner, watching the children and noting anyone following or with a child.A break comes in the person of a blind balloon peddlar [Georg John] who hears a man whistling a tune and remembers the same tune being whistled by a man who purchased a balloon on the day Elsie Beckmann was murdered. He alerts his block's beggar, who follows the Beckert, who is leading a little girl into a candy store. When Beckert makes the mistake of throwing an orange peel on the sidewalk, the beggar pretends to slip on it and, while clutching Beckert for support, he transfers onto the back of Beckert's shoulder a big "M" that he previously chalked on his palm. The beggars are now able to follow the man with the "M" on his coat.Meanwhile, the police have been attempting to trace the origin of a postcard sent by the child killer to the local newspaper. While investigating released criminals and mental patients that fit the profile of the killer (lazy, indolent, and of strong and pathological sexuality), the police come to Hans Beckert's apartment. Beckert isn't home, but the landlady shows them in. Searching Beckert's room, they find some Ariston cigarettes and a red pencil, the likes of which was used to write the postcard. Certain that Beckert is the killer, the police lay in wait for Beckert to return.But Beckert is on the make. The little girl that he is with suddenly notices the "M" on his shoulder and offers to wipe it off. Certain that he has been caught, Beckert runs into an office building. The beggars contact Schränker who sends a group of gangsters to comb the building and capture the child killer. Unfortunately, the night watchman sounds an alarm, alerting the police. In the minutes before the police arrive, the gangsters find Beckert, and everyone, except for burglar Franz [Friedrich Gnass], manages to get out before the police arrive. To make Franz sing, Detective Lohmann lies to him that the night watchman at the building was killed during the gangsters' raid. The strategy has the desired effect. Fearing that he is going to face a murder rap, Franz tells how the gangsters have captured the child killer and taken him to an abandoned distillery to stand trial.Meanwhile, in the basement of the abandoned distillery a kangaroo court is in session, comprising of the leaders and the members of the various criminal organizations. When Beckert explains to Schränker that he is driven by a voice and an evil impulse he can't control, it is voted to eliminate him so that there is no chance of him ever getting free to murder another child. Only Beckert's appointed defense counsel [Rudolf Blumner] argues that, since Beckert is driven by an uncontrollable impulse, he cannot be held responsible for his actions and should be turned over to the police so that the state can render him harmless. At that moment, the police enter the distillery and escort Beckert away.Epilogue: As Beckert's real trial progresses, the mothers of the slain children listen to the verdict. The ultimate and final comment comes from Frau Beckmann [Ellen Widmann] who says that none of this will bring back the children and that mothers must keep a closer watch over them. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl] | good versus evil, cult, murder, atmospheric, bleak | train | imdb | null |
tt1020072 | Selma | In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) accepts his Nobel Peace Prize. Four black girls walking down stairs in the Birmingham, Alabama 16th Street Baptist Church are killed by a bomb set by the Ku Klux Klan. Annie Lee Cooper attempts to register to vote in Selma, Alabama but is prevented by the white registrar. King meets with Lyndon B. Johnson and asks for federal legislation to allow black citizens to register to vote unencumbered, and the president responds that he has more important projects.
King travels to Selma with Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, James Orange, and Diane Nash. James Bevel greets them, and other SCLC activists appear. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover tells Johnson that King is a problem, and suggests they disrupt his marriage. Coretta Scott King has concerns about her husband's upcoming work in Selma. King calls singer Mahalia Jackson to inspire him with a song.
King, other SCLC leaders, and black Selma residents march to the registration office to register. After a confrontation in front of the courthouse, a shoving match occurs as the police go into the crowd. Cooper fights back, knocking Sheriff Jim Clark to the ground, leading to the arrest of Cooper, King, and others.
Alabama Governor George Wallace speaks out against the movement. Coretta meets with Malcolm X, who says he will drive whites to ally with King by advocating a more extreme position. Wallace and Al Lingo decide to use force at an upcoming night march in Marion, Alabama, using state troopers to assault the marchers. A group of protesters runs into a restaurant to hide, but troopers rush in, beat and shoot Jimmie Lee Jackson. King and Bevel meet with Cager Lee, Jackson's grandfather, at the morgue. King speaks to ask people to continue to fight for their rights. King receives harassing phone calls with a recording of sexual activity implied to be him and another woman leading to an argument with Coretta. King is criticized by members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
As the Selma to Montgomery march is about to begin, King talks to Young about canceling it, but Young convinces King to persevere. The marchers, including John Lewis of SNCC, Hosea Williams of SCLC, and Selma activist Amelia Boynton, cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and approach a line of state troopers who put on gas masks. The troopers order the marchers to turn back, and when they hold their ground the troopers attack with clubs, horses, tear gas, and other weapons. Lewis and Boynton are among those badly injured. The attack is shown on national television as the wounded are treated at Brown Chapel, the movement's headquarter church.
Movement attorney Fred Gray asks federal Judge Frank Minis Johnson to let the march go forward. President Johnson demands that King and Wallace stop their actions, and sends John Doar to convince King to postpone the next march. White Americans, including Viola Liuzzo and James Reeb, arrive to join the second march. Marchers cross the bridge again and see the state troopers lined up, but the troopers turn aside to let them pass. King, after praying, turns around and leads the group away, and again comes under sharp criticism from SNCC activists. That evening, Reeb is beaten to death by a white mob on a street in Selma.
Judge Johnson allows the march. President Johnson speaks before a Joint Session of Congress to ask for quick passage of a bill to eliminate restrictions on voting, praising the courage of the activists. The march on the highway to Montgomery takes place, and, when the marchers reach Montgomery, King delivers a speech on the steps of the State Capitol. | tragedy, violence, historical, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0338095 | Haute tension | College girlfriends Marie (Cécile de France) and Alex, or Alexia (Maïwenn Le Besco), are on their way to stay at Alex's parent's house for the weekend. When they arrive, Alex gives Marie a tour of the house before they settle down for dinner. After dinner, Marie and Alex get ready to go to bed.As Alex sleeps, Marie lies on her bed listening to music and masturbating. Marie hears a doorbell ring and Alex's father responding. The man at the door is a serial killer (Philippe Nahon), who slashes Alex's father and decapitates him. Marie hears all this from her bedroom. She arranges her room to make it appear that no one is staying there, and hides under her bed. The killer inspects Marie's room but doesn't find her. Marie creeps downstairs and finds Alex chained in her bedroom. Promising to find help, she sneaks into the parent's room to find a phone. After hearing loud thuds, she hides in the closet, and witnesses the killing of Alex's mother. Alex's younger brother escapes the house but is followed to the fields by the killer and shot. Alex is dragged into the killer's truck. Marie sneaks into the truck with a butcher knife and hides there with Alex.When the killer stops at an all-night gas station to refuel his small truck, Marie hands Alex the knife and sneaks into the gas station before him. While hiding behind a row, she witnesses the killer talk for a while to the convenence store clerk before paying for the fuel, and then when the clerk goes to one of the locked shelves to aquire a bottle of whisky that the killer asks for, the killer viciously kills the clerk with a fire axe. Marie hides in a downstairs restroom while the killer goes to releave himself. After the killer drives away, Marie tries calling the police, but becomes frustrated and hangs up.Marie takes the clerk's car keys and chases the killer down a deserted road. The killer notices Marie following him, and rams into Marie's vehicle, pushing her car off the road injuring her with a minor head wound. Exiting on foot, Marie runs into the forest, and the killer follows her. Eventually, Marie mortally wounds the killer with a pole that has barbed wire wrapped around it. As Marie inspects the body, he grabs at her throat, so Marie suffocates him with a plastic sheet. After that, she makes her way back to the truck.Meanwhile, the police investigating the gas station murders view the in-store videotape... and see Marie murdering the store clerk. At the truck, Marie unties Alex. As soon as Alex is free, she threatens Marie with the knife and accuses her of butchering her family. Alex slashes Marie's face and stabs her in the stomach before running into the forest. Marie/The Killer chases Alex with a concrete saw. Alex finds a road and flags down a car. As Alex is climbing into the car, Marie appears brandishing the concrete saw. Marie shoves the concrete saw through the wind shield and disembowels the driver. A stray piece of glass slices Alex's Achilles tendon. Alex takes a crowbar from the car's toolbox and crawls along the road. Marie forces Alex to tell her that she loves her, and kisses her. While engaged in the kiss, Alex lunges the crowbar into the killer's chest and through her back while the killer proclaims how she'll never let anyone come between them.The final scene shows the scarred Marie in a psychiatric hospital room, and Alex watching her through a one way mirror. Marie grins and reaches for Alex, aware that she is behind it. | suspenseful, murder, stupid, violence, horror, plot twist, flashback, insanity, psychedelic, romantic, sadist | train | imdb | It is a very irregular film, but it still boasts good style and good manners in atmosphere-building, even if it doesn't really live up to meet the expectations, at least for me.The story goes about Marie and Alexia, best friends who drive up to Alexia's parents' countryside house, hoping to find some peace for studying.
Everything in those first sequences tells us that something horrible is going to happen, not only because we already know that we're watching a horror film.
That in itself is terrifying, and as it unfolded on me I was stunned.Part of me thinks that this movie could have done much better without all the horror, but I'm not sure that the film would have carried on the tension and suspense alone, it's the very presence of the horror that adds to and heightens the pressure.A very stylish, tense film, truly a suspense-thriller-horror to be proud of from the French.
In fact, just about everything that can bleed does bleed in this movie, and does so copiously.High Tension, aka Switchblade Romance (much better title) is the best horror movie I've seen come out in theaters in years.
After so many times hearing "this is the movie horror fans have been waiting for" and then being horribly disappointed by Cabin Fever, The Ring, Malevolence, Darkness, The Grudge, and every single other one, I am throwing my full weight behind this one.
The plot is simple and straightforward, the acting, even dubbed, is interesting (and despite complaints of why only parts of it were dubbed, if you watch closely and pay attention to who speaks French and who is dubbed, it actually makes perfect sense and fits with the movie), the cinematography is strangely artistic, almost gialli-like, the bloodletting stylish and gruesome, the sound design incredible, the tension almost unwavering.
Cecile de France's physical performance is stunning, the fear on her face, the tension in every limb, the breath rate, the pain, everything, and the sheer madness that Maiwenn's character endures is perfectly conveyed by the utter despair she is able to convey even with a gag in her mouth most of the time.An, of course, a quick word on the ending.
The ending of this movie is great, not only does it take an extremely well made but somewhat shallow gore pic to a whole new level with some interesting things to say about...
well, I won't say on account of not spoiling it, but yes, it actually does make sense if you've watched the movie carefully and have enough intellect to think about it on your own rather than just taking at face value what you've seen.
I halfway wonder if the twist wasn't in part a snobby French joke Aja decided to play to see if we lulled, summer blockbuster-fed Americans could figure it out and realize that everything works without being spoon-fed exactly how it works.8 / 10 - which makes it twice as good as the next best horror movie to come out in theatres in a decade.
The only thing that keeps it from attaining a perfect 10 is that, although the tension is cranked up high for most of it and the scares are a thing that will haunt you more after walking out of the movie than when you're watching, the suspense does kind of flag unexpectedly in a few key places.
"Haute Tension" is one of the best horror films I have seen in years.
Wes Craven had reportedly seen "Haute Tension" at Sundance and has hand picked Alexander Aja to remake "The Hills Have Eyes" and have free artistic licence since Craven had pegged him as the "future of horror." There is even a plot twist which you will either love or hate but it fits in well with the film.
All in all, this is a French film that deserves to be seen in American multiplexes and a must see for horror movie fans the world over who have been having to settle for mediocre horror for many years now..
And as much as I love Sixth Sense, as much as I respect what Shyamalan has done to help redefine horror, too many of today's film makers try to emulate him and screw things up.HIGH TENSION, for the first 80 minutes of the movie is a true testament to the basic primal animal that we are, or can be.
This has the look and feel of a 70's guts on the wall horror film and for that, I applaud Alexandre Aja for writing and directing a film that looks like it had very little studio intervention and as such the film is about as shocking a film as you will see from any North American distributed film.High Tension's strength is that it is about as violent and blood soaked as any film from the period that it pays homage to.
Here, it is just plain wrong.High Tension scores a 9/10 from me because it is about as good a horror film I have seen in the last ten years.
There has been a lot of hype about this film amongst gore hounds and horror movie buffs.
Switchblade Romance is more of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre style horror driven slasher than a Giallo; the film clearly knows this also, with a direct homage to the seventies classic towards it's climax.
As a horror film fan, I have wanted to see "High Tension" for a while, ever since I saw the delectably violent trailer and clips.
Still, the film is a haunting exploration of the darkest corners of the human psyche; a portrait that doubles, or maybe masquerades, as a slasher.Cécile De France is good in the role of Marie, showing grit, nerve and, dare I say, tension when the role calls for it.
I rented High Tension one weekend and this movie is the answer to the question many horror fans always ask ...
It somehow made all that came before it not as great as it had seemed, And most definitely will ruin any future viewings of this film.My advice, DO NOT buy this due to word of mouth, Rent it first, Horror fans wont regret it, I didn't.
Nothing New. Sorry, but this movie had absolutely nothing new or wild to offer the horror genre.Needless to say, you can see everything coming and determine the outcome of each scene.And yes, the ending isn't a shocker at all if you have a brain in your head.
In a nutshell, this is just another low budget horror with terror and torture at the forefront.The film does have some decent acting and some strong music, but the hallmark of any film is the story - and this movie does not deliver on that front.Save your money and save your time..
'Haute Tension' is a French slasher film that has a great look and an effective soundtrack.
Well, what usually happens with far too many horror films; the ending did not match up to the rest of the movie.
Next as the movie goes on the killer shows up and does what killers do...I'm fine with the not motives, no real connection between the killer and the victims...That's all fine, but what happened with the killer, Marie, and Alex, was just physically impossible...And I really tried to make excuses for the ending, because there's no way that in this modern age of film-making that an entire crew would allow this crap to be finalized.
A bit too real if you will.Now, Haute Tension (High Tension) is definitely the latter.I have seen like a billion horror films (from Argento to new-wave Japanese horror) and this is the first film to actually make me squirm and be genuinely scared for a long time.
Haute Tension in its original form is one of the most exhilarating horror films to have emerged on the scene for many a year....a magnificent, nail biting throwback to the glorious years of Halloween, Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and so on.
For those who love horror, blood, and gore (count me in), "High Tension" is the movie for you!
This movie would have been better if the majority of the US trailers didn't reveal every major scene including the ENDING of the movie.Talk about poor marketing on the part of the distributor.The movie itself is nothing more than a hyped up gore flick not in the vein of the previous demented classics but one in which the hype out weighs the talents or film focus.One is better off with Ringu or other foreign films than wasting time with a very boring movie with a bit of graphic violence.Many will wonder if the movies was edited to fit the average attention span of the American viewer of such a poorly orchestrated film..
I heard this flick was a bit like my favorite horror film in a long time, Identity (8/10), so I decided to see it.
I've just watched Haute Tension, its 2:15am and I'm in the house on my tod feeling more than a little uneasy....Haute Tension is everything you want in a horror film and have done for the last 20 years.
The subtle music score is a great flow with Aja's chilling atmosphere.High Tension is a horror film of the highest degree.
Marie hides from the criminal and tries to help the hysterical and frightened Alexia, chasing the maniac and disclosing his identity in the end.The beginning of "Haute Tension" is similar to other slash movies, with a sadistic murderer slashing the whole family including the little boy and the dog.
However, after the surprising twist where the identity of the killer is disclosed, I found "Haute Tension" an excellent horror movie, with a brilliant screenplay, actually one of the best in the slash genre ever.
Maybe because I was so enthralled by this film, that didn't notice the passage of time, but I actually checked my watch at the end - this is indeed a short film at only 1 hour and 27 minutes.The blood and gore was great, though I don't know if I am just desensitised, but was it all that extreme?
Title: High Tension (2005) Director: Alexandre Aja Cast: Cecile de France, Maiwenn Le Besco, Philippe Nahon Review: There's been so many slasher films over the years, that when a new one comes out well, it hardly feels like you are going to watch something new and refreshing.
But every now and then a movie like High Tension comes along and suddenly everythings alright in the horror movie world.This French film (aka Haute Tension) is about two best friends, two gal pals who in order to study for their collage finals decide to go to a quiet house in the woods to find peace and solace in order to be able to get the most out of their studying.
The crucial features of the movie are as follows:-the old clapped out rusty/creepy old 'van' / several thousand litres of blood / a funked up twist at the end / there were quite a few 'jumps' (due to the insane volume of haute tension probably) / classic weapons and new innovative weapons (such as wood + barbed-wire) / and a decent enough story.I do usually enjoy the American country horror flicks, and was doubting the french could pull it off, but they did...although i'm not sure how i feel about the twist at the end yet.
So to summarise - if you enjoy ketchup, and would still like it to accompany such delicacies as fries, burgers or a hot dog to name but a few, maybe you shouldn't watch it.But on a serious note, this has everything you need from a horror movie...so go pack some spare undies and indulge in some Haute Tension..
If you like high tension films (go figure) that will leave you just a bit disturbed afterwards, SEE IT!!
French filmmaker Alexandre Aja writes and directs the brutal slasher film Haute Tension, given the English title Switchblade Romance.
There's hardly any difference between the novel and the first hour of this putrid french drivel, except for the fact that the flick is crude and primitive while the book is possibly Koontz's best.The remaining 20 minutes of this awful film consist essentially of the one "original" idea (i.e. not directly stolen from Koontz, but simply from a few movies that used the same kind of an idea and did it better) - a moronic "twist", no doubt added by the thief who directed it in a hopeless attempt to hide the stolen plot and avoid a law suit from Koontz.
Let shocktober begin.Movie review from 8/1 (m being lazy):Haute Tension.If you want to see a really good slasher flick with the OMG moments in it,you have come to the right place.Please make sure to see the French version,not the American remake.Anyway,the movie revolves around 2 friends on vacation with family that turns into a nightmare after being stalked by a maniac that begins killing everything that moves.The gore is excellent with many quality kills.The acting is top notch(if you can get over subtitles)and the two friends are bonafide perfect in their roles.The movie looks beautiful in scenery even if limited to a designed area.There is not a negative thing to say about this movie at all.So what are you waiting for, shocktober started 2 days ago, and I assure you, when you watch this you will be compelled to comment about it.
Add to this a plot twist that will have you stunned and you've got the best horror film to come along in two decades.Acting?
First off watch the french version not the English dub thats why its such bad acting and also if you have a brain on your shoulders you wont be confused at the ending.This movie is about two college friends who go to their parents house and run into a load of trouble when they are stalked by a serial killers on the loose.This movie was a great definition of french horror.
French horror movies always seem to have weird stories but Im starting to like them more and more..
The film has a twist ending that isn't too great What makes it bad is the fact that one too many hints are mentioned that are completely miss able.
Overall, director Alexandre Aja is headed in the right direction, and if he can hold back with making stuff like THE HILLS HAVE EYES(2005), he could be one of the best and most talented horror film makers out there.Rated NC-17 for strong graphic violence..
I can't deny the fact that the ending is so poorly conceived that the rest of the movie is tainted by it, yet I still think this is one of the best slasher films ever made.
When I had first watched High Tension it was completely in French with no subtitles so I couldn't understand what they were saying but I figured the plot was easy to follow (it's a slasher flick, but an intelligent and good one) but last night I watched it again (this time with English subtitles) and I respect and enjoyed the movie a WHOLE lot more.High Tension is definitely one to see once it hits here in the States (which currently is slated to be released on June 10th.) The film is full of scares and tension (hence the name High Tension) also LOTS of blood!
Though I think that's for the better (for some scenes at least) but I'd love to see the audience's reaction to the (uncut) blood & gore.I love this movie and I'm going to watch it again for a 3rd time and maybe again a 4th time too and I'll definitely be going to see it once it hits theaters here in the US!
Fortunately, Haute Tension (the brilliant UK re-titling Switchblade Romance makes sense once you've seen the film) is beautifully shot, very well acted and has enough style, craft and directorial good taste to impress.
It's not easy to express the feeling a true horror fan has when a movie like this come by, The unease feeling...the Horror...The shock Value...The Tension...Because i can assure you when you see this film you'll know why is it called "High Tension".
I never ever though that France could give us a movie so good, so complete and so full of cool homages to some of the best in horror like the original Texas Chainsaw massacre and Jeepers Creeper's between others.
Better than Se7en or Saw. This is a movie that I don't think many people have seen because they may not know about what it entails and therefore may not watch it at all.I highly recommend this movie if you like Se7en, any of the Hannibal movies, or Saw.High Tension is basically a movie about a serial killer with a very cool twist at the end of the movie that I GUARANTEE you won't see coming.The beginning of the movie was drab while it establishes the characters, but once the movie gets about 23 minutes in, the rest of the movie will be tense and very gory at times.What I like about this movie is that it actually could happen.
High Tension literally feels like two movies.
'Haute Tension' starts out as one of the most intense horror films of all time.
So I really don't get that, there are more brutal movies out there.Haute Tension is about two girls who go to one friends parents house to study.
I have to admit, when I saw this film for the first time, I was a little disappointed after finishing it because it seemed like almost every scary movie at that time was using the same plot twist.
At last, a good french horror film!.
so, 'Haute Tension' if it is accepted in the way that I believe it should will do wonders to not only horror movies but to film in general. |
tt0080116 | Wanda Nevada | Set in 1950s Arizona, the story follows a drifter and gambler named Beaudray Demerille (Fonda). In a card game he wins the movie's title character Wanda Nevada (Shields), a 13-year-old orphan with dreams of singing at the Grand Ole Opry. Despite his best efforts, Wanda sticks to Demerille, accompanying him to a pool hall. Texas Curly (Fix), an aging prospector, enters and tells the bar patrons about his gold mine in the Grand Canyon. They laugh him off as a drunk. As Curly leaves the bar, he drops a pouch. Wanda picks it up and follows Curly, then sees Strap Pangburn (Markland) and Ruby Muldoon (Askew), two cons from the bar, harassing the man about the location of the mine. Wanda runs when Strap and Ruby kill Curly, alerting them to her presence. She hides in Demerille's car and tells him about Curly's death. Strap and Ruby see Wanda in the car but get lost in the chase. Stopped for the night, Demerille and Wanda open Curly's pouch and find a map. They head to the Grand Canyon and trade the car for pack mules and mining supplies. Strap and Ruby follow behind by half a day.
While traveling in the canyon Demerille and Wanda meet Dorothy Deerfield (Lewis), a Life magazine photographer. Dorothy and Demerille try to get better acquainted after dinner in her tent, but jealous Wanda intrudes. They discuss their pasts, with Dorothy's husband and Wanda's father both killed during military service. Demerille tries to be nice but comes off as insensitive, and he and Wanda leave camp in the morning. They find a rope ladder over the canyon's side to a small cave. Before going down, Wanda confesses to Demerille that she loves him. He holds the rope as she rappels down the rock wall. An owl flies out at her and Wanda falls, but Demerille pulls her back up only to find that she is unconscious. He sits cradling Wanda and says he loves her, too. Demerille then explores the cave himself and finds gold. He returns to find Wanda awake and shows her a large gold piece. While mining the next day, Strap and Ruby finally catch up to them. Wanda and Demerille return to camp with four bags of gold only to find their mules gone. They throw the bags into the canyon in case someone is watching, then start walking. Strap and Ruby hold them at gunpoint and demand the gold, but Wanda insists there was none. A shootout leaves everyone unharmed. Strap and Ruby run off, and Demerille and Wanda seek shelter for the night. The following morning they find Strap and Ruby crucified in the desert. Wanda finds the mined gold scattered nearby. They pack it up and head down to the shore, where a boat is buried in the sand. After docking downstream, Demerille counts the gold as Wanda sleeps. The owl from the cave appears and an arrow is shot from the distance into Demerille's chest. Demerille, seemingly mortally wounded, pushes the boat into the river and passes out. Wanda wakes up the next morning as the boat is afloat in the river and finds Demerille near the edge of death, he professes his love for Wanda and passes out.
Sometime later, Wanda is in a hotel and is about to be returned to the orphanage by looming nuns. Reporters swarm the hotel lobby, all trying to get an exclusive story. Wanda flees the nuns as Demerille, now recovered and rich from selling the gold, pulls up outside the hotel in a new convertible. Wanda jumps in the convertible, and both laugh as Demerille tells the reporters there never was any gold in the Grand Canyon and Demerille and Wanda drive off into the sunset, while the song Morning Sun by Carole King adds to the atmospheric finale. | violence | train | wikipedia | The silly and animated acting reminds me somewhat of "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken", another great adventure film.
It is not meant to be a "romance movie" as it is too ridiculous, but more an adventure, with breathtaking scenery.
Peter Fonda's part of a 35 year old or so gambler, never does anything to abuse or hurt Wanda, "Brooke Shields" who is coming of age and wants to see the world and be a star.
She brings out the good luck charm and they end up happy together, yeah, so there is a slight difference in age, there is no sex or nastiness in the movie.
The so called "bad acting" that some people mention is their hamming it up to add to the script.
A Guilty Pleasure For Me, Too. I've read a lot of negative reviews for the film, and yes, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but somehow I've always enjoyed the movie in a "dumb fun" sort of way.
But maybe I'm biased because the town scenes were shot in Prescott, Arizona where I lived, and as a teenager, I remember the excitement of the film crew hitting town.
And, of course, all of the teenage boys I knew thought Brooke Shields was hot!
I don't know why---maybe it is because of the strongly implied love affair between the middle-aged Peter Fonda and the 13 year old Brooke Shields (whose on-screen character is 13 as well).
For some strange reason, the odd couple consisting of Peter Fonda and Brooke Shield works in this movie.
The movie plot is basically a fantasy and you shouldn't try to see it as a western or a drama.
Brooke Shields is portrayed in her usual role as a much more mature than her natural age girl, who's an even match to the older prospector played by Peter Fonda.
The plot may not work for mature audiences in this country, but in other parts of the world, such genre exists as fantasy/adventure and might be getting high marks.
I give two thumbs up for Brooke Shields and Peter Fonda..
As a Master Yoga Therapist and Jungian, I know that men with black-and-white morality values cannot face finding a thirteen-year-old sexually or romantically attractive; so they suppress their desire and compensate by rejecting the catalyst.
Older women often have problems with those who are young and attractive.The precious message of this charmingly unpretentious film is this: All General Rules of behavior must be given room for grand exceptions.
Wanda Nevada is probably one of the oddest movies ever made, yet it ends up working very well.
Brooke Shields is salty and sassy and delightful but the two bad guys in this movie actually steal the show and they're performances are a 'must see' reason to watch this movie.
The two of them are positively hysterical in what should have been a straight badguy role, but they work so well together (great friends in real life) and play off each other so smoothly that their deadpan delivery makes this otherwise droll film shine.
OK,I'm prejudiced.I watched this movie in Livingston,Montana when it came out in the local theatre.There were a few rather rowdy folks behind me in an otherwise pretty empty house and they were being a bit noisier than I liked.After a few pointed stares and shushes as the movie started I got PO'D and turned around and flat told them to "shut the Hell up!".It was with some chagrin that about two minutes later I recognized Peter Fonda on screen as the guy sitting behind me.........Now,context.The movie is set in the early 50's(Studebaker Hawks etc) and the relationship between the Fonda character and the Shields character reflects/mirrors that between jerry lee Lewis and his child bride and Elvis Presley and Priscilla!
Either it is totally coincidental or Old Petey was at least trying to be prescient.Yes it is a kinda dopey movie but I did enjoy it,not just because Peter was sitting behind me (He is a darn nice guy,not at like his nasty sister) but it was just a rather harmless bit of fun movie.Nuff said.
I loved it.of course ain't one of those movies u have to watch over and over again to get its meaning cos ain't much to analyze but thats what i liked was simple funny and romantic and i also liked it cos when i was bout her age little older 15 I met this guy that resembled Pete Fonda ^^ and was in his 30's i watched it by those days i start seeing him ..about Brooke Shields she couldn't be any cuter and hilarious ,funny how her make up hair and clothes remains untouchable although she spends all those days in the mountains..^^ many more goofs but still cool..loved the nuns at the end...Jime By submitting this comment you are agreeing to the terms laid out in our Copyright Statement.
Fonda meets Wanda.
A poker playing Peter Fonda winds up the winner of an attractive and spunky thirteen year old orphan played by Brooke Shields.
Too young to be his girlfriend, he nevertheless finds himself stuck with her, in a plot that has the two of them in a kind of buddy film about a gold strike in the Grand Canyon.
A poker game in the back room of a barber shop, and later a scene in a bar, and the adventure through the Grand Canyon is beautifully captured by the cinematographer.
As well, this is essential viewing for fans of Brooke Shields, who has plenty of vitality and energy.
In spite of its good points, the characters are mostly unbelievable, especially the two bad guys.
That's because this film doesn't establish itself as much more than a misdirected new age adventure comedy..
Any movie in which Brooke Shields out-acts a Fonda is going to be both an anomaly and a horror.
Shields actually is only bad because she's youthful, inexperienced, and clearly not well directed by her co-star.
I've never seen a movie with this many bad performances.
One bright spot: the cinematography in the Grand Canyon is exquisite, capturing the beauty of that area in a way even big-screen Imax productions have not quite done so well.
And finally: either this is a bad version of Paper Moon, with a lovable pair of father-daughter types, or it's a bad version of Pretty Baby, with a considerably more icky romantic relationship between a forty-something and a 13-year-old.
Wanda Nevada is a pubescent fantasy movie using circa 1979 ideas of what constitutes illicit romance for 13 year old girls.
Characters speak with the simplified diction one usually finds in films aimed at the under 10 set, but also includes multiple sexual references involving Shields' character as well as graphic deaths.
The movie wants to be a comedy on some level but is never funny, an adventure picture but plot and action are insipid, and a children's movie but introduces pedophilia and child rape as real possibilities.
It also wants to be a buddy picture, a coming of age picture, a ghost movie, an Indian spiritual movie, a travelogue, and a western.
Wanda Nevada is a complete waste of time unless you want to see a good many terrific shots of the Grand Canyon.
They showed this movie on my basic cable system all the time.
Where I grew up in San Jose, California (right on the border of Cupertino) we had this thing called The G Channel on our cable system where they basically showed the same one movie over and over and over again.
Wanda Nevada was one of those movies.
I fell in lust and love with the young Brooke Shields and loved her adventures in the Grand Canyon in the 1950s.
The script at times makes almost no sense, the film contains one of the lamest four character gun shootouts ever, highlights are that Henry Fonda makes an appearance, some beautiful shots of the Grand Canyon, a cool 1970s film score, a lot of dialog that's so bad it's good and a nice Carole King song played over the end credits.
I have to say I'm not sure what to make of this film after seeing Peter Fonda with Brooke Shields at the tender age of 14 making this film in the title role.
Gambler/Drifer Peter Fonda winds young Brooke Shields in a poker game and then Brooke happens to get the map and some gold nuggets courtesy of a recently deceased Paul Fix. Fonda and Shields decide to go prospecting in the Grand Canyon.You know had Wanda Nevada been cast with someone Brooke's age as the lead, say Christopher Atkins for instance this film might have worked as a kid's adventure film.
But with Fonda or anyone his age the movie is strange at best.
Henry Fonda plays a grizzled old prospector with a beard like Gabby Hayes which completely covers his face together with goggle glasses.
He's only got one scene with his son and Wanda Nevada as mediocre and strange as it is has some historical significance as a joint project with father and son.
One of the best parts of the movie is the scenery.
i aint too impressed, its not bad but too much fantasy in it, maybe it would look way better if it was made to be more realistic.
And im always glad i mean was,cause today its rare that they make a 13yo caracter be played by a real 13yo,when theres a "mature" subject in the movie,..
I totaly love it when the actors are really the age they are playing.
All in all , not so well acted movie, with a tabooish story in it ,and a great scenery all around..
Beaudray Demerille(a weak Peter Fonda, who also directed), an aging gambler, wins young teen Wanda "Nevada"(pretty, but not talented Brooke Shields) in a poker game.
Together the unlikely pair(of course)embark on a search for Indian gold in the Grand Canyon.That's the story and there really is no need to search for a deeper meaning in it.
The acting is very weak too, which was quite a surprise given the fact that Peter Fonda was in the lead.If you're looking for something interesting in this film, take a look at the nice scenery and some good looks of a young Brooke Shields.
I wonder why Peter Fonda directed and starred in this film.
He must have even talked his father(Henry Fonda)into a (useless) cameo in this ridiculous mess.
After getting hold of a treasure map promising gold in the Grand Canyon, the bickering twosome become prospectors.
Peter Fonda is an actor/director asleep at the wheel; he is so enervated here, his lachrymose line-readings cancel out any irony intended in the dialogue.
Whether trading would-be sassy barbs with Brooke Shields or fingering a barely-there mustache under his nose, Fonda doesn't reveal a character so much as an unsure actor being directed by an unsure filmmaker--himself!
The movie has a few nice touches and pretty vistas, and the camera loves Shields' youthful beauty (although the young actress exhibits very little personality and no screen presence).
Still, it's a fatigued, forgettable comedy-drama with lots of puttering along plus an odd cameo by Henry Fonda, nearly unrecognizable as a grizzled canyon man.
Most people in my age group at the time, late 20s, were somewhat aghast about the whole Brooke Shields-as-a-movie-star concept.
People in my age cohort will remember how she was regarded back then: a little bit gawky, and with her long dark hair, flawless skin, and overpowering eyebrows, she was also seen as preternaturally adult-like, uncomfortably so.
The camera loved Brooke, no question, still and moving cameras alike, she was photogenic her entire life, but this nevertheless was a phase when watching her on screen was on the uncomfortable side.
When thinking about Brooke Shields as she was, her early career, and her being sexually exploited, I've flashed on Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon.
It is a charming, almost whimsical little movie.
Equally charming is Brooke Shields in it.
A few things about the movie bothered me, but overall I found myself liking it more than not.
This movie is largely Peter Fonda's movie.
He directed and he starred as the male lead opposite Brooke Shields, but he didn't write it and he didn't produce it, the importance of which distinctions will become clear below.
Fonda directed the players, mainly himself and Brooke.
Little Brooke steals the movie.One little thing Fonda could have corrected if he had known to is the annoying repetitive pronunciation of Wanda's last name as "Nev-ah-da," the way many east coast people say it.
This movie was set in the desert southwest, where people know how to properly pronounce Nevada, something I know, because I'm from there.
But when glowing ghost Indian arrows start flying, actually harming and killing real characters, verisimilitude goes out the window, and it stops being a movie which takes itself seriously.
My biggest problem with the movie relates to my comments above about the sexualization of Brooke Shields.
First, let's be clear: Brooke Shields IS NOT sexualized in this movie, nor is she exploited in that way either.
Brooke Shields and her character were 13 years old here, and Fonda and his character were 38.
Peter Fonda deserves enormous credit for this.
My guess is whoever put this movie project together, along with the stage mother, conceived it as another explosively hot vehicle for Brooke Shields as the marquee player, fresh off Pretty Baby the year before, with The Blue Lagoon to follow the next year.
They knew what they wanted, and Peter Fonda was thusly told to follow the script as written.
I read elsewhere that Fonda's acting performance was not good here, that Brooke out-performed him.
Maybe Fonda the actor was trying to take the Beaudray Demerille character some place other than that of a 38-year old man who would take a 13-year old girl as his lover, layering him with other nuances, giving him other motivations.
Remember, Peter Fonda's daughter, Bridgette, is just a year older than Brooke Shields.
Men with 14-year old daughters don't want such aged girls in the way this story goes, nor are they remotely titillated by the idea.
Which I submit is what may have been going on here with Peter Fonda.
Summer of 42, Taxi Driver, Pretty Baby, The Blue Lagoon, Wanda Nevada.
Could these movies have ever been made at any other time, before or since?
Of those, maybe Wanda Nevada, maybe because Peter Fonda saved it from itself.
Say what you want about the Fonda clan, but sexploitation of 13-year olds is not their style.
And by the way, watch for the cameo of Henry Fonda..
I see nothing serious happening in it, just hints and in 1979 that was just "kinda" creepy.I saw this before there was much internet and surely no IMDb -- so finding Henry Fonda's name in the credits (Yep, used to read those) was quite the thrill!
Luckily it was on cable and I got to watch again and watch Hank more closely - what a gem.Sweet movie, simple fun, no big heavy stuff to deal with.
Peter Fonda lends a great comic performance in this film, which is his 3rd time directing.
It's a great little film and I enjoyed the humorous quarrels and spats between him Brooke Shields.
Fonda's character can see right through and calls her "a skinny little runt " that talks way too much.
The funny scenes where Fonda pleads with God and talks to a mule for assurance are great.
Shields' character knows how to push Fonda's buttons and even steals a ride with him unaware.
I see his character as a father figure protecting her begrudgingly so she doesn't wind up as "buzzard's bait" in the Grand Canyon search for gold.
This is not an exploitation film of a younger girl older man romance but rather a fantasy adventure of two money hungry misfits out for riches with killers following them.
It is a fun film and the chemistry between Fonda and Shields is warm and undeniable, though never sexual.
It tries to stay sweet while all the time building up a sexual attraction between the 2 leads, Brooke Sheilds (13), and Peter Fonda, who looks to be about 35 in the picture.
Since Peter Fonda is the director also, it must be him who I must assail to have created this unseemly, immoral paradigm for lustful regress with this young almost pre-teen.
It never goes very far toward any kind of actual sexuality, so it skirts danger that way, but the very idea of it is a bit hard to take.
I rented this movie because it falls under the genres of "romance" and "western" with some Grand Canyon scenery thrown in.
The romance is between a YOUNG GIRL who has not even gone through puberty and a MIDDLE-AGED MAN!
It's sickening.Peter Fonda is portrayed as being virtuous by trying to resist his attraction to Brooke Shields, and her character is mostly the one that pursues the relationship.
Really, seriously this movie is a complete waste of time.
Made by the most inept and undistinguished of directors (not very good actor either) Peter Fonda, and staring Brooke Shields as...you guessed it...a child-woman-sex-object.
Peter Fonda simply cannot act, period.
He misses such basic acting chores like showing emotion, reacting to emotion or building a believable character that this film is unwatchable.
Whatever range of human emotion Mr. Fonda has at this point in time is kept tightly under wraps for any on screen appearances.
Casting Broke Shields was a mistake too, because she cannot act either.
There is no grand arc of drama, no reason to care about these people, nothing but to keep watching to see if something happens romantically between these two.
Case in point is the film Blue Lagoon where she actually gets good lines, is well directed and has developed some rudimentary but powerful acting ability. |
tt0042041 | White Heat | Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) is the ruthless, deranged leader of a criminal gang. Although married to Verna (Virginia Mayo), Jarrett is overly attached to his equally crooked and determined mother, 'Ma' Jarrett (Margaret Wycherly), who is his only real confidant. When he has one of his splitting headaches she consoles him, sits him on her lap and gives him a drink with the toast "Top of the world". Jarrett's father died in an institution. He himself is described as someone who when "he was a kid, he used to fake headaches to get his mother's attention away from the rest of the family. It worked. As he grew up, the fancied headaches became real, until now they tear him to pieces."Jarrett and his gang carry out a major robbery involving the hijacking of a train and the deaths of several people, including four members of the train crew and one of his own accomplices, Zuckie (Ford Rainey). With the help of informants, the police soon close in and Jarrett shoots and injures US Treasury investigator Philip Evans (John Archer). He escapes to Illinois and confesses to a lesser crime which was committed by an associate. It was done at a time to coincide with the train robbery and thus provides Jarrett with a perfect alibi. He is sentenced to one to three years of jail time.Evans is not fooled however. He allows Jarrett's conviction to go through but then sends an undercover agent into the penitentiary in order to get information from Jarrett as part of a sting operation. The agent is Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien), who goes by the name "Vic Pardo." His main task is to find the "Trader", a fence who launders stolen US Dollars on the European black market on Jarrett's behalf.'Big Ed' Somers (Steve Cochran), Jarrett's ambitious right-hand man, has designs on both Jarrett's gang and his treacherous wife Verna. He orders another convict, Roy Parker (Paul Guilfoyle), to kill him. In the prison workplace, Parker arranges to drop a heavy piece of machinery on Jarrett, but Fallon/Pardo pushes him out of the way and saves his life.When Ma visits, she insists she'll take care of Big Ed herself, despite Jarrett's attempts to dissuade her. He begins to worry and decides to break out. When he returns to the metal working shop after Ma's visit, he is overcome with another severe headache. Pardo covers for him and massages Cody's neck, helping him relive the pain. Cody is humbled and takes Pardo into his confidence. Pardo/Fallon suggests a means to escape that will entail a minimum of risk (he'll have the help of his colleagues on the outside who will then follow them). However, during dinner on the day of the escape, Jarrett learns from the prison grapevine that Ma now is dead and goes berserk in the mess hall.Held in the infirmary in a straight-jacket, Jarrett persuades another convict, Tommy Ryley (Robert Osterloh), to give him a gun which Ryley has managed to stash away. Holding various officials hostage, Jarrett escapes along with Fallon/Pardo, their cellmates and Parker, who is locked in the trunk of the car they use to drive out. Evans and his men were due to follow Jarrett and Fallon, but, on learning of Jarrett being held in the infirmary, called the whole thing off. When the convicts do escape they react too slowly to intercept them.Cody's gang escapes to the mountains of California where they murder a family and steal their car. As they leave the house Parker, still in the trunk of the car used to escape the prison, complains "It's stuffy, I need some air" Jarrett replies "Oh, stuffy, huh? I'll give ya a little air" and "creates" some air holes by emptying his gun into the trunk.Ma was shot in the back by Verna when she faced Big Ed. Verna wants to get away, but Big Ed is resolved to confront Jarrett and end it all. When Verna tries to slip away discreetly she is seized by her husband and is quick to convince him that Ma was murdered by Big Ed. Jarrett kills Big Ed.The gang is now double in size with the other escapees, including Fallon/Pardo for whom Jarrett appears to have a genuine liking for. He even appears to look on him as a kind of Ma-substitute, insisting that they will share the proceeds from their robberies: "I split even with Ma, didn't I?". "I'll practice up on my lullabies," mutters Fallon, but not in Jarrett's presence.While the gang prepares its next heist, a fisherman arrives at the country hideout asking to use the phone. The gang expects him to be murdered and Fallon follows him and Jarrett into the house in order to prevent any killing. In conversation, Fallon exposes the fisherman as a phony. He is in fact Jarrett's fence the Trader (Fred Clark), the man Fallon is really after. Jarrett, who never trusted any of his other accomplices with the Trader's identity, with the possible exception of Ma, makes the introductions as if Fallon/Pardo is a trustworthy as she was.Jarrett intends to rob the payroll at a chemical plant in Long Beach, California. The gang has a huge gas truck and an accomplice who works there. The plan in to use the gas truck as a Trojan Horse in order to get into the plant discreetly and steal the money.Verna's radio has broken down and Fallon/Pardo offers to fix it. In fact he converts it into sending a signal which his law-enforcement colleagues will be able to pick up and thus track him down. He places the radio under the truck before the gang sets off.While on their way to the plant they stop at a gas station in order to have the engine checked. Fallon goes into the washroom and uses the soap in order to leave a message on the mirror for Evans. The gas station attendant alerts Evans, the T-Men track the signal given off by the hidden radio and triangulate it to the target, the chemical plant.The gang gets into the plant hidden in the gas truck. Guided by the ex-con driver they get to the office where the payroll is hidden in the safe. But the driver turns out to be Bo Creel (Ian MacDonald) who recognizes Pardo as Fallon, a cop who arrested him a few years ago (Creel was even in the prison earlier on and Pardo had to stage a fight in order to avoid meeting him face-to-face).The police surround the building and Evans calls on Jarrett to surrender. On realizing Pardo's deception however, Jarrett goes completely round-the-bend and resolves to fight it out. When the police fire tear gas into the building, Fallon manages to escape the gang. Verna is arrested in a getaway car outside the plant. Fallon also gives the Trader's present location.Jarrett is pursued to the top of a gigantic gas storage tank. His accomplices are shot by the police, or by Jarrett himself when they try to give themselves up. When Fallon shoots Jarrett with a rifle, he starts firing holes into the tank and goes up in what for him is a blaze of glory: "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" | insanity, revenge, cult, murder | train | imdb | null |
tt0051459 | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | In the opening scene, Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman), a former high school football star, spends a drunken night jumping hurdles on the school athletic field in a tragic attempt to recapture his glory days. He falls and injures his right leg.Some days later, Brick and his older brother, Gooper (Jack Carson), visit the family cotton plantation in eastern Mississippi to celebrate their father's 65th birthday on a hot and humid August day. The family rumor is that the wealthy patriarch "Big Daddy" Pollitt (Burl Ives) may have developed colon cancer and would be forced to quickly settle his will, leaving his money and land to one of his two sons before he dies.Gooper and his shrew wife Mae (Madeleine Sherwood) have gone to great lengths to stay in Big Daddy's good favor. Gooper has lived his entire life in accordance with his father's casual instructions, and he and Mae have a "dynasty" of children to carry on the Pollitt name. Brick's wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) is clever and outspoken, and holds no small amount of contempt for Gooper and Mae's entitled attitudes and five spoiled and obnoxious offspring who run around the house unsupervised. Brick, recovering from his leg injury on crutches, spends all his time in his bedroom, drinking heavily and argues with Maggie about the dismal state of their marriage. Maggie still adores Brick, though she is troubled by his self-destructive behavior, and Brick is angry and sullen towards Maggie because of a yet unspecified incident involving his recently-deceased friend Skipper. Adding to the pressure is Gooper's and Mae's constant criticism of Brick and Maggie due to Brick's alcoholism and the fact that they are childless.Big Daddy and his wife Ida (Judith Anderson) arrive home on their private airplane from the Mayo Clinic where Big Daddy received the news that he is not dying of cancer after all. They are greeted at the airport by Gooper, Mae, and their brood of kids, but Big Daddy ignores them and is driven home by Maggie. Big Daddy is openly dismissive of Gooper's and Mae's sycophantic attitudes, knowing that they fawn over him in an attempt to secure his money and plantation for themselves. Upon arrival back at the Pollitt plantation, Brick refuses to greet his father or come down for the party, and remains in his room, drinking.The family doctor (Larry Gates) who had previously examined Big Daddy, speaks privately with Gooper (off-camera) and Brick, confessing that he lied to the family about Big Daddy's condition to preserve their happiness for his birthday. In reality, Big Daddy really has terminal colon cancer and will be dead within a few months. The brothers initially keep the information to themselves, but Brick soon tells Maggie, who is deeply saddened.As the evening wears on, the party wines down as it begins to rain, forcing the few guests and family inside. Big Daddy soon grows annoyed with the party and his fickle family and ventures upstairs to speak with Brick, his favorite son. He chastises him for his excessive drinking, and for his cold treatment of Maggie. Brick grows defensive and even violent when Big Daddy brings up the subject of Skipper, Brick's old football buddy who had jumped from a fifth-floor hotel window to his death a few years before. Realizing that there is more to the story, Big Daddy brings Maggie into the conversation. She explains that she hated Brick's pro-football career because he always put it before her, and that she hated Skipper for distracting Brick from his marriage. (Note: there is subtle suggestion here that Brick and Skipper had been romantically involved.) Maggie describes a drunken episode between herself and Skipper in which she considered seducing him simply to spite her husband, but reconsidered at the last minute. Brick then explains that Skipper had telephoned him, seeming to think that he and Maggie had actually made love (though he had been too drunk to remember clearly). Skipper tearfully tried to apologize to his best friend, but Brick angrily hung up on him. Skipper killed himself soon after, and Brick blamed Maggie for the tragedy. Brick angrily leaves the house as the thunderstorm rages. Big Daddy follows him out into the rain and tries to prevent his drunken son from getting into the car and driving home, but Brick angrily reveals to his father that the doctor had lied... that his illness is terminal. A shocked Big Daddy goes inside the house and down to the basement to be alone, while Brick, emotionally exhausted, is escorted back inside by Maggie.During this time, as nearly all of the other guests have left the party, Gooper and Mae had been trying to convince Ida to settle Big Daddy's will to give them the entire estate. Ida is still unaware of her husband's condition. As Ida begins to feel stress from all the hub-bub, Mae lets slip that Big Daddy's cancer test was positive as Gooper told her minutes ago. The doctor has no choice but to admit the truth. Ida is at first overcome, but then firmly states that her husband will not be dying anytime soon, desperately trying to hold together the last traces of family unity. Maggie joins the conversation and speaks calmly to Ida to soothe her, whereas Gooper and Mae continue to hound Ida with demands. At this point, the personal rivalry between the two sisters-in-law, Mae and Maggie, becomes clear as they begin arguing with each other: Maggie reveals that she sees Mae as a dishonest, greedy, selfish, trailer-trash interloper who married Gooper solely for his parents wealth; Mae, who is pregnant with her sixth child, verbally counter-attacks with her belief that Maggie does not deserve any inheritance because she is childless and her husband drinks.Meanwhile, Brick has put on clean dry clothes and followed his father to the cellar. Big Daddy sits in silence in his bathrobe as the apologetic doctor explains that there is no use in hiding the truth. He gives Big Daddy morphine and a syringe for the pain, and returns upstairs. Brick and Big Daddy slowly begin to rehash the past, with Brick angrily pointing out that Big Daddy's version of "family love" consists of showering his wife and sons with money and material possessions. Big Daddy admits that he indeed does not care for many of his family members, including his wife, and that he built his business to demonstrate the great things he was capable of.After further prodding, Big Daddy recollects his own father: a boxcar tramp with no real job and no authority. Though he first speaks of his father with hostility, Big Daddy begins to smile as he remembers the fun he had as a child. He admits that he had loved his father more than anything, though he had been poor and overlooked by society. Brick becomes overwrought with emotion and trashes the basement, breaking the expensive items that his father had bought over the years to demonstrate his wealth. Once he calms down, he finally sees eye to eye with his father and the two weakened men help each other up the stairs.Maggie, Gooper, Mae, and Ida are still in a heated conversation in the living room over Big Daddy's will, with Gooper and Mae demanding the majority of his estate when he passes on. Brick overhears his brother and sister-in-law mocking him for his drinking habit, and calmly intervenes. Big Daddy speaks to his wife with newfound respect and affection, and has adopted a positive outlook despite his condition. To halt the argument about the inheritance, Maggie tells the family that she is finally pregnant. Mae is outraged and calls her a liar, but Big Daddy and Ida are happy at the news. Brick goes upstairs and calls for Maggie. In their bedroom, Maggie thanks Brick for going along with her lie: she is not really pregnant, but wanted to give Brick's parents some hope for the future. Brick assures her that they "are through with lies and liars in this house." They lock the door and go to bed, rekindling their romance at last. | sentimental | train | imdb | Burl Ives gives the greatest portrayal of a literary character in film history, and he wasn't even recognized by an Oscar nomination, further evidence of the Academy's complete lack of credibility as an arbiter of screen excellence.The casting is brilliant:Tennessee Williams's Big Daddy was indeed big - larger than life, domineering, insensitive, self-absorbed.
Paul Newman's character (Brick) is enigmatic at best, but somehow, because Maggie the Cat loves him so much and is so utterly devoted to him, you find yourself caring about what happens to him and Maggie both.Big Daddy and Big Mama both bring back fond memories of my own childhood, and if you grew up in the south, chances are you knew someone like the both of them.
Paul and Liz are so hot and beautifully frustrating together as Brick and Maggie, that the TV nearly explodes...Gooper is perfectly portrayed as a good man, financially independent, but still seeking Big Daddy's approval, and a prime example of a man being "whipped"...we hate Sister Woman, and rightly so -- for she is a despicable character...Big Momma is stronger than anybody thinks, and Big Daddy holds the whole family and story together with his massive strength and faith in himself.The relationship between Brick and Maggie is the most fascinating ever recorded on celluloid.
Sultry and downbeat, this Richard Brooks directed film is set at a Southern plantation where a dysfunctional family celebrates the 65th birthday of family patriarch Big Daddy (Burl Ives), a portly man whose health, or the lack of it, is very much on the minds of all the family members.
The story centers on one of Big Daddy's two sons, a brooding young man named Brick (Paul Newman) and his childless wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor).Brick is reticent and repressed for reasons unknown, and finds relief in alcohol.
This is not a criticism of the film, but of the Hays Code itself which, mercifully, was abolished in the 1960s.Dripping with Southern atmosphere, and with a sultry jazz score, "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" is a terrific movie, for its thematic value, its cast, and the splendid performance of Burl Ives..
In 1958, director/writer Richard Brooks had the questionable distinction of bastardizing TWO masterpieces in the SAME year, Williams' "Cat..." and Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" (remember that ending?)."Cat..." is basically an all-talk psychodrama (if you're not fluent in English, be prepared to read a lot of subtitles!), as we watch a dysfunctional family dysfunctioning to the hilt, in another of Williams' exorcism of his ghosts (in "Cat..." 's particular case: his relationship with his brutish father, his coming out of the closet, his alcoholism, his tragic relationship back in the 1940s with his first male lover that eventually left him to get married, only to die of a brain tumor in 1944 with Williams at his deathbed).It's difficult to take this adaptation seriously when two of the main themes of the play were either entirely eliminated (homosexualism) or trivialized (alcoholism -- how can a serious drunkard look as healthy and fresh-faced as Paul Newman?).
Nevertheless, he wasn't exactly physically tortured to accept (reportedly) half a million dollars for the film rights :) Anyway, he would show Brooks and Hollywood a thing or two the next year, when he adapted (with Gore Vidal) his own play "Suddenly Last Summer" for the screen, making homosexuality its unequivocal (though encrypted) center, even if homosexual "pervert" Sebastian gets his "deserved punishment" at the end, being literally eaten alive!Brooks' version of "Cat..." is disappointingly static; the camera's only interested in its stars.
After a run of 694 performances on Broadway during the 1955-1956 season, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof made it to the big screen in 1958, just in time for Elizabeth Taylor to get her second Best Actress nomination in two years.
That girl had real talent and she proved to be more than a box office name to insure business.In fact of the original Broadway cast only Burl Ives as Big Daddy and Madeleine Sherwood as his other daughter in law were retained for the film version.
Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor replaced Ben Gazzara and Barbara Bel Geddes as the leads.Newman also got one of his early triumphs playing Brick Pollitt, the favored younger son of Big Daddy Pollitt.
A thoroughly obnoxious little group of 'no-neck monsters', but Southern families do like breeders.Brick on the other hand is making a big show of ignoring Elizabeth Taylor and no normal heterosexual male's going to do that for long.
Big Daddy Pollitt is a man who worked his way up from nothing, concentrating so much on making a success he had no time for his family.And Paul Newman really is wonderful as a 30 year old kid who if he doesn't straighten out will soon be a 50 year old kid.
The problem with the movie version of Tennessee Williams' Cat On a Hot Tin Roof is not the censorship so much (which removed the homosexual aspect of the story, though it's still there for the more perceptive viewers) but the play itself.
Elizabeth Taylor is well cast as Maggie the Cat, Paul Newman is apprpriately brooding and convincingly impotent as her husband Brick, Burl Ives bellows authoritatively as Big Daddy, and Jack Carson is almost painfully good as Newman's sycophantic brother Gooper, who in some ways is more impotent than his sibling.
Most viewers probably won't notice these problems, but they are a drawback, for William's work is always as much about place as about character and plot, and the film's failure to accurately capture it is a disservice to both audience and creator.That said, the big problem with CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is 1950s censorship: it simply wasn't possible to film a play about an unconsciously homosexual man's inability to forgive his oversexed wife for her role in his pseudo-lover's death.
A top-notch adaptation of Tennessee Williams' classic play, the first screen version of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is a wrenching and intense character study that brings out the best of nearly every individual involved.
The supporting cast is flawless, lead by an outstanding, scene-stealing portrayal Burt Ives and featuring terrific turns by Jack Carson, Judith Anderson, and Madeleine Sherwood completing the impossibly tight ensemble.Although Tennessee Williams himself panned the film for censoring the more salacious elements of his original play, the film received largely positive reviews from most major critics and was later nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Elizabeth Taylor is dynamite in this film, as is Paul Newman, Burl Ives and the rest of the cast!
A classic film in terms of star power, and the flawless craft that went into it, but nowhere near as shocking, poetic or memorable as the earlier B&W Tennessee Williams adaptation A Streetcar Named Desire.Essentially, this film is a glitzy, upmarket rewriting of that films central themes and tropes, except focusing on a genteel family of well-to-do Americans; their family headed by a plutocrat of sorts, diagnosed with cancer, with his family of dysfunctional, permanently arguing offspring and in-laws bitching at each other over who will get his house, land and business interests after death.The film does achieve a kind of black comic tone during numerous scenes where Big Daddy essentially thinks his health is fine, but doesn't know the real diagnosis, and of course Elizabeth Taylor looks stunning, always lit and dressed perfectly, and occasionally shot with a soft focus lens that would look out of place nowadays, but isn't as disjunctive as the overcooked soft focus you'd see on, say, an early Star Trek episode.This movie is OVERRATED.
Brick (Paul Newman) is a former football hero ("Daddy's favorite") who is haunted by the death of his best friend a year before, who he believes his wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) was having an affair with.
Newman, Taylor and Judith Anderson (as "Big Mama") are great but Ives played this on stage (and won a Tony) so he has his part down pat and really gives it his all.
It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Tennessee Williams adapted by Richard Brooks and James Poe."(Wikipedia)Elizabeth Taylor gives her best performance in the role as Maggie the cat, in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof playing opposite Paul Newman, who plays Brick, an alcoholic, in the closet gay.
As a great actress, Taylor funneled her feelings into "Maggie the cat", which intensified her role in the Tennessee Williams play.
Life is cold, bitter, with a detestable but somewhat invigorating taste, and it sounds like a pianistic jazzy score : entertaining when your eyes are closed but soulless when the windows of your heart are...Sincerely, I could have turned off the film just because I couldn't buy the idea of a man refusing to have sex with such a babe like Maggie the Cat, Elizabeth Taylor at the Everest of her beauty, even if this guy is the male-crush inducing Paul Newman, as Brick Politt.
Richard Brooks' adaption of Tennessee Williams' play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a sensational immersion into the terrible condition to which life condemns us : a big and great lie.
Big Daddy, in a fantastic performance by Burl Ives, feels like resurrecting after having been announced that he would survive from his cancer, and at that point, acts as if whatever he built and gathered didn't mean anything, all that mattered was living, loving, getting a pretty girl etc.
If so, then Newman deserves credit for the courage that others did not possess.Without the powerful performances of Burl Ives and Elizabeth Taylor, this film would never have been so successful.
the fragile force of Maggie, the levels of Big Daddy in admirable work of Burl Ives, Paul Newman in the perfect Brick skin and Judith Anderson as the wife of a statue are important not only for artistic purpose but for the the escape from South cage.
1st watched 10/26/2001 - 7 out of 10 (Dir-Richard Brooks): Well-played out drama of play by Tennessee Williams with best role of "Big Daddy" played by Burl Ives despite the fact that the star billing goes to heavies(Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman).
"Brick Pollitt" (Paul Newman) is a former athlete who has an extremely wealthy father known as "Big Daddy" (Burl Ives) and a beautiful wife named "Maggie" (Elizabeth Taylor).
Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an impressive film which benefited greatly from the fine acting of Burl Ives, Paul Newman and especially Elizabeth Taylor who eluded beauty and sexuality from start-to-finish.
He has no interest in the family fortune but his wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) definitely does.The film is based on the play by Tennessee Williams.
Brick's brother (Jack Carson) and his wife (Madeleine Sherwood) have five bratty children against whom Big Daddy often shows contempt in hilarious ways.Director Richard Brooks does a fine job in keeping the movie always fascinating; it never feels constrained despite being based on a stage play.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof shows incredible quanlification on Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor's performance.During watching this film,one who appreciates it must contribute adequate concentration to their expression..
Elizabeth Taylor's death a few days ago prompted me to watch one of her most famous movies.* I've never seen a stage production of Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", but I will say that the movie version is worth seeing, despite the unrealistic southern accents.
There is no mistaking the actors, the really drop dead gorgeous Paul Newman, the Beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, the Big Fluffy of a Bear Daddy Burl Ives...that makes one WANT to look at this film and makes one WANT to get it but...I didn't get it.First I thought it was because I was young when I watched this alot..Then, I saw it several times when I was a teen a young adult and as an adult.
But the way everyone describes it..seeing that it is a Pulitzer Prize Winning Play from the great Tennesee Williams, I feel like I am missing something great in film...and I feel I'm usually good at spotting it but..I just didn't get it.But its a must see for the Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor fans.
But it still packs a powerful punch thanks to the strong performances of Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives (who played the role on Broadway).
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) **** (out of 4) Excellent adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play has Paul Newman playing Brick, a former star football player who is now a drunk without too much flair for his wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) who is constantly crying out for more affection.
They find themselves at his father's house where everyone thinks Big Daddy (Burt Ives) might be dying and some have their hands out.CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is without question one of the best adaptations of any Williams' story.
If you love great dialogue and great acting then this is a movie for you.Taylor and Newman are the legends in the cast but it's actually Ives who steals the picture with his tremendous and fiery performance as Big Daddy.
Most of the homosexual themes were removed, and the third act revised to include a lengthy scene of reconciliation between Brick (Paul Newman) and Big Daddy (Burl Ives).
We all know most of the value of this movie comes from the strong dialogues written by Tennessee Williams, but Richard Brooks, as usual, has wonderfully directed the play.Everybody is impressive and the final discussion between Bricks and Big Daddy in the cellar is always rich of emotion.I watch it at least 5 times a year and will go on this delectation..
The Film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie and Paul Newman as Brick is a family drama that revolves around a young couple that is in a marriage crisis.
The best acting in the movie comes from the three main characters, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, and Burl Ives.
The acting is good and delicious to watch, and it is a lovely period piece for the time it was written.Both the play and this film center around truth and lies--Skipper's sexuality, the events leading up to his suicide, the reason for Brick's drinking, and Big Daddy's illness and impending death.
Burl Ives is as good as I have ever seen him and Paul Newman is great but it is Elizabeth Taylor that shines so brightly throughout.
The only reason I can imagine why everyone wants to take a crack at it is because the original is so beloved, other actors say to themselves, "I want to be Elizabeth Taylor!" or "I want to be Paul Newman!" If you've never seen a Tennessee Williams story, here's the skinny: It's set in the South, a key plot point is a sexual problem, there's an "old world" family drama, a hint of male homosexuality, and it's usually all during a very hot summer.
MGM neutered Tennessee Williams' play, the author hated the movie and wasn't afraid to tell, the just widowed Elizabeth Taylor had to work in mourn, and newcomer Paul Newman had to stand up against Hollywood Royalty.Not the best start for an all-time-classic.
He and Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) are back for his father Big Daddy's (Burl Ives) 65th birthday only because it might be his last.
Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, and Madeline Sherwood star in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," a watered down version of the Tennessee Williams hit play that starred Barbara Bel Geddes and Ben Gazzara on Broadway and was there directed by Elia Kazan.
Burl Ives's "Big Daddy" is quintessential, larger-than-life patriarch; Paul Newman's "Brick" is misspent youth and talent; and Elizabeth Taylor, as the sleek feline whose biological time clock is ringing, is both seductive and pragmatic womanhood in its prime.This movie is an unqualified "10"-- a true Classic, tightly constructed and beautifully acted and staged.Folks -- it doesn't get any better than this..
Paul Newman plays Brick Pollitt.He's an ex-football player and now a bitter man with an alcohol problem.His wife Maggie wants him to love her again.Brick's father they call "Big Daddy" is dying of cancer.On his 65th birthday old wounds start to open.Richard Brooks is the director of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).It's based on Tennessee Williams' play.The drama in this movie works very good.Newman is excellent playing the troubled alcoholic.Elizabeth Taylor is wonderful in the female lead.Burl Ives plays Harvey "Big Daddy" Pollitt and he's fantastic as the tyrant who has his soft side.Judith Anderson, a very fine lady plays Ida "Big Momma" Pollitt.Jack Carson is Cooper, their son.Madeleine Sherwood is Mae, his wife.Last Friday on 26th day we heard sad news about the passing of philanthropist and fine actor Paul Newman at the age of 83.He did always a terrific job in movies.There's some intensity in the scene where Brick starts crashing those items and then starts to cry.The way Newman acts that scene, nobody could have done it better than him..
Paul Newman is great as Brick Pollitt, as is Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie "The Cat", Brick's wife.
There are also wonderful performances by Burl Ives as the cold hearted "Big Daddy" Pollitt, Judith Anderson as his wife, and Jack Carson as Gooper, their eldest son.And for you guys out there, Elizabeth Taylor looks beautiful!
Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor do very well in making the relationship between Brick and Maggie believable and interesting, even in its less likely aspects.
The best scenes are the one between Burl Ives ("Big Daddy") and Paul Newman ("Brick") near the end, when they hash out their differences and what they think of each other and their hearts both soften toward one-another and toward everyone else, as a result. |
tt0097626 | Johnny Handsome | Petty career crook John Sedley (Mickey Rourke) is called Johnny Handsome because of his deformed face. His knack for observing and planning gets him and his friend into a robbery of a collectable coin store with Sunny Boyd (Ellen Barkin) and Rafe Garrett (Lance Henriksen) but the job goes sideways. Rafe and Sunny double cross the others killing everyone else in the job but Johnny. Johnny goes to jail and is warned that since this is his second time convicted for a felony, the next time makes him a third-time loser and he will be given the maximum sentence. In jail Johnny is accosted and knifed by two other inmates and sent to the hospital where he is visited by Lt. A.Z. Drones (Morgan Freeman) who tells him that Rafe paid to have him killed and urges Johnny to give evidence to take him down. While Johnny recuperates an enlightened Dr. Steven Fisher (Forrest Whitaker) believes that if he can repair Johnny's cleft palette and reconstruct his face he can change his life because the world will see him in a different more positive way. Lt. Drones tears down the doctor's ideas insisting that someone who is bad will continue being bad regardless of his looks'. Johnny agrees to the medical procedures and has his impaired speech and face changed and reenters society with a parole agreeing to continue psychological observation from the doctor. Johnny gets a job on a construction crew where he meets Donna McCarty (Elizabeth McGovern) who sees something special in Johnny but he pushes her away planning his revenge on those crooks that have double crossed him. He approaches Rafe and Sunny with a job to rob the construction site and things go along fine until suspicions cause curiosity. | revenge, neo noir, murder, violence | train | imdb | Mickey Rourke gives an astonishing performance as John Sedley a deformed thug who gets a chance at a normal life when a kind Doctor (Forrest Whitaker) asks to do plastic surgery on Sedley.
Sedley accepts and is torn between going straight or getting revenge on the two(Lance Henriksen and Ellen Barkin) that killed his friend Mikey (Scott Wilson)in this compelling yet slightly long drama.
Mickey Rourke is great as a deformed criminal who returns to avenge the people (Ellen Barkin and Lance Henriksen) who wronged him.
Johnny's love interest, Elizabeth McGovern, who was great in a similar role in "Racing With The Moon", is wasted and just doesn't belong in this material.Lance Henriksen and Ellen Barkin are great as two of the oiliest lowlifes to impact with a movie screen in years.
If the film had focused more on this duo and less on McGovern and another subplot involving Forest Whitaker, who is saddled with a dreadfully written role as a doctor who tries to help Johnny, it would have been a true contender.The opening robbery scene is classic Hill -- brutal and economical -- and sets high expectations for the mayhem to come.
For me, the movie was $15 well spent.Mickey Rourke plays John Sedley, a small-time hood whose deformation has given him the nickname, "Johnny Handsome", who is in the midst of planning a robbery with his friend, Mikey Chalmette (Played by Scott Wilson) and 2 other criminals, Rafe and Sunny (Played by the always great Lance Henriksen and Ellen Barkin.) In the middle of the robbery, John and Mikey are double-crossed by Sunny and Rafe.
This is not your typical revenge action picture.The movie can best be described as a gritty, noir-ish crime drama with a sci-fi twist that maintains plausibility instead of running off the rails into comedic territory as with 1997's Face/Off. The film moves at a brisk pace, which is fine, but this fact ultimately winds up being the only flaw with Johnny Handsome.
A longer run time allowing for more scenes to flesh out the characters portrayed by the great supporting cast would have made this already outstanding film a true classic.It would really be nice to see Walter Hill direct another action film one of these days.
It stars Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Elizabeth McGovern, Lance Henriksen, Forest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman and Scott Wilson.
Leonetti.John Sedley (Rourke), AKA: Johnny Handsome, has a severely disfigured face, when he and his only real friend are double-crossed by two accomplices during a robbery, Johnny is sent to prison and his life reaches a new low.
With a new face making him unrecognisable, there is scope to enact revenge on the two people who killed his best friend and had him put in prison...Walter Hill knows his film noir, anyone who has seen The Driver knows this.
Leonetti's photography has the requisite pulpy noirishness to it, and the familiar twangs of Ry Cooder are never a bad thing in a Walter Hill movie.It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but those complaining about missed opportunities regarding rehabilitation - or that the liberal doctor turns out to be clinically wrong in his reform beliefs - really are missing the point or unaware of the world where something like Johnny Handsome lives.
Well renowned action director Walter Hill tackles a more moody, character driven crime drama in the shape of "Johnny Handsome" and it would have to be one of his under-the-radar productions.
Presenting an ideal cast, Hill really does cast a spell over his audience with solid (even if it does feel a bit underdone) story-telling backed up by credibly good performances from leading man Mickey Rourke (within the peak of his career) and equally so support by Morgan Freeman, Ellen Barkin Lance Henrikson, Elizabeth McGovern and Forest Whitaker.
Everybody chips in, adding their own stamp to proceedings and establishing gripping character rapports or confrontations (e.g. between Freeman's detective and Whitaker's doctor).Hill's cruise-like direction is crisp and tidy, engineering some intense passages and some well-oiled, edgy action set-pieces, although they are low-key (still violent) but this really does belong to its cast and the interestingly, smart story (that was adapted off John Godey's novel "The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome").
Rourke's character Johnny is given a chance to start over and go straight, from this physical change brings much needed confidence but the hunger inside for revenge can't simply be cured or forgotten.
If you like this film, I also suggest "TheElephant Man", by David Lynch (for the life-with-disfigurementaspects), or "The Warriors", by Walter Hill, as a great, earlyexample of this same director's work.8/10 Mickey Rourke at his best!.
But come on, it's better than 5.6, with good performances from Rourke, Forest Whitaker and a turn of twinkly eyed cynicism from Morgan Freeman, who effortlessly steals every scene he appears in.
And let's not forget a deliciously over the top effort from Ellen Barkin as the baddest girl ever to walk the earth.It isn't Shakespeare, but it's directed in typically robust style by Walter Hill, and to my surprise I found myself caring about Johnny and hoping it all worked out for him.
Johnny Handsome (Mickey Rooker) is a deformed gangster who planned a successful robbery with a friend of him Mikey Chalmette (Scott Wilson) and the couple Sunny Boid (Ellen Barkin) and Rafe Garrett (Lance Henriksen).
Many reviews to date regarding the 1989 film 'Johnny Handsome' claimed that the Walter Hill crime thriller was a slow moving, poorly aimed feature.
I found it thoroughly enjoyable, 'Johnny Handsome', that was; very influential (inter-textual references made by great modern directors such as John Woo with the likes of 'Hard Target' have nodded in Handsome's direction) and in regard to issues still proving highly debatable today contained within the film, it remains far ahead of its time.'Johnny Handsome' is the story of the downtrodden and tragic John Sedley, played with humility and stark realism by Mickey Rourke.
But smiling darkly on the edge of every scene is Police Lieutenant A.Z. Drones, played softly yet sinisterly by a fresh-faced Morgan Freeman, a man who continually claims that the seemingly fragile and long-damaged Sedley is a born criminal who will offend again, regardless of the efforts of his redeemers to help him become a part of the civilised world.So when Sedley undergoes his miraculous transformation, is given a voice to speak with and learns to exercise his past demons, he takes an honest job.
But with Drones on his back like the ghost of his conscience, it isn't long before he is contemplating using his new identity to draw the double-crossing heist partners who put him in prison and now believe he is dead into a revenge plot, playing them off against each other in the process.Johnny Handsome boasts one of the finest lists of actors dedicated to what is essentially a small scale but very well written crime drama.
Morgan Freeman for one being world renowned for playing such characters.But also with a supporting cast including Forest Whittaker, Lance Henriksen and Ellen Barkin, you're treated to the finest drama you could expect from an '80's crime thriller, that particular decade not exactly known for its drama over absent minded action films and comedies.New Orleans itself plays a fine character in the film, breathing colour into its scenes.
In many respects, it's a moral tale, which is surprising but in a good way.Maybe 'Johnny Handsome' was too honest, thoughtful and too unconventionally cool for critics expecting yet another Walter Hill all-male shoot em up after he gave the world 'Extreme Prejudice' and 'Red Heat' but maybe it was Hill's decision to wear his grizzled heart on his sleeve, to allow his main character to fall in love and to want forgiveness, that let down his 98% male audience.
You will be impressed by the film's monumental scene where Forest Whitaker reveals Handsome's new face, in turn revealing the jubilation he certainly has dreamt about his whole life.
Johnny Handsome emerges from the film noir envelope of the 1940s, out of movies with bleak streets and bitter laughter, with characters who dwell in sourpuss crash pads and regard bars as their personal salons.
It is set in New Orleans, a city with a film noir essence, and it stars Mickey Rourke, who siphons himself into the role of a burnt-out down-and-outer who has as good as withdrawn himself.
Not that many movies have the utter nostalgia, ruefulness and grit that this movie evokes throughout.And the movie is definitely enhanced by tenacious supporting performances by a remarkably notable cast including Ellen Barkin, playing one rotten apple riding roughshod over any and everything that even comes close to boring her; Morgan Freeman in a rare role as a mean, cold man, a lone-wolf cop just waiting for Johnny to slip up; Lance Henriksen, on the other hand, breaking out of all those stoic roles to eat up the scenery as a formidably wicked character of almost comic-book proportions; and Forest Whitaker, that urgent ray of sunlight in Johnny's life, that one presence who is highly educated and highly compassionate and ennobled by his profession.
A Great,Underrated Crime Drama/Film Noir/Thriller from Walter Hill with a Excellent performance from Mickey Rourke..
Johnny Handsome is a great,underrated Crime Drama,Film Noir and Thriller that's filled with great direction,wonderful performances,film score and is one of Walter Hill and Mickey Rourke's best films and is very overlooked.Based on the novel The Three Worlds Of Johnny Handsome by John Godey and set in New Orleans Johnny Handsome tells the story of John Sedley(Mickey Rourke)a man nicknamed Johnny Handsome because of the physical deformities on his face who sets up a robbery with two lowlifes named Sunny(Ellen Barkin)and Rafe(Lance Henriksen)to help his friend,Mikey(Scott Wilson)an older brother-type.
Although Johnny has a new face and name,Johnny still wants to get revenge on Sunny and Rafe at all costs new face or not.Johnny Handsome is an excellent film that is true to the genre and spirit of Film Noir,it's dark,gritty and ugly and the film works so well not just as Crime Drama,Film Noir or Thriller,but also as a great character study.
The past where Dr.Fisher gives John a new face and a new life and feels that he will turnout o.k or having to deal with local cop L.T A.Z.Drones(Morgan Freeman)who despite seeing Johnny's new face doesn't believe that John will never,ever change and will always be a criminal.
Johnny Handsome is not only a great Film Noir but also a great character study of John Sedley.
Scott Glenn does a fine job in his small role as Mikey,John's friend and older brother-type.Walter Hill's direction is excellent,bringing a dark,gritty,somber look to the film and also does well with the Action scenes.
Great direction,Hill.Ry Cooder's score is amazing and it gives the film a hard edge with it's somber,blues-like sound and truly adds to the film.In final word,if you love Walter Hill,Mickey Rourke,Crime Dramas,Film Noir or Thrillers,I Highly suggest you see out Johnny Handsome an underrated and overlooked film that will stay with you after you watch it and is Walter Hill and Mickey Rourke at their best.
Mickey Rourke (whose last good film perhaps this is) plays John Sedley /Johnny Handsome' and labours for the first part of the film under make up presumably inspired by the Elephant Man - as well as a handicapping mumble, recalling the actor's idol Marlon Brando.
But all he wants is revenge.All of the actors in the film are great, Mickey Rourke's sullen and mysterious Johnny, Morgan Freeman as the detective who won't buy that Johnny has reformed, and best of all Barkin and Hendrickson as two criminals who seem to dislike each other as much as they dislike everyone else.My rating 8/10.
With a Killer Cast including Lance Henriksen, Ellen Barkin, Morgan Freeman, and Forest Whitaker it is Mickey Rourke as the Title Character that Slinks Back in the Frame and Plays Off the Others with Pathos and Empathy that draws the Viewer into this Violent and Edgy Neo-Noir.It is a Colorful Downer of a Movie that has Roots in the Pulp Fiction and Film Noir of the Thirties and Forties.
Walter Hill's bluesy, melancholic crime thriller Johnny Handsome is a grimy concoction of violent heists and brutal shootouts held together by a character study of facially deformed career criminal John Sedley (Mickey Rourke).
The movie tells the story about a man named John Sedley (Mickey Rourke), who was born with a badly deformed face.
Johnny Handsome has a lot of film-noir style and feeling to it, since this movie does take place in New Orleans.
Great cast - Mickey Rourke ("Diner") , Morgan Freeman ("The Shawshank redemption") , Lance Henriksen ("Aliens") , Forest Whitaker ("Good morning Vietnam") , Ellen Burstyn ("Requiem for a dream") and Elizabeth McGovern ("Once upon a time in America") .
First of all, i'm a great fan of Walter Hill, i think he's still one of the most underrated filmmakers ever and his 'genre' films are among the best released between the mid-70's to the late 80's."Johnny Handsome" came to Hill, fresh from "Red Heat" ('88), after several directors declined it, with the script, adapted from John Godey's hardboiled novel "The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome" (released in '72), being postponed in Hollywood for more than a decade.Al Pacino, once attached to the project in hopes for his comeback after the monumental failure of Hugh Hudson's "Revolution" ('85), quit after disagreements over the screenplay's direction and choose to do the sleeper hit, "Sea of Love" ('89), curiously also with Ellen Barkin, instead.In his place, Hill hired the mysterious & ultra charming 'bad boy' Mickey Rourke which was, in my opinion, THE icon of the sensitive macho with attitude during that Era. As the supreme method actor, and one of the best since Clift or Brando, Rourke understood the dark nature of the character, his issues and moral dilemmas, turning the role from a pulp novel / B-movie into the realms of an Oscar worthy performance, if the screenplay had been more effective and the editing less 'cut and run'.
And that's the main problem with "Johnny Handsome", the movie feels like was on a urge to finish in less than 90 minutes (the regular lenght time for such Walter Hill's movies as "The Driver"; "48 Hrs."; "Brewster's Millions" or "Crossroads") and a story like this, needed time to breathe and develop some sub-plots and its secondary characters.The sets (both indoors & outdoors), the neo-noirish cinematography and the musical score provided by Hill's all time brilliant collaborator, Ry Cooder, are top notch, with Hill coming back to the moody, somber & sweaty New Orleans, Louisiana where he previously filmed his debut film "Hard Times" ('75) and "Southern Comfort" ('81), giving to "Johnny Handsome" a southern gothic touch both visually and in narrative terms.The supporting players are all great in their roles: from the over-the-top / cheesy, but very interesting to follow, Lance Henriksen & Ellen Barkin, as the sleazy couple of violent crooks; Morgan Freeman, fresh from his first Oscar nomination for "Street Smart" ('87), playing essentially a similar character, but this time on the right side of the law; Forest Whitaker as the good-hearted surgeon; Scott Wilson, as Johnny's old buddy / mentor and Elizabeth McGovern, playing the 'girl next door' type as the protagonist's love interest.They all struggled to develop and enhance their characters, but the 'flashy' cuts to the movie, didn't do them justice.
Pay attention / hear his voice before and after the facial reconstruction and how Mickey handled the character's speech impediment.In short, "Johnny Handsome" should have been seen more like a character study and a drama / tragedy with some action elements and less as an action manly movie in the vein of Hill's previous films, it hurted the movie's chances at the B.O, back in the Fall of '89, but at the same time that was what the producers wanted in the first place, a 90 minutes straight movie full of colorful characters, robberies, betrayals, car chases and gunshots, but Johnny deserved so much better than that...As a side note, I still give it a 9 due to the amazing Mickey Rourke and his magnetic / hypnotic presence on-screen (even a straight guy can't take his eyes away from him everytime he appears) and his John Garfield / 'Brandoesque', sensitive performance, but it deserves no more than an 8 as a whole, it could have easily been a 10 / 10 film..
Johnny Handsome (1989) *** (out of 4)John Sedley (Mickey Rourke) is a deformed criminal who goes to pull a heist with Rafe (Lance Henriksen) and Sunny (Ellen Barkin) but they double cross him, which leads him into prison.
He did a wonderful job at playing the deformed character and he really comes to life once he becomes the handsome guy who sets out for revenge.
You've then got a nice turn by Whitaker, a good performance from Elizabeth McGovern and then there's Morgan Freeman playing a cop who you never know what he's up to.The film contains a great score, some really good cinematography and of course there's Walter Hill's eye that helps pull all of this together.
John Sedley (Mickey Rourke) is derisively called Johnny Handsome for his disfigured face.
Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker and Lance Henrikson.
Ellen Barkin plays so well a hell of bitch and Morgan Freeman portrays effectively and jubilantly a cynical cop.As for Mickey Rourke, i don't know what to say for his acting as his role requests almost no acting, wearing a mask on his face for half the movie.....
Mickey Rourke does nicely as the title character, a small time criminal with a deformed face who's had a pretty hard knock life.
This was a great movie with some fantastic performances by all involved!, especially Rourke, Freeman, and Henriksen!.
Ellen Barkin and Lance Henrickson are perfect in their roles as scum bags and Roarke is great as the formerly deformed Johnny Handsome who gets a new face then tries to get revenge on the people who killed his partner. |
tt0080516 | The Changeling | John Russell (George C. Scott), a composer living in New York, New York, moves cross-country to Washington state following the deaths of his wife and daughter in a traffic accident while on a winter vacation in upstate New York. In suburban Seattle, John rents a large, old and eerie Victorian-era mansion and begins piecing his life back together.
However, John soon discovers that he has unexpected and unwelcome company in his new home. The presence makes its existence felt by various phenomena such as shattering windows, abruptly opening and shutting doors, and manifesting itself dramatically during a seance. John investigates the house and its previous tenants and finds that the mystery is linked to a powerful local family, the heir of which is a wealthy United States senator, Joseph Carmichael.
John subsequently discovers that the real Joseph Carmichael (who was born in 1900) was murdered in 1906 by his father, Richard. Joseph was a crippled, sickly child, and in the event of his death before his 21st birthday, the family fortune (which in 1905, he inherited from his late maternal grandfather) would pass to charity. Desperate to keep control of the fortune, Joseph's father drowned young Joseph in the bathtub, secretly replaced him with a healthy orphan, and took the orphan to Europe in the guise of seeking a treatment or cure. He returned several years later with the impostor, now grown and "cured" of his illness, and continued as if nothing had happened.
Now, the ghost of the real Joseph haunts the house, making great efforts to persuade John to investigate his murder, and give him some form of justice. John's investigation leads him to a property that was once owned by the Carmichael family, and after convincing Mrs. Gray (the owner of the property and whose daughter has seen Joseph's ghost), John discovers the skeletal remains of Joseph in a well underneath the house, as well as his birth medal.
After taking the medal without handing it over to the police, John attempts to speak to Senator Carmichael as he is about to depart by plane but is restrained by police. It is then revealed that the Senator has an identical medal to the one John found. The Senator then sends a detective, Captain DeWitt, to John's home in an attempt to retrieve the medal. John refuses, and when DeWitt leaves to obtain a search warrant, his vehicle "mysteriously" crashes, killing him.
After hearing of DeWitt's death, the Senator finally agrees to listen to John's story and meets with him. John reveals the entire story to the Senator, that his father murdered his natural son and replaced him with a changeling, which is the Senator. The Senator refuses to believe the story and angrily berates John for accusing his father (whom he claims was a "loving man") of murder. John then leaves the real Joseph's medal, files and the only copy of the seance recording and apologizes. The Senator threatens John that there will be consequences if he has told anyone else of his story.
Meanwhile, John's realtor and friend, Claire, goes to the house alone in an attempt to find John and is chased by Joseph's wheelchair until she falls down the stairs. Meanwhile, the house begins to shake and rumble. John arrives, and escorts Claire outside, and then goes back inside to try and stop the ghost of Joseph. A strong wind causes John to fall from the second story, but he survives. Joseph then lights the house on fire.
Meanwhile, back at the Senator's home, he is observing the two birth medallions, and throws his duplicate medal away, placing Joseph's medal on a portrait of his father. Suddenly, the picture and the desk start shaking violently and an illusion of the Senator is transported to the house and begins to climb the stairs which then crumble. John sees the Senator's illusion walking up the main staircase, and narrowly escapes being crushed by a chandelier. Meanwhile, the Senator's illusion then climbs the stairs to Joseph's attic room where he witnesses how his father murdered the real Joseph by drowning him. Meanwhile, back at the mansion, the Senator himself suffers a heart attack and dies as Joseph's attic room explodes. John and Claire arrive and see the Senator's body being hoisted away. The ambulance then passes the Carmichael mansion, which is now completely engulfed in flames.
The next morning, Joseph's burnt wheelchair sits upright amid the ruins of the mansion. His music box opens and begins playing a lullaby. | suspenseful, gothic, murder, paranormal, cult, horror, haunting, flashback, atmospheric, revenge | train | wikipedia | Very few actors could have pulled it off better then Scott.The supporting cast is headed by Melvyn Douglas (in one of his last roles) and Scott's wife, Trish Van Devere who projects a look of total terror as well as anyone I have seen.Two moments that stand out are the séance scene which is eerie and the unexpected arrival of a child's toy ball.
This film is skillfully directed by Peter Medak who gets more that even he probably bargained from a solid cast of actors, a wonderful script, and one great-looking eerie old house.
Doors creak, balls mysteriously bounce, water runs, windows break in the old house trying to tell Scott about the secret of a young child that once lived there.
Medak doesn't have a huge budget to work with here, but this movie beats out newer haunted house films like the remake of The Haunting by leaps and bounds.
Dark, spooky stairways draped with dusty cobwebs, a boarded up room with a terrible secret, a shadowy seance scene, ghostly voices and frightening noises that echo through the huge house, political intrigue and a very solid looking ghost who scares the absolute hell out of anyone he shows himself to.
Never seen the late George C Scott in a film like this before,but i think he just about got away with it.Before you watch it make sure you can watch it without interuptions,prefarbly when its dark,that way you'll get more involved.The film is about a ageing music composer who,after a car accident in which is family are killed,buys a mansion,all is well to start with but soon there is loud banging at night and soon we see a medium being called in to find the ghost of a young boy called Joseph who was murdered in the house 70 years ago,Mr. Scott then trundles through the film trying to find the reason he was killed and by who.A totally enjoyable super natural movie that as a few twists and turns,a few scenes will make the hair on your arms stand up,having said all this the ending was a little predictable..
Scott is a solid presence in this film as the man bewildered by this huge old home, with Scott's wife, the elegant Trish Van Devere, cast as a member of the local historical society instrumental in having secured him this house.
There's a seance scene that is genuinely eerie, as Medak's camera returns to that small room and then starts to glide down the stairs towards the seance participants trying to communicate with the spirit.Some ghost films are all special effects and over-the-top performances of terror.
I love a good old fashioned creaky haunted house story, and HBO's The Changeling is one of the best, and most under appreciated spooky tales out there.
It has no blood/guts, gore or cussing yet it's an incredibly frightening movie!:)Memorable scenes:The wheelchair The bouncing ball The Seances The House!
Watch it only alone or with others who really like quieter,spooky haunted house type movies.I literally wore out my VHS copy and got it on DVD.
All played out to some lush unholy musical arrangements from Ken Wannberg (the music box theme composed by Howard Blake).Setting it apart from conventional haunted house movies is that it has a most intriguing story to tell.
But although the scares have gone, the intelligent story has come full circle and the film closes down triumphantly without copping out or having resorted to unimaginative formula.An essential viewing for those who like haunted house movies; especially if you like slow build and genuine mystery as well.
the ghost shows John how and reveals why he was murdered and demands vengeance even at the cost of John's life.The Changeling is that rare instance of a horror movie so full of suspense and fear.
Who knew a rental would come with so much baggage.Most importantly, the story is solid, the acting is first-rate and those little moments or terror and fear have a lot of impact.If you love horror, especially ghost stories, do not pass this one up.
Effective horror movie about a strange house located in Seattle that causes creepy goings-on in a new tenant .
After the death of his beloved wife (Jean Marsh) and daughter, a man named John Russell (George C Scott) hires an impressive house to a landlady named Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere , in real life married George C.
The original ¨Exorcist¨ film (by William Friedkin) spawned a wave of demonic possession movies that continues unabated today as this ¨Changeling¨ (by Peter Medak), ¨Amytiville ¨(by Stuart Rosemberg) are two further examples of this sub-genre and following a great number of clumsy, stupid sequels .The motion picture won best picture in the Canadian Film Awards and was well directed by Peter Medak , but before he was given the job, two British directors were considered; Tony Richardson declined due to creative differences .
The picture has had a great influence of wide range , for example , Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar has claimed in several interviews that this is one of his all-time favorite Horror movies, up to the point of inspiring several scenes of ¨Tesis¨ and ¨The others¨ ..
The music was very effective, the acting very nice (I especially liked Melvyn Douglas' performance during the confrontation scene with Scott) and the story was just plain creepy.
It's nice to see where those films grabbed their influences from.While the film plays out slowly and may turn some people off, I was surprisingly hooked from start to finish and was honestly nervous during certain scenes that were spooky as hell.Even after watching the recent Changeling from Eastwood, I still did not know what it meant, thank you George C Scott for clearing things up.
i don't usually get scared in the movies, but "the changeling" is the only film to give me nightmares since i first saw it when i was seven years old.i love how there's no special effects, leaving a lot to the viewer's imagination, unlike recent horror movies that have failed miserably, like "the grudge." i love how the camera angle gives the ghost a perspective.
And I feel compelled to mention the stairway scene with the ball is a legend in horror films and was even parodied in Scary Movie 2 if anyone would like to know.
Scott, Trish Van Devere, and Melvyn Douglas turn in excellent performances, and director Peter Medak maintains an austere tone throughout the film's nearly two-hour running time.
When it comes to sheer scares this ranks up there with such classics as "The Exorcist", "The Omen" and "Poltergeist".If you're anything like me, the first time I see a horror film - if I see it on the small screen - I have to see it alone.
There are however times when I regret this self-induced terror, such as the time when I was 16 and rented "Candyman" and ended up turning the lights on (to this day I still can't look into a mirror and say his name five times), or when I finally saw Hideo Nakata's "Ringu" and actually started hyperventilating when you-know-who came crawling out of you-know-what."The Changeling" is another one of these wonderful experiences of unspeakable horror when I found myself wanting to turn back the clock and wish I in stead was watching something a little more harmless, like "The Amityville Horror".
Scott when it comes to scary movies, as he starred in "The Exorcist III: Legion", one of the most underrated horror films in modern history (that scene when the nurse gets it in that hospital corridor really sent my popcorn flying).
You name every haunted house cliché you can come up with and "The Changeling" has it, but it's the fact that it does it so much better than any other that makes the end result so memorable.It is also worth noticing that the movie includes a scene with a well that almost certainly must have inspired the Japanese (above mentioned) modern horror classic "Ringu" (1998).
I'm not going to tell you anything about the plot, because you'll enjoy it more without knowing too much...just know that it's a haunted house movie, and leave it at that.With no gore and limited special effects, The Changeling focuses on creating fear through sound, music, and identification with the characters.
I can only say that about precious few horror movies.I would call The Changeling a Mystery mixed with a chilling Haunted House story...combined for the ultimate creepy Horror Movie.
Scott is amazing as usual, Trish Van Devere and Melvyn Douglas also do a great job.Watch this masterpiece alone, with the lights turned off!.
Effectively creepy and suspenseful, it is one of the best haunted house movies I have ever seen..
Taut, unrelenting and extremely suspenseful ghost story movie about a old Victorian house haunted by the ghost of children.
Though I think some of the praise is a little too lofty, this film certainly compares with some of the best ghost/haunted house stories of all time.
Peter Medak's "The Changeling" is a highly entertaining horror film that truly creeps and this is not an easy thing to do.George C.Scott plays a widower,who moves into an antique Washington mansion.Unfortunately his new home hides a deadly secret that refuses to remain buried..."The Changeling" is easily one of the best haunted-house movies ever made.It mixes horror elements with mystery without relying on explicit gore.The acting is nothing short of perfect,the music is involving and curiously film-noirish and the frights are plentiful and effective.So if you like classy ghosts stories like "The Legend of Hell House" or "The Woman in Black" give this one a look.Highly recommended.8 out of 10..
Van Devere is also extremely good in her supporting role as is Melvyn Douglas in his few scenes.THE CHANGELING really is one of the best ghost movies ever made with several extremely creepy moments..
This movies deserves to be considered a classic in the genre, I first heard of it in a list of the scariest horror movies ever, I saw the picture of George C Scott staring up a burning staircase and new I wanted to watch it.
It's a film that deserves far more praise than it gets.Scott stars as John Russell, a successful musical composer who lost his wife and young daughter in a tragic car-wreck some months ago.
The fact Scott and Van Devere were husband and wife behind the scenes also lends some much needed levity and chemistry to the proceedings that I appreciated.I was also very taken with director Medak's keen use of slow-burn atmosphere building throughout the entire run-time of the film.
Though a few scares might be a bit misjudged and I do think Medak tips his hat too much when setting up story-beats and characters that will be important later on, his handling of the film is never anything less than completely inspired, and it's a real shame he hasn't done more work along these lines in some time.I do have some minor squabbles with the film, however, and they do hold it just shy of perfection in my opinion.
It's no secret that a great deal of the film is focused on Scott's Russell trying to solve the mystery of the spirit that is haunting his new home, and it is genuinely fascinating to watch it unfold.
Written by Russell Hunter and directed by Peter Medak, it presents a tale of mystery, horror, tragedy, revenge from beyond the grave and in the process, becomes the epitome of what ghost films should be.Our story begins with composer John Russell (George C.
Director Peter Medak deserves to be placed with the likes of John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and William Friedkin for creating what has to be one of the creepiest films of all time, as does writer Russell Hunter who reportedly based this story on a personal experience.
Unlike modern movies that rely on gore and cheap scares to entertain their audiences, the changeling showcases how an emphasis on psychological scares can be far more terrifying for the viewer.As well as being a disturbing horror, the changeling is a clever mystery film with George C.
Scott) takes residence in a brooding mansion haunted by the spirit of a little boy who was murdered for political reasons in the 1920's.Peter Medak's elegant chiller ranks alongside THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941) and PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948) as one of the most accomplished ghost stories ever filmed.
Sidelined on its original release by a glut of low budget shockers dominating US theaters at the time, the movie has since been rediscovered on TV and home video, where viewers have responded with enthusiasm to its stylish visuals and classy production values.Like the mansion in which its horrors unfold, THE CHANGELING is a grand and stately affair which forsakes all-out supernatural mayhem for quiet, creepy details (a door creaking open of its own accord in broad daylight; a cluttered attic room festooned with cobwebs where a child's wheelchair betrays evidence of a guilty secret, etc.), culminating in one of the most frightening scenes of the entire movie, in which Scott replays an audio recording of an especially memorable seance and hears...
I saw it again two years later and managed to watch it all the way through but it still remains the only film that has genuinely frightened me, and I've seen all the so-called scary films such as The Exorcist, The Omen, etc.
Most horror films I know take a while for the 'frightening' scenes to happen, but The Changeling runs for only ten minutes before the ghostly occurrences begin.
this really is a spooky scary whatever you wanna call it movie,i wish they would re release this movie and show the new kids what a ghost story should be like,i.e the grudge witch is OK but nowhere near as scary as this,please if you can get your hands on this movie,!!!GET IT!!you will not be disappointed!!!its an oldy but a goodie!!the ball coming down those stairs is enough fer mee!!!!!!!!i cant look at stairs in the dark through this movie,honest!!and I'm 44!!!u have bin warned!!!also the late george c scot is areal gem in this one,he comes across as the kinda guy who will not be pushed about yet has a real want to understand whats going on,,he was also great in exorcist 3,,another truly scary film,,lots of quiet and bang!!major heart jolt!!!go get this movie!!NOW!!!!!!!!!!.
For me, it really is, and it's influenced many movies that came after it, including "The Others."Like Robert Wise's "The Haunting," this film's ethereal manifestations are largely auditory: unidentifiable, rhythmic booming sounds coming from deep within the house, etc.; and in this case there is an amazing stereo mix that exploits 3D effects and pulls you into the scenes.
George C scott played very well in this film and the rest of the cast did there job well and i thought Amityville 2 was scary this is much more with high atmosphere.
You could say its a 'ghost story' or 'haunted house movie' but those terms wouldn't give this film justice.
Scott, an exceptional music score, and enough chills to appease any horror/thriller movie fan.
I saw this film when I was about eighteen years of age, and I have never forgotten it, that's how spooky it is!!Basically, George C Scott is being haunted by a child who died in tragic circumstances, so there is no blood or gore, but very haunted house type scenes of objects moving by themselves etc, that start off quite chilling but get more so as George C Scott gets closer to the reason why the child is in so much pain and cannot rest in peace.An old film, but definitely worth watching..
The horror of this scary film is actually psychological and shows no gore, but really frightens a lot with the suspenseful atmosphere tied in a great screenplay.
Maybe if I was like 8 years old, this movie would have been a little scarier, but at the ripe age of 29, and with hundreds of GOOD horror movies watched, I have to rate this film with a 4 out of 10.
In this twenty years no one has ever made an horror movie as good as this.A true haunting movie.If you´re not afraid of ghosts, after watching this you will..
The only other that comes close is Dark Night of the Scarecrow which is very hard to find...I find that most movies today classified within the horror genre are just blood and gore...I can go to the local butcher shop for that.....I couldn't sleep after seeing the Changeling as I found it unnerving..and creepy...It is probably the last of the great horror films that accomplish an atmosphere of horror through suggestion of imminent danger with only sound,minimal chilling visuals and acting....actual acting, not the histrionics of individuals qualifying for anger management therapy.
The movie is very scary for it's time period and is just as spooky as any modern ghost movie out today.I re-watched The Changeling not that long ago after a period of long-time-no-see and found myself engrossed in a thrilling mystery of what happened to the boy in the chair.Yes The Changeling is a spine-tingling horror film and a must see for those interested in ghosts and haunted houses.9/10.
Now I know the third best ghost-story movie in the world: it's "The Changeling".
This movie have no gore, no profanity, no nudity -- just genuinely frightening scenes that would give small children nightmares.As an adamant horror fan, there are few films that are truly scary and almost unbearable to watch because of nerve-racking tension, dark mood and dreadful atmosphere.
If you like scary movies this film will really do its job.
When discussing great ghost movies, very few people I talk to have seen or even heard of this film.
I haven't seen this movie in like 5 years, and while just thinking about it, I'm scared to walk to the next room of my house. |
tt0095583 | Maniac Cop | In the opening credits scene reminiscent of 'Maniac', a man is shown putting on a policeman's uniform with a badge, gun belt, and cap. That same night, a young woman, named Cassie Phillips (Jill Gatsby), leaves a local bar at night where she is attacked by two punks on the street who try to rob her. She runs and hides, then calls out to a police officer she sees in a nearby park square and runs up to him. She gasps when she sees his face and as the two punks watch from a distance, the policeman picks her up with his white-gloved hands and kills her by breaking her neck. The next day, the two punks are arrested where they tell the police that a cop was responsible. Detectives Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins) and Lovejoy (Lou Bonacki) see the woman's body at the morgue and Frank believes the punks claim of a murderous policeman.The following night, a man and a woman are driving through Manhattan late when they stop at a red traffic light. A cop approaches the car on foot and taps on the driver's side window with a billy club. The unseen cop takes the man to the front of the car for a sobriety test and the woman watches as the unseen cop takes a large blade out of the billy club and swipes twice and throws the dead man on the windshield of the car, splattering blood all over the windshield. The woman screams, gets in the driver's seat and speeds away, turing on the wiper blades to wash the blood off the windshield.The next morning, Frank goes to see the police Commissioner Pike (Richard Roundtree) at his office and suggests giving policemen mental tests due to this latest killing. Pike refuses and tells Frank to keep quiet about the killings and makes a veiled threat by bringing up that Frank tried to shoot himself in an attempted suicide several years ago after his partner was killed in the line of duty.That same evening, a man walking alone on a street has an encounter with the unseen killer cop who throws him against a car and handcuffs him. The man runs when the unseen cop pulls out his blade from his billy club. The cop catches up and shoves the man forward who trips and falls into the sidewalk pavement that is wet cement. The unseen cop puts his blade away and instead suffocates the man by shoving his face into the cement. The next day, work crews are forced to jackhammer the victim out of the dried cement.After a morning news story of a so-called "maniac cop" responsible for the three recent murders runs, people all over New York are in a panic. In a warehouse section of Queens, a woman has car trouble when a policeman pulls up behind her and gets out. When the policeman knocks on her window, the fearful woman pulls out a gun and shoots and kills the policeman... who is not the maniac cop.Meanwhile, Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) is putting on his NYPD uniform and he and his wife Ellen (Victora Catlin) argue about his job that he spends more time on the street then home. She says that she's afraid that he might hurt her in his sleep. After Jack leaves, Ellen gets a phone call from an unseen woman who has called her before and tells Ellen that Jack is the maniac cop and that he will kill again. Ellen gets a gun and follows Jack to a local motel somewhere in Manhattan. After talking to the manager (director William Lustig) who tells her that Jack has been there before, she goes to the room where Jack is and catches him in bed with another woman. Ellen points the gun at Jack and the woman without letting Jack explain. Angry over his infidelity, but relived that he is not the maniac cop, Ellen leaves. As she goes to her car, she is grabbed by the real maniac cop and pulled into a van which drives away.The next morning, a maid at the motel finds Ellen dead in the same room that Jack has rented hours earlier. The hot-headed Captain Ripley (William Smith), Jack's superior, arrives at Jack's house to inform him about his wife's murder and when Jack admits to being at the motel the previous night, Ripley arrests him for the murder. In an interrogation room, Ripley and Frank show Jack a collection of "Maniac Cop" news articles (belonging to Ellen), and read a page from Ellen's diary saying that she thinks Jack is the killer. Jack continues to deny that he is the Maniac Cop but refuses to answer any more questions. Jack's lawyer arrives minutes later where Jack tells him that he has a witness who was with him around the time Ellen was murdered, but he would like to keep her out of it. Frank tells Captain Ripley that he believes that Jack is not the Maniac Cop, but he also believes that Jack is protecting someone. But the slimeball Ripley refuses to accept this and tells Frank that he plots to charge Jack with all of the killings. Frank goes to visit Jack in his cell where he finally admits that he was with Theresa Mallory.Meanwhile, Theresa Mallory (Laurene Landon) is revealed to be a vice cop and is seen posing as a prostitute when she is attacked by the Maniac Cop. Frank arrives and they both open fire on the Maniac Cop who flees. They go to a local bar for drinks to talk about Jack's situation and Theresa says that the only person she told about her and Jack was Sally Noland (Sheree North), a middle-aged crippled policewoman who works in the clerical room at the precinct. Frank goes to see Sally (who walks with a cane and a leg brace) where he tells her about Theresa being attacked.Later, Frank follows Theresa in his car to a local pier on the Hudson River where she watches her talk to the stout, but still unseen Maniac Cop. Sally tells the killer cop about Jack's arrest and that if he relaxes with the killing spree, Jack will be blamed for all the killings and once they let their guard down, he can go after the commissioner, the mayor and everyone else responsible for his false incarceration. Sally calls the Maniac Cop "Matt" and tells him to save his murderous rampage for the people who only did wrong to him. She spots Frank spying on them and opens fire, forcing Frank to run to his car and drive away.Frank goes to see Clancy (James Dixon) in the records department and reads old newspaper articles about a policeman named Matt Cordell (Robert Z'Dar), who was thrown into Sing Sing prison for "violation of people's rights". Clancy tells Frank that Matt Cordell has been dead for over 10 years and that his girlfriend, who was Sally Noland, attempted to commit suicide by jumping out of a window after his imprisonment, but was only crippled with a fractured left leg. Clancy tells Frank that Cordell was a well known and respected cop, but had little regard for the rules of the force. Cordell claimed during his trial that his own superiors plotted to frame him and send him to prison after seeing that he was a trouble maker on the force, but his conviction put the complaint at moot.Meanwhile, the Maniac Cop, Cordell relaxes at his warehouse hideout where he thinks back to being sentenced to several years in prison by a judge and arrives in Sing Sing where he is recognized by all of the inmates that he arrested and put there. In the showers, Cordell is attacked by three knife-wielding inmates. Cordell puts up a fight and beats up the three men until one of them stabs him in the back. He falls and the rest of the men stab and slash him in the face over and over again.Frank and Theresa go to see Jack in jail where they tell him about their suspicions that Matt Cordell, who may have died in prison as was detailed in the news 10 years ago, may be committing the murders. Theresa and Jack are left alone to kiss, while Frank goes to the clerical room where he is beaten by Sally with her cane and says "He knows I'm no good to him anymore!" She leaves and suddenly sees a dead cop and screams: "He's here!" The still unseen Cordell appears and grabs Sally and Frank attempts to lead her away. Cordell slams Sally against a wall with clearly superhuman strength. Frank pulls out his gun, but is thrown across the room by the Maniac Cop.During this, Theresa sees a dead cops outside of the cell blocks and knows the Maniac Cop is there at the station. She lets Jack out of his cell where he takes a gun off a dead policeman and tells Theresa to wait in Frank's car. When Theresa goes outside, Frank is thrown by Cordell through a window and lands on a parked taxi next to Theresa. Back in the station, Detective Lovejoy arrives and points a gun at Jack, thinking that he is killing everyone. He goes for a phone and reacts to touching Sally's dead fingers. Jack punches him out, gets his gun and runs outside where he meet Theresa and they drive away.The next morning, Jack and Theresa go to visit Dr. Gruber at Sing Sing's infirmary (Jack tells him that he is Frank McCrae and that he has an appointment). After preliminary questions, Gruber finally admits that, on the day that Cordell was attacked in the showers, the doctor discovered that he was still alive, and revived the near-death officer. Despite being stabbed multiple times, Cordell was technically brain dead, yet he continued to live. Sympathetic to Cordell's plight and aware that Cordell was framed by his own superiors, Gruber declared Cordell legally dead and did not see any harm in making people think he was still alive (which he was technically not).That same day, the St. Patrick's Day parade is being held. While Jack waits outside in Frank's car, Theresa goes to police headquarters to warn Commissioner Pike that Cordell will be coming after him. Theresa makes her way to the commissioner's office where she tells him who she thinks the real Maniac Cop is, but Pike and Ripley believe that Theresa aided in Jack's escape and refuse to believe her. (It is implied that both Commissioner Pike and Captain Ripley were part of the conspiracy to frame Cordell for trumped-up criminal charges to get rid of him). A policeman arrives to arrest Theresa while Pike and Ripley leave and they are both murdered by Cordell in an elevator. The cop handcuffs Theresa to him and as they are walking down a hallway, Cordell appears and stabs him in the stomach with his billyclub blade. Theresa gets to a room where she managed to uncuff herself and climbs out onto a ledge as Jack watches. Just then, a group of policemen, whom still think that Jack is responsible for all the killings, see him and throw him into a police van.The still-unseen Matt Cordell pulls the driver out of the police van and drives away with Jack. Theresa gets in cop car with another officer and they follow them to Pier 14, which is Cordell's hideout. Cordell stops the vehicle in his warehouse hideout and he starts to axe the door open. When Jack attempts to break out, Cordell (who's horribly scarred and decomposing disfigured face is finally seen) picks Jack up and throws him on Theresa who arrives and approaches with a shotgun. Cordell picks up the shotgun and blows away the other cop as he runs in. Jack knocks the gun away from the maniac cop, and he is punched by the super strong undead Cordell. When police sirens are heard, Cordell gets back into the police van and attempts to drive away. Jack jumps on and attempts to stop him from escaping. While driving erratically on the pier, the van runs into a suspended tube that crashes through the windshield and pierces Cordell's chest. The truck, Cordell and Jack fly off the end of the dock and crash into the water.A little later, while Jack and Theresa watch, the paddy wagon is pulled from the water by a police salvage team, but Cordell is not inside. Unseen down in the water a short distance away, Cordell's hand comes out... | neo noir, grindhouse film, murder, cult, violence, revenge | train | imdb | null |
tt0383222 | BloodRayne | Rayne (Kristanna Loken) is a "dhampir", the offspring of a human mother and a vampire father. Her father is Kagan (Ben Kinsley), and Rayne watched him slay her mother when she was about seven years old. Ever since, Rayne has vowed to avenge her mother's death by killing her father. There are others who are also fighting against vampires like Kagan. At some point in the past, Viscount Elrich (Billy Zane) created a secret society called the Brimstone. His daughter Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez) continues to run Brimstone, even though Elrich eventually was turned into a vampire himself. Katarin and her two friends, Vladimir (Michael Madsen) and Sebastian (Matthew David), provide the backbone for the rest of the 30 or so members of Brimstone. They are currently hiding in a fortress somewhere in the Romanian countryside.Working in a Carnival as a sideshow freak sometime in 18th Century Romania, dhampir Rayne is routinely burned by holy water, stabbed, and fed sheep's blood so that she can heal instantly, all for the amusement of the paying onlookers. When news of her performances gets around, three members of the Brimstone, a secret society of vampire hunters, set out to find Rayne. Unfortunately, Sebastian, Vladimir, and Katarin arrive the morning after Rayne has escaped the Carnaval, so they are forced to pick up her trail and keep searching. Rayne has joined a group of travelers, who drop her off in a nearby village where she is summoned by a fortune teller (Geraldine Chaplin) who tells her that her father is Kagan, the most powerful vampire in the land. Rayne reveals that Kagan raped and later killed her mother, and asks the fortune teller how to find and kill him. The fortune teller tells her about "the eye," a talisman which Kagan is seeking. If Rayne could get the eye, which is kept in the Solambrium Monastery, she would be sure to get an audience with Kagan.Rayne doesn't know it, but Kagan has also been searching for her. He's had one of his vampire henchmen, Domastir (Will Sanderson), pick up her trail. Domastir has overheard what the fortune teller told Rayne about the eye. When he relays the message to Kagan that Rayne is going in search of the eye, Kagan orders that Rayne be watched and, when she does get the eye, she be killed.Rayne heads for the monastery, followed by both the three Brimstones and by Domastir with his band of about a dozen thralls. The monks give Rayne dinner and a place to rest for the night. While everyone is asleep, Rayne sneaks around looking for the eye. She kills a deformed monk in order to get the key around his neck, uses the key to open the chamber where the eye is kept, dodges rotating blades to get to the pedestal where it sits, but the moment she picks it up, the doors slam shut and the room begins to fill with holy water. She leaps to the ceiling where she hangs upside down to escape the water. While waiting, she looks at the eye, which is suddenly assimilated into her own eye. Suddenly, the chamber door opens up, revealing the head monk (Udo Kier). He tells Rayne that the eye has made her impervious to water. The eye is actually one of three talismans -- an eye, a rib, and a heart -- that belonged to a long-dead vampire named Belial. Belial found a way to protect vampires against water, sunlight, and crosses. Upon his death, his body parts were scattered in fear of some vampire getting hold of them and becoming invincible. Because the eye has now become apart of Rayne's body, the monk won't let her leave the monastery.Suddenly, a shout rings out that the monastery is being attacked. Domastir and his thralls begin knocking off monks right and left. Sebastian, Vladimir, and Katarin join the fight, but it is Domastir who succeeds in knocking out Rayne and riding off with her body. Katarin is ordered to return to Brimstone to tell them that Domastir has Rayne and that Rayne has the eye, while Sebastian and Vladimir pursue Domastir. Because day is approaching, Domastir is forced to take shelter at Leonid's (Meat Loaf) palace of prostitutes, vampires, and other decadents. When Leonid lays eyes on Rayne, he wants to add her to his collection, but Domastir says that Rayne is for Kagan. However, when Leonid learns that Rayne has the eye, he has Domastir placed in chains
and means to get the eye from Rayne even if he has to cut it out himself.Sebastian and Vladimir have infiltrated the palace. They come upon Rayne just after she's been stabbed several times by Leonid. Vladimir tosses a blanket over Rayne and shoots out the windows, allowing in the sunlight. Leonid burns to death, and Sebastian and Vladimir carry Rayne's body back to Brimstone headquarters. They place Rayne in a cell, but Rayne promises not to feed from then and asks only for animal blood so that she can heal and get on with her business. A few rats later, Rayne is healed. Vladimir convinces her to stay and train with Brimstone so that they can attack Kagan together. A new set of clothes and a fresh sword, and Rayne is ready to go.Although Rayne's stay at Brimstone seems to have given morale a shot in the arm, Katarin isn't pleased by Rayne's presence. In her correspondence with her father, the Viscount Elrich, the two of them express the belief that Brimstone is lost, although Elrich continues to protect the secret location of the Brimstone Society in order to protect his daughter's safety. On the other hand, Elrich is plotting to unseat Kagan. Meanwhile, Kagan has obtained the rib talisman and has ordered his thralls to comb the land for Brimstone's location, destroy everyone in Brimstone, and bring Rayne to him.After arming themselves with gunpowder, swords, and holy water from an arms dealer in town, Vladimir, Sebastian, and Rayne return to Brimstone. Before they reach the fortress, however, they are met by a wounded patriot. With his dying breath, he reveals that Katarin has betrayed them and that everyone in Brimstone is dead. That night, while Vladimir and Sebastian sleep out under the stars, Rayne tries to sneak off on her own. When Sebastian wakes up and tries to stop her, Rayne confesses that it is because of her that all those people died and that she's going to go it alone from now on. Also, she intends to find the heart talisman because she thinks that will give her the fighting edge against Kagan.Rayne's first stop is back at the Brimstone fortress, where she finds everyone is either dead or dying. Suddenly, she hears voices and hides behind a wall. It is Domastir telling his thralls that the damphir's body is not among the victims and that they must return to tell Kagan. Rayne goes looking deeper in the fortress and comes upon Katarin looking for the heart, which she tells her companions was buried by her grandfather at the bottom of a pool of water. Katarin dives into the pool to retrieve it, and Rayne follows. Katarin stabs Rayne in the abdomen, grabs the talisman, and begins swimming to the surface. Rayne follows. When they reach the surface, Rayne grabs Katarin, slits open her neck, and drinks her blood, which immediately heals Rayne's wound. As Katarin lies dead, Rayne now has the heart and she leaves to confront Kagan.Fearing that Rayne is no match for Kagan, Vladimir and Sebastian saddle up their horses and ride to Kagan's castle, where they hide in the bushes, waiting for Rayne to show. When she does, she rides straight to the gate and calls out, "I am here for Kagan." Rayne is immediately escorted to Domastir. She gives him the box with the heart in it and asks to see Kagan, but Domastir tosses her in a cell in the dungeon until it comes time to remove the eye. He then takes the heart to Kagan. In order to get inside the castle, Vladimir and Sebastian storm the front gate and are immediately captured by the guards and placed in a cell near Rayne.It is time for the ceremony that will remove the eye from Rayne and unite it with the heart and rib. Rayne is escorted to the ceremonial chamber and tied to an altar while they ready the knife. Meanwhile, Vladimir and Sebastian have tricked a thrall into entering their cell, overpowered him, and managed to escape. They storm the ceremonial chamber and start whacking away at the guards. Sebastian cuts Rayne free. Meanwhile, Kagan has opened the box which holds the heart and found it empty. He runs his sword through Vladimir and then turns on Rayne. They cross swords several times, managing to stab each other, but Kagan ends up on top. As he prepares to cut out Rayne's eye, Sebastian tosses Kagan a bottle of holy water, then shoots an arrow into it. The bottle breaks and the holy water eats away at Kagan's face. Rayne takes the opportunity to thrust an arrow through Kagan's heart and he turns to dust. With Kagan and Vladimir both dead, Rayne runs to Sebastian. He is also severely wounded. Rayne offers to turn him, but he refuses and dies in her arms.Rayne, the sole survivor amid the carnage, takes her seat on Kagan's throne. | gothic, murder, cult, violence, flashback, good versus evil, revenge | train | imdb | The root canal work of movie making, the Xanadu of awfulness....Meatloaf trying to character-act.I checked out the other movie-goers...hmmm, not many left....and they were all, very much like myself, staring wide eyed and open mouthed at witnessing the birth of a legend.
Boll at least knows that the audience for a film based on this video game expects to see blood, and a lot of it.
In essence, by waiting until the last possible moment to hire actors, he can make his movies with a secured budget.Th reason why I write this is because I heard his new "epic" In the Name of the King will be a four hour film split in half like Kill Bill.
Maximum respect for the mullet Matthew, wear it proudly.Of course you do get to see Kristanna Lokens boobs in a raunchy, makes no sense at all, sex scene so that also is a good thing.I must point out that fight scenes, although they occur pretty rarely, are pretty rich with gore.
Then again, the topless babes in his scenes totally make up for his fat ass.The director Uwe Boll isn't really that bad as people say he is.
I laughed at a lot of the acting and dialog, and the fight editing was a nightmare, but in the end, I still had a decent time with the movie.
Yes, actually story in a Bolle video game movie!
For any other director this movie would be a total disaster, but looking at Bolle's past video game adaptations I would have to say that he is improving in leaps and bounds.
I know a lot of people are going to just breeze past this review, but I have to say, I have seen some REALLY bad movies, and this isn't one of them.
It's got a decent plot, some good acting (and some REALLY bad acting), and it's got action.I have a feeling that the Dungeon Siege movie will suck though.
After watching BloodRayne, I am thoroughly convinced Uwe Boll will eventually make a good and entertaining movie (five years from now at the very very least.) As Alone in the Dark was a step up from House of the Dead, BloodRayne is a step up from Alone in the dark.
Unfortunately, before he gets there Boll will have to continue to trek through the vast expanse of mediocrity one baby step at a time, and there is far more entertainment from a shamelessly bad movie than a merely mediocre one.The opening credits take place over a nice little montage of paintings, then moves to a sunset in the mountains effectively establishing the mood in a surprisingly competent fashion.
I found myself entertaining the idea, "You know, maybe
just maybe Boll finally made a good movie." Then just like Alone in the Dark, the first actor opened his mouth and my hopes collapsed.
It reminded me of that look pro wrestler gives during their pre-match smack talk rants (which I, try as I might, can't watch with a straight face) ,and from hence forth I saw Domastir as the little wrestler who couldn't.As for Rayne, herself, Kristanna Loken does an admirable job of wanting to go somewhere with the role despite being trapped by a film that's lost.
BloodRayne is like a baby's first step, reluctantly letting go and making an unstable effort to walk letting go of the blatant rip offs ("homages" on steroids) and finding its own style.Uwe Boll's not there yet, but he's getting there
one step at a time..
Nevertheless there was one sex scene.This movie has very good cast, take Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen and Kristanna Loken.
(in this case, video games that are past their shelf life.)Put this brand into a profitable movie genre such as teen sex comedy (I'm looking at you National Lampoon) or horror film.
If you watch this with the mindset the Uwe Boll is not a Hollywood director, but he does have a lot of heart, you very well may enjoy this film..
But it's easy here to rate one star without watching a movie, and also without giving one thought to.Of course it isn't an artwork, a masterwork, or comparable to high budget productions a la Lord Of The Rings.
Instead, it fits right into a solid line of straight-to-video productions, or some bigger TV Adventure movies, but is definitively enjoyable for people who don't expect a lifetime experience from Uwe Boll.
While I agree that Uwe Boll should be making low budget videos or used car commercials until he learns how to direct, this movie was not all that bad if you overlook some of its obvious failings.
I'm just ticked off that she didn't accept the role for Bloodrayne 2.Even though a movie that Kristanna is currently working on, A king's Tale, and even though it is again directed by our friend Mr. Boll I like Jason Statham and Ray Liotta.
My first stop is "Bloodrayne", Uwe Boll's third video game adaptation and, impressively, his least entertaining, interesting and fun movie so far.
Whereas "House of the Dead" was so bad it had its moments of unintentional comedy, and "Alone in the Dark" was simply too empty and forgettable to count among the all-time worsts, "Bloodrayne" made me seriously consider killing myself before I had come half-way through.
Why do the corporations keep giving visionless Uwe Bowl any money to make bad video game movies.
She seeks for powerful talismans to defeat Kagan, while the skilled warriors Vladimir and Sebastian train her to face the forces of Kagan and her human side falls in love for Sebastian."Bloodrayne" is a great vampire movie and absolutely underrated in IMDb. The locations and cinematography in Romania are magnificent and I believe it would be impossible to build sets so spectaculars in another country; the cast is excellent, with Sir Ben Kingsley, Geraldine Chaplin, Michael Madsen, Michelle Rodriguez, Matthew Davis and the gorgeous Kristanna Loken; the story is full of action and the characters are very well developed.
Nothing like over annunciated crap lines to make a bad movie really stand out.I won't even try to explain the plot because there really wasn't one.
There was no point to the movie at all and I didn't care what happened to anyone.Billy Zane was great, Meatloaf was brilliant, but everyone else was just bad.If you took Interview With a Vampire, the Dungeons and Dragons movie, and maybe the sequel to the Dungeons and Dragons movie, plus the Conan the Barbarian cartoon series and that vampire movie with Jim Carrey for good measure, and threw it all into a pot but made the main character a girl who can't fight but manages to defeat the world's most powerful vampire and you gave a lot of main characters raging mullets then, and only then would you have something like Bloodrayne.This movie made me wish I was watching Underworld..
This movies fighting scenes were so bad that the blood squirting out looked like someone popped a balloon full of red water.
I've liked Vampire movies and stories since childhood and although I prefer "old school" vampires (like Dracula) I do think the modern ones of this kind have a kind of cool appeal as well.The cast includes some enormously capable actors: Ben Kingsley, Michael Madden, Michelle Rodriguez.
The motivations of the major characters are reasonably clear, if one-dimensional, and there is at least some attempt to give Rayne more depth than her type is usually allowed, which pays off in the ambiguous final shot.I suspect that many people have watched this film expecting it to be wretched, given the reputation of director Uwe Boll.
As well as seeing whether one of the worst directors of all time Uwe Boll was capable of making a good film.
(But then, she just plain looks good, so what can you expect?) Personally, I think Ewe Boll is a very talented director who's trying to make English speaking movies in spite of the fact it is not his primary language.The line deliveries just don't sound right, and a lot of the conversations just don't quite flow or fit..
Kristina Loken is really attractive and she plays her part well and Ben Kingsley is a good bad guy.I admit I've never played the video games so I don't know how it relates to the video game, because the previous scripts for House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark barely had anything to do with the games.
For this film to be based on a pretty good game, they should have come up with a better plot.
Now if you do want to point and say an actor did bad like everyone keeps doing, than you can point at Matthew Davis whom looked as though he were smiling even at the most odd moments.If you like pointless action packed films, with a lot of blood, and you don't mind a female star, than this movie is right down your alleyway.
House of the Dead for me was a truly painful experience and Alone in the Dark, although better, still felt like eating a sloppy turd (dont ask me how i know what eating a sloppy turd feels like...) I watched this film because of mainly 2 reasons: 1 - To see if Uwe can get redemption from his earlier game to film adaptation.2 - I am a big film fan, and like the vampire / horror genre.The film is purely awful from start to finish.
This movie is so bad you even wonder why Billy Zane would be in it, let alone Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madsen and Ben Kingsley.
There are many things that have already been said about this movie and Uwe Boll so i will try to focus on the positive aspects (although they are few and far between).This is the best of a bad bunch of films by a terrible director hence the 2 stars i gave it (the rest of his movies deserve 1 or below).
It remains a mystery to me how Uwe can get the talented actors to appear in his movies and how he manages every time to pull the worst performance of there career.The exception in bloodrayne is Michelle Rodriguez who manages to be convincing even with the lack of direction and awful script i only hope the movie does not damage the careers of any of the other amazing actors who appear in this crapfest.Despite being burnt time and time again i'm sure i will watch dungeon siege (i'm also pretty sure i'll hate it and kick myself again) and will continue to hold on to the slight hope that one day Uwe will actually make a good job of one of his movies because the video game fan in me still gets excited by the concept of game to movie franchise's.If you are like me regardless of what I or anyone else says you will watch this movie just remember when your trying to throw yourself off a bridge for putting yourself through another Uwe Boll flick that one day he will be dead it is that thought alone allows me to continue to watch his crap.I tried to focus on the positive aspects of this movie but after proof reading what i wrote i can see i failed, oh well i did try..
I'm saying it's wicked because according to the trivia fact for this movie (thank y'all for giving us the best in movie info!), real...well, I don't wan't to give away info for this, because like I mentioned in another review of mine, parents might be showing this stuff to their kids.My advice to you: watch "Bloodrayne" and have a good time!
Acting sucks, CGI sucks, makeup sucks, the sex scene sucks the most of it all, god, what a random sex shot.I guess for Uwe Boll it's not a great deal to actually lose a great part of his money producing films like these, and neither is for studios.
I was expecting cheese like House of the Dead or Alone in the Dark - both movies I enjoyed simply for the action and special effects.
I think they're upset that Uwe Boll keeps making god awful movies based on the ideas of video games showing he has absolutely no skill as a director.
Granted I have a "If it's based on a video game it's going to be crap" mentality but that's probably because of directors like Uwe Boll who should be playing games instead of making movies based on them..
The action is almost non stop, the story moves along at a decent pace and there's loads and loads of blood.If you like other Uwe Boll films there's a chance you'll like this, it's a Diet Vampire film sort of the matrix of neck biter films, plenty going on but not too deep to bore you.The acting isn't the best i've seen but all of the characters are interesting enough and Bloodrayne is played well even though the look from the video games isn't quite there.
I suppose we offended the other movie patrons, but it was hard to tell, as the other couple there was making out and never seemed to come up for air, while the one other guy there was on his cell phone the entire time (likely calling all his friends warning them about the movie).I actually enjoy a number of campy B Movies, I'm a fan of most of the Troma Films myself, but to take a good video game with a strong story and utterly destroy it with terrible directing, dialog that seemed written for and performed by grade school children (my 4 year old's preschool talent show was more entertaining) and craptacular editing should be criminal.I can only hope that Uwe Boll loses enough money on this venture to prevent him from ruining other video game based movies..
There are some movies that are so bad that they are actually fun to watch (any Ed Wood film for example).
No video game can ever be as good as Resident Evil and I think people are expecting it to be....Just watch it for what it is a great movie that is based off a great video game.
of course it's all ludicrous, get over it, go watch another type of movie and get a life, don't you know what type of films you like by now or are you all 17 ?
This one is a very good movie and I can't understand how some guys can say the Film sucks, just because is made by Uwe Boll.The movie is great, the actors are great and it was a lot of fun for my friends and me to watch it!
I'm a fan of the Bloodrayne video game series and this is the only reason I went to watch the movie, that and Kristanna Loken of course.
Bloodrayne is supposed to have a very Gothic atmosphere but instead Uwe Boll decides to set the atmosphere at a trick-or-treat level.By the time I was done watching this movie, I realized that my eyes bled.
I read somewhere in a gaming magazine that maybe it is not the film makers we should blame for making bad movies.
This so called awful movie had some nice gore and want not but it wasn't anything I am going to cry to the world about.Bloodrayne also isn't a great game to boot, but it was made and I was pleased with what I watched.
The only reason I gave it a 2 is that I like Michael Madsen and that Kristanna Loken is one good looking girl.
Can we please lock Uwe Boll up for good and never let him within 100 miles of a film set ever again?BloodRayne is a video game adaptation.
And this isn't even a half- baked attempt, this is just an exercise in really, really bad film-making.The acting is absolutely horrible and all I can suppose is that the likes of Rodriguez, Madsen and Kingsley must have been desperate for a paycheck.
I think she was trying anyway, it's hard to tell with such a bad actress.I can't comment on the story but I'm pretty sure there wasn't one.Uwe Boll was too busy counting his money from his German tax cuts to actually direct any portion of this movie.
Like a real fan of the PC game I thought: "This movie can't be so bad, It just can't be so simple and flat, so empty and horrible as the people say." After I saw it I had to change my mind.
When I first heard a Bloodrayne movie was coming I had a lot of bets on it, yet all hope and expectatives vanished when I heard who the director was: Uwe Boll.
After forcing myself to see this movie the other night because a few of my friends are into vampire flicks, I actually thought it could have been worse.Uwe Boll has made some bad movies, but this one is different because it makes you think at some points in the movie, like "I wonder if Hoodwinked was any good?" See it only if you like the video game.I would give the movie a 7 out of 10, but that's being too nice.
...don't like Uwe Boll and thus could not judge the movie on its merits, or...are video game fans who had very specific expectations for this movie and again, were unable to look beyond that, or...
Uwe boll demonstrates his total lack of film-making skills once again with this poor and lifeless excuse for a vampire movie.Everything that a movie can do wrong is on full display in this trainwreck from beginning to end, including a weak and non-sensical plot, idiotic characters, cheap effects, boring action sequences and a cast of talented actors delivering performances so bad that it feels like they were performing at gunpoint.. |
tt0381707 | White Chicks | The plot begins in a convenience store where two FBI agents and brothers, Kevin Copeland and Marcus Copeland (Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans), try to capture members of an organization that sells drugs inside ice cream boxes, posing as Dominican clerks. Unfortunately, the first arrival turns out to be a genuine ice cream delivery, and the actual drug dealers manage to get away. The situation is worsened by the fact that Kevin and Marcus have decided to resolve this bust by themselves.
The FBI supervisor, Elliott Gordon (Frankie Faison), gives the two agents a last chance to remain in the FBI by giving them the duty of protecting the mega-rich billionaire cruise line heiresses Brittany and Tiffany Wilson (Maitland Ward and Anne Dudek), who are arriving in town for Labour Day Weekend in the Hamptons, from a kidnapping plot (known as the socialite kidnappings). When the Wilson sisters get minor facial cuts in a car accident, Kevin convinces them to stay in the hotel all weekend. Kevin and Marcus then disguise themselves as the Wilson sisters in order to save their jobs.
At the Hamptons hotel, Kevin and Marcus (as Brittany and Tiffany) meet Brittany and Tiffany's three best friends, Karen (Busy Philipps), Tori (Jessica Cauffiel), and Lisa (Jennifer Carpenter), and their rivals the Vandergeld sisters, Megan (Brittany Daniel) and Heather (Jaime King). They also encounter Karen's love interest, Heath, a broke and jobless actor who happens to be Heather's boyfriend. Kevin shows an interest in the news reporter Denise Porter (Rochelle Aytes) from New York 1 and makes an attempt to woo her, forgetting that he is still in disguise as a woman. Marcus' wife Gina (Faune Chambers), whose relationship is already troubled, becomes an additional complicating factor as she gets suspicious when she hears a woman's voice in the background during a phone conversation with Marcus. The woman (a sales representative) is actually just trying to help Marcus get dressed, but Gina does not know that and assumes that Marcus is having an affair. Meanwhile, Latrell Spencer (Terry Crews) takes an interest in Marcus, thinking that he is Tiffany and white. A date with Marcus/Tiffany is then auctioned off to Latrell during a charity dinner, much to Marcus's fear and Heather's jealousy. At the same time, Kevin learns of Denise's desire to be wooed by a wealthy man as opposed to the men she usually sees, and uses Latrell/Marcus's date to steal Latrell's Aston Martin DB7 and house keys to take Denise on a date while pretending to be Latrell. When Kevin and Denise arrive at Latrell's house, Kevin gets mauled by Latrell's giant dog (A Rottweiler) until he manages to trap the dog. As Kevin and Denise get close, he manages to gain some information relevant to the case of Ted Burton (the suspect they're after). Meanwhile, Marcus makes many attempts to repulse Latrell on their date while brushing off his many advances such as eating uncontrollably, chewing off a hangnail on his toe and farting.
At a nightclub, Latrell attempts to drug Marcus in hopes of having sex only to be tricked into taking it himself and ends up in bed with Heath's friend, Russ (Steven Grayhm). Marcus and Kevin beat Heather and Megan in a dance-off hoping to help Karen win Heath only to have Heather drag him off. Karen is seen vomiting in the bathroom, drunk and unintentionally slips to Marcus and Kevin that Warren Vangergeld (John Heard) is penniless, and has only recently paid Karen's own father back for loans he has lent him. The next day, the real Brittany and Tiffany see their faces on a magazine, and they realize that two people are impersonating them. Gina and her friend, Shaunice (Drew Sidora), sees Kevin as Brittany while visiting Marcus and believes that Marcus is "cheating" on her and leaves him in disbelief and hurt. The Wilson sisters go to the hotel their clones were seen at where agents Gomez and Harper (thinking that they are Kevin and Marcus after searching their room through suspicion and finding panties and female masks) undress them only to find out that they're the real Wilson sisters and lose their jobs. This leads to the chief finding out that Marcus and Kevin have been impersonating Brittany and Tiffany. Because of this, the chief fires the both of them. Later on, Kevin and Marcus then realize that Mr. Vandergeld has been behind the kidnappings, using the ransom money to keep his family in their luxurious lifestyle. Their attempts to notify their chief fall on deaf ears and so they pursue the case themselves.
At the fashion show, Kevin and Marcus replace the Vandergeld sisters on the catwalk which angers them and attempt to humiliate the Wilson sisters. Marcus stands up for Karen after she tells Heath she's tired of waiting for him and he callously brushes her off. After the Vandergeld sisters are foiled by the trio and humiliated off the catwalk, Marcus and Kevin are exposed by the real Wilson sisters, at which point Warren Vandergeld attempts to kidnap the Wilson sisters. He temporarily manages to capture one of the real twins and Kevin, only to have his criminal activities and bankruptcy exposed. In the ensuing fight, Kevin is shot trying to protect Denise, and Latrell is shot trying to protect Marcus. The duo successfully capture Vandergeld along with Heath and Russ (with the help of Gomez and Harper) before his plan succeeded which gets them their jobs back. While thanking Latrell, Marcus reveals that he is actually a black man. While Latrell is upset that Marcus is a man, his primary anger stems from the fact that Marcus is black, not that he is a man. Marcus apologizes to Gina for constantly putting work before love, and the two make up, much to Shaunice's chagrin. Denise falls for Kevin after he saves her from a bullet shot by Vandergeld when she caught his secret on film. The movie ends with Tori, Lisa, and Karen becoming friends with Kevin and Marcus for real by making a pact to stay together and go shopping. | comedy, humor, satire, entertaining | train | wikipedia | Anyone who dissect the plot and put the acting and screenplay of this film under a microscope is missing the entire point of this movie.This is a comedy, not a documentary or an historical saga, this is plane humor, dumb with a bit of a slapstick taste...
This is a fun movie to watch with a "stupid" yet hilarious story, simple comedy and a lot of what some people call "toilet humor" (which is always funny) - it's nothing more than pure entertainment and it leaves you with a smile on your face which is never a bad thing, right?
They decide to swap their bad position with his superior Section Chief Elliott Gordon (Frankie Faison) working undercover in an abduction case, disguised in the two spoiled white daughters of a tycoon, Brittany and Tiffany Wilson, getting in hilarious situations.I like the silly and funny movies that Keenen Ivory Wayans directs.
While watching "White Chicks", I laughed a lot and I really liked this comedy, which will never be nominated to an Oscar or to Cannes.
This movie makes fun of everyone-- black, white, rich, poor, dorks, cool people...
I have seen the Unrated version on DVD together with my family.I was very much suspicious about this movie from the moment when I saw the DVD cover and really wanted to push stop button after the first 5 minutes of the film, especially after seeing absolutely silly makeup :=) Lucky for me, others wanted to continue watching.
What followed was 1 1/2 hours of great comedy, some scenes are so hilarious that even after seeing them many times I still laugh again when seeing them.In some way this movie is identical to Soul Plane by being an underdog which is blamed to be racist and full with low level jokes.
After seeing the Wayans Brothers in Scary Movie 1 and Scary Movie 2 I had high expectations on this film, not because they are comic geniuses or anything, but because they are one of the few toilet humor actors I can tolerate and even find quite humorous under the right conditions.
White Chicks pulled out all the stops, and remains one of my favorite movies to watch till this day.There was just so much hilarious material, that was quite different from some of the other comedies I had recently seen.
It was kind of obvious how when the brothers in the film dressed up to be the sisters they looked nothing like them, but I still thought it was a great underrated comedy!.
Actually when i seen this movie my grandfather had just died and i couldn't help but laugh when i saw this film.
Remember its a comedy you laugh at funny things on film, you don't watch a comedy film to write a check list of every thing not politically correct about the movie, its a movie to be enjoyed by the masses not by the political correctness police, get a life people.
One of the best things about the film is that they didn't use the same jokes that every other comedy movie based on someone dressing up as someone else and pretending to be them.
But the Wayans seem to be able to dish out equal portions of playful jabs and tongue-in-cheek which appeals to me.A look at the Hilton sisters and their lifestyle gives more than enough fodder to make something really funny, and it is in this movie.If you want intellectualism, go elsewhere.
It's the kind of movie you don't think you will ever see and I saw it and I laughed again and again.I didn't find it racist because I found the comedy mostly geared toward differences between men and women and the most hilarious aspects of the film come from the Wayan's brothers dressing up as the girls and the tribulations they have.Personally I can understand how anyone over the age of twenty might not find it as funny.
I didn't like any of the Wayans movies, the 'Scary Movie' franchise being the worst but 'White Chicks' comes as quite a nice surprise.
Keenan Ivory Wayans finally offers a film that's actually funny without heading too much towards the direction of horrendous stupidity.
The Wayans brothers do as well as anyone could hope to in their role, playing to the ridiculous situation well.Another movie in a trend of superfluous comedy.
The rest of the cast is mostly unknowns and may spark a laugh here or there but they aren't worth mentioning .Keenen Ivory Wayans wrote and directed White Chicks however Scary Movie 1 and 2 are a lot better.
It doesn't generate a single laugh (except out of sheer embarrassment for the actors) and there's zero social commentary because every character is such a poorly written cliché that you can't get past how over-the-top they are.No one seems to be enjoying what they're doing, the editing is atrocious, all attempts at humor rely solely on the lowest possible juvenile sensibilities and the plot conceit is so entirely implausible that this film just defines 'bomb.
when i watched this trainwreck all that i could think was, "instead of bringing FBI makeup artist to make to black guys look like white chicks, why not just use their skill to cover the scratches on the two women's nose and mouth?" not only did Marlon and Shawn Wayons not look anything like two young white girls, but the plot was terrible, obvious and not funny at all.
I'm going to tell you about the problem with this movie - I understand if you like this film but I got this as a free rental (I work in a BB video store).
Maybe I'm asking too much from this film, but when I saw the promotional matter for this film, I thought it may have something to say about the relationships between race and gender- instead all it does is re-establish what we already know - that it might be an unusual or even a possibly funny experience for a black man to have to hide out as a rich white woman, and that they may not adjust well.
Alright - I'm getting tired of ranting - but this film actually has more to say about the portrayal of women - when the two "girls" grimace at having to engage in feminine activities, is that not saying to the male audience "God, isn't it great that we aren't like that." Especially in reference to the display of overt emotion.
While the premise (change in colour/gender/whatever) is bad enough (and has been done, better, many times before)the actual transformation of two black guys into two white girls is one of the least convincing transformations ever put on screen.
First of all I'd like to say that I did enjoy the Wayans brother Scary Movie (1) and the sequel had it's moments.
If you want a silly comedy with more laughs then look at scary movie, airplane, hotshots 1 + 2.
Do Movie Producers Really Think We are This Stupid?I have been seeing previews for this horrifyingly bad movie, White Chicks almost non-stop.
Yeah, they might have been funny when Eddie Murphey did them in the 80's, or when Richard Pryor did them before that, or when Red Foxx did them before that.I guess the no-talent Wayans brothers thought everyone would think that hip black guys dressing up as lame white women would make for a hillarious combination.
But strangely, if you check your IQ in at the door and think about all the terrible things happening in the world, really think hard about them, two normally unfunny and 2nd-rate actors dressing up like "white chics" can be sort of funny at times.
The film is one dimensional comedy, built on one joke: disguise black guys as white girls, uses well played out racial stereotypes, and familiar jabs at the rich.
The only thing that's funny about this film is the fact that we are expected to believe that two people could pass themselves off as white chicks with that makeup.
As for the racist label, i don't think it can be taken seriously; the film was a compendium of stereotypes from beginning to end: the slapstick, bling laden, rap happy, likable but incompetent, black duo as improbable FBI agents; the stern but ultimately soft hearted black police chief (how many of these have we seen over the years?); the buff mandingo with the appetite for white meat; the rich, shopping crazy, catty heiresses, etc etc.
I cant believe anyone could write such lame lines, and whats worse - that actor with such great potential like Marlon Wayans ( Tyrone from "Requiem For A Dream"; the black dude from "Scary Movie") agreed to play in it!Keenan Ivory Wayans should stick to acting, because thats where he excels.
Some Like it Bad. Sporting two of the worst make-up jobs in motion picture history, Shawn and Marlon Wayans play incompetent undercover FBI agents who dress up as a couple of blond bimbo socialites to nab a kidnapper.
Borrowing virtually all of its plot points - and none of its style - from that gender-bending template, "Some Like it Hot," "White Chicks" hits a new low in cross dressing comedies.
Unlike most actors stuck in a turkey of this caliber, the Wayans have no one to blame but themselves (and their older and presumably more experienced brother, Keenan Ivory, who directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with them).This is about as completely unfunny as any comedy could ever hope to be, but what I really want to know is how a movie that uses transvestism as its theme can still manage to trash gays every chance it gets..
White Chicks, the newest intellectually insulting "gut buster" from the Wayans Brothers (Shawn and Marlon), is about as funny as a route canal and as entertaining as when Steven Seagal takes a minute or two out of his films to go on boring rants stressing the importance of global peace and political equality.The Wayans were previously responsible for Scary Movie, which was funny not because it was brilliant but rather because it was risqué at the risk of being grotesque, and funny at the risk of being offensive.
The sequel was simply grotesque and offensive.White Chicks is worse than Scary Movie 2, because at least that film had the un-PC antics (like Chris Elliot's deformed hand) that were moderately shocking.
Apart from a pathetic throwaway exploitation of their home life (clichés include: Being a cop who is always late for everything; the wife who is worried about her husband and is upset he never calls her or makes it home on time; the bachelor who's looking for love), the movie pretty much just skips forward right into the plot.I know not all comedies need extensive character backdrops, but even other slapstick buddy films like Dumb and Dumber took the time to introduce their characters and make them distinct.
Well, I think of myself as a person with a strong sense of humor, who simply love comedies, especially, if watched with a group of friends.
My guess is, there were some gags involving plastic surgery that got cut from the movie when someone realized that the mother still looks better than the Wayans brothers.Now, I can suspend my disbelief for anything – even the idea that tall black men in zombie makeup look like cute white chicks.
Trust me, its that bad.If you are only familiar with the Scary Movie films and want to see more of the Wayans brothers then hire out I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
If you think someone saying "oh no you didn't" while waving their finger is still funny, or you find toilet humor amusing, then you'll laugh at this film.
But I would have to say this, as long as it is a movie like "White Chicks" Who cares?
In short: All the characters are overdone caricatures, the storyline is non-existent, the plot is hopeless, the acting ranges from bad to average and in the end the film just isn't funny.I could lament about why black men don't make very convincing white beauty queens or why the story is so utterly hopeless, but let's face it, that's not what films like these are for.
The reason this movie is so bad, is that it really isn't funny unless you're a ten year old girl.
I suggest you don't make the same mistake.I like the Wayan's family comedy work usually, but this movie is terrible.Not because it is racist...people need to get over themselves on the race hangups and have fun with our differences; comedians have done this for a long time...for me going back to Flip Wilson, and it can be really funny no matter what color you are, if you actually have a sense of humor, which is harder to find in today's PC paranoid younger generations.HOWEVER...this movie is just a terribly produced and acted movie.
Not that Tyler Perry's movies are much better than this one.This was a total waste of my time and I watch some stupid stuff and usually like it..
There is a lot of "I think I'm gonna play some Time Crisis 3." At least for me there was (5 times to be exact).Somebody has to tell Kenan Ivory, Damon, Marlon, Shawn, Damien (the only talented one), Kim, Rakeesha, George W., and Osama Bin Wayans to stop making movies.
If you're looking for a no-brainer movie for one of those days when you need a laugh - and you're not offended by black comedy - this is a must- see.
Sure their make-up as the two rich twin white chicks is a little off, but that is excellent work to look "white", and act like those white rich chicks, given these two girls attitude and demeanor in the beginning of the film before the Wayans went undercover posing as them.
The only way, I managed to remain awake during White Chicks, was by thinking of the various ways, that I would express my disappointment in this review, and that says a lot about me and the quality of this movie.
Every character in the film HAD to play complete idiots so the film could move forward.Some people think this movie is a masterpiece or a "smart" comedy.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs Kevin and Marcus Copeland (Shawn and Marlon Wayans) are two bungling FBI operatives who find themselves caught up in an operation to go undercover as the Wilson sisters,a couple of ditzy,glamour obsessed socialites who appear to be the next target of a gang of international kidnappers.However,two worlds apart from each other,the federal brothers find adjusting to the girls life hard and 'hilarious' complications soon ensue.It says a lot that I'd usually enjoy this kind of movie,even though some would say I was silly and needed to grow up,but here I was just totally out in the cold.I can only remember laughing about once or twice,three times at the most.The whole thing's at least quarter of an hour too long and it all becomes very one-joke very quickly.And,onto my next axe to grind,the undercover costume designs of the two girls.Seriously,these are of such a sloppy standard I've seen better in video productions,and really unacceptable for a major studio film.Unfortunately,this is a definite failure for the Wayans brothers,Keenen Ivory directing here,usually renowned for pulling this kind of thing off with definite aplomb.Unfunny,meandering and as lost as Jodie Marsh's virginity,the writer just seems to have something in for the real-life Hilton sisters the film is so clearly based on.Understandable,in some respects,but,like,you know,don't take it out on us,man.Whatever.*.
It's just non-stop laughs from beginning to end, and if you're looking for a profound or intelligent movie then why would you watch a movie called "White Chicks"?
Political correctness need not apply.Thats what makes a Wayens Brother movie so funny.If you can easily be offended then go see some sweet predictable love story.But if you want to laugh your ass off for an hour and a half to two hours Then check out the Wayens.Thay got the same thing going for them that the television series"All In The Famley"had going for it.No one's safe including the offending party's.Yes,White Chicks is mindless comedy.But mindless comedy at its best in my opinion.Sit back,relax, pop it in your DVD player and enjoy.I cant wait for their next project!Simple plot Marlon and Shawn Wayens play two F.B.I. agents who after bungling a case are recruited to escort two rich sisters to the Hamptons that might be a target of a kidnapping attempt.After a small car wreak and two small scratches on the sisters faces Thay decide can't be caught dead in the Hamptons where with all the reporters and photographers and Socialite friends.To avoid digging even deeper into a hole with their boss,Marlon and Shawn use their connections at the F.B.I. to dress like the sisters and go in their place..
I enjoyed most of the movies, but I didn't really like White Chicks that much.Different people are going to have different opinions.
While I am guessing nobody goes to a movie called "White Chicks" looking for the next "Gone with the Wind", but I do think that movie-goers deserve more than this, particularly given the high quality names involved.There is enough funny material in the film to make a 2 part skit on a late night comedy show, but truly not enough for a feature length film.
But I'm giving this too much thought.When your friends look at you and ask when the movie is going to get funny, it's time to turn it off.
"White Chicks", a film done by the Wayans brothers, is an example of the kind of the crude, immature comedies that are common nowadays, but it's not a very good example.
Some are irked by stupid comedies like this in general, but I think they can be really funny.
I couldn't see the humor in the film because I was thinking about how awful the white chicks looked. |
tt0195231 | Satya | Mumbai is in the midst of a turf war between two gangs, collectively referred to as the Mumbai underworld when Satya (J.D Chakravarthy), a man without a past, comes to the city looking for employment. While waiting tables at the local dance bar, he gets involved in a scuffle with Jagga (Jeeva), bag man for dreaded don Guru Narayan (Raju Mavani). Jagga takes his revenge by getting Satya arrested on false charges of pimping. In jail, Satya clashes with yet another member of Mumbai's mafia, underworld don Bhiku Mhatre (Manoj Bajpayee), who is in prison pending trial for the murder of a prominent film producer. Mhatre, pleased with Satya's bravado, extends a hand of friendship and arranges for his release as well as accommodation. With Mhatre's help, Satya avenges himself by gunning down Jagga in the very same dance bar and joins Mhatre's gang.
Before branching out on his own, Mhatre was part of a gang that included himself, Guru Narayan, Kallu Mama (Saurabh Shukla) and lawyer Chandrakant Mule (Makrand Deshpande). Bhau Thakurdas Jhawle (Govind Namdeo), presently a corporator in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, was the gang leader. After Jhawle joined politics, the gang split into two with Kallu and Mule joining Mhatre and Narayan going his own way. While the gangs had carved out their own territories which were off limits to the rival gang, both still maintained a relationship with Jhawle. Jagga's assassination breaks the uneasy truce and Narayan reneges on his promise by attacking Mhatre's gang when they are out on business. Mhatre decides to kill Narayan but is forced to abandon his project at the last moment on orders from Jhawle; the murder right on the eve of the municipal elections would have triggered a gang war and would be detrimental to Jhawle's political prospects. Meanwhile, Satya, who has risen up the ranks and become a key decision-maker in the gang, has met and fallen in love with Vidya (Urmila Matondkar), an aspiring playback singer who lives next door, but has not informed her of his underworld connections. At one point he even threatens a music director and gets him to sign her up for a project, with Vidya being unaware of the entire episode.
Satya tells Mhatre, fuming over Jhawle's orders to stay away from Narayan, to ignore him and they assassinate Narayan. Mhatre is now the unchallenged ruler of the underworld and Jhawle, knowing that he needs Mhatre's help to win the elections, patches up with him. This is when the city sees the appointment of a new police commissioner, Amodh Shukla (Paresh Rawal). Shukla and his force begin targeting Mhatre's gang through encounters. Satya, seeing the situation getting out of hand, convinces the gang that the commissioner has to be eliminated and gets him killed. The police respond by intensifying the crackdown. Jhawle wins the elections thanks to Mhatre's muscle power as well as public anger on the brutal methods adopted by the police in its fight against organized crime. In the midst of this, Satya and Vidya decide to catch a movie. Inspector Khandilkar (Aditya Shrivastava), on the basis of a tipoff that Satya is present in the cinema hall, surrounds the premises and orders that all doors be shut. Satya fires a gun, triggering a stampede which results in many fatalities, and escapes with Vidya. But the man who did not fear death now fears for Vidya's life. He decides to quit the underworld and reveals his decision to Mhatre, who decides to send them to Dubai where they would be safe.
Jhawle holds a party to celebrate his victory and invites Mhatre, Mule and Kallu to attend the same. During the party, he shoots Mhatre dead for having disobeyed his order and sends Kallu along with Mule to kill Satya. Satya, unaware of Mhatre's death, runs off to Vidya to try to clear things up, but has to flee when the police arrive. Khandilkar spills the beans in front of Vidya. Kallu returns to his headquarters, kills Mule instead of Satya, and informs Satya about Mhatre's fate. Satya takes his revenge by murdering Jhawle during Anant Chaturdashi celebrations, but suffers a bullet wound in the process. Kallu has arranged for himself and Satya to escape in a ship to Dubai. However, Satya insists that he needs to meet Vidya one last time before leaving.
Satya returns to Vidya's house to meet her but she refuses to open the door. He manages to break it open but Khandilkar, who had arrived to arrest him, shoots him down, having already shot and killed Kallu Mama. Satya collapses a few inches away from Vidya's feet and breathes his last. | murder, violence, cult, humor, romantic, tragedy, revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt4178092 | The Gift | Simon and Robyn Callum (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall) are a married couple moving from Chicago to California while recovering from a recent miscarriage. They find a nice home near the place Simon used to live and decide to settle in.While getting furniture for their house, a man (Joel Edgerton) approaches Simon and claims to know him from high school. Simon doesn't recognize him until the man says his name is Gordon Mosely, or simply Gordo. He politely welcomes the couple to the area and leaves.Gordo first drops off a bottle of wine on the couple's doorstep as a welcoming gift. He later shows up while Simon is at work. Robyn invites him in, and takes him on a tour of the house. In one room, they find a large toy monkey, and Robyn tells Gordo that Simon has a fobia of monkeys. Robyn invites Gordo to stay for dinner. When Simon joins them, Gordo tells Robyn about how Simon used to have a campaign for class president and using "Simon Says" as his slogan, and it would get him anything he wanted. A little too drunk from wine, Gordo makes a comment that "Simon Says..." applies to all the nice things Simon has in his life (great home, beautiful wife, nice job, etc.) which makes the couple a bit uncomfortable.Simon doesn't approve of Gordo visiting them, even crossing his name out over his phone number on the fridge and writing "Weirdo", as that was Gordo's nickname in high school. Gordo continues to come to their house when Simon is at work, and he leave gifts like a bunch of koi fish for the pond in front of their home, and he gets their cable TV working. He walks into the kitchen and sees "Weirdo" written on the fridge and leaves offended. To Robyn's surprise, Gordo later invites the couple over for a dinner party.Simon and Robyn go to a surprisingly nice home for the party. Gordo tells them that the other couple he invited just canceled on them. During conversation, he mentions that he is not married. Gordo then gets a phone call which he claims is from work and he leaves Simon and Robyn home alone. Simon then starts making rude comments about Gordo, saying that he has a crush on Robyn and wants to do perverted things to her. Simon then suggests they go exploring the house. They find a bedroom with women's clothing, as well as what appears to be a child's bedroom. They hear Gordo's car returning and they run back to the living room. When Gordo comes back inside, Simon asks him what he does for work. Gordo says that he lied and that he actually took a call from his ex-wife and admitted that it was a heated conversation. Simon insists that Robyn leave the room and Simon forcefully tells Gordo that he doesn't want him visiting them anymore.The next morning, Robyn thinks she hears noises while home alone. She goes outside and discovers that the koi fish are dead, and their dog, Mr. Bojangles, is nowhere to be found. Simon later goes back to Gordo's house, being greeted at the door by a woman whom he thinks is Gordo's wife. It turns out that Gordo doesn't actually live there. The Callums call the cops and find out that the couple in the house did know Gordo, and he had a key, since he handled their leased cars, and he had apparently used the key to get inside while the couple was on vacation. Without sufficient evidence, the cops can't do more than question Gordo, and they observe that Gordo would know who sent the authorities to him.Simon is being considered for a promotion at work, and after a good meeting with the two men who head the company, a colleague tells him that he has only one competitor for the position, Danny McDonald (PJ Byrne).Robyn continues to feel like Gordo is watching her at home. She takes some prescription pills that she pinched from their next door neighbor, and she faints in the bedroom. She awakens to find herself lying on the bed.At night, Robyn walks into the kitchen and thinks she hears a noise. A thump is heard at the door. It's Bojangles, safely returned home. Robyn wakes Simon up and they talk in the kitchen as Simon mentions he was going to tell Robyn that he got a promotion at work, but he found her passed out. He also takes out the pills he found and thinks that Robyn has had a relapse after previously abusing pills during their stay in Chicago. Robyn argues that Simon doesn't believe her suspicions about Gordo. Simon just thinks that the man has had a negative influence on their lives and it would be best to forget about him and move on.Over the next few months, Robyn becomes pregnant again. The couple lives on just fine until Robyn is told that a man is watching her at work. It's Gordo. Later, the couple finds a letter that apologizes for him bothering them, and he addresses Simon by saying he was willing to let "bygones be bygones". Simon denies knowing what Gordo is talking about.The couple goes to a baby shower for Robyn. She later takes a walk with Simon's sister Joan (Katie Aselton). Robyn asks her if she knew anything about Gordo. Joan says that it was reported that Simon and his friend Greg (David Denman) found Gordo in a car being molested by an older student, and this made everyone think he was gay.Robyn looks up Greg's name online and finds that he's a chiropractor. She makes an appointment to see him and starts to ask him about what happened between Simon and Gordo. Greg does not want to answer her questions, but finally tells her that Simon made up the story about Gordo being molested because Simon was a bully and frequently targeted Gordo. This story also led to Gordo's father trying to burn him alive after thinking he was gay, resulting in his father's arrest.Robyn goes to Simon's home office and searches his desk, finding two files. One contains information about Gordo, and the other is about Danny McDonald, the other finalist for the job that Simon is hoping to get. She sees a mugshot of Gordo, as he was apparently arrested years ago for burglary. Robyn later confronts Simon when he gets home, and he callously states that while he did not know what Gordo's father tried doing to him, he doesn't care since his own dad was hard on him, but he toughed it out and doesn't feel he's done anything wrong. He starts to comment on Robyn taking pills, and she slaps him, saying he's just as much a bully now as he was back then. Simon later apologized to her and says he did a background check on Gordo to protect themselves.Simon goes to a bar where Gordo is hosting a trivia contest. Afterwards, Simon finds Gordo in a parking garage and gives him a half-hearted apology, mainly because Robyn told him to. Gordo says it's too late for that, and while Simon thinks he's done with the past, the past isn't done with him. Simon knocks a basket out of Gordo's hands, spilling papers everywhere. Simon then kicks Gordo as he tries to pick them up, then presses him against the pavement, demanding that he accept his apology. Simon leaves and goes home to tell Robyn that Gordo won't bother them again.Simon gets the job, and the Callums host a dinner party to celebrate. A clattering sound is heard from upstairs, followed by another, and then something is thrown through the glass door, triggering the security system. Simon runs outside and sees someone running away. He tackles the man to the ground, thinking it's Gordo, but it is really Danny McDonald, angry with Simon for fabricating information about him that not only cost him the promotion, but it also cost him his current job. Police sirens are heard, and Danny starts begging to be let go. Simon relents and lets him leave. Robyn then announces that she's going into labor.Robyn gives birth to a healthy baby boy. However, she tells Simon that she doesn't want to go back home with him due to all the drama and madness he's caused. When he leaves her room, he gets a call from work saying he's being let go after word got aout that he lied about Danny.Simon returns home to find a big wrapped box outside. In it is a baby bassinet the, and three numbered boxes. The first one contains a key to their house, showing how Gordo has been getting in and around their house. The second box has a tape that recorded Simon mocking Gordo when he left them to take his phone call. The third box contains a DVD of recorded footage showing Simon and Robyn having dinner and sleeping. Then there's footage of Robyn when she passed out, followed by Gordo wearing a monkey mask (to spite Simon since he has a phobia of monkeys) and pulling Robyn onto the bed, stroking her and waving to the mirror. The footage cuts off, leaving Simon to think that Gordo may have raped Robyn. While Simon watches the DVD, Gordo visits Robyn in the hospital with flowers to congratulate her on her baby. He has a bruise on his face and his arm in a sling. Robyn asks if Simon did it. Gordo simply states that people will get what they deserve and he exits.Simon rushes back to the hospital and finds Gordo getting into an elevator, but he fails to catch him. Simon runs out the hospital to give chase and gets a call from Gordo. He demands to know if Gordo really did what Simon thinks he did. Gordo says no, but then suggests maybe he did, and this is what happens when a bad idea is put into someone's head.Simon goes to find the baby to get a better look at his eyes. It still doesn't let him know whether the baby is Simon's or Gordo's. Robyn holds the baby and looks at Simon with displeasure. Simon slumps against the wall and quietly weeps, knowing his whole life is now ruined. Gordo briefly watches Simon before leaving and removing the sling from his arm... his mission to heartlessly destroy Simon's life is now completed. | sadist, revenge, suspenseful, violence, flashback | train | imdb | The premise is also deceptively simple, turning more intricate and involving as the film progresses.Edgerton, who also wrote the screenplay, refuses to adhere to genre conventions, constantly subverting audience's expectations on how the story plays out.
Excellently directed and very well acted,this clever little well - wrapped gift is all we need to let us know that the proper movie making process is still alive and kicking.
As they shop for furniture Simon(Jason Bateman) encounters an old acquaintance from High school, Gordon or Gordo(Joel Edgerton), with a creepy demeanor and an obvious grudge.The Gift is Hitchcockian.
Little do they know that their perfect lives are about to be thrown into a terrifying tailspin.This film standing as Joel Edgerton's directional debut, I must say is pretty impressive.
This was a well crafted thriller put together by Edgerton, it wasn't as predictable as most thrillers are these days, it was simply one where our expectations keep getting pummeled to ground from how the story keeps transitioning.Everyone in this were simply astonishing, Edgerton played such a compelling creepy loner with so much aplomb, Hall played her role perfectly as a depressed woman that can't stress enough with all the fear and for Bateman, coming from his comedic standpoint, simply impressed as the husband with one troubling past.
The Gift most certainly gave deliberate pacing, believable characters, and masterful understanding of cinematic suspense, Edgerton really proved that this film shouldn't be the last present we receive from him..
Equally so it's a home horror film, for some of the traditional tropes of that genre are in place (e.g., missing dog, running faucet) waiting around the corner of any room so to speak.Super security salesman Simon (Jason Bateman) is happily married to interior designer Robyn (Rebecca Hall).
Then Simon's old high school friend, weirdo Gordo (Joel Edgerton), visits with gifts and memories of a troubled past.Their home is indeed invaded, not just by nerdy, strange Gordo, who has a bad habit of showing up at odd times and gaining access at even odder ones, but by the past, which is creeping up on the couple despite Simon's will to leave it all behind and Gordo's to "let bygones be bygones." The film bears its tensions well, distributing its exposition of the past in the present slowly.The Gift doesn't just give the present a chance to come to terms with the past; it also comments on privacy, security, and bullying while serving up a fine stew of ironies and suspense.
As for bullying, not the first time in a thriller, it plays out from high school days to adult days in a surprisingly subtle way, forcing us over the long haul of the film's 108 minutes to see it lurking like a clichéd ghost or murderer.Marriage is also a subject in this taut film, namely how much do we really know about our partners or anyone close to us?
The 90's was the golden age of highly stylized stalker thrillers with flicks like Basic Instinct, Single White Female and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and the actor-turned-director Joel Edgerton hearkens back to those films with his directorial debut The Gift.
The Gift is a surprisingly well-crafted and intense thriller film that feels like a throwback to the best 90's stalker flicks..
When it comes to direction, Edgerton has a great sense of how to use an enclosed location to amplify the tension, because at the heart of it, 'The Gift' is a thriller that thrives on the creation of tension.
Edgerton himself plays the character who initially seems like the typical creepy outsider who'll haunt the couple, but as the film progresses, the film slowly reveals certain aspects of his character and the film somewhat subverts some clichés.'The Gift' is a bit like the lighter, non-flashy, a little more grounded version of 'Cape Fear'.
This looked like a Lifetime straight to TV movie when I saw the trailer and I won't lie that is what attracted me because good thrillers do come along but you gotta wait for them sometimes.
All throughout the movie I felt like I was watching a film that tried very hard to be like Old Boy. Like Old Boy, it's a story about the past coming back to haunt the main character.
But unlike Old Boy, The Gift leaves you feeling disappointed in the end.The only reason I didn't walk away from the film is because I was patiently waiting for the mind blowing secret to be revealed.
(Still Alice was the other.) A better title for this film might be: "How NOT to respond to a stalker." I can't imagine ANY educated,successful couple playing along with an unstable weirdo for more than a minute.The acting is second-rate from beginning to end, and I think that's because there's only so much any actor can do with a bad script.BTW: recently, while shopping for some good info about writing, I found that there are MANY books on "how to write a screenplay." No doubt they are full of formulas.It wouldn't surprise me if this script came from such an instruction tool..
The Gift is a story of a newly married couple Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) who have moved into a new area, they have their dream, forever house and are very content with their lives.
The supporting cast are few and far between and the little screen time they did get wasn't anything special.The Gift is a slow burner, it progresses at a very leisurely pace, building suspense and mystery very well as the story unfolds.
I was expecting a lot from the film, it had a big hype with some very good reviews and it's a genre that I usually enjoy.The overall end message is striking, with the climax of the movie coming together quite well.
The Gift is an outstanding psychological thriller directed by first time director, Joel Edgerton!
There is a message at the end of the movie if you can take that home.Jason Bateman, Rebecca hall and Joel Edgerton have all literally lived in their roles and are a delight to watch.
'The Gift' is for the AudienceRedemption, revenge and forgiveness are major themes in first-time director Joel Edgerton's tense psychological thriller, 'The Gift.' Edgerton also plays one of three main characters, Gordo, in the film, and he wrote the script.
Joel Edgerton and Rebecca Hall are really great in this film but the one person that stand out the most was Jason Bateman.
When I was watching this film I didn't see actors acting I saw real people and that why Edgerton's writing was so good.
They do a disservice to their commodity, either giving away too much plot, as in Southpaw, Max, Ricky and the Flash, or Woman in Gold or totally misleading the audience into thinking it is seeing another genre with its slight-of-hand like Mr. Holmes and our main event today, The Gift, which comes off as a possibly violent psycho-slasher thriller when the opposite is true.
The Gift is that atypical movie that respects its own genre and doesn't go that easy route and one needs to admire such a film.The film starts off rather slowly as we met Robyn (Rebecca Hall) and Simon (Jason Bateman), a well-to-do couple recently moved to Los Angeles.
It had a little horror mixed in with the suspense but not so much that it took away from the film.This was a story that fully shows that a person's actions good or bad can always come back to haunt them and even the simple message of the film wasn't too in your face.
Joel Edgerton directed and stars in this stalker thriller, and the results, while uneven, show quite a bit of promise in Edgerton's skills as a director.Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall play a newly-transplanted married couple who reconnect with an old high school classmate of Bateman's (Edgerton).
It's never clear exactly how dangerous Edgerton's character is, and there's a tipping point in the movie after which Bateman -- who can play cocky jerk like nobody's business -- becomes the film's true villain, and the dynamic between him and Hall and their toxic marriage becomes much more interesting than the stalker plot line.
But the film can't quite commit to letting the stalker plot line go entirely, so it becomes a sort of diluted side plot that works toward a hard sell ending that doesn't feel right for the kind of movie preceding it.
I start watching this movie thinking it would be another "stalker from the past comes to make a family's life a real living in hell and everything turns out fine at the end", but no, this movie is a psychological horror-thriller with so many details!
Even more than that, it is a masterful directorial debut that makes Joel Edgerton one of the most interesting new directors of the year and an artist for whom to look forward to in the future.The best aspect of the film which I simply can't keep in me is how good is the performance Edgerton gives considering also he is directing himself.
Joel Edgerton's filmmaking career commences on an impressive note for The Gift is a finely balanced, smartly scripted & wonderfully executed thriller that makes splendid use of all its elements to deliver a consistently tense & captivating movie that scores high marks in most departments and is a welcome addition to its genre.The story of The Gift follows a young married couple who have relocated to a new town for a fresh beginning & to start a new family.
But a chance encounter with an old acquaintance sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately turns their life upside down as this old friend not only showers them with numerous gifts but also an unsettling secret from the past.Written & directed by Joel Edgerton, who also stars in the movie as a supporting character, The Gift is smoothly narrated from start to finish and allows the moments of uncertainty to shape up in an incredibly natural manner.
The production design is impressive, camera-work is concise & fluid, its 108 minutes of runtime is expertly paced, and music has a very muted presence.Coming to the performances, the cast mainly comprises of Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall & Joel Edgerton, and even though there isn't any standout work from anyone, all of them do a good enough job with their given roles.
Bateman & Hall play the married couple and share a good rapport with each other throughout the picture while Edgerton is just as committed in front of the camera as he's behind it.On an overall scale, The Gift is a skilfully written & splendidly directed psychological thriller that's much aware of its limitations, plays well to its strengths and for a debut feature, it's a very sophisticated piece of work.
After he is shunned by the couple, he gradually taunts the husband and unleashes a secret about him that threatens their marriage.The plot is pretty fast-paced from start to finish, as the film grabs your attention almost immediately - from the appearance of awkward Gordo (Joel Edgerton) to the mind games he plays with Simon (Jason Bateman), with Simon's wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) caught in the middle of it all.The acting, though, was a little off as I thought some of the emotions were campy and the American accents by the Australian actors were forced.
At 1:48 minutes, "The Gift" is a bit overlong, with two or three sections that don't seem to go anywhere— but the rest of the movie (including the final act) has terrific momentum that helps balance everything out.Something about the movie-- maybe its tone, or style, or suburban setting-- makes me think of mystery thrillers from the early 2000s, like "Murder by Numbers" or "Along Came a Spider." It's a quiet movie featuring wealthy people speaking quietly, in fear of stirring up demons from their pasts or thoughts in their heads.
THE GIFT is a dramatic thriller written and directed by Joel Edgerton, starring Edgerton, Jason Bateman, and Rebecca Hall.
'The Gift' is a mystery thriller starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and is the directorial debut for Joel Edgerton who also starred in the film.
The first hour of the film in combination with the fantastic finale shows that Joel Edgerton can do a really good job at creating a film with good tone, characters and plot that work really well together, but that drop off in the second act shows that he still has a little more to learn in the art of directing.
Lets now move on to the cast and their performances, to me, i thought the whole cast were pretty great and it was a relatively small cast with only Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton, and Rebecca Hall playing characters you will remember.
The Gift is a creepy psychological thriller that features great performances, and an ending that you won't see coming.
As far as directorial debuts go this is one of the better ones in recent memory, and Joel Edgerton does a great job through acting and directing creating a terrifying tone for the film to settle in to.
The film features great performances by Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman, and Rebecca Hall.
My Rating: 1/10I, along with many other viewers, found the ending really stupid and it pretty much completely undoes the entire first half, which is brilliant I might add, and reduces the film to a mere cheap cop-out soap story.Really disappointed and feel let down by all the people listing it as a top thriller in their recommendations..
The plot has you hooked from the start, it has an incredibly eerie feel to it and, like all good thrillers, it has a few big twists that most people won't see coming.Towards the end of the film, as the story unravels and a dramatic ending is set up, I was genuinely on the edge of my seat.
The gift to me was when I discovered Joel Edgerton is not only Gordo, the creepy stalker in the film, but also the writer/director of the piece.
Through a course of events, the film becomes a typical stalker thriller but eventually sets itself apart as a very clever, well written, and telling "human nature" account of who everybody "really" is (not just Gordo).I really liked "The Gift" because I enjoy psychology.
Whatever the case, this is a nifty little film for Edgerton to make his directional debut with and Rebecca Hall is solid as Bateman's wife too, riddled with the sort of fear and paranoia that arguably her husband should have when everything is finally revealed and made clear..
The worst cliché is the change in characters as new plot points are revealed characters dramatically change in personality to just over the degree in which I'd feel is realistic, with characters requiring to be unreasonable in the later half for an ending that is played off as life ruining, only when a modicum of thought needed to see the multitude of flaws in a character's plan.It's a solid film with good direction and pace, reasonable acting and writing, enjoyable in short, however if a cliché thriller plot might bother you then it might be worth skipping..
The Gift presents this potentially familiar condition and enhanced it with stalker thriller that's also grounded in realism, bringing a deeper psychological aspect into a commentary of the characters aside from just utilizing typical "odd man chasing nice protagonist" formula.Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) are a couple who recently relocated back into the husband's home city.
Writer-director Joel Edgerton casts himself as Gordy, a strange and mysterious guy who suddenly becomes an unwelcome friend of a happy and ambitious, upwardly mobile couple, Simon, played perfectly by Jason Bateman, and Rebecca Hall as his devoted but high strung wife.
The Gift is the story of a married couple (Jason Batemen and Rebecca Hall)who purchase a new home in California and come upon an old school'friend' of Batemen's in the form of 'Gordo' played by Director and Writer of the film Joel Edgerton, what follows is a 108 minute thrill ride filled with tension, an incredible amount of twists and some truly phenomenal acting.
There, they run into Gordo, Simon's former high school classmate, which sparks a chain of events consisting of gifts, horrifying past secrets, and an ending no one saw coming.The three main roles were played to perfection throughout the whole film.
And lets not forget Joel Edgerton (Gordo) putting on a fantastic performance as a mysterious, creepy guy who no one feels comfortable being in the same room with.Throughout the whole movie, my heart was pounding through my chest and I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next.
Joel Edgerton's The Gift (which he wrote, directed and co stars in) was certainly a film that took me by surprise.
The acting from Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Edgerton himself is also all top notch and serves the film well.
He got one of Rebecca Hall's best performances out of her and I don't think Jason Bateman has ever been better.But like I said before, it wouldn't be a great thriller if the writing of the inevitable twist or climax wasn't done well.
generally you can most of the time predict what the movie is about after watching the trailer,so far it's not the case at all for thisfilm, what ever you think it is may be wrong, that is a good thing about The Gift.but there is also amoral behind the story, and a good one.the casting, acting, and 'mise en scene' were great, noting to said about that, I also liked the suspense from the beginning until the last minute, during this you don't stop asking your self, what all this about?
The trick with movies like this though, is that the ending better pay off, or your audience will feel as though the film has wasted their time. |
tt0246578 | Donnie Darko | Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall) is a troubled teenager in suburban Maryland. A schizophrenic with a history of violence, he has recently stopped taking his medication and as a result is sleepwalking. His parents, Rose and Eddie (Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne) and his sisters, Elizabeth and Samantha (Maggie Gyllenhall and Daveigh Chase), worry about him. One night at dinner, Donnie and his sister get into a profane argument during which Elizabeth reveals she knows Donnie is no longer taking his medication. Rose confronts Donnie in his bedroom and he calls her a bitch. Guilty, Donnie resumes taking his medication. On October 2nd, however, he sleepwalks and meets Frank, a man in a menacing bunny costume. Frank tells him that in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and12 seconds, the world will end. That night, a jet engine mysteriously crashes through the roof of the Darkos' house, destroying Donnie's room. Had he not been sleepwalking, he would have been killed.On the way to the office of Dr. Thurman (Katherine Ross), Donnie's therapist, Donnie and Eddie nearly run over Roberta Sparrow, also known as "Grandma Death" (Patience Cleveland). A senile old woman who spends her days walking back and forth from her house to the mailbox across the street, Grandma Death whispers in Donnie's ear that all that lives ultimately dies alone. This greatly troubles Donnie, who worries that life has no meaning.A few days later, Frank appears to Donnie in a hallucination and encourages him to flood the private high school he attends by breaking open the water main with an ax. Donnie also embeds the ax in the head of the school's solid bronze statue of its mascot and spraypaints "They made me do it" on the sidewalk. School is canceled that day and Donnie walks home Gretchen (Jena Malone), the new girl in school. She reveals that her stepfather nearly killed her mother and is still on the loose. Donnie reveals his own troubled past as well as his intelligence. Gretchen decides that Donnie is weird and that this makes him attractive. They agree to become a couple.Donnie has a troubled relationship with the faculty at his high school. Ms. Pomeroy (Drew Barrymore) appreciates his intellect and ability to engage with and understand the difficult material she assigns them to read in English class. The science teacher, Mr. Monnitoff (Noah Wyle), finds him a little more troubling, and Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant), the high strung and socially conservative health instructor, is offended that he questions her use of self-help tapes in class. After he profanely rejects her use of the simplistic methods espoused by local celebrity Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), Donnie finds himself suspended from afterschool activities. When Donnie verbally assaults Cunningham during an appearance at the high school, he gets in even deeper trouble. Although the administration suspects that Donnie is indeed responsible for the vandalism, he is never charged.Frank continues to appear to Donnie and tells Donnie that they can do anything and won't get caught. Frank also tells Donnie about time travel, further confusing him. Soon, Donnie sees tubes of fluid light extending out of his family's chests, indicating where they will go. His own tube beckons him to follow as it enters his parents' room and reveals the gun his father keeps in a box in the closet. Donnie speaks about time travel with Mr. Monnitoff who gives him a book, The Philosophy of Time Travel written by Roberta Sparrow. She used to be a nun and a teacher at the high school. However, the climate at the school is becoming increasingly conservative as Kitty Farmer leads a protest against Ms. Pomeroy's choice of reading material; one of the stories she had assigned, Graham Greene's The Destructors features teenagers who destroy a man's house by flooding it. Ms. Pomeroy is fired and Mr. Monnittoff, who is also her boyfriend, refuses to discuss time travel with Donnie once his questions take a theological direction.Gretchen and Donnie grow closer. She is one of the few people he opens up to about his time travel visions, and they discuss how they wish they could travel back in time and prevent the bad things in their lives from happening. Dr. Thurman increases Donnie's medication and begins hypnotherapy with him. But Frank continues to appear to Donnie. One night, Donnie and Gretchen go to see a horror movie. Gretchen falls asleep and Frank appears. When Donnie asks Frank to remove his bunny suit, Frank asks Donnie to remove his human suit, then acquiesces and takes the head off, revealing a young adult with a gruesome wound in his right eye. When Donnie asks about the cause of the eye wound, Frank whispers "I am so sorry" and then directs Donnie's attention to the movie screen. A portal opens, revealing Jim Cunningham's house. Frank tells Donnie to burn it to the ground. Donnie leaves the sleeping Gretchen in the theatre and does as Frank tells him to. He is not caught, and firefighters discover a kiddie porn dungeon in a hidden room in the mansion. Cunningham is arrested the next morning. Kitty Farmer, a friend and devoted follower of Cunningham's, decides she must lead his public defense and asks Rose to accompany the school's dance team, Sparkle Motion, to Los Angeles to appear on Star Search. Samantha is Sparkle Motion's lead dancer and, against her better judgment, Rose agrees. Because Eddie is away on business, this means Elizabeth and Donnie are on their own.Elizabeth is accepted into Harvard, and she and Donnie decide to throw a Halloween party to celebrate. The night of the party (October 30), Gretchen comes to Donnie's house for safety because her mother has suddenly disappeared. Donnie comforts her and they make love, ignoring phone calls from Donnie's desperate therapist (who knows that Donnie is responsible for the vandalism to the high school and Jim Cunningham's house) and Rose, who calls to announce that Sparkle Motion won their initial Star Search competition and that they will return on a red eye flight that night.At midnight, Donnie has another hallucination about the fluid light tunnels. He realizes that the 28 days have passed, and that only 6 hours remain until the end of the world. Convinced that Grandma Death is in some way connected to Frank, Donnie persuades Gretchen and two other friends to go with him to her house. When they get there, they are assaulted by the high school's resident bullies (Alex Greenwald and Seth Rogen). Gretchen is thrown dazed into the road, where she is struck and killed by a car driven by Frank (James Duval), Elizabeth's boyfriend who is on his way to their Halloween party. Frank is wearing the creepy bunny costume that Donnie's hallucination wears. Donnie uses his father's gun to shoot Frank in the right eye, killing him, then carries Gretchen's body to his home. He steals the car keys from a sleeping Elizabeth and, taking Gretchen with him, drives into the hills above town.From that vantage point, Donnie can see a time tunnel forming over the town. The red eye flight carrying Rose and Sparkle Motion enters the turbulence created by the time tunnel, and one of the engines on the jet breaks free and falls into the tunnel. Donnie looks at Gretchen with love and then drives into the time tunnel.It is October 2. Donnie lies in bed, laughing, happy. Shortly after he goes to sleep, the jet engine from the red eye flight on October 30 crashes through the roof, killing him. Throughout town, Dr. Thurman, Mr. Monnitoff, Kitty Farmer, Jim Cunningham and Frank all are suddenly troubled and sad. The next morning, Gretchen rides her bike to the Darkos' house. Elizabeth, Eddie and Samantha stand sobbing as Donnie's corpse is taken away, while Rose smokes a cigarette a few feet away, doing her best to deal with the fact that her last encounter with her troubled son was the unpleasant confrontation in his bedroom. Gretchen finds out from a young boy what had happened and who the family is, as she had never met Donnie. Touched by the tragedy, she shyly waves to Rose. Touched by a stranger's act of kindness, Rose waves back. | entertaining, dark, avant garde, gothic, murder, psychological, mystery, boring, allegory, cult, thought-provoking, magical realism, atmospheric, good versus evil, insanity, psychedelic, satire, philosophical, revenge, alternate history, sentimental | train | imdb | null |
tt1187064 | Triangle | The film opens with Jess (Melissa George) at home with her autistic son, Tommy (Joshua McIvor). We watch (sound unheard) as Jess goes about cleaning up after her son. Suddenly, there is a buzz at the front door. Jess goes to see who it was, but finds no-one there. Asking a neighbor who was working in his yard, he claims he didn't see anyone.Sometime afterward, Jess goes down to the nearby harbor where she accepts the invitation of a friend named Greg (Michael Dorman) to go sailing on his boat. Accompanying him are Victor (Liam Hemsworth), Heather (Emma Lung), and the couple Downey (Henry Nixon) and Sally (Rachael Carpani). Greg had also invited Jess to bring her son Tommy with her, but when he asks Jess where he is, Jess hesitates for a moment, before saying he's at school.The crew seems to be sailing along okay, when the wind suddenly dies down. Also of question is a strange electrical storm that is steadily approaching. Greg tries to radio the coast guard, but finds their communications wavering. Another communication comes across, but Greg's request for coordinates of this unknown communication soon gives way to more static.The storm soon reaches the boat, which capsizes, but not before Heather is swept out of the boat into the stormy waters. When the weather clears, the survivors climb onto the upturned boat, unsure what to do next. Suddenly, a large cruise ship floats into view, and the survivors quickly board it, only to find no-one on deck or in the halls. As they criss-cross through the corridors of the ship, Jess begins to have an eerie sense of deja vu. As they keep moving around the ship, a sudden noise catches their attention. What they find is a set of car keys, that are exactly like the set that Jess carries! No-one is sure what this can mean, and the search continues.Jess splits up, only to then encounter Victor who is bleeding, and attempts to strangle her. Jess manages to escape, only to hear a gunshot. Finding herself in the theater of the ship, she finds Greg shot, with Sally and Downey accusing her of killing him. Suddenly, more gunshots ring out, with Sally and Downey being killed. Jess gives chase and soon encounters a masked figure with the shot gun. Finally confronting the figure, it speaks in a muffled speech through the mask, but not before pitching over the side into the ocean below.With everyone around her seemingly dead (and no idea who the masked person was), Jess goes to a cabin on the ship, only to hear yelling from off the boat a few moments later. Looking over the edge, she is shocked to see the overturned boat, and everyone (even herself!) calling to be rescued.Jess soon realizes that she is trapped in a time-loop, that repeats itself when everyone on the ship is killed. The ship also seems to have certain areas that have experienced the same incident multiple times. In one area, Jess finds a locket she wore with her son's pictures inside hanging from a small grate. When she looks further inside, she sees there are multiples, as if this same incident has happened before! Another time, chasing a wounded Sally, she finds this version of Sally now askew in a part of the ship with multiple dead Sally's all around!Mentally fearful that she may never see her son again, Jess attempts to follow the events of what happened and kill everyone. She soon dons the mask and other clothing that she had seen previously, until in a confrontation with herself, she ends up falling off the ship.Jess awakes on a beach soon after , and makes it back home... only to find herself there that morning (where the film started). However, this time, we hear the audio that was missing... and find out that past-Jess is blatantly angry with Tommy, cursing at him and yelling at him. Present-Jess sneaks into the house, and using a hammer, bludgeons her past-self to death. Unfortunately, Tommy witnesses this, and Present-Jess assures her son he just had a 'bad dream.'Jess then takes the locket from her former self's neck, and puts the dead body in a black duffle bag, before putting it in her car's trunk. Jess then proceeds to drive her son to school, promising that things are going to be different from now on. As they drive along the ocean, a seagull suddenly slams into the windshield, leaving bloody streaks. Jess pulls over to retrieve the dead bird and throw it into the ocean. However, when she goes to throw it over the edge of the embankment, she sees something that causes her to pause: much like the multiple necklaces and Sally's from before... there are multiple dead seagulls pooled in the area where she was planning to dispose of the one she (just) hit.Jess disposes of the bird quickly, and then rushes to get into her car. As they take off, Tommy begins to panic over the blood on the windshield. As Jess turns to calm her son, she turns into the incoming traffic lane, and ends up hitting a semi.In the aftermath, we see Jess watching the aftermath, as we see her body and that of her son's lying on the highway. A man in a nearby taxi is observing this as well, saying that there's nothing that anyone can do now. Jess then requests the driver take her to the harbor.Jess then begins the cycle anew, intent to somehow prevent her son from dying all over again. | violence, psychedelic, mystery, murder, atmospheric | train | imdb | null |
tt1127715 | Sin nombre | Willy, nicknamed El Casper, is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang and lives in Tapachula, a Mexican town near the border with Guatemala. He introduces a young boy into his gang, and the boy is given the nickname Smiley after a violent initiation. Casper later helps Smiley to complete this initiation by helping him execute a rival gang-member. Casper is romantically involved with a girl, Martha Marlen. Fearing for the girl's safety, he keeps the relationship a secret from his gang, but his double life causes his gang to doubt his loyalty. When Martha follows Casper to a gathering of his gang, the gang leader, Lil Mago, escorts her out, despite Casper's misgivings. Mago attempts to rape Martha and accidentally kills her. Later, he blithely tells Casper that he will find another.
Shortly afterward, Mago brings Casper and Smiley to La Bombilla, a location along the train tracks where potential illegal immigrants stow away on passing trains on their way to the United States. Among the immigrants is a Honduran family introduced earlier consisting of the teenage girl Sayra, her father, and her uncle, who are on their way to relatives in New Jersey. Lil Mago, Casper, and Smiley rob the passengers for any money they have until Lil Mago spots Sayra and attempts to rape her. Casper intervenes, killing Mago and then sending Smiley off.
Smiley goes back to the gang and reports about Mago's death. The new gang leader, El Sol, accuses Smiley of collusion, to which Smiley timidly protests and begs to be sent to kill Casper to prove his loyalty. El Sol agrees and Smiley travels north to track down Casper. On the train, the still shocked Casper is avoided by other passengers. When some try to throw him off the train, Sayra warns Casper and keeps on approaching him, despite her father's warnings. Casper's knowledge from previously smuggling gang members and avoiding the police proves useful, as he eludes his pursuers. He is finally accepted by Sayra's family but decides to leave the train while the others are sleeping. Unbeknownst to Casper, Sayra follows him off the train. Meanwhile, her father and uncle decide to continue the journey.
Traveling north on a car transport organized by a friend of Casper, Casper and Sayra barely escape a trap laid for them and enter an immigrant shelter, where Sayra sees a familiar face. She is informed that her father has died and her uncle has been caught. In disbelief, she rushes off to cry at the chapel, where Casper comforts her. They reach a river that constitutes the border to the United States. A coyote agrees to take them across one by one. Casper pays the man with his camera containing the cherished pictures of his murdered girlfriend and insists that Sayra go first. When she is halfway across, the gang appears and begins to chase Casper. Casper flees the pursuing gang but runs into Smiley, who shoots him once, then slowly two more times, the last of which in the head. This allows time for the others to catch up. They then all proceed to empty their magazines and clips into Casper in an execution style killing, while Sayra struggles to hold on to the raft and screams in horror.
The closing scenes show Sayra phoning her father's new family from outside an American mall, her uncle setting off on another attempt to cross the border, and Smiley getting his lip tattooed as a sign of his loyalty to the gang. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | The same people that after having spewed their vitriol, hatred and bile against immigrants have no problem with Juan mowing their lawn and Consuela looking after their snot-nosed mortally obese children, and Miguel picking-up all the s*it they leave in the streets, malls and every other place one can throw garbage in.Maybe, just maybe, watching this movie will at least give them a glimpse into the lives, backgrounds and destinies of these people, who are abused, mistreated and forgotten by almost everybody, people who basically have come to symbolize a type of disposable human garbage, that truly are without a face, an identity and "sin nombre", without name.
Then we could all come to realize that "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are not exclusively American values, but rather universal values to which all people aspire to.Even amidst all the doom and gloom of the movie there are some sublime moments of beauty, humanity and yes even hope.
It is beautifully and realistically photographed and provides no-frills story telling.Director Cary Fukonaga throws the viewer into the middle of the brutally violent gang world at the same time he depicts the frightening desperation of Hondurans making their way through an unforgiving Mexico towards an unwelcoming United States.
Willy and Sayra are an odd couple, but seem good for each other, though their destiny seems obvious from the first moment.Some great footage of the inner workings of an ultra violent, macho world of gangs left me wondering how anyone could escape alive.
Directed by the young talent Cary Fukunaga, a winner of the Sundance Film Festival Directing award, the film focuses on a combination of issues in South America, from involvement of kids and teenagers in Mexican gangs to what it takes for those who decide to leave South and Central America and seek greener pastures in the U.S.The story follows two main characters, Casper and Sayra, played by lesser-known actors Edgar Flores and Paulina Gaitan.
While Casper is the member of the feared gang Mara Salvatrucha, his faith connects him with Sayra, a Honduran emigrant that travels with her father and uncle together with the other emigrants on a freight train to the U.S.On this journey together, as Casper tries to escape his faith and Sayra to meet hers, the main characters are slowly blending together, complete each other through their diversity, while they have to face the rough side of life in today's Mexico.As a result, the film has a gripping, disturbing, moving sour-sweet blend to it, and is exactly the type of the film where it's unpredictability, natural change of pace, and lots of eye candy in the scenery, makes you part of the story until the credits role, making you beg for more inside.Fukunaga's film feels so real not only thanks to his time spent in Mexico and his first hand experience with both, emigrants and immigrants he met before and while shooting the film, his cast of actual members of the Mara gang, perfect editing and combination of locations and the effort he took while filming to get the best out of his actors ("apart from beating them", he joked at Vary), makes the film one of the best feature debuts I've ever seen..
For a first film by Cary Fukunaga, it looks as if it's his 10th, showing no flaws, and with a cast of actors that do their characters amazing justice, Sin Nombre is a MUST SEE!.
In Sin Nombre, first-time writer-director 31-year-old Cary Joji Fukanaga has crafted a uniquely moving film experience that dramatizes with authenticity the drive among the poor in Latin America to pull up roots and seek a better life in the U.S. Transcending genres and styles, Sin Nombre, translated "without a name", is performed by mostly non-professional local actors whose weathered faces mirror the harsh realities of their life.
It begins with the initiation of a new member into the Mara Salvatrucha gang, in this case, a twelve year old boy called Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer) who has been recruited into the gang by young Willy aka Casper (Edgar Flores).
Powerful performances by Gaitan and Flores create an electric chemistry that wraps our hearts around their struggle to find release from their troubled past.Winner of awards for directing and cinematography at Sundance, Sin Nombre has been attacked by some critics because it is a story about the truth of poor people's lives wrapped in a conventional framework.
In the debut film from Cary Fukunaga, we see Mexico as a place that is not completely hopeless but, really, the people who want to get out and migrate to America have good reason.
And here Fukunaga takes inspiration from two sources (at least it's my impression he does): El Norte, the 1980's drama about immigrants crossing Mexico to LA, and Amores Perros, in part about the grungy and hard-violence life of gang members.Both stories are told with fascination, though if one is more compelling I might go with the story about the gangster who is in a group that is completely ruthless, inked and tattooed in specific markings (sometimes, as with the gang leader, all over their face), and have a really strict code in order to let in new people, like a young kid who wants in just because he has no place else to go.
A gripping story with beautiful cinematography and wonderful actors, Sin Nombre is the kind of movie that moves you and then stays with you long after you leave your seat.
This is a film described by one of its actors, Diana Garcia, as "tough and sweet at the same time." It's about gang violence in Central America (and one gang member in particular), the struggle of a family (along with many other immigrants) to cross the border into a better life, and a love story (all of which are intertwined).
After three viewings (the first in the theatrre) and a 3-month trip to Central America and Chiapas, where I heard about first-hand and saw with my own eyes the grim realities of torn-apart families and daily violence that are caused by the waves of immigration, drug trade and gang culture, this film still holds me firmly in its grip.The cinematography is absolutely stunning, perfectly capturing the differing landscapes the characters travel through (although, it turns out, most of it was not shot in the actual locations).Edgar Flores, who plays Willy/El Casper, is a relevation.
In a time when immigration is a very hot topic, Sin Nombre tells a story of two teens traveling to reach the United States and fleeing from a past of poverty and violence.
Stays With You. Sin Nombre is a Spanish film about gangsters, the harsh life of illegal immigrants and a tragic love story.
Sin Nombre is basically this year's City of God. A rather unknown film-maker makes an astounding drama from a third world country that entertains on all levels.One aspect of the movie revolves around a young gang member named Casper and his growing desires to leave his gang, La Mara, and it's domineering leader, Lil Mago.
After a moment of tragedy and an act of spite, Casper is on the run, he has nowhere to hide and he has the green light on him; it's go to kill.A young girl named Sayra begins a vast trek with her male family counterparts to reach New Jersey from Honduras.
In "Innocent Voices"(2004), 12 years boys in El Salvador are forced to enter the army; In "Maria Full of Grace" (2004), A Colombian girl becomes a drug mule; In "City of God" (2002), children become gang and drug dealers.And I saw more movies than before about people trying to escape from hopeless countries, not only Latin America, and to migrate to richer countries.This movie has all those elements (gang, lawlessness, murder, violence, drugs, illegal immigrants, child crimes) and adds a puppy love.So what is special in this movie?
The best movie that I have seen this year, Sin Nombre is a film about a teenage Honduran girl who is trying to make her way to New Jersey and the gang member that she befriends along the journey.The film is subtitled and has some extremely unsettling scenes coupled with moments of extreme gang violence.
As Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) and El Casper/Willy (Édgar Flores) fight to evade capture from both the border patrol and the gang members that are after El Casper for offing their leader in a moment of rage brought upon by the emotional forces after the murder of his girlfriend.Neither the ending nor the journey are predictable and the realism that is the environment brought upon society by gangs leads to some of the most engrossing film segments this year.
Whether is it a rival gang member being shot by a child and then his body parts being fed to a dog or a touching moment where Sayra and Willy share a quiet moment while hidden in a car being towed to a junk yard, Sin Nombre will grab you and not let go.Already a winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Sin Nombre is one to search out..
It really did have potential for something great, but it just ended up being a long, fairly uneventful and boring movie.The story is about a Family traveling across South America, riding on top of a cargo train, in an attempt to cross into USA to start a better life.
And it is also the story of a young man running from his violent gang past.While the story itself is interesting enough, it was just poorly executed on the screen- And the fact that the 92 minutes seemed like an eternity didn't really help the movie along."Sin Nombre" did have some fairly good acting performances, and for most parts the actors and actresses did good jobs with their roles.However, the movie lands a mediocre five out of ten stars rating from me, as it just didn't really entertain me..
Cary Fukunaga, a director out of the San Francisco area, makes his debut with this intense story of gang violence and illegal immigration to America.
Willy wants to leave the gang(the environment of it is captured to a T) he's in, and when he goes against it to rescue Sayra, a teenage girl on the way to America through Mexico(and we are shown the cruel reality of the situation for illegal immigrants), he has to run from them
for his life.
In 'Sin Nombre' ("Nameless"), Cary Joji Fukanaga's first film, which he both wrote and directed, a doomed, romantic relationship develops between a boy who has broken away from an evil Mexican gang in Chiapas and a pretty girl ("A regular little Selma Hayek," someone calls her) from Honduras.
Then, there's nothing he can do but stay on the trip north, dodging La Migra and helping the Hondurans do so.Edgar Flores' perpetual tired, sad look and the more experienced Gaitan's resilient prettiness make them a cute tragic couple, though the story has to resort to a fortuneteller's prediction that she'd be saved on the journey by the Devil to explain how she gloms onto the doomed gang youth (the Salvatrucha features Satanic symbols0, even with increasing evidence that in fact that they're out to get him and he is a marked man for turning against them.
However, the simple tragic outline of this doomed romance is somewhat at odds with the vérité aspects of much that has gone before.Instead of dealing with the whole journey into LA or elsewhere like Gregory Nava's excellent 1983 El Norte, and showing what happens when the immigrants try to make a living in the US, 'Sin Nombre' gets rather hung up on its gang portrait, though still presenting only vignettes of that, and the bonding of Casper (now back to "Willy") and Sayra takes up so much time that the movie ends rather abruptly once someone makes it into the Estados Unidos.
Sin Nombre tells the story of an Honduran girl Sayra, played by Paulina Gaitan, that tries to better her life without future by trying to go to her family in New Jersey.
I really enjoyed how the film showed daily life in Central America, and how Spanish speaking peoples are affected by gangs.
The premise is simple and carries out throughout the movie like the train from the movie.The depicted violence wasn't that grotesque and was filmed in a way that doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, so it doesn't overpower the rest of the scenes.What makes it good is the cinematography, the likable main and side characters and the overall atmosphere.
In one side gangs and in the other proud people who try to escape from misery , poverty and seek their happiness in United states.This film has everything!Action , drama but the most important is that it makes you appreciate how lucky you are to have a PC and internet to write a review when the same time exist people who do not have a place to live and jeopardize their lifes for a better future away from their families away from their countries.
"Sin Nombre" is really the robust independent film focusing on two interconnecting story lines of: Willy "El Casper", a Mexican MS-13 Gang Member escaping the wrath of the gang he represents; and of Sayra, a simple Honduran teen looking to cross the border to meet up with family in New Jersey.
It is about a gang of kids from Honduras, Guatamala and Mexico trying to make their way to the U.S.The movie has lots of violence and bloody scenes where many people are shot and/or killed for little or no reason by a bunch of kids with guns.
With 'Sin Nombre' young director Cary Fukunaga shows great promise and if he keeps up with the level of making such quality films he is ready to join the best.
I didn't gave it more because of the Twilight-like love or attraction story, and the stupid way it all concluded.But I should say that the director did a great job, he really captured the personality and attitude of central Americans, its gangs, gangs credos, the hardships of the "Trip to America".This is a nice movie for MEXICANS to see how they ask for mercy in USA but as pure hypocrites they repudiate immigrants from central American countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.The pace is too slow in some occasions, sometimes you wish they would develop more some characters, some of them are purely one-dimensional, they only exist to drive the story towards a forced conclusion..
Sin Nombre is director/writer Cary Fukunaga's first feature film that intertwines two very different stories together in a journey across Central America.
The depiction of gang life and poverty in SIN NOMBRE is so harrowing and sad, I think filmmaker Cary Fukunaga who's dealt with immigrant stories before, wanted the audience to understand that there's nothing easy about leaving their hometown, there's nothing easy about joining a gang so you can survive everyday, there's nothing easy either about entering foreign territory.
The intense gang violence completes the engaging drama of human spirit that tells us everything's going to be all right even when death is lurking around the corner.SIN NOMBRE is one of my favorite choices for this year's Best Foreign Language film.--Rama's SCREEN--.
In their quest to reach the land where they, and their families, can have a decent living, involves risks one cannot imagine, which is the message of this story that chronicles some of the dangers most people deal with in their pursuit of a dream to get a better life in what they perceive is the land of opportunities."Sin nombre" is a realistic film that examines some of the horrors most people encounter on their way North.
The local chapter at a town where the train passes through is an unexpected snag in the plans of Sayra and her family.To complicate things, the head of the gang, Mago, wants, and kills the girlfriend of one of the members of the Mara, Willy.
I thought it was interesting how the viewer is forced to feel sympathy for immigrants when watching, as it shows the reality and how sad this struggle is for people like Sayra and Casper.
Sin Nombre is an excellent movie choice for students looking to learn more about the struggles of immigrants and the overwhelming hold that Mexican gangs play in their communities.
From the violent role of Mexican gangs to the abuse of immigrants by locals, Sin Nombre is an excellent movie.
The film immerses you in the Mexican gang culture through the story of a La Mara gang member named Willy, or Él Casper.
I think that as an American myself I would've had Smiley join Willy and Sarya to escape the gang and in turn have a happy ending but overall I really enjoyed the movie..
Sin Nombre is a beautifully filmed movie that involves gangs and Immigration.
I think this film captured the unfortunate reality of the Mexican gang life as well as the danger of trying to travel from Central America to the American border.
Recently, I re-watched all five 'Saw' movies in preparation (and to review) of the forthcoming 'Saw VI' and the overall message of those films was "appreciate life." Yes, it would sound weird to compare that series with 'Sin Nombre,' however, both are gory/not for the light-hearted, and both gave me the same message.Despite the fact that immigrating to USA without proper documentation/procedures, etc, is illegal (I live in Arizona, so this is front page news 8 days a week), you actually want these lost souls to make it over.Casper is attempting to leave a violent gang (apparently not monitored by the authorities or policed in any way – kill at will) after a brutal "accident" and he's trailed by an innocent girl attempting to escape Mexico to join her family in New Jersey.
Sin Nombre is first-time feature director Cary Fukunaga's take on the world of illegal immigration in Latin America and Mexico as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Mexican gang culture. |
tt0139414 | Lake Placid | In Aroostook County, Maine, Marine fish and Game officer Walt Lawson is attacked and bitten in half by something unseen in Black Lake. Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson), Fish and Game officer Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda), and mythology professor/crocodile enthusiast Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt) go to the lake to investigate.
A series of strange events occurs, including Kelly and Hank's canoe mysteriously flying into the air and flipping, the discovery of a severed toe and a severed moose head, and the decapitation of Burke, one of Hank's deputies.
Later, as Hank and Hector argue, a bear attacks them, but a giant saltwater crocodile then leaps out of the water and drags it into the lake. Later, after finding Burke's severed head, Jack, Kelly, and Hank witness Mrs. Delores Bickerman (Betty White), one of few people living on the lake, feeding a blindfolded cow to the enormous crocodile. Mrs. Bickerman reveals that she has been feeding the crocodile for years after it followed her husband home. It eventually killed him. She is placed under house arrest for initially lying to the police.
Hector decides to take Deputy Sharon Gare (Meredith Salenger) on a trip in his helicopter, and lands it in the cove where the crocodile lives. While he is diving, it targets him, but he and Gare escape. Jack and Hank plan to allow Florida Fish and Game to kill the crocodile when they arrive, but Hector suggests instead that he lure it out of the water and drug it. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal, and they use one of Mrs. Bickerman's cows, dangled from the helicopter, as bait. After a few hours, the crocodile lunges at the cow. Hector pulls up, loses the cow, and crashes the helicopter into the lake. The crocodile comes on land and attacks Jack and Kelly. Kelly is knocked into the lake, but she makes it to the helicopter just in time.
The crocodile then gets trapped in the helicopter. Despite Hector and Kelly's protests to let the animal live, Jack grabs a gun and shoots it. The gun is revealed to be a tranquilizer rifle. As Hector comes out of the water, a second crocodile attacks him, but Hank blows it up with his grenade launcher. Florida Fish and Game officers arrive seconds later. They load the crocodile on a truck and take it to Portland, Maine to figure out what to do with it. The last scene shows Mrs. Bickerman feeding bread crumbs to many baby crocodiles, implying the two adults were a mating pair. During the end credits, the surviving adult crocodile is seen tied to the back of a flat-bed truck, speeding down a road. | cult, comedy, violence | train | wikipedia | Also, the interplay between Oliver Platt and the actor playing the sheriff are priceless.Contrary to what others have written - I think the special effects go just fine with the overall campy and comedy feel of the movie and the amount of gore is also appropriate.
Gleeson is great fun bouncing off Platt and Betty White is so crazy that it's hard not to laugh!Overall this is a big budget silly B-movie that laughs at itself.
Funny,with an absolutely hilarious performance by Betty White, an appealing Bridget Fonda (for the first time in memory), and very likeable Brendan Gleeson and Oliver Platt.
I love Oliver Platt.The best part is that it isn't trying to be a scream-out-loud sort of monster horror movie, it's just having fun.
The dialog is a relentless parade of one-liners between the five principals: a paleontologist (Bridget Fonda), a Fish & Game guy (Bill Pullman), a croc-worshiping professor (Oliver Platt), the sheriff (Brendan Gleeson), and an eccentric hermit (Betty White).
The characters are all foils for one another, setting up some of the most entertaining dialog of any movie I know.The plot revolves around a 30 foot Asian crocodile somehow winding up in a lake in Maine - go figure.
The essential characters are rounded out by Brendan Gleeson's dour sheriff, Oliver Platt's rich and eccentric mythology buff, and Betty White as the colorful local little old lady with a secret or two.As I said, reduced to a plot outline, it's pretty unimpressive, but the verbal barbs that fly back and forth between the characters are what make the show.
I was very pleasantly surprised.The major players of this movie are Bill Pullman as Jack Wells (Department of Fish and Game), Bridget Fonda is Kelly Scott (Museum of Natural History, New York), Oliver Platt as Hector Cyr (wealthy, eccentric "dragon hunter") and Brendan Gleeson as Sheriff Hank KeoughSomething has killed a man in Lake Placid.
Four people are drawn together to solve the mystery of who or what is killing in the Lake.It's not easy to blend comedy with horror without falling into that dark and career-deadly pit of "camp," but Steve Miner (Warlock 1 and Halloween H20 *among many others*) succeeds with full marks.The effects of the "creature" are realistically believable.
It's hard to do a movie like this without totally going astray with the comedic aspect or the creature effects, but both are right on target in this production.You will laugh one moment and be screwed up in your chair with your knees to your chest the next.
It had suspence and thrills (the part with the grizzly ruled), good effects, a bit of gore (the first victem is the worst), but what really made this movie for me was the characters and thier interaction, especially between Oliver Platt (the excenteric millionaire) and the local sheriff.
The humor is actually more well-written and it's about the same level of gore.If you didn't like Lake Placid, chances are you're too uptight to enjoy a fun monster movie and should go rent a French film noir or anything else that's nice and pretentious..
Its not a really scary horror film but does has its moments of tense 'knowing something is going to happen in a second' and any film that makes the audience laugh out loud through sheer enjoyment rather than embarrassment gets my vote..
But a comedy which isn't trying too hard, as a dumb Adam Sandler movie does, to make you laugh but still makes you laugh is an excellent film.
Its tongue in cheek and it's superb.The banter between the mad old rich croc hunter and the county sheriff is hilarious - I was laughing out load so much - and was thoroughly charmed at the same time.Anyone who slags this movie off is clearly missing the point.
I have to admit that I might only think this movie is not bad because I heard such horrible reviews for it, that when I actually saw it, I was like "That wasn't bad at all." I'm sure if I had heard it was great and saw it, I probably would have said "Really?
After numerous reports of strange deaths are reported in a Maine lake, a wildlife officer and a local ranger find the cause to be a monstrous crocodile inhabiting the waters and try to stop its' rampage on the locals.This here turned out to be one of the better animal-on-the-loose types of films around.
One of the better elements here is the fact that this one manages to inject such a good amount of quality comedy into the proceedings that this doesn't make it feel like an attempt to copy the style of film at the time but more about a film that just happened to feature people who had a strong sense of humor.
When it gets down to the horror elements, this one is outstanding as well with plenty of good fun to be had had here as the switch-over is handled in the right manner, as the film is serious when it needs to be and funny when seriousness has run its course.
Add in some great animatronics and CGI so seamless it looks like one monster throughout for the crocodile and this one is a fine creature feature.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and violence-against-animals..
Bridget Fonda exchanges some good barbs with him--as does Brendan Gleeson (as the local sheriff) and Oliver Platt (as a wacko crocodile hunter).
Platt is good but his character tends to be annoying at times.Betty White plays a variation of her usual stock comedy character and provides an amusing twist for the final scene.
Bridget Fonda looks attractive and handles her sharp exchanges with Pullman in a throughly professional manner.An odd sort of movie that combines comedy and horror with mostly satisfying results.
But I am not kidding, the film is better appreciated under the influence of alcohol-induced euphoria.Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Platt and Betty White have fun here.
Now, the jokes really start rolling about backwoods people from Maine and the educated.There are just too many good lines in this film to repeat them all, but I will say I was in stitches the whole time.The only complaint I have is that Platt and Meredith Salenger didn't have time to get it on, but they were a great pair.Features a really kooky Betty White, too.Get a laugh.
It must be all of that, laden with brilliant special effects and one liners, that makes this monster movie such a fun ride.In Black Lake, something is killing off the wildlife.
So in come the local police, led by Bill Pullman, a stuck-up paleontologist (beautiful and charming Bridget Fonda hams it up)and an eccentric crocodile-obsessed man (awesome Oliver Platt) to investigate the scene.
Animal control and sheriff officials are tapped in to investigate, joined by a scientist.Each character in the movie has his/her own charm, all blending in to make the film a very exciting and entertaining feature.
Bill Pullman as Jack Wells is a reserved, down-to-earth animal control officer who is dedicated in finding the creature; Bridget Fonda is a witty, sarcastic and dry-humored scientist from the city, who endlessly pokes fun at the townspeople; Oliver Platt as Hector Cyr delivered a corny, obsessed he-man with a personal vendetta with crocodiles and Brendan Gleeson as Sheriff Hank Keough gave an outstanding performance who gets caught in Cyr's crocodile traps and has a dead-pan delivery.
the movie could have easily done without them and so in a strange way, they were just surplus to requirements and added little or no value to an otherwise funny and entertaining movie.I saw this movie a few years ago and just didn't get around to posting a comment then, so I am belatedly offering my 2 pence worth now...The accolades go out to Oliver Platt (Hector Cyr), Brendan Gleeson (the sheriff), Betty White (Delores Bickerman) and Meridith Salenger (the deputy) who carry the movie and make up for what can only be described as distractions by the two so-called leads.Almost from the start, the film is both laugh-out-loud funny (in an intelligent and classy way) and undeniably icky AT THE SAME TIME!
It's not a spoof, it's a fun packed tongue in cheek thriller, hell it may even have some literary worth as regards ecological concerns, while the cultural clashes that thrive are written with knowing skill.Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda and Brendan Gleeson are superbly underplaying things, but they all get usurped when at the 20 minute mark Oliver Platt flies in on his helicopter and promptly owns the film from that point on.
This comedy-horror begins when a giant Croc attacks at a backwards warden causing a grisly death.A paleontologist(Bridget Fonda) is sent to Maine by his chief-fiancée(Adam Arkin appears uncredited)who has other lover(Mariska Hargitay).She investigates and discover a prehistoric tooth.The scientific along with a warden(Bill Pullman),a stubborn sheriff(Brendan Gleeson),a deputy(Meredith Salenger) and an eccentric millionaire(Oliver Platt) attempt to figure out the strange events.The Crocodile is still hungry after eating a warden in a creepy scenes with gore included .This monster movie contains suspense,comedy,terror,scares,suspense and bone-chilling scenes when the large Crocodile attacks.The enormous Croc delivers the goods with thrills,screams,eerie horror with its spontaneous appearance,some scenes are made by means of computer generator though mostly by Animatronics realized by the FX master,Stan Winston.The comic relief in charge of Betty White(The golden girls) as a sympathetic and foul-mouthed old woman with a special secret.Colorful cinematography by Okada,reflecting brightly the Maine lush woods where the story is developed.
Appropriate music score adjusted to the atmosphere film and known final song by Bob Marley.The movie is written and produced by the successful TV scriptwriter(Professors of Boston,The practice,LA law).The motion picture is professionally directed by Steve Miner, a horror expert(Hallowen H20,Wallock,Friday the 13th)and some comedy film(My father the hero,Soul man).It's an OK juvenile entry into monster movies,being specially remarkable for excellent recreating of the carnivorous and ferocious Croc ..
Considering Miner had helmed a couple of lame Friday THE 13TH films (which I've just watched, incidentally), this is a far more satisfying genre effort from him: engaging protagonists (best of all is flustered sheriff Brendan Gleeson, but Betty White's eccentric character is also memorable - with the scene where she feeds a cow to 'her' crocodile verging on the surreal), good level of suspense, thrilling action, some gore, and there's also a healthy dose of humor...though its attempt to lend gravitas to the main theme (with the crocodile considered a form of deity) doesn't work.
And I am a sucker for movies that feature helicopters, a conveyance that I would never ride in personally.If you listen carefully when Bridget Fonda's character is flying to Maine, the strains of "I Love New York" can be heard in the music.
The entire party is soon joined by rich man Hector (Oliver Platt) who has a thing to swim with the crocodiles!Evenly distributed between scary and hilarious LAKE PLACID is a sure fire hour and a half of entertainment.
LAKE PLACID isn't a bad choice.Title: Lake Placid Directed by: Steve Miner Starring: Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Brendon Gleeson & Oliver Platt Rated: R for violent creature attacks and related gore, and for language Rating: 06/10 82 Minutes.
2) Similarly, Betty White has a semi-cameo as the most eccentric/lunatic grandma in Maine, but she is only a little bit more oddball than any 'real' senior citizen might be in a similar situation.Pretty much everyone strikes the right tone in this movie and gives a good-to-great performance, but Brendon Gleeson (as the sheriff) makes the movie for me.
You'd never think that the guy who plays this character would also be great in a visceral adventure/horror film like "28 Days Later".
While it's certainly not the greatest movie ever made, it's a thoroughly enjoyable parody of monster movies.I thought Gleeson was excellent as the sheriff; he's by far the funniest character in the film.
Bill Pullman, Briget Fonda, and Oliver Platt had a good role in this film.
Since satire and sarcasm are rarely understood or appreciated by the majority of the people who go to movies, it is hardly surprising that the majority of reviews of this movie are based on its success -- or lack thereof -- as a horror film or a "comedy." If you liked Top Secret, Rustler's Rhapsody, and Johnny Dangerously, rush out and get Lake Placid.
(Some Spoilers) It's when a skin diver was found floating to the surface of Lake Placid, or Black Lake as it's now called, bitten in half that alarm bells started ringing from the State of Maine to New York's Natural History Museum in that something strange was happening in the waters out there.With a very reluctant head of the Paleontology Department at the museum young Kelly Wells,Bridget Fonda,dispatched to far off Maine to determine what's the cause of this horror she's confronted by local Fish & Game Warden Jack Wells,Bill Pullman, and local sheriff Hank Keough,Brendan Gleeson.
This movie is like "Jaws" with a funny twist, but this time, it involves a huge crocodile.
This movie is like "Jaws" with a funny twist, but this time, it involves a huge crocodile.
Animal control and sheriff officials are tapped in to investigate, joined by a scientist.Each character in the movie has his/her own personality and charm, and all blends in to make the film a very exciting and entertaining feature.
Bill Pullman as Jack Wells is a reserved, down-to-earth animal control officer who is dedicated in finding the creature; Bridget Fonda is a witty, sarcastic and dry-humored scientists from the city, who endlessly pokes fun at the townspeople; Oliver Platt as Hector Cyr delivered a corny, obsessed he-man with a personal vendetta with crocodiles, and Brendan Gleeson as Sheriff Hank Keough gave an outstanding performance who gets caught in Cyr's crocodile traps and has a dead-pan delivered one-liners: hilarious.
Known for her role as "Rose" in the sit-com "The Golden Girls," White's performance as Mrs. Bickerman is a delightful departure from the innocent and simple Rose, foul-mouthed, cold and unbelievably funny.This movie is one outstanding humor after the next, blend in with adventure and action, and is sure to entertain you all the way.So, remember never to feed the crocodiles, or else they will wound up as big as the one in this movie..
The front of the DVD says it all for me, 'Part Mystery, Part Thriller, Pars Missing' this pretty much spells out that this isn't intended to be a serious film, despite the relative high quality of the production.The script is absolutely crammed with cheesy lines that compliment the corny plot nicely, Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman and Oliver Platt all pretend to play it straight, which only adds to the hilarity at times; it's a bit like it's making fun of the 'B' movie horror flick, but in a satirical manner that's fun to watch.The show stealer for me though is Betty White, her screen time is minimal but every second of her subtle lunacy is worth the wait.It's a good laugh, the effects are OK and it does entertain, but it is probably a movie you will forget pretty quickly too.6/10.
What makes this film work are the distinct characters and how they interact with each other.The film is staged adequately, Steve Miner has never been anything special, again doing an adequate job with Halloween: H20, and really horrid jobs with the bombs Big Bully and whichever Friday the 13th movie it was he directed.Definitely worth seeing, the dialogue is extremely amusing, and hopefully in 20 years some hot new director who knows how to be creative can create perhaps create something lasting with it; but for now, everything here is below the surface, no pun intended.Adequate performance from Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda and Miner, and A++ work from Kelley, Oliver Platt, and the sheriff...
The whole man-eating creature plot has been done a billion times before, but there is an entire new twist on this, because this movie is actually GOOD!
Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson, and Betty White star in LAKE PLACID, the man-eating crocodile creature flick that came out right around the same time DEEP BLUE SEA did.
Everyone slightly familiar with this type of insignificant horror films knows that they're a lot more comical than they are scary, thus "Like Placid" is a large buffet of witty dialogues, eccentric characters and over-the-top special effects.
Some horror b-movie buffs will find it entertaining but I never really got into what seems a film with a major identity crisis.Tries to be clever but fails, not funny enough for a laugh, not scary enough to scream 4/10.
I guess some don't like comedy and fun in their horror movies..
The film is very good and funny at times.Bill Pullman,Bridget Fonda,Brenden Gleeson,and Oliver Platt are all good.Betty White is excellent and I just couldn't believe all the things she said and I thought it was hilarious!The attacks by the Crocodile is well done.Especially the one with the bear and in fact when the bear got it I just couldn't believe it.Unbelievable scene!This is a very good monster Crocodilian film with a good ending to check out!.
And the special effects are very good.Watch this movie, and I guarantee it won't just be the crocodile smiling!.
This movie about a man-eating monster in Lake Placid, Maine is a rare treat.
Examples of these include 'Deep Blue Sea' and 'Blood Surf'.For a monster movie, 'Lake Placid' is actually a pretty good movie with some good special effects and even some humor.Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, and Oliver Platt are the main characters in this movie, and they all did a wonderful job as a cop, paleontologist, and a crocodile hunter.However, there is a downside to this movie.What the movie needed was more kills.Only 2 characters in the movie were killed by the crocodile.If there was a few more, the movie could've been a little better.At least the 2 people died in a gory fashion.Add in a surprise performance by Betty White from 'Golden Girls' and you have a monster movie that makes a great treat.You'll be laughing at it's sense of humor, screaming at the scares the crocodile delivers, and clapping at how much you were entertained.. |
tt2265171 | The Raid 2: Berandal | The film opens in a large field, where two cars drive up to a man digging a large hole. Two men pull a man with a bag over his head out of the car and push him to the ground next to the hole. It is revealed that the one who is responsible for this private meeting is a self-made Jakarta gang lord called Bejo; having taken off the bag over his head, the hostage is revealed to be Andi, who looks apparently bruised and beaten (presuming after torture). Bejo lectures him about his ambitiousness and Andi begs for mercy, Just then, Bejo speaks of Tama (the film's previous antagonist and Andi's former boss), he tells Andi that despite his demise, Tama had all ready knew which amount of level he would reach which was why Bangun allowed him to let Tama be who he was, this was when Andi was given hope months ago but, when it came to choose between Bangun and Bejo, Andi chose Bangun, having finished his sentence and announcing that the full circle 'Ambition and Limitation' begins once more. Bejo shoots Andi in the head and his henchmen drag his body into the grave.Immediately after the events of The Raid, Rama (Andi's brother), Bowo, and Lieutenant Wahyu are sitting in an undisclosed location with Bunawar and two of his men. Bunawar, a police officer, is determined to bring both the corrupt police and the criminals to justice by any means. He tells one of them to take Bowo to the hospital. After he leaves, Bunawar orders his other man to kill Wahyu, despite Rama's attempts to stop this, Bunawar's men shoots Wahyu four times, killing him. Rama becomes angry but Bunawar tells him that he was a dead man anyway. Rama begins to argue with Bunawar by saying that he had evidence to testify against Wahyu and that he could have brought him to life on justice, but Bunawar declines his words and simple tells him that his evidence is not enough and that Bunawar and his corrupt unit are just a "small division", despite the fact that he also had the case to bring Tama's evidence that will give Wahyu more than just life in the inside. He then tells Rama that his life and his family are in danger after what transpired in Tama's apartment building. He asks Rama to be part of his undercover team in order to take out all the corruption in the police force, along with Bangun, Goto, and Reza, the top criminal heads. Rama refuses, explaining to Bunawar that while their goals are the same, their methods are not.In the aftermath of the apartment block raid, Bunawar presents his superiors with all the cops' files, except Rama's. He claims there were no survivors. The camera then shows two men watching from behind the mirror, the man is the grey suit asks about the previous events while the man in the black suit is revealed to be Reza, a corrupt police commissioner who was mentioned in the previous film to have paid Tama off in order for the killing of Wahyu after betraying him, as well as eliminating all who were part of his unit too. Reza responds that he'll "keep looking" and take care of the situation "personally", though presumably for any loose ends that may threaten to expose them.Later, we see Rama and his father mourning the death of Andi. This convinces Rama to take the job from Bunawar. His family is relocated somewhere safer as Bunawar has promised to Rama. During the meeting, Bunawar tells Rama that the man who killed his brother was Bejo, who is revealed to be a upcoming and ambitious gangster, though Rama already knows the name; he is then told that his brother had big enemies and if Rama doesn't accept the offer now, Reza and his men will come looking for Rama and have himself and his family killed. Rama is instructed to keep his focus between Bangun (from Indonesia) and Goto (from Japan), He is told that Tama had answered to Bangun in order to achieve his goals until his apparent downfall. His first order from Bunawar is to get close to Uco, Bangun's son, who is in prison, so that once as Rama gets close to Bangun, this will allow Bunawar and his division to wipe out Reza and his crooks; having learned that Bunawar wants evidences with all names that puts Reza's hands in Bangun's pockets. Bunawar tells Rama to beat up the son of a politician who Uco is enemies with in order to gain his trust and would lead to his arrest, Rama disagrees, saying that he needs a better reason to do this, Bunawar tells him that the politician is a major key player of Bejo, this gains Rama's attention, who does the job offscreen and as a result, Rama is arrested.Rama is in prison, sitting in a toilet stall when he is suddenly attacked by Uco's men, led by Benny. He fights them all before being overpowered. He later sits in his cell, bruised and beaten-up, punching the wall several times as practice. At lunch, Uco goes up to Rama, who calls himself 'Yuda', and tries to convince him to join his side since he defeated fifteen of his men. Rama declines his offer. During visiting hours, Uco meets with one of his father's underlings, Eka, who wants him to have extra protection since his life is in constant danger. He tells Eka that he is curious about Rama/Yuda, but is told that he isn't of interest. Meanwhile, Rama meets with one of Bunawar's men who tells him that he has to stay in prison for two years, not months like he was promised, due to the politician's anger.In the prison courtyard, the prisoners sit away from the rain. Rama starts to notice some of the prisoners on the other side signalling to each other and passing around a shank. Soon, Benny and the other two approach Uco who is sitting a few seats away. Before they could strike, Rama uses a broom handle to fend them off and saves Uco's life. This initiates a riot in the courtyard, and the prisoners and guards fight in the mud. Some prisoners are shot dead as they try to climb the prison fence. Uco is attacked several times and when he is almost unconscious on the ground, Benny goes over to finish him off. However, Rama steps in and once again, saves Uco and nearly kills Benny, However, he is later knocked out by a guard, but not before catching Uco's attention.Two years later: Rama is released from prison. He notices a wire on his jacket and immediately tears it out. Outside, he is met by Uco, who had him released a year early. He takes him to his father, who wants to thank Rama personally. In Bangun's place, Bangun and Goto are meeting to discuss the uprising of Bejo. During the meeting, Goto worries about Bejo's ambitions and wanted to meet Bangun so that one of them will take care of Bejo's situation; Bangun tells Goto that he'll monitor the situation and he'll take Bejo out if he makes another move against them. After Goto and his son, Keiichi, leaves, Uco brings Rama before his father. He tells Rama to strip all of his clothes off to make sure he's not carrying a listening device. Bangun orders Eka to check Rama's clothes to double sure that he is not a cop, Eka don't find anything and Bangun accepts this. He is given new clothes along with a penthouse to stay in. As he puts on his new clothes, Bangun assures Rama that he will always appreciate for what he had done for his son and he'll truly never forget that, but Bangun warns him that he will now play by his rules and that he himself brought Rama into his family, looked after him and treat him like he truly is his family. Bangun then simple says to Rama "If you fuck up, you're out", Rama vows to keep Bangun's word and promise, before assuring Bangun that he will not let him down. Eka then shows Rama his own penthouse and leaves him be, but not after Eka gives Rama a cryptic message, stating that "they came from the same world".After he's alone, Rama blasts music really loudly and calls Bunawar using a SIM card he'd hidden in his mouth. He argues with his boss that he almost got him killed for having that wire on him and that he will do things his way from then on. After that conversation, Rama calls his wife. He asks her if he can listen to his son for a while.The next day, Uco, Eka, Rama, and two other henchmen go to an underground porn industry where they demand payment from them. The leader, Topan, refuses to pay the extra 5000 after he is caught importing drugs. One of his men reaches under the table for a concealed shotgun. Rama notices and immediately stops him. A firefight ensues, leaving all of Topan's men killed along with two of Uco's. Topan escapes and Rama gives chase. He catches him in a room where he mercilessly beats Topan but stops himself from dealing a killing blow.Eka compliments Rama's skill to Bangun. Uco then asks his father when he can move on to bigger things than simply collecting debts OR presumably taking over his organization if he dies. His father says he isn't ready to move on yet, which angers Uco. Later, at a club, Uco begins to abuse two of the working girls while getting drunk. Enraged after getting into an argument, Uco kicks one of them unconscious while abuses another for insulating him and refusing to sing, before singing with her though, Uco expresses his jealousy over his father's business and sulks for not accepting what's his. When the manager steps in, Rama tells the girls to leave. When the two men are alone, Rama tries to reassure Uco that his father will come around. Uco's phone rings and he steps outside to speak to the mystery caller. Rama takes the opportunity to place a wire in Uco's wallet.Meanwhile, Bangun meets with Prakoso, one of his most trusted hitmen who is also a homeless person. He gives him an envelope containing a new target. Prakoso is later sitting by a curb with his machete by his side, waiting for his target to appear. When he sees him and his guards with him, he quickly fends them all off and gives chase to his target. When they are both at a dead end, Prakoso impales his target with his machete.Rama meets Bangun the next day where he warns him on the matter of trust and ambitions. It is revealed that he killed Topan before Eka and his men dumps his body in a lake. Bangun recognises that Rama is best positioned to keep an eye on his son and asks to be kept informed if anything important comes up involving Uco.Later on at night, the person who called Uco is revealed to be Bejo, who wants to cause a war between Bangun and Goto, claiming both territories in the aftermath. During dinner, Bejo seems to be a practical man and appears unconcerned with history and tradition. As a gesture of goodwill and a show of commitment, he brings five former prisoners, including Benny, who attacked Uco and lets him to execute them all. As Uco goes to slit each of their throats, they discuss how they will be able to cause a rift between the two families. In reality, Bejo sees Bangun as a weak businessman whilst Goto drowns Reza and his crooks with whiskey and woman. Before killing Benny, Uco notices a distinct tattoo on Benny's wrist, who then looks at an unfazed Bejo before finally accepting his fate, Uco then kills Benny after ignoring his suspicions over the tattoo. Having finished watching Uco killing Benny and his last friends, Bejo says that they will need to kill a trusted man in Bangun's family and not just a foot soldier, When Uco begins to question this, Bejo says that he already has someone in his mind. Outside, Rama listens in on their entire conversation and then watches both Uco and Bejo shaking hands before leaving on separate diversions, Rama becomes shocked to learn of Uco's new alliance and shows his anger as he sees the man who killed his brother.At a restaurant, we see Prakoso meeting his ex-wife, who berates him for being an assassin. He asks if he can see his son, in which his ex-wife refuses. He later gets a message from Uco and leaves early. They meet up at a dance club where Prakoso tells Uco to be patient with his father and that he has the same fiery ambition within him. Uco goes to the bathroom. Prakoso takes out a locket with a picture of his son in it and stares at it for a while. He soon realizes the entire club becomes empty. The doors swing open and numerous men (who appear to be Bejo's henchmen) come in. Prakoso starts to fight these men. The fight leads to the alleyway, where Prakoso gets sliced numerous times but not while killing all of Bejo's henchmen. As Uco runs outside to witness the aftermath of the fight, both he and Prakoso notices Bejo's Assassin on the other side of the street, leaning against his car (whom Bejo is inside), Just then, Prakoso discovers that Uco betrayed him by allowing Bejo to have him killed before realizing that he is finished. Taking out the locket, Prakoso faces the Assassin, who leans in to look into his victim's eyes before quickly finishing him off with his two knives, killing Prakoso, all the while Uco is watching.At Bangun's headquarters, Uco pretends that Prakoso was killed by the Japanese, Goto's men. He demands retribution from his father but Bangun shoots it down, stating that he does not want to ruin the peace between the families. Rama comes in and is told to go calm Uco down. He tries, but fails. Uco calls Bejo and tells him to continue with the plan, regardless of Bangun's approval. Bejo then orders his three assassins, The Assassin (who killed Prakoso), Baseball Bat Man, and Hammer Girl, to hunt down specific targets from Goto's family.The Assassin is seen beating up his target in the fields, the target tries to escape, only to be captured by Bejo's henchmen. It is shown that The Assassin's target was confronted at the same fields where Bejo killed Andi in the beginning of the film. Bejo then watches as The Assassin executes his target, who begged for mercy. Meanwhile, Hammer Girl's target is shown in the train with 10 of Goto's gangsters; Hammer Girl easily dispatches Goto's henchmen before killing her target in cold blood. Elsewhere, Baseball Bat Man uses his Baseball Bat to slaughter all of Goto's goons before confronting his target, who is having a meeting with somebody; presumably for Goto's organizations or plots for Goto's next step. Baseball Bat Man then uses his Bat and Ball to kill Goto's organizer and wound his target, who tried to escape but now as a broken back. Baseball Bat Man tells his target to "Give him the ball", but he instead tosses it away. Baseball Bat Man responds that what he just did was "a mistake" and, despite Goto's member begging for mercy, ends up killing his target by smacking his head with the Baseball Bat repeatedly, before the screen turns black.The scene then turns to Rama, who enters into a Taxi and prepares to head back to Bangun's headquarters. All seems quiet, when suddenly he is attack by a group of attackers, who end up killing the taxi driver in the process. Rama escapes momentarily and runs into a restaurant. He defeats his multiple attackers. He stops the last one by pressing his face into on a hot grill, and then notices the man is wearing police identification, meaning that the men who tried to kill him were Reza's crooks.At a meeting between Bangun and Goto, the two are ordered to repair their truce or forcibly disband their families. Bangun agrees and takes full responsibility for everything his son has done, much to Uco's anger. Returning to his penthouse, Rama treats his wounds and angrily calls his boss Bunawar. He tells him that he was attacked by police and demands to be pulled out. Bunawar refuses. Instead, he reveals that the cause was actually Corruption, shock to learn, Rama is told that he was never investigating Bangun and now Reza and his men are getting support from the Goto family; although Bunawar tells him that his identity is safe. Rama then angrily hangs up and sighs in frustration after Bunawar is suddenly making his mission a lot more difficult and harder; now that being told that he was never investigating Bangun and the only target who Bunawar wanted to focus on was Reza all this time. Just then, Rama receives a call from Bangun's assistanct, Eka, who tells him to come to Bangun's immediately. Bangun beats Uco for provoking the Japanese. Uco expresses his outrage at not being promoted in his father's organization. Bangun finds out that his son is directly involved with the growing feud between him and Goto, after the latter attempts to make things right, Bangun punches Uco until Eka stops him for doing more. Bangun then orders Eka to prepare for a meeting where he sells his land to Goto and his family.Just then, Bejo and his men, including The Assassin, arrive to confront Bangun. a tearful Uco tells his father to forgive him, Bangun learns too late that Uco has betrayed him (just as he discovers he did the same to Prakoso) and that he was with Bejo to get rid of Goto and his syndicate the entire time, Uco then shoots his father at blank rage, killing Bangun. Eka calls Uco a traitor and attempts to stop this but Uco shoots him in the leg. Just as Eka asks Uco about his betrayal, Bejo takes the gun from Uco and prepares to kill Eka when Rama arrives, having founded out of Bangun's death, Uco's betrayal, Bejo's arrival and Eka's injury. Rama fights past Bejo's henchmen and disarms him but his chance to kill him is blocked when The Assassin attacks, Rama tells Eka to run, Eka flees before the short fight begins, The Assassin defeats Rama easily, Bejo asks Uco what does he want to do about Rama, a wounded and guilt Uco makes no response and Bejo has Rama taken away, ordering to have him killed later on.Eka watches as Rama is dragged into a car. A convoy of Bejo's men then drive him away. On the way, Eka pursues the convoy and calls Rama. He collides with the car Rama is in, inciting a car chase. Rama fights the men holding him captive while Eka takes out the accompanying vehicles. Rama disables his captors with great difficulty and escapes, jumping into Eka's car. The two make it out of the chase alive while all of Bejo's henchmen are left dead.In Goto's office, Goto, having heard of Bangun's death and Reza's betrayal, is angry at Bejo's involvement and demands that he be killed. Goto is about to complain about Reza when Ryuichi, Goto's translator, reveals that Bangun was killed by Uco, who allied himself with Bejo and that Reza is off to a meeting with them. Concerned with this new alliance and making his decision, Goto decides to 'start over' and declares war on Bejo and Reza, demanding that everyone of Bejo, Uco, Reza and the syndicate (Bejo's gang and Reza's corrupt cops) all die that night. Keiichi is shocked about this but Goto warns his son that Reza and his crooks are no longer cops and that they're in ''his world now''.At a ruined site, Eka pulls over and reveals to Rama that he knows he is an undercover cop and that he was one too. Bleeding to death, Eka tells Rama that only by taking out everyone at once can the conflict be ended. He leaves the car and dies peacefully while Rama drives away.He calls Bunawar and argues about Eka, wondering why his presence was kept a secret. Bunawar reveals that Eka fed him bad intel, which led to ten cops dying, and is disgraced. After being told that the commissoner is dead and also furious over Bunawar's complaints that Eka had betrayed the police and Bunawar himself for Bangun and becoming a family man of his life, Rama learns that Reza, his true target, is being picked up in Uco's wire and that Bunawar is on his way. It is revealed that Reza wants to talk to Bejo and Uco to start a new business organization and in order to disband Goto and his syndicate. Just then, Rama asks his boss if his family is safe and will remain that way, in which Bunawar assures they are and will be. Rama then hangs up on him (telling him to keep it that way before making one last pray to himself, If he survives, he can go home and reunite to his family in one piece, but if he dies, at least he knows that his family is still safe under Bunawar's protection from Reza and both his crooks and syndicate). He is outside Bejo's restaurant where he drives through one of the garages and alerts his men. While he fights them, Uco is in the bathroom upstairs, bruised and beaten. As he is about to tip the towel boy, he notices the wire. He goes back to Reza and Bejo sitting at the table and remains silent throughout. One of the henchmen warns Bejo that Rama escaped custody and is now in the building. He orders everyone to kill him, sending The Assassin, Baseball Bat Man, and Hammer Girl. When Bejo accidentally drops his cane, Uco looks down and notices the same tattoo that was on one of the former prisoners he executed. Uco learns that Bejo was the one who tried to have him killed in prison and that now the alliance is no longer useful, Bejo will try to have him killed again to spark the war and take Goto's land and territory all for himself.After finishing everyone off in the warehouse, Rama moves up to face Baseball Bat Man and Hammer Girl. During the fight, Baseball Bat Man is overpowered before Rama slits Hammer Girl's throat and, despite Baseball Bat Man's shock response with the shout of "NO", Rama kills her. Baseball Bat Man then viciously tries to avenge his fallen sister, only to be defeat by Rama, who then kills him by slamming his face with his Baseball Bat. He enters the kitchen and faces The Assassin. The engage in a lengthy and very brutal fight, and Rama, unlike his prior fight with The Assassin, keeps the upper hand. Near defeat, The Assassin pulls out two curved knives he's kept in sheaths behind his back. He wounds Rama, but Rama eventually disarms and takes one of the knives, where the two begin to slash each other. All looks tied until The Assassin starts to get the advantage, but Rama finally keeps his ground and begins slashing The Assassin repeatedly. Blooded and Wounded near the end of the fight, Rama finishes the Assassin off by cutting The Assassin repeatedly until he slices his throat, killing him.Bloodied and wounded, Rama enters the dining room, interrupting Bejo, Uco, and Reza. Using the knife he obtained from The Assassin, he kills two guard and fights a third. Bejo retrieves a shotgun runs from the bar. He throws it to Reza but Uco grabs it instead, shooting and killing Reza. Bejo grabs a second shotgun, kills his own henchmen by accident and shoots at Rama several times, but Rama is only slightly wounded and takes cover. Uco shoots Bejo, first in the leg, and then the shoulder. Uco stands over Bejo and drops the wire on him before pointing the shotgun in his face and firing, this ends up exploding his head, killing Bejo. He turns to kill Rama behind a couch. He shoots relentlessly but as he approaches the couch, Rama seizes the moment before Uco can pump the shotgun again to jump up and throw the knife, wounding Uco. Uco and Rama cling to each other, both wounded, until Rama finishes Uco by stabbing him.Uco dies and Rama stumbles out of the dining room. Bunawar races to Bejo's restaurant but before he can get there, Rama reenters the warehouse. Keiichi and his men are waiting for him at the entrance. They talk, words unheard, though all is assumed that Keiichi offers Rama a chance to join the japanese, the discussion, as well as the entire storyline, ends with Rama simply says, "No...I'm done." | comedy, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback, action, revenge | train | imdb | The choreography here is some of the best ever put on film.There is no question that Uwais is currently the premiere martial arts star, and there is certainly no question that Gareth Evans is the greatest action director on the planet.
This movie is a great combination of a gangster flick with a very well coordinated martial arts.The director Gareth Evans is masterful at filming incredible action sequences, probably better than ANY Hollywood directors working right now.
Not to mention the unforgettable cinematography that was brilliantly managed by people who knows what they're doing.The only downside is perhaps the running time which could have been shortened 15-20 minutes, but you will still always be entertained while watching this movie.Overall, The Raid 2 is arguably one of the best sequels ever, and even one of the best martial arts movies ever.
This film try's a lot of new things and all of which work for example are car chase scene which is one of the best I've seen in any movie.
And with good story and characters of course comes excellent acting which is often rare in action films, these actors are absolutely teeming with talent, all of which can act and can fight.
With its fast paced action and believable fight scene choreography whilst not being over the top with an aim for realism that would diminish the combat's entertainment factor.With 'The Raid 2: Berandal', we are brought back into the gritty world of the first movie directly following where the story left off.
We also get to watch them fight and are able to enjoy their unique styles rather than the usual, 'this character is a bad guy' scenes to barely introduce them.The fight scenes are excellently choreographed and the way they are shot is spectacular, a lot of imagination and ingenuity is used to really throw the viewer directly into the action.
The gore and violence level reflect far more realistic outcomes considering the brutality of both the scenarios and the weapons.When I try to compare this to the usual Hollywood blockbuster action movies reduced to PG13 to get more people in to watch it, its impossible.
The movie delivers far more in the way of action and fight sequences whilst maintaining a sensible and cohesive plot.If you are expecting(for some bizarre reason) to see an amazing plot to compare to The Godfather or The Departed you probably are expecting the wrong things.
((From: http://thinmanmoviereviews.wordpress.com/)) In 2011, Welsh director Gareth Evans gave us "The Raid: Redemption" – one of the best pure action films of the last decade – and hinted at his potential to be a new and exciting presence in the writer/director realm.
The action was hard-hitting, lightning fast, supporting a simple, contained story of one man fighting against an entire tower of enemies in a way that was reminiscent of classics like "Die Hard".
In fact, I'm going to make a bold statement that you can feel free to quote me on:"The Raid 2″ is the best action movie ever made.Where sequels are concerned, this film does absolutely everything right.
No longer contained to just one address, the fight scenes in "Raid 2″ cover car chases, cramped subway trains, muddy prison yards, night clubs, and city streets, and every action set piece hits all the right notes.
Furthermore, this sequel is indeed a confirming proof that Gareth Evans's undoubtedly an experienced and adept action film writer-director whom i think should be eyed and wanted by the Hollywood producers to direct/write decent action movies, with martial arts but perhaps less violent.
Iko Uwais, although his total screen-time percentage's less (reduced because of the more complicated story n characters) compared with the first film and the role of his character is, didn't lose his hero persona, he constantly showed off his skills in the martial arts by fighting tons of enemies, got a bit improved in his acting (thanks to the story with its more dialogues).I urgedly forbid any parent to bring their young little children to watch this movie.
This Movie Will Blow Your Face Off. The first Raid remains one of my favorite action films of all time.
From a deeper story and plot, to more bone crunching, blood letting violence, everything here is bigger, better, and hits harder.Picking up pretty much where the last one left off, our hero Rama is the last survivor of the original film and is wanted by a special, small law enforcement group attempting to out crooked cops.
What follows is a twisted plot of shifting alliances, as our hero navigates the underworld while punching, kicking, kneeing, and elbowing everything that gets in his way.While the first film was confined to a single location with lots of closed in fights, this is all out, balls to the wall action that has little boundaries.
Conspiracy theories out the window!This movie is a masterpiece of martial arts cinema and is easily the best thing to be released from Asia in the past 15 years.Being a fan of the previously released Raid film, specifically due to its relentless overload of close quarters action, I was a little sceptical about the second film's plot expansion and how it would all work.My worries where in no way realised as this movie combines the abundance of action found in the first film with a well written and executed storyline that is both deep and easy to understand.Performances from the cast are all round excellent, everyone plays their part and does so with a sense of menace similar to that of old age Asian cinema.The way the film is shot is at times breathtaking, setting the scene with some fantastic panning shots of pivotal areas and the use of lighting brings these shots to life in beautiful detail.
From a snow ridden back alley to a dark and seedy nightclub, everything is realised in such detail that it is hard to ignore what a great job the DOPs have done!The score is tremendous, building and crashing as the action on screen flows or complementing subtlety a plot developing scene in a restaurant or an office.Gareth Evans has far exceeded my expectations with this movie and originally I was again sceptical upon reading, prior to seeing this movie, that The Raid 3 would be set 3 hours prior to the conclusion of The Raid 2..
Maybe it was because I had heard so many great things about it that my expectations were a bit too high, but it was still the best action movie I had seen in a long time at it's release.
Amazing fight scenes, brutal violence and surprisingly good story & acting make this movie a true credit to the genre and should set the standard for any action movies that come after it.
In this case, there is a real story and many things are really unexpected and very well thought about.The movie is 30 or more minutes longer than the first one which is mostly used for setups and character development; however the level of violence higher and realism of the fights is shocking.
just got back from seeing this movie, I have to be completely honest, I've literally seen thousands upon thousands of action movies, and I have to say with this one tops every movie that has come before it in action, brutality and relentlessness, it literally does not let go of your senses till the credits roll 2 and a half hours later, it has the best fight I've ever seen put on film, here's a good example of a good movie fight, Jet Li vs General Fugita in Fists of Legend 1992, That fight was epic because it had enough length to really get into it and very well choreographed, you can also add any and all of Tony Jaa's movie fights all of Bruce Lee's movie Fights as well as Jackie Chan's movie Fights, in short any fight you've ever seen in a movie would pale in comparison to the last major fight in the movie, trust me, it was Epic and Brutal in the best of ways, also this movie should really be rated NC-17 because of the non-stop Graphic Violence, there isn't any one particular scene that's uber graphic with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 but it's the sheer amount of violence throughout the movie, I for one loved every minute of it, I have to have this on Bluray the minute it comes out, will probably see it again before the week is up and can't recommend it enough, how do you top this movie?
You are here to see as much carnage as legally possible within a certain timeframe.And boy, does it deliver.Containing just as much action as in the original (although it was spaced out far more because of time length and storytelling elements in between), The Raid 2 is flawlessly directed and edited by Gareth Evans (easily rising as among the top directors in the world) as every single gunfight, fistfight, and chase sequence is delivered with just enough creativity, bloodshed, and content to satisfy any action fan.
Conversely The Raid 2 aims to be a full blown crime saga with factions, character arks, double crosses all while maintaining the lightning fast, ultra-visceral style of martial arts filmmaking that was present in the last installment.After the events of the first film our hero Rama (played in this installment with a surprising amount of emotion by Iko Uwais) is drafted into an undercover branch of Jakarta's police force.
Not that this is at all a negative however; as soon as the film kicks into action with a jaw-dropping opening scene, time becomes a mere fantasy as you become lost in Evans' dazzling world of violence, gore and snippets of dark humor.
This was literally the perfect action movie, fight scenes all over the place with choreography like iv'e never seen before.
Released like a bat out of hell in 2011, Welshman Gareth Evans Indonesian set Iko Uwais starring actioner The Raid can now in the years following its legacy be classified as not only a cult classic but also an undisputed action classic that gave the genre a kick (and a gas canister filled fridge) where it needed to be kicked and set the standard for adrenaline racing thrills that many Hollywood wannabes lack.
After sitting on my thoughts for a few days now I finally feel confident in expressing my particular thoughts on what could be the year's most memorable movie.The Raid 2: Berandal (which stands for Thug or Thugs in Indonesian) is a massive step up in scope and territory for not only its writer/director in Evans but his cast which features the stars of the first entry Iko Uwais and everyone's favourite Mad Dog Yayan Ruhian in a new role as "The Assassin" plus a raft of new members.
To pick faults with ambition is a petty thing however when so much of the Raid 2 is above and beyond anything you have seen or are likely to see in the future both near and far.The scope and vision spoken about earlier appears so frequently throughout this movie that it almost could be taken for granted but what watchers of this film are privy to is a film that boasts action set pieces that defy logic to be bigger and better than the one before all culminating in what can only be described as one of the best car chases of recent memory and a kitchen set 2 man fight that is all types of amazing (the cinema audience I sat in with was well and truly up on their feet and clapping by this moment, and in truth most of the movie).
Credit needs to go to Evan's and his star Uwais who have shown considerable growth since the first outing with Evans showcasing an incredible vision as a director which well and truly sets him up as one of the most unique and talented working today while Uwais should be proud of his growth as an actor that should set him up in good stead to have a long a hopefully great career in the genre.There are pacing issues in this film and despite not possessing the original films unique charms and set up along with the firsts complete out of the blue appearance for many, The Raid 2 is still seriously jaw-dropping stuff that a cinema full of clapping, cheering and at many times wincing audience members can attest to.
Where the first movie had its main henchman Mad Dog, a vicious killer who was involved in one of the best 2 on 1 fight scenes I have ever seen, The Raid 2 has 2 hit men simply name Baseball Bat Man and Hammer Girl.
The first film was an extremely satisfying, virtually plot-free, relentlessly brutal fight-fest that left the viewer gasping for breath, but the sequel is so much more than that—a densely plotted, visually stunning, brilliantly acted, wonderfully controlled piece of drama with richly drawn characters that gradually morphs into an insanely violent, incredibly gory (so much blood!) and utterly exhilarating stunt-packed martial-arts/action masterpiece, one that re-defines the entire genre.Reminiscent of the Hong Kong heroic bloodshed genre (particularly those films by John Woo) and numerous Japanese Yakuza films, the plot explores the familiar themes of respect, honour and betrayal and features characters for whom the line between good and bad have become blurred.
However, in terms of action, it leaves these films in the dust (hard to believe, I know), with countless flawlessly executed scenes that put the viewer right in the midst of the mêlée, where each and every punch, kick, stab and slice can be experienced in extreme blood-drenched close-up.Pitted against some of the most awesome cinematic baddies ever realised (the likes of which will have Tarantino crying into his coffee knowing that he has forever been trumped by a Welshman), Iko Uwais, as undercover cop Rama, is simply amazing—one of the most physically impressive action movie stars I have ever witnessed—while Director Gareth Evans displays an understanding of his visual medium that I find difficult to comprehend, every scene executed with the utmost of care and skill, whether it be a simple lingering shot of a leaf in a field (before the inevitable explosion of violence) or a jaw-dropping, breakneck car chase (my personal favourite moment); together, they have taken the art of the action movie to a whole new level.
I really hope that someone gives this director a big Hollywood feature to play with, if nothing else so that this quality of action can be brought to a wider audience.Now they could have played white static in between each of the fight scenes and I would have still given this a decent rating, but there's also an engaging plot that makes you care about the characters and makes them much more than just vehicles for the next stunt-filled set piece.
The Raid released back in 2011 was an instant classic, the film didn't work within its limitations so much as thrive on them, simple plot, minimal character development, single location and then going for broke with non-stop action scenes that thrilled.
Better story, better directing, better characters, better writing, better action, better choreography and the list goes on
The Raid 2 is the best sequel since The Dark Knight.It does what every good sequel (e.g. Terminator 2, The Godfather Part II) does and doesn't simply tell the same story with a bigger budget like most sequels, but creates a brand new story which improves upon the original's that makes it a standalone film and not just "the second one".
I saw the Raid and it was one of the best action/martial arts films in perhaps a decade (yes better than Ong Bak, SPL, etc...).
Its director Gareth Evans was already being hailed as a genius, with his innovative and realistic fight scenes, which did not let up on the gore.This sequel is called "The Raid 2: Berandal." While the first film was over in a quick hour and a half, this second one was an hour longer in its running time.
I usually don't write reviews but really have to come out in praise of this young director who has finally brought martial arts back into movies with aplomb.The raid was the most refreshing film i saw in years with the action and martial arts a perfect blend (far better then dredd).
Where the first movie felt like one very long fight scene (which wasn't a bad thing), this one went bigger and took its time to create a meaningful story for the characters.
The Raid 2: One of the best martial arts action films ever!
The story is very good; the way director Gareth Evans has blended highly impactful action into a story of this kind is commendable.Negatives:Undoubtedly, it's an out and out action movie meant to be watched more for the action than anything else and that's why the long duration, which is mostly due to the dramatic scenes might not go down well with everyone.But still the film is a complete entertainer!Repeat value: Definitely!THE RAID 2 is simply one of the best martial arts action films I've ever seen.
The Raid 2 is truly amazing.The End. Great movie, Fighting scenes are smooth and realistic.
The Raid 2: Berandal (2014) is a hard-core action martial arts-flick and one of the best sequel I have ever seen!
I have never seen in any action or martial arts film with the level of incredible stunt work and just brutal fighting in any other film.
There's a car chase sequence in the second half of the film that easily ranks as one of the best action sequences ever, and I wanted even more of Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man. All in all, I wouldn't rank this too far below the original The Raid.
If you like your action/martial arts films, just do yourself a favour and watch this. |
tt0111503 | True Lies | Location: Lake Chapeau, SwitzerlandLate on a wintery night, security guards are screening cars for their official invitations for a black-tie event at a château. Other security guards armed with submachine guns and guard dogs patrol the grounds, and spotlights shine around. Underwater in a canal that passes through the yard, professional spy Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger), wearing scuba diving gear, cuts through the gate with a torch. He breaks through the ice on the other side of the gate with a large knife and removes his headgear, then sets a leather bag on the ice and gets out.Harry hides behind the boathouse and removes a walkie-talkie from the bag and says, "Honey, I'm home" to his partners Albert "Gib" Gibson (Tom Arnold) and Faisil (Grant Heslov), parked in a surveillance van across the lake. Harry removes his scuba gear, revealing a tuxedo, and puts on his gun. He then puts on a radio earpiece, then his coat, and then places a radio-controlled explosive device on a barrel of benzene and puts on some cologne from a small bottle.Following advice from Gib, Harry sneaks into the mansion through the service door. After passing through the kitchen, a cook confronts him in French. Harry responds in French, acting all important and criticizing the feast displayed on the table. He grabs a glass of wine and walks into the ballroom. The orchestra plays "the Blue Danube" as Harry greets a sheik in Arabic. Gib asks Harry if he has seen Jamel Khaled yet, and Harry responds that he does. Another woman, Juno Skinner, (Tia Carrere) greets Khaled (Marshall Manesh), then watches Harry as he checks her out. Harry bumps into and greets a colonel, who doesn't know him. Harry ditches his drink and goes through the main foyer and to the second floor. He goes into the library then to the second-floor balcony. He climbs up the wall to the third floor, quietly breaks into the room there, hooks up a modem to a computer and transmits files to his partners in the van. Faisil begins decrypting the files.Harry comes out of a second story room and asks the security man in Arabic where the bathroom is, who informs him that it's downstairs. Back in the foyer, Harry pretends to examine some large sculptures on a desk, then sees some more security guards going upstairs. Juno walks up to Harry, and he remarks that the sculpture is magnificent. She tells Harry that she doesn't recognize him as one of Khaled's friends and never met him before. Harry introduces himself as Harry Renquist and Juno introduces herself. Gib quickly does a background check revealing that Juno is an arts and antiquities dealer, specializing in Ancient Persian antiques. Harry remarks that the sculpture is Persian, and she says that it's sixth century B.C. He claims that he adores the period.Things go awry when a security guard discovers the break in the ice and alerts others on the radio of a breach. Security guards scramble outside, and Gib informs Harry. Harry sees the three security guards come downstairs, so he takes Juno to dance the tango, "Por Una Cabeza", which now plays in the ballroom. Gib informs Harry that he doesn't have time to tango. While dancing, Harry constantly looks around at security. Juno clearly enjoys the way Harry dances with her. Gib tells Harry to get out of there.Faisil finally decrypts the files and starts copying them. After the dance, Harry and Juno leave the ballroom, and she's impressed. Harry tells her that he has to leave because he has a plane to catch, and she gives him a business card from her dress top, telling him that her offices are in Rome. Gib makes a snide remark because Juno is smitten with Harry.Outside, Harry informs Gib that he's going to simply walk right out the front gate. A security guard confronts Harry and asks him in English for his invitation. Harry pulls out a small metal case, saying that it's his invitation, then remotely sets off an explosive charge. Harry knocks out the security guard, then changes his plans and runs across the yard. Security sets two dogs on him, and he bumps their heads together. Several armed men on snowmobiles and skis chase after Harry, but he shoots them as he runs downhill to the backup rendezvous point. When Harry finally reaches the van, he shoots down two more armed men approaching on skis, and then gets in the van and they drive away.The team flies back to Washington, DC. Gib drives Harry home. Before Harry gets out, he ditches his Renquist ID, and Gib supplies him his real billfold and some items to support a supposed trip to Geneva, including a passport, ticket stub, a hotel bill, two postcards, house keys, and a souvenir Swiss village snow globe for Harry's daughter Dana. Harry tells Gib to pick him up tomorrow at eight o'clock. Gib finally gives Harry his wedding ring, and then drives away. Harry carries the snow globe, a suitcase, and luggage up the steps to his house, and then picks up a newspaper before he opens the front door. He quietly enters his bedroom then climbs into bed. His wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) groggily asks him how his flight was, and then they sleep.The next day, Harry gives the snow globe to his daughter Dana (Eliza Dushku) and tells her that she's late for school, and not to forget to feed her dog Gizmo. After Harry leaves, she tells Gizmo that the snow globe is lame and throws it away.While Harry and Helen get ready for work, they talk about his trip, which he had previously told her was a salesman convention. He continues the pretense, saying that his team was the hit of the show. Helen tells him that the plumber called, and it will cost $600. He says its OK and asks what she told the plumber. She jokes that she slept with the plumber and he will deduct $100. Harry tells her that it's good thinking and kisses her goodbye.Gib strolls in through the unlocked front door, and after looking around, sets a pack of cigarettes on the fireplace mantle. The pack is actually a CCD video camera, which he aims at Harry's jacket on a chair. Dana's boyfriend rides up on his motorcycle. Gib gives a pair of sunglasses to Harry, which is actually the remote receiving unit for the video camera. In the glasses, Harry sees Dana swiping money from his jacket, but she runs outside quickly before Harry can talk to her, and she rides off with her boyfriend to school.On the way to work, Gib, married three times, tells Harry discouraging assumptions about Dana. He suggests that she's probably having sex with her boyfriend. Harry says that Dana wouldn't do that. Gib continues, saying that she could be stealing the money for an abortion or drugs. As they walk through an X-Ray machine at work, Gib, says that he moved back in with his ex-wife to have a better chance of getting the house during the settlement. They pass through two security checkpoints, including a palm, retina, and voice scanner. They finally take an elevator to their agency, the Omega Sector, "The last line of defense".The head of Omega Sector, the eyepatch wearing Spencer Trilby (Charlton Heston), rebukes Harry, calling the mission in Switzerland a total disaster. Harry tries to defend himself, and Gib and Faisil pitch in. Faisil produces evidence of $100 million Jamel Khaled transferred from a bank known as a terrorist front. He also says that 4 MIRV warheads (nuclear weapons) were smuggled out of Kazakhstan. Harry says that they think Khaled's group bought the nukes and will try to bring them to the United States. Spencer tells them to produce hard evidence before terrorists try to detonate a nuke outside the White House.While Helen is at work, she talks to her coworker Allison (Katsy Chappell) about Harry's supposedly boring life as a sales representative. Helen says that when she can't sleep she asks him about his supposed job and it puts her quickly to sleep.Gib and Faisil show Harry proof of a $2 million disbursement from Khaled to Juno Skinner. Although Khaled gets his antiquities from her, the transaction is suspicious because the money came from another ledger; this is too much money for sex, even for someone as attractive as her. Harry tells them to do a complete work-up on her. The team decides to send Harry to her local offices in Washington D.C.At Juno's offices, Harry resumes the Harry Renquist alias, now claiming to be the representative for a corporate art consulting company in San Francisco. Juno immediately recognizes Harry and is surprised to see him so soon. He pretends that he's buying something for some clients. As they walk through a large bay containing recent arrived antiques from the Middle East, he tells her that he learned she can read ancient Sanskrit without sounding out the words. He also claims that other art dealers and archaeologists don't like her very much. She replies that it's because she uses her diplomatic contacts to export items from countries that would rather not sell. The entire time, Harry is observed from across the room by Juno's employer Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik). Juno tells Harry that most of their items come from ancient Persia, which is buried deep under sand in Iran, Iraq, and Syria -- making them hard to obtain. As a result, she has had to become an expert in international diplomacy.Back at Harry's suite at the Marquis Hotel, where they set up a fake office, Gib tells Harry that Juno could be moving money, guns, or anything else. Faisil tells Harry that as soon as he left Juno's office, the team received several calls to the phones, checking out Harry's alias name. Harry tells them to step up surveillance of Juno and put on two more guys.Aziz comes into Juno's office and slaps her, calling her a derogatory name in Arabic. He switches to English, calling her a stupid undisciplined bitch. She tolerates this insult, since Aziz is paying her a lot of money to smuggle his nuclear warheads into the United States. He tells her that surveillance teams are watching them and probably tapped the phones. He criticizes her for "flirting like a whore" with Harry, and slaps her again. He tells her to find out where Harry is.Helen calls Harry at his office at "Tektel Systems", the front organization for the Omega Sector. The telephone operator transfers the call to his hotel suite. Helen tells Harry that she and Dana are preparing him a birthday party and hope he will be home by 8:00 at night. Harry assures her that he will be home in time.Gib drives Harry home in an SUV and informs him that someone is tailing them. Harry calls Faisil, who is in the van, and tells him to meet him at the Georgetown Park mall in three minutes. When Gib parks, Harry gets out and crosses the street, using his cigarette camera to watch the two henchmen who got out and are now following him. Aziz stays behind in the tailing car. Gib calls Helen and tells her that Harry will be late because he forgot something at the office. Sitting in front of Harry's birthday cake, Dana tells Helen, "See."Harry walks into the mall, then goes straight for a bathroom, setting up his camera on the sink, then pretends to use a urinal. An old man is sitting in one of the toilet stalls. The first henchman enters the bathroom and combs his hair. Outside, a bus pulls up between Gib and the trailing car. When the bus leaves, Aziz is gone, and Gib informs Harry. The second henchman enters the bathroom and draws a suppressed pistol, but Harry sees dodges and the thug's shot misses. Harry knocks the pistol out of the thug's hand, but the first henchman draws his machine pistol. Harry draws his pistol and shoots him, causing his weapon to fire wildly all around the bathroom before he dies. The second henchman knocks Harry's pistol down. Harry kicks the henchman's pistol away before the thug can grab it. After a fierce fight, Harry rips a hand dryer off the wall and strikes it across the henchman's face, then pushes him into a urinal. Harry handcuffs him.At that point, Aziz enters, submachine gun in hand. He opens fire on Harry, but Harry turns the henchman he just overpowered into a human shield who absorbs the bullets, then ducks for cover in the other side of the bathroom. Aziz sprays the stalls on that side and walks across the bathroom, kicking open each stall as he searches for Harry. Harry jumps out of the last stall before Aziz reaches it and retrieves his weapon. As Aziz runs out of the bathroom he fires at Harry. While Harry chases after Aziz, Aziz reloads and runs into the mall.Aziz jumps through a glass window of one of the mall shops, and he shoots at Gib, who has finally caught up. Despite Gib only having the slim cover of a lamppost, none of Aziz's bullets hit him. Harry jumps through the window and chases after Aziz down the street. Aziz flees by carjacking a passing motorcycle, while Harry commandeers a mounted policeman's horse to give chase. Gib and Faisil catch up in the SUV and van and block Aziz's path, but he rides into a Marriott hotel with Harry close behind. They reach the parking garage and Gib and Faisil catch up again. Aziz rides into one of the glass elevators and takes a woman hostage. Harry takes another glass elevator and follows Aziz to the top floor balcony. Aziz rides through the glass barrier and jumps off the balcony, down into a swimming pool on the roof of an adjacent building across the street. Harry tries to follow him, but the horse balks and Harry flies off and dangles by the reins, losing his gun in the process. He gets the horse to back up and then scolds the horse as if it were a cop.When Gib drops Harry off, Helen is asleep at the table. The cake is still there, and balloons are all around. When Harry comes in, waking Helen, he apologizes to her. She's upset but accepts his apology.Harry accesses the database at work and identifies Aziz. The team informs Spencer that Aziz is a fanatical major terrorist, wanted for a large number of car bombings, and also responsible for bombing a café a year ago and a passenger plane prior to that. He is nicknamed the "Sand Spider", and has formed his own splinter faction called the "Crimson Jihad". Harry assures Spencer that they will get Aziz.Harry stops by Helen's job to check if she's available for lunch, to try to smooth over their relationship. Just as Harry is about to reach her cubicle, Helen's coworker Allison tells her that her mystery man is on the phone. Helen takes the call from "Simon" while Harry stands back at another cubicle and listens. Helen agrees to meet Simon right now and rushes out, with Allison giving her approval of assumed sex from the "stud". Harry leaves the building in a daze and walks into traffic. Gib pulls Harry out of the street, thinking that he is sick. Harry tells Gib that Helen is having an affair. Gib is relieved and happy, telling Harry that the same thing happened with his second wife. He tells Harry that Helen still loves Harry but just wants to bang the guy for a while. Harry gets upset, but Gib tells him that it's because Harry is never home. Gib gets Harry back in the SUV and tells him to concentrate on work, catching terrorists and beating them up to feel better.At home, Harry angrily eats dinner with his family. He tells Helen that he went to her office to have lunch with her, but she makes up an excuse about taking documents to the district courthouse. Her words drone away at the end. He pretends to accept her excuse.At work, Gib tells Harry that Spencer has given them permission to wiretap all of Juno's shipping agents and clients. Faisil has also made a list of possible contacts of Crimson Jihad in the United States. Harry stops walking and stares into space. Harry tells Gib to put wiretaps on his home phone and Helen's phone at her work, but Gib objects; Harry pushes Gib and insists. Later, Harry reads the transcript of Helen's latest phone conversation with Simon. She has agreed to meet him for lunch tomorrow "at the same place", and he finished the conversation with "I need you." Harry angrily wads up the paper.At home after work, Harry asks Helen to go with him to lunch tomorrow. She lies, saying that she's going shopping with Allison. Harry secretly takes Helen's purse and tosses it through the bathroom window to Gib waiting outside in the pouring rain. Harry walks Dana's dog to the surveillance van and retrieves the purse from Gib, who has sewn various monitoring equipment into the lining of the purse.The next day, Harry and Gib tail Helen in the SUV as she drives to her appointment with Simon in Chinatown. They listen to her conversation with him inside a Chinese restaurant. Simon (Bill Paxton) tells her that he may have to leave suddenly. He tells her that she's the only one he can trust, and says that he just got back from covert operations, which was worse than his mission in Cairo. Gib and Harry begin to think Simon is a spook (a spy) who is using Helen to get to Harry, but then they determine he is a fraud when Simon shows Helen a newspaper article about Harry's shootout with Aziz and tries to take credit for it.Simon is actually a used car salesman. After meeting with Helen, he drives back to his dealership in a 1959 Corvette convertible, which is for sale for $17,599. Harry goes into the lot, pretending to be interested in the Corvette. As they go for a test drive in the Corvette, Simon is sure that Harry is interested in picking up women. He tells Harry that he still has to have an "angle". When they stop to eat, Simon tells Harry that he targets bored housewives, and creates a fantasy of adventure and danger for them. Harry says that he couldn't lie like that. Harry asks about their husbands, and Simon replies, "If they took care of business, I'd be out of business." On the way back to the dealership, Harry asks Simon whom he's working on right now. Simon describes Helen, an "uptight conservative" legal secretary, married to a boring jerk, who has an incredible body and breasts that "make you want to stand up and beg for buttermilk. Ass like a 10-year-old boy." Harry envisions hitting Simon in the face but doesn't. Harry asks if she's good in bed, but they reach the lot before he can answer. Harry guns the engine, spinning the car into the lot, and parking perfectly. Simon asks Harry if he wants to buy the car, so Harry tells Simon to hold it for him for a day.At night, Gib shows Harry the day's transcript of Helen's wiretaps. Harry suddenly pulls the SUV over and they get out. He demands to see the missing page then punches and breaks the SUV window. Gib reluctantly gives it to him. As Harry reads the paper, the camera shows Simon talking on the phone with Helen. They agree to meet on K Street under the Key Bridge at 8:00. When they hang up, Simon shoots BBs at a silhouette target with an air pistol. The GPS in Helen's purse shows that it's still at the house, and it's almost 8:00, so Harry and Gib race to get to the bridge in time. Harry calls other agents off priority surveillance to intercept Helen and Simon, and Gib objects the misuse of Omega Sector resources. Harry replies that if Gib tells on him, Harry will tell on Gib. He informs Gib that he knows Gib blew a 6-week operation because he was busy getting oral sex, so Gib agrees to participate. Simon picks up Helen with the Corvette, and then as he drives, he tells her to put her head down until they get out of the city. An Omega Sector agent reports that Helen has her head in his lap. As Simon goes over the bridge, a helicopter follows them and confirms it. Gib suggests that Helen could be sleepy.Simon parks the car at a run down trailer park and tells her that his trailer is a safe house. He tells her that his other places are "too hot" right now. Inside his trailer, Simon asks Helen to pose as his wife for an "operation" in Paris because others are looking for a man traveling alone. Meanwhile outside, the Omega Sector agents get dressed in night gear. Simon tells Helen that she's the only one he can trust because there's a double agent in his outfit. Helen agrees to go, and Simon compliments her on how brave she is. He sits on the couch next to her and tells her that they have to appear that they are intimate with each other. He takes off her glasses and starts kissing her, causing her great discomfort. Helen finally kicks him away and tells him that she can't do it. Suddenly the lights go out and the Omega Sector agents cut open the end of the trailer, shining the helicopter's spotlight inside. Simon trips and falls on Helen. Harry, wearing a balaclava, sees Simon on his wife, and enraged, drags him outside and handcuffs him. After a struggle, Helen is handcuffed as well. The two then have bags thrown over their heads and are loaded into the back of a van.At an interrogation room with a two-way mirror, Harry and Gib use a voice distorter to mask their voices while they question Helen. Harry asks Helen about her ties with "the international terrorist Carlos the Jackal", but she claims innocence, saying that she just met Simon "or whoever you say he is" two weeks ago and barely knows him. Harry asks Helen how she met Simon.In a flashback, Simon approaches Helen in the Chinese restaurant and leave his briefcase with her, telling her it's for national security, before he leaves quickly. She takes the briefcase to work and picks the locks, finding a passport, maps of other countries, and the air pistol we saw earlier; then she frantically closes it.Back in the interrogation room, Harry asks Helen why she continued seeing Simon, so she says that he needed her help. Gib asks her inappropriate questions about cheating on Harry, but she says that she didn't. When Harry asks Helen about her husband, she says that Harry is a sales representative for a computer company, and is a good man. Harry asks her why she went to Carlos's hideout, and she says that he wanted her to go to Paris with him on a mission and pose as his wife. She says that she agreed because she needed to feel alive, and to do something outrageous; it felt good to be needed and trusted and special. Harry asks her if she slept with Simon, and she says no and starts crying.Harry asks her again and she gets extremely upset, slamming the stool against the mirror and cracking it. The last question Harry asks her is if she still loves him. She says yes, that she always did and always will love him. Harry tells Gib that he's giving Helen an assignment because she wants adventure. He gives her a choice to work for them and they will drop the charges against her; otherwise she will go to a federal prison. Helen agrees (of course). Harry says that a man code named "Boris" will contact her with the assignment; Helen's code name is "Doris". They drop her off at her car and she's still extremely upset.Harry and Gib take Simon, who is wearing only his underwear, to the top of a dam, holding him by the floodgates. Harry accuses him of being the terrorist Carlos, but he says that his name is Simon. Harry and Gib take off their ski masks. Simon recognizes Harry and tries again to sell the Corvette to him. Gib tells Carlos that his terrorist career is well documented, but Simon insists that he only sells used cars. Simon also insists that he's not a terrorist or a spy, but is a coward. Harry points his gun at Simon's face, and Simon fearfully tells them again that he's not a spy, that he lies to sleep around with women, but does not score much. He then pisses himself out of fear, proving that he's not a spy. Harry and Gib drive away and leave Simon at the dam, lost and bewildered.The next day Harry asks Helen about last night. Helen trembles then lies to Harry that she had a flat tire, and the tow truck driver took a long time to arrive. The phone rings and Helen answers it. It's Gib on the phone, using a voice distorter and calling her "Doris". He tells her to go to the Hotel Marquis in exactly one hour, and pick up an envelope marked "Doris" at the front desk. He tells her to wear something sexy. Harry's coworker Jean-Claude (Jean-Claude Parachini) records an audiotape of instructions. Gib criticizes Harry for using Omega Sector funds for the suite.Helen arrives at the hotel wearing a frilly evening gown and picks up the envelope, which contains a phone number and an electronic bug. She calls the phone number and Gib (voice distorted) tells her to go to the suite and pose as a prostitute named Michelle. He tells her that a suspected arms dealer is waiting for her in the room. Gib tells her that the man only likes to watch; she should tell him that his regular girl Carla is sick. Gib tells her that if the man likes her he will give her instructions. He finally tells her to plant the bug near the telephone by the plant before she leaves, otherwise the deal is off.Gib hangs up and Helen walks to the suite, passing a mirror. She rips off the sleeves from her dress, and then rips the bottom and top of her dress off, exposing cleavage. She adds more lipstick and mascara, and then wets her hair using water from a vase. Satisfied that she looks like a prostitute, she puts the bug in her bra and enters the suite. When she opens the door, she quickly puts her wedding ring on the other hand. Harry sits in the shadows at the far side of the bedroom. He greets her using the tape recording from Jean-Claude, and continues to speak through the tape player. He tells her to have some champagne, and then tells her to come to the bedroom. She informs him that her name is Michelle, and Carla thought he might like her. Harry tells her that he will do the talking.Harry orders her by tape recorder to remove her dress, making her turn around and do it doucement and very slowly, and then orders her to dance sexily for him. As she dances in her bra and panties, she becomes more uninhibited, dancing almost like a professional stripper. The song "Alone in the Dark" by John Hiatt plays while she dances. Harry is surprised so much that he drops the tape player but picks it back up. Harry tells her to lie on the bed and close her eyes. He puts the tape player down and approaches her, holding a long stem red rose. He sits on the bed and puts the rose to her nose, then runs it down her face and between her breasts. Finally he kisses her. She moans and grabs the phone and hits him in the head with it. When he falls to the floor, she puts on her dress, and then kicks him in the ribs calling him a pig and a bastard. Finally she sticks the bug on the lamp stand and starts to run out.Harry calls out to her and makes her stop, then starts to explain. Suddenly, several armed gunmen burst through the doors, shouting orders in Arabic and English. Harry tells Helen not to do anything. Still stuck in spy mode, Helen tells the men that she's the one they want. Harry tells her to be quiet and cooperate with the men, then tells the men to let the hooker (Helen) go. As the men take Harry and Helen out, Helen tells Harry to let her handle it.The men take Harry and Helen to a private jet. Juno gets out of a limousine and greets Harry. Helen tells Juno that she is Helen Tasker, and Harry is her husband, but he insists that she's a hooker that he met in a bar. On the jet Helen continues, saying that they have a daughter, and shows Juno a locket with Harry and Helen's pictures. The flight attendant then tranquilizes Helen and Harry.Harry and Helen arrive at Aziz's terrorist camp in a helicopter. In a warehouse, Juno shows Harry and Helen four giant statues from ancient Persia. She calls the statues "the four horsemen", and says that they are priceless.The terrorists rip open one of the statues and remove a large case containing a Soviet nuclear warhead. A cameraman is filming the event. Aziz asks Harry if he knows what the weapon is, and Harry jokes about it. Aziz holds a knife to Helen's neck, telling her that they brought Harry and Helen there so Harry can tell the world about the weapon, and that the world will know that the Crimson Jihad is a nuclear power. Helen wonders how Harry can do that, as she only has been left thinking he's a computer salesman. Harry reluctantly describes the weapon, a Soviet MIRV-6, and then tells Aziz in Arabic to release Helen and he will cooperate. Aziz orders his men to remove the warheads from the other statues. Harry admits to Helen that he's a spy, so she punches him and calls him a bastard, a lying son of a bitch, and a pig. Juno is amused. Harry continues describing the weapon in front of the camera.The chauffeur rifles through Helen's purse. Harry says that he can verify that they are able to detonate all four warheads. Aziz then rants in front of the camera, saying, "You have killed our women and our children, bombed our cities from afar like cowards, and you dare to call us terrorists? Now, the oppressed have been given a mighty sword with which to strike back at their enemies." The camera displays a low battery warning as Aziz continues his diatribe by warning, "Unless you, America, pulls all military forces out of the Persian Gulf area immediately and forever, the Crimson Jihad will rain fire on one major U.S. city each week until our demands are met. First, we will detonate one weapon on this uninhabited island as a demonstration of our power..." The cameraman lowers the camera and informs Aziz that the battery died. Aziz angrily calls him a moron and orders him to find another one. The chauffeur finds a transmitter sewn into the lining of Helen's purse, but she says that it's not hers. Meanwhile, Gib and other Omega Sector men leave Miami in a jet, then Gib calls for two DEA helicopters. Faisil locates the purse on an island in the Florida Keys, past Marathon, before Aziz crushes the transmitter under his boot and the signal dies.The men take Harry and Helen to a small building where Samir (Charles Cragin), Aziz's interrogator, is preparing his instruments. He injects Harry with a vial of truth serum, then says that he will return after it takes effect. Harry asks Juno why she's helping these raving psychotics. She replies that they are paying her a lot of money; she doesn't care about their cause or Harry's. Harry calls her damaged goods. Juno asks if Harry if he told Helen about herself and Harry. He says there is no "us", and calls her a psychopathic bitch. Juno kisses him and leaves. Harry assures Helen that there was nothing between him and Juno.As the truth serum takes effect, Harry's sight and hearing become distorted, and he becomes groggy. Helen asks Harry what they gave him, and he tells her that they've been administered the serum. She asks him if they are going to die, and he says yes, then describes possible ways the terrorists could kill them. She asks him how long he has been a spy, and he answers: 17 years. When she asks if he ever killed anyone, he replies, "Yeah, but they were all bad." Aziz finds a photo of Dana in Helen's wallet and decides she might be useful to his plans.Samir returns and prepares to torture Harry. Before he begins, he asks Harry if he has anything he'd like to admit to. Harry says that he will kill him very soon. Samir asks how, and then Harry provides a step-by-step description of how he will do it, amusing Samir, until Harry reveals that he's picked his handcuffs. Then, Harry kills Samir in the very way he just described: he grabs Samir, collars him as a human shield, then grabs a knife off the table and throws it, lodging in the eye of the henchman guarding the door, and lastly, breaks Samir's neck. A henchman comes to the door to investigate, and Harry stabs him with a butcher's hook and takes his pistol. He frees Helen and they leave the building. They hide behind a truck and observe Aziz and the terrorists in a pep rally, reciting slogans and shooting their weapons. Other terrorists find Samir and the guard and shoot at Harry and Helen as they run away. Harry comes out from hiding behind some crates and grabs an AKM assault rifle, striking and killing the men with it in close combat. He kills the last two men with their own knives. He shoots more men with another AKM. When one man grabs Helen, Harry shoots him with the pistol, shocking her. He grabs the guy's MAC-10.Aziz stops the rally and starts lecturing his men in Arabic. As Harry and Helen watch, Aziz arms the first warhead and sets it for 1 hour 30 minutes. Harry translates for Helen: "It is done. In 90 minutes a pillar of holy fire will light up the skies to show to the world that we speak the truth..." The terrorists cover the warhead with an American flag and seal the crate with concrete. "...We are set on our course. No force can stop us now. We're cool, we're bad-asses, blah blah blah blah." Harry stops translating for Helen. Helen asks why they are using trucks if they are on an island, and Harry tells her that they must be in the Florida Keys, and can use the Overseas Highway to get to the mainland.Harry tells Helen that they are the only ones who can stop the men. He gives her the MAC-10. As the men begin loading the warheads on the trucks, Harry sneaks up on two of the men and kills them quietly. He grabs an AKM then throws a grenade by some barrels of gasoline, exploding flaming gasoline on several terrorists. Harry shoots out the lights then shoots more men. He draws the pistol but another terrorist knocks it away and grabs him from behind, then calls the others. Harry tells Helen to shoot them, but when she tries the recoil knocks the MAC-10 out of her hands and it tumbles down the stairs. It continues firing as it tumbles, shooting several terrorists, including the one that was holding Harry, and then it runs out bullets and lands on a step. More men arrive and shoot at Harry, so Helen hides while Harry shoots a MAC-10 at them. Some of the men load the last warhead on a helicopter then it flies away. Harry grabs two more MAC-10s from dead guys and shoots at the men. He then finds a fueling truck and uses the nozzle as a flamethrower, igniting the gasoline with bullets. Aziz grabs a LAW rocket launcher and shoots at the truck, forcing Harry to dive into the water and swim to safety. The men cheer, thinking that Harry is dead, and Helen sits back forlorn.Juno and Aziz take Helen as a hostage. Harry finally comes up for air in time to see the terrorists take Helen away in a limousine. Aziz looks at the destruction, and then gets in the helicopter, sitting on the warhead. The trucks drive on the highway with the helicopter flying overhead. Gib and other Omega Sector agents arrive on the island in helicopters and pick up Harry; Harry briefs them in the air.Gib makes calls to evacuate people a safe distance from the island. Harry informs the White House and Gib calls for two Marine Corps Harrier jets. Meanwhile, Juno pours champagne while holding her Beretta pistol on Helen. The Harrier jets arrive and destroy the lead truck with machine gun fire. Men in the third truck attempt to shoot a Harrier with a Stinger missile, but aim it backwards. The missile kills one of their own men then flies through their windshield. The Harrier jet avoids the missile. The jets shoot out the bridge with Maverick missiles, taking the second truck with it. The third truck stops at the edge of the bridge, but a pelican briefly lands on the dash, and then the truck falls over the edge and explodes. While shouting instructions to the chauffeur, Juno gets distracted and Helen fights with her for the Beretta. One bullet hits the chauffeur in the head, killing him. As the car races out of control, the two women continue to fight for the gun. Helen knocks the gun away through the open sunroof. Finally Helen knocks Juno in the head with the champagne bottle, knocking her out. Harry stands on the helicopter skid and reaches for Helen, who is standing through the sunroof, and grabs her arm. Juno recovers just in time to see Harry pull Helen to safety, then sees the destroyed bridge ahead as the limousine plunges off the bridge into the water.The jets and the helicopters land on the highway at the end of the bridge. Gib uses a bullhorn and tells everyone to not look at the flash. Harry has a tender moment with Helen and puts the wedding ring on her correct finger. As the warhead detonates, sending up the classic mushroom cloud, Harry and Helen kiss. Gib calls Harry over and informs him that Aziz's helicopter landed on a high-rise building in Miami; they rendezvoused there with a dozen other faction members; they are on the 20th floor; SWAT is there and the cops have cordoned off the area. He finally tells Harry that they are holding Dana hostage. Gib tries to calm Harry down, but Harry runs to one of the jets and commandeers it. Gib explains to the pilots that on order from the President they have to give total cooperation. Gib reminds Harry that he hasn't flown a Harrier jet in 10 years. Harry tells him that if he breaks it, they can take it out of his pay. After a rough liftoff, Harry finally flies away.Aziz watches the TV news reports and sees himself on the tape that was released to the media. Dana sits on a stool close by. Upon request by the Crimson Jihad, a video crew comes upstairs. Aziz arms the warhead then walks away to speak to his men, but leaves the key in the warhead arming box. The cameraman is Faisil.While Harry flies toward Miami in the jet, Faisil films Aziz as he lectures the United States. Aziz looks at the warhead arming box and sees that the key is missing. Dana, holding the key, runs up the stairs to the roof. Aziz and some of his men chase after her. Faisil pulls out a pistol from a hidden compartment in the camera and shoots the other Crimson Jihad men there. Dana climbs up a crane and Aziz shoots at her with his AKMS but misses; he follows her up the crane. Harry reaches Miami and radios Faisil, who reports that the 21st floor is secure; about 12 faction members are on the 20th floor; no hostages are there; Dana is on the roof. Aziz follows Dana onto the boom of the crane. Aziz orders her to give her the key, but she swears that she will drop it. She calls him a wacko and puts the chain around her neck then screams for help. The Harrier jet comes up to the building and Harry shoots all the faction members on the 20th floor. Aziz shouts at his men to get into the helicopter and fly away. Dana slips and almost falls. Harry comes up with the Harrier and attempts to rescue Dana. Aziz shoots at the jet, causing Harry to swerve into the boom. Aziz's AKMS falls onto the jet, the strap catching on it. The men in the helicopter shoot the jet, shattering the cockpit glass, but when Harry shoots back they fly behind a building. Aziz grabs Dana's arm and she falls onto the nose of the jet. Aziz jumps down after her, landing on the wing. As Harry tries to reach Dana, Aziz pulls out a knife and climbs toward them. Harry and Aziz fight over the knife and the jet backs up into a building, missing a janitor there and throwing Aziz back and causing him to drop the knife. Harry flies the jet out of the building. As the terrorist helicopter flies nearby, Aziz recovers his AKMS. He orders Harry to take the jet down or he will kill Dana. Harry checks that Dana has a secure hold on the jet then banks it to the left, throwing Aziz off. Aziz's backpack catches on a Sidewinder missile, and he hangs by the straps. Harry sees the terrorists in the helicopter on the other side of the building, then tells Aziz, "You're fired". Harry shoots the missile, with Aziz screaming and still hanging on it, through the wreckage of the 20th floor, destroying the helicopter and killing the terrorists.Harry lands the jet on the street below the building then tells Dana that it's over. They are escorted away by federal agents into a car and it drives away.One year later, Harry and his family are happily having dinner and playing a game of "thumbs". The phone rings, and Helen answers. A distorted voice asks for Boris and Doris (the code names for Harry and Helen). Harry and Helen are next shown in a ballroom, working as a team. The orchestra plays "The Blue Danube". Harry and Helen greet various important people there, who don't know them. Gib, in the van, asks if they saw their contact yet, but Harry says that he didn't. Helen sees Simon several feet away, posing as a waiter and trying to impress a woman with his spy routine. Harry comes up to Simon and calls him Carlos. Simon drops the champagne bottle. Helen puts her lipstick case under Simon's chin as if it were a pistol and prepares to "do him", and Harry tells her to go for it. Simon pees himself in fear and runs out of the room screaming. Helen applies her lipstick. Harry grabs a rose and they dance to the next song, the tango ("Por Una Cabeza"). Gib tells them to not get distracted, because they have work to do, then complains that they are ignoring him. The end credits start while Harry and Helen are still dancing, then Gib complains some more. The song ends.The final scene shows Gib and Faisil in the van; Gib is still complaining: "You know what, I'm sick of being in the van. You guys are gonna be in the van next time. I've been in the van for 15 years, Harry." | comedy, mystery, neo noir, violence, psychedelic, action, entertaining | train | imdb | "True Lies" is mainly fun and entertaining and on top of that, the action is top class!Finally a movie of which I can say: "Budget well spend!" The action really jumps off the screen but it never feels overdone or forced, which is thanks to action-director veteran James Cameron.
Just like the James Bond movies, it doesn't take itself seriously without making itself ridiculous.Many people seem to have problems with the whole "wife side track, story-line" I guess I'm one of the few that doesn't mind it at all and actually find it an extra addition to the story.The movie has everything a good action movie need: A believable action hero, explosions, chases, gun fights, a stereotype villain and a high entertainment value.I wish more action movies like this would be made.10/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
The secret agent Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has been happily married with his wife, the legal secretary Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), for many years living in the suburbs and having a teenager daughter, Dana (Eliza Dushku).
However, a group of terrorists kidnap Helen and Harry and the couple gets involved with a dangerous group that possesses an atomic bomb ready to be exploded in Florida."True Lies" is one of the best adventures ever, and I personally do not recall how many times I have watched this excellent movie.
James Cameron has directed some fantastic action movies during his career (Aliens, the first two Terminator movies, The Abyss, Titanic--that boat action was like totally awesome!!), but none were as funny as True Lies is.
An action film that does not take itself too seriously (notice all of the silly Arnold-lines peppered throughout the movie, my personal favorite being "you're fired!" before Trump thought of it), True Lies is wildly entertaining, so much so that you almost forget Tom Arnold was married to Roseanne..
When a film has extravagant special effects, robust action, dazzling direction, wicked comedy and a cast of great actors like Schwarzenegger and Curtis and Arnold and Paxton, how can you go wrong?
His wife ( played with amazing sexuality buy Jamie Lee Curtis ) loves him unconditionally, but she is a little bored because he is gone half the time and when he is home he tells her about boring computer meetings and how he wowed his clientelle with the latest micro-chips, when in reality he is running through a snow covered field with a tuxedo on while being chased by men on skis carrying Uzis.
Complicating matters for Harry is the inclusion of his wife, Helen, whom he believes is having an affair with a used car salesman (Bill Paxton, in what's got to be his funniest performance).In terms of pure escapist enjoyment, this is actually James Cameron's most successful film.
True Lies is probably the only Cameron film that never suffers from the slightest hiccup in pacing (yes, Aliens had a slow beginning and viewing The Abyss was like watching molasses sliding down a brick wall).
To keep such momentum up for 141 minutes is pretty damn amazing, and Cameron must be given credit for making such a long movie almost so effortlessly enjoyable.But for all that is so enjoyable about it, True Lies lacks a strong plot (in terms of action, as the romantic subplot is actually quite excellent).
Based upon the French film "La Totale!" by Claude Zidi, TRUE LIES is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's strongest efforts (not to mention his best acting performance).
With James Cameron at the helm, and Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, the late Charlton Heston, Bill Paxton or Tia Carrere as supporting cast it was an easy sell, but still...Arnold plays secret agent Harry Tasker, top spy working for the counter terrorist unit Omega Sector.
Until both worlds collide...If you haven't seen this movie yet, I can't find words strong enough to encourage you to do so: this is easily one of the best 90's action flicks, and is better than most of the James Bond movies it's sometimes affiliated with (and that comes from a big 007 fan!).
The blend of incredible action sequences and hilarious comedy is perfect, the cast shines like no other (special mention to Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis: rumor has it that Arnold was so impressed by his co-star performance that he asked to share the top-billing with her) and the script is a textbook example of how to pace an action flick.
One of them was comedy-action-thriller True Lies, a loose remake of a French film helmed by the great James Cameron and led by his Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger.Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) is an American spy (despite having a thick Austrian accent) for a black ops agency investigating a terrorist organisation called Crimson Jihad with his team, Gib (Tom Arnold) and Faisal (Grant Heslov).
But even worst for Harry is that finds out his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) might be having an affair with a used car salesman, Simon (Bill Paxton) who is pretending to be a spy.When I was younger I disliked True Lies, seeing it as an American attempt to make a Bond film.
At least Schwarzenegger has some one-liners and has the action chops, but of course he is not renounced for being the best actor.The other major problem is the detour the film takes when Harry stops his investigation into Crimson Jihad and follows his wife when he thinks she is having an affair.
The subplot should have been played different, from Harry trying to keep his secret identity from family or Helen finding Harry's identity by accident.Plot wise True Lies has a perfectly fine plot for a spy action-thriller for the time.
Cameron and Schwarzenegger have better films in their filmography but True Lies is still good comfort viewing if you fancy an action fix.
this movie pretty much has it all first of the the seven mile bridge in the Florida Keys,, awesome,, Jamie Lee Curtis always good,, Tia Carerra,, mmmm dang she's cute, Charlton Heston , although wish he would have been in more of the movie,, ARnold plays Harry Tasker a spy for the u.s government, i can't remember the actors name who plays his partner but he is very funny also..
Perfect star cast, good story line, awesome screenplay, action at its best.The beginning of the movie gives you the complete feel of James Bond movie Goldfinger.
It has a really original story which is hard to find in an action movie and it's a funny parody on James Bond films.
All actors did a great job (I never thought Arnold could be so funny), especially Jamie Lee Curtis who plays his wife.
Harry's plans go awry, however, when the group of Middle Eastern terrorists he has been tracking interrupt the fun and expose Helen to more danger than she could ever have dreamt of.James Cameron and Arnie Schwarzenegger are a match made in action-movie heaven, and True Lies, their third film together, is yet another incredible slice of jaw-dropping action goodness, a cinematic adrenaline rush that plays like James Bond on steroids.
The film clocks in at a mighty 141 minutes (although by Cameron's recent standards, that could be considered short), but there's not a moment that drags: from the breath-taking stunt-packed opening sequence, to the incredible pulse-pounding finale in which Arnie pilots a Harrier jump jet to rescue his daughter (played by a young Eliza Dushku) from the clutches of evil head-terrorist Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik), this film is a pure delight.Arnie has never been better, delivering witty one-liners, snapping bad guys' necks, blowing stuff up, and even dancing the tango like an old pro, and his co-stars are just as great, Curtis miraculously transforming from a dowdy housewife into an absolute sex-bomb (she may not be a great beauty, but my god that woman is built), Tom Arnold providing excellent comedy relief as Harry's Omega Sector partner, and Charlton Heston stealing every scene he is in as Harry's grizzled, scarred, eye-patch-wearing boss.
And even though the film is now 17 years old, it still looks the business, the special effects having aged incredibly well, and Cameron's skill behind the camera proving that you don't need flashy editing gimmicks to make a scene exciting if you know what you're doing.Now that Arnie has quit mucking around in politics, let's hope that he and Cameron can get together for a few more projects, and that one of them is a sequel to True Lies: Harry Tasker deserves at least one more chance to blow away loathsome terrorist scum before rheumatism and senility finally set in..
The combination of spectacular action scenes and humor made this a big hit.Tom Arnold has the best part in here with light-hearted humor, albeit on the sleazy side (but that's Arnold, for you.) Speaking of "Arnold," there's Schwarnegger giving us one of his better performances, and Jamie Lee Curtis doing what she does best: showing us her incredible body.
The very best scenes in this movie are: The dance hall with Arnie and Tia, the posh hotel and horse/ motorcycle chase with the sand spider, the middle section with Arnie's wife Janie Lee Curtis cheating to be with used car salesman Bill Paxton who's pretending to be both a spy and the ultimate ladies's man (both things he turns out not to be too good at), the set up and interrogation room with Jamie and Arnie on the other side (with Jamie not knowing it's Arnie due to the electronic disguising of his voice ("sex with your husband is hardly waving your flag anymore is it?")(hilarious), the big shoot em up fight scenes on one of the Keys with the terrorists, and my favorite, the hotel scene with Jamie pretending to be a hooker (due to her confessing in the interrogation room to wanting wild adventures).What I really liked was the humor and wit mixed with the action.
James Cameron is one of my favourite directors and Arnold Schwarzenegger is my favourite action star and 1994 was probably one of the best years for movies ever with movies like Pulp Fiction, Leon: The Professional, Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption.
I'm a big fan of the first two Terminator movies and after three years we got a Cameron/Schwarzenegger and it turned out to be a great success even though it may not be as good as Aliens or Terminator 2 or Titanic.
Every frame of this, surely the best Schwarzenegger film since TERMINATOR 2, is packed with moments showing James Cameron's capabilities as a top-flight action director.
TRUE LIES is no exception, and the special effects here, mostly during the slam-bang climax, are superb, but he never lets his stars and story undermined by effects.Big guy Ah-nuld gives an underrated performance (perhaps his best) as Harry Tasker, a secret agent unknown to his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis, brilliant here) and rebellious daughter (Eliza Dushku), who joined by his wisecracking partner (Tom Arnold) are sent on a mission to pursue a deadly international terrorist (Art Malik) who may be responsible for a bunch of stolen nuclear weapons.
Cameron has already proves his talents as an action director in many other films, but in TRUE LIES, he also reveals his capability to provide strong and offbeat bits of humor, and he rarely loses his stride.
She has a very unattractive and disliking face but I'm not saying she is a bad actress.Arnold was fabulous in action and comedy, Art Malik played a very tough villain, Bill was absolutely funny and entertaining, Tia was voluptuous and a perfect cast for the role.
His wife played the excellent Jamie Lee Curtis seeks a bit of excitement of her own which leads to a tangle of identities and leads to a good action packed and fun movie.
Harry Tasker is a secret agent for the United States Government, but her wife Helen thinks he's a dull computer salesman.Until one day she finds out the truth.And the lives of her and their daughter is in danger.True Lies is a James Cameron blockbuster from 1994.Arnold Schwarzenegger has teamed with Cameron once again, and he does a pretty great job.Jamie Lee Curtis is really something as his wife.Eliza Dushku plays their daughter Dana, and she's also great.Tom Arnold is terrific as Harry's work buddy Albert Gibson.Bill Paxton is quite comical as the lying car salesman Simon.Tia Carrere is very good as the bad girl Juno Skinner.Same thing with Art Malik as the bad guy Salim Abu Aziz.Grant Heslov is superb as Faisil.The screen legend Charlton Heston gives a terrific performance as Spencer Trilby.This movie has everything.Some humor, romance and many neat action scenes.Arnold is like the more muscular version of James Bond.In the beginning there's some action on skis.Arnold dancing some tango is really worth seeing.Not to forget Jamie Lee stripping.Really great stuff!
True Lies is a fun action film directed by the great James Cameron.
Arnold Schwarzenegger successfully invades Sean Conneryterritory as Harry Tasker, an ace spy for the U.S. in themonster hit "True Lies." Harry seems pretty content in posing asa boring computer salesman to hide his real identity away fromhis sweet (and damn hot!) wife Helen (the excellent Jamie LeeCurtis), but after a horny used car salesman named Simon (thegleefully hilarious Bill Paxton) cons Helen for his sexualadvances, Harry shows his wife the taste of the real deal,taking on a few megalo-maniacal Arab terrorists bent on nucleardestruction.This has to be my favorite Arnold film.
"True Lies" works on two conditions: You aren't expecting "The Terminator," and you aren't expecting "James Bond." Instead, think of "James Bond" meets "Terminator," and you've probably got the picture.Harry (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a man going through turbulent times in his marriage, though he is not aware of this.
In fact, Tom Arnold is so funny in this film, I found myself missing his sorry face when he wasn't on screen!Cameron has made better ("The Terminator"), and so has Schwarzenegger ("The Terminator"), but what he and Schwarzenegger set out to do comes through pretty good, even if the middle slowed down and diverted courses in the wrong direction a bit.4/5 stars -John Ulmer.
Arnold is my favorite actor of all time and True Lies is by far his best movie!
As much as I love the Terminator movies, I believe True Lies is James Cameron and Arnold's best movie.
James Cameron, having directed 'Aliens' and two of the 'Terminator' movies, now proves that he can make us laugh just as well as getting our blood pumping.The plot doesn't really matter, but here goes: Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger) is a secret agent who specializes in blowing up bad guys with his wisecracking partner Gib (Tom Arnold).
True Lies (1994)This is a straight up 90s action flick directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Those can be fun, but James Cameron has pulled out all the stops for his unrecognized masterpiece, "True Lies."Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwartzenegger) is a boring computer salesmen, or at least that's what his wife thinks.
"Aliens." "True Lies." "Titanic." "Avatar." If there's anyone doubt that James Cameron is king, that person has not seen very many movies.My rating: PG-13 for action/adventure violence, language, and some sexual content/nudity..
Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill Paxton, and Tom Arnold does the best acting in this movie.
James Francis Cameron's True Lies is one of his better films to come around plenty of action, with a good plot, and good acting by Schwarzenegger and Curtis as the couple in lies that are true (or something like that).
When Arnie started doing comedies like Twins, he started putting that into an action film (Kindergarden cop is debatable) and it comes out in this entertaining thriller.Arnold, not known for his acting skills, does a pretty funny performance in scenes where he's supposed to be funny.
He soon suspects that his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) is having an affair with a "pretend" spy, but ends up getting himself and his wife implicated with the Crimson Jihad - a splinter terrorist group hell bent on nuking the States.This movie is highly disappointing, considering its pedigree of its director (James Cameron - director of the classics the Terminator and Aliens) and its star (to some extent - Arnie).
True Lies is as much an Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle as a James Cameron movie.The story that combines the action adventure lifestyle of its central spy with his domestic life is a typical Cameron move.
In the closest we'll ever get to an Austrian-American playing James Bond, Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as special agent Harry Tasker in "True Lies," a spy thriller with towering feats of action — and a few issues back home.James Cameron adapted the film from a little-known French movie three years its senior called "La Totale!" Essentially, the film imagines what a top-secret spy's domestic life would be like.
If you are looking for a great action comedy film, then look no further than True Lies - this is what this movie does.
The film pretty much follows the story of Harry, his wife and his friends as they prepare to unscramble this mystery...The movie has great acting, a lot of funny moments, rusty acting by Arnold and great acting by Jamie Lee Curtis.
Schwarzenegger and Curtis are good (Arnie probably puts in his best performance) but the film is hijacked from under their noses by Tom Arnold and Bill Paxton (who is superbly slimy).
Plus the film also features good performances especially from Tom Arnold and Jamie Lee Curtis.
The movie stars a great Arnold Schwarzenegger, he looked very good in True Lies and he is the king of entertainment.
true lies is james cameron's second best movie,second only to the original terminator.
Now, don't get me wrong, I liked the film fine, I just think that it doesn't work in many scenes and Cameron is definitely at his weakest in the writing department.Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Harry Tasker, a super secret agent who passes himself off as a boring computer salesman to everyone, including his bored wife Helen (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and rebellious daughter Dana (played by Eliza Dushku).Intriguing premise? |
tt0056111 | Ivanovo detstvo | As the film opens, a 12-year-old boy is running through an open field laughing and strolling in a carefree manner. As he runs around, he encounters his mother and informs her that there is a cuckoo in a tree. The boy, Ivan Bondarev (Nikolay Burlyaev) suddenly wakes up, revealing that the previous scene was a dream. He currently spends his nights in a windmill and leaves the building to explore. The windmill is in the middle of an open field with abandoned farm equipment with smoke swirling around. Next, the boy is wading through marshes and tall grasses as the sun is setting. While he wades through, flares are sent up and he encounters barbed wire. The film cuts to the title screen.A Russian officer wakes up Comrade Senior Lieutenant Galtsev (Yevgeni Zharikov) in the middle of the night because they found a boy crossing the Dnepr River. Ivan, wet and shivering, asks the informer to leave and declares himself Bondarev, asking for Number 51 at headquarters. Galtsev makes the first call and is ridiculed by the man on the phone. When he informs Bondarev that he will need to be locked up, Ivan insists that he calls again and even provides Galtsev with the code address of VCH 49550. When Galtsev gets through Number 51, he is instructed to provide the Ivan with paper and a pen and send him anything that the boy writes down. Galtsev realizes the importance of the boy and follows the orders in addition to providing the boy with food and a bath. Ivan counts pine needs and seeds, displaying a code and seals the envelope for it to be delivered. After, Ivan takes a bath and eats his food before falling asleep.As the sound of water drips in the barrack, Ivan dreams of his mother and himself dropping a feather into a well. During this dream, his mother and he speak of a star that remains in the well. Later, Ivan is in the well reaching for the allusive star as his mother is shot, presumably by German soldiers. Ivan awakes to see that Galtsev is still in the room. Ivan admits to becoming jittery and inquires whether he talks in his sleep. As this conversation ends, Captain Kholin (Valentin Zubkov) enters the room and Ivan and Kholin share a warm, familial embrace. Ivan is informed that Corporal Katasonov is still waiting for him at Hollow Tree but is surrounded by Germans. Ivan informs Kholin that because he is so small, he was able to get away and swim across the river. Kholin is not pleased with this fact, especially because Ivan has lost so much weight; this scene displays how much Kholin cares for Ivan and treats him like a son. At this point, Kholin provides Ivan with clothing.In the next scene, Ivan is informed that he will be sent to military school and disapproves of the decision stating that he must continue to fight the Germans. Because Kholin and Katasonov have taken such a liking to Ivan, the wish to see him succeed and leave the front lines. Due to Ivans disapproval, he runs away to the countryside where he finds an old man (Dmitri Milyutenko). After a few minutes of conversing, a Russian car comes speeding up to retrieve Ivan. Ivan reluctantly returns to the car but threatens that he will continue to run away if they dont send him back across the river. As the car leaves, Ivan leaves a loaf of bread and a can of food for the old man.Later, the film cuts to the nearby forest where Kholin is aggressively pursuing a romantic relationship with Masha (Valentina Malyavina), the doctors assistant. Masha does her best to refuse the advances of the Captain but he forces a kiss and a hug on her. Afterward, as she walks away, an old friend that she took her college entrance exams with stops her. As they are speaking, Kholin, Galtsev, and Katasonov walk by and receive the attention of Masha. Masha leaves her old friend and wanders into the woods.After Ivan spends three days at headquarters, he returns to the barracks where Galtsev tries to give him various magazines to read to occupy his time. Unfortunately, Ivan had already read all of that material during the last three days. Ivan takes interest in an art book. While showing Ivan the art book, Galtsev overhears Kholin and Katasonov making plans to take Ivan on another mission across the Dnepr River. Galtsev offers to join, but they do not need him. Ivan looks through Galtsevs belongings and finds a knife that once belonged to Galtsevs friend. When Ivan asks for the knife, Galtsev reluctantly gives him the weapon.Later, outside the trenches, Galtsev inquires about what will happen to Ivan once the war is over. Kholin informs him that Katasonov or the Colonel will adopt him. The scene cuts to Ivan who sets up a practice hunt of German soldiers in order to avenge his familys murder. During this, a real German air raid begins. Galtsev returns to the barracks where he checks on Ivan, cleans up the room, and is informed by Ivan that he wants to continue to fight.Kholin returns to Ivan later that day and informs Ivan that Katasonov was sent back to headquarters before he could say goodbye to Ivan. Instead, Ivan will be accompanied by Kholin and Galtsev across the river. The three eat dinner and Ivan falls asleep. During this time, he dreams of the time when he rode atop an apple truck with his sister in the rain as the truck drove onto the beach. As the apples fall out of the truck on the beach, horses eat the fallen apples, and Ivan and his sister enjoy the rain on their skin. During this dream, Kholin wakes Ivan in order to get ready for the night. While getting ready, Ivan expresses his anger that Katasonov did not visit him prior to his departure. The three get dressed and prepare to leave to cross the river. Kholin advises Galtsev to make a diversion while he and Ivan get to the boat. While making the diversion, Galtsev discovers that Katasonov was shot and they are hiding it from Ivan.Kholin, Ivan, and Galtsev row across the Dnepr River, wade through the marshes, and eventually say their goodbyes as Ivan must begin his crossing. Once Ivan left, Kholin and Galtsev row back across the river, meet some artillery fire, but get back safely to the barracks. Once there, they play the gramophone only to be interrupted by Masha as she says goodbye to Galtsev.Later, the scene is in Berlin after Russia has won the war. As troops sift through the paperwork, a scarred and war-torn Galtsev finds Ivans file and discovers that he was captured and executed. The film ends with Ivans last dream when his mother leaves him to play with other children on the beach and he chases his sister through the water. | bleak, anti war, flashback | train | imdb | As I said before the film uses many ellipses to show Ivan's fractured life - he plays in the fields, his mother calls him and smiles; a water well, he stares down at the water and his mother stands beside him and tells a story about the stars; we hear a gun shot, someone lying on the grass; Ivan is wading through a swamp to reach a soviet army unit.The war is not shown at all - it is suggested.
I would call it much more an intimist film, somewhat in the vein of "Les Jeux Interdits", but Ivan's childhood was over after the horrors he had to go through; his only way to survive as a human being was to fight the horror that had crippled his life, while the children of "Les Jeux Interdits" went on with their children games in spite of the war.
His use of black and white stock in terms of lighting is exemplary.The film's title is ironic as Ivan does not have a childhood, but the films majestic and moving final shot suggests that Ivan does receive a kind of immortality beyond the bleak finality of his discovered photo in Berlin, that the Russian spirit itself cannot be stifled and will ultimately run free..
(***** out of *****)Ivan's Childhood is Tarkovsky's debut feature film about a 12 year old boy who volunteers to fight in the front lines against the German invasion because his family where murdered by Nazis.
This motion picture is one of the most stunning independent movies you will ever see.Sometimes Ivan cries like the child he is but this is not because of the burden of war but because he can not do what he wants most - to avenge the death of his family.
This film by Tarkovsky depicts the story of Ivan, a child partisan in the eastern front during the second world war.
Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Tarkovsky's first substantial feature as director (he previously made a short of the Killers, and a 45 minute student film), is a near-masterpiece of adolescence shredded to pieces in subjective perception.
It's set in world war 2, with 12 year old Ivan's family killed by the Nazis and his alliance with the Russian soldiers as a scout able to sneak past into small spaces more to do with vengeance than real patriotism.
By the time we see him he's a torn figure, someone who at 12 looks and acts like he's already come of age, by force, and that this deep down has left him in a disparaging state of mind, pushing it away through temper (he won't go to military school, he tells his superiors), and only with the slightest escape through dreams.
One sees in this the only spots of innocence left in Ivan's life, the pinnacle (and one of Tarkovsky's most breathtaking scenes ever filmed) the final dream on the beach with Ivan and his sister running along the sand.
It's this wild meddling with what Ivan sees or experiences or thinks and secretly fears through his would-be tough exterior that makes him so compelling and heartbreaking, as played by Kolya Burlyayev with a sharp level of bravery- not even Jean-Pierre Leaud was this absorbing, albeit on different dramatic terrain.It's a given that it was not Tarkovsky's project to start with, and, ala Kubrick and Spartacus, came in after a director had been let go to finish the picture.
While it is remarkable to see how Tarkovsky does make it his vision, and quite an ambitious one considering how expansive the production design gets and the technical daring taken with his director of photography Vadim Yusov, and how there's a fresh and often original (eg dream scenes, placement of the camera, the scene in the post-war house looking at the records of the departed) perspective that no one else would have given it, there are small parts of the story that could have been dealt with a little better, edited, or cut out altogether.
The character of Masha (played practically with one expression- practically cause of the moment after she is kissed- on her face) is a little unnecessary, or rather more of a means for Tarkovsky to practice some technical ideas in the forest scene, which really leads nowhere, and how her reemergence later in the film also doesn't serve much of a purpose.
Maybe there's a point to be made about women in the army at the time, as she's an object of desire less much of an effective nurse, but when seeing her scenes (which aren't bad exactly) one wants to get back to Ivan and the central plot.But, as mentioned, one has to know that as a Tarkovsky picture what doesn't work doesn't matter so much as what does, and Ivan's Childhood is often staggering in its depiction of the brutality on the mind and consciousness, not just through Ivan but through his adult counterparts, and about how in a time when life can be taken away in an instant, almost without a sound, clinging to a past, however surreal, is all that can matter.
Its main theme is of childhood innocence lost (becoming accessible to Ivan only in dreams) however the young officers are also vastly aged by the conflict they find themselves in.The backdrop is nature itself - woodpeckers and cuckoos emulate (or become replaced by) the sounds of machine gun fire and the hoots of the falling flares.
But nature's power is continually challenged by the great war going on around it and is ultimately defiled and devastated (like Ivan's, and the other young officers' innocence) - turning from green grasslands to mud and ashen trees.Reminded me of 'The Thin Red Line' in its use of the natural world war tries to ignore.
But with Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky created one of the best films ever made, a label that Ivan's Childhood is not likely to ever receive.
The uneasy state of the Russian army, facing the German front across wetlands, is reflected in the characters - the boy and the men are getting 'jittery' - and the destruction waged on the landscape reflects the damage done to the people themselves: the old man with his cockerel and, especially, Ivan, who slips between the dreams of sleep and the nightmare of living.
This film is a story about a 12 year old boy Ivan, who happened to spend his childhood within the world of Great Patriotic War. He wasn't supposed to be a part of such a cruel occurrence as war, but having lost parents, chose to help his companions-in-arms in risky and crucial way.
So I think Andrei Tarkovsky made a great and strong film showing all horror and gore of war in a different style.
IVAN'S CHILDHOOD is a masterful black and white work in which Andrei Tarkovsky demonstrates a complete command of stylistic improvisation, visual experimentation and complex use of symbolism.
Using a fractured narrative structure, Andrei Tarkovsky's first feature film concerns the titular orphan and his experiences as a scout on the Soviet Eastern Front.The film sidesteps the potential sentimentality of its premise (a definite risk given the presence of prominent father and brother figures) by using the situation to ask greater questions about the nature of war.
Not simply because a film like Ivan's Childhood (a perfect title, by the way) is so multi-layered, metaphorical, psychologically complex, eerie, strange and moving – but because all those ARTISTIC elements combine to form a highly ENTERTAINING film, thus making a nonsense of the notion that European "art" film exists to be admired but not enjoyed.
Like most films of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, My Name is Ivan (a.k.a. Ivan's Childhood), reaches out to the spirit within us.
Based on a short story titled "Ivan" by the Russian author Vladimir Bogomolov, My Name is Ivan is a bleak but deeply moving film about a 12-year old boy whose parents and sister were killed by the Germans and is now a scout (spy) for a Red Army battalion.
Alternating between idyllic dreams of childhood, nightmares of revenge, and scenes of war devastation, Tarkovsky creates a uniquely personal exploration of the effects of war on the mind and spirit.
Despite the officers' objections, Ivan is sent on another covert operation.Tarkovsky shows us war but without bombs or glory or battle scenes -- only the suffering spirit of a child devastated by loss.
I always conceptualized Ivan as a destroyed personality pushed by the war from the normal axis of development." Though an early film, Ivan presages Tarkovsky's later work with the use of hallucinatory camera work and very long takes where nothing happens for several minutes.
At times he gets sudden aggressive bursts of hatred and moments of juvenile joy, when he forgets that he is a soldier.The poetic narrative of Ivan's Childhood is both classic and modern, Tarkovsky's style is strong, classical but on the other hand he modernizes cinematic poetry and creates something completely new and original.
As Tarkovsky realistically portrays the horrors of war, he paradoxically finds something poetic and beautiful in its all cruelty.Ivan's Childhood is a cruel and honest film.
The story could've easily been juvenile and conventional but not in this case where Tarkovsky created an extremely original film about war in the eyes of a 12-year-old.
It isn't a Tarkovsky film without memorable scenes and images and Ivan's Childhood has those certainly, the dream sequences make the film(i.e. Ivan and his sister on the apple cart in the rain) but standing out too are the magical birch forest scene, the emotionally harrowing scene in the dark house and especially one of the most heart-breakingly powerful endings ever.
What's remarkable is that while the story sounds simple, there are several characteristic Tarkovsky themes for so early on his career and when it comes to mood Ivan's Childhood works amazingly.Furthermore the story of Ivan's Childhood is incredibly touching, the childhood scenes are the epitome of innocence in a heartfelt, sometimes entertaining and charming way and in complete contrast(without feeling like two different films) the effect of the war and combat is both grotesque and poetic.
IVAN'S CHILDHOOD, released in 1962, was Soviet director's Andrei Tarkovsky first feature film.
An adaptation of a short story by Vladimir Bogomolov set in World War II, its protagonist is a 12 year-old orphan (Nikolai Burlyaev) on the Eastern Front whose small size allows him to scout German positions undetected.
A subplot involves Kholin's disturbing attempts to seduce Nurse Masha (Valentina Malyavina) and, in stark contrast to earlier Soviet treatments of the war, suggest that in wartime one's own fellow soldiers can just as dangerous as the enemy.As far as Tarkovsky films go, IVAN'S CHILDHOOD is still an immature work.
There are almost no Germans at all in the entire film, but the Germans as a group possess a very menacing presence, communicated by the Russians constant fear of an offensive.Ivan is a 12 year old boy whose mother, father, and sister have all been killed by the Nazis, and he is working as a scout for the Soviet army.
It is made clear several times that Ivan is determined to seek revenge for the deaths of his family members, often seeming to refer to Hitler himself.One of the main messages of the film deals with the brutality of war and the fact that it is just as dangerous to women and children as it is to soldiers.
It is the story of a twelve year old boy in the war who is already stuck in it, doesn't want to be sent to safety in a military school but insists on continuing risking his life as a scout against the wishes of his grown up friends among the militaries - there are two women in the film, one is his mother as he sees her in his dream sequences, a paradise in contrast to the hell on earth in the war, and the other is a soldier woman who is presence is almost equally lyrical, both connected with pristine nature.
Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky, making his feature debut, was keen to explore this idea in Ivan's Childhood, and the result was a work of art that can sit alongside the likes of Come and See and Grave of the Fireflies as one of the finest films to take this approach.
But Ivan, after watching his family murdered before him, burns with the desire for revenge, revealing that if he is sent away he will only escape and join the local partisans.Like all of Tarkovsky's work, there isn't really a definitive plot driving Ivan's Childhood.
Instead, Tarkovsky uses the characters and setting as a means to explore deeper themes, like war, fear, rage, loss and, of course, childhood.
At the end, Tarkovsky leaves us haunted by images of endless death and pointless savagery, making Ivan's Childhood one of the most devastating anti-war pictures ever made..
Somewhat ironically titled, this Andrei Tarkovsky war drama is about the protagonist's lack of a real childhood; orphaned during World War II, he spends his days running errands for Soviet soldiers to avoid being sent to school, however, dreams and nightmares of his prewar life frequently haunt him.
Tarkovsky said that children understood his films better than adults.After watching Ivan's Childhood, I can agree to some degree with that statement.Ivan's Childhood is not so much about war, but it's about the troubled mind of a child.
What makes this even more impressive is that this is Andrei Tarkovsky first major film and we already got our first taste of Tarkovsky haunting vision.Nikolai Burlyayev is one of the best child actors I've ever seen in a movie.
There is just something so touching about the final scene, that despite knowing that Ivan has been killed during war, he must have reached the place of his childhood in the end.
"Ivan's Childhood" is a sad story, but an excellent film by Tarkovsky, as he uses his exceptional talent of memories to convey loss and rejuvenation.
The film features a non-linear plot with frequent flashbacks.After a brief dream sequence, Ivan Bondarev (Nikolai Burlyayev), a 12- year-old Russian boy, wakes up and crosses a war-torn landscape to a swamp, then swims across a river.
At the age of 30, Tarkovsky extraordinarily implements his stupefying aesthetic tack to the hilt, the film can sweep any new audience off their feet tout court, and sends out a biting anti-war message with soul- pulverizing poignancy.WWII, Eastern front, our hero is a 12-year-old scrawny Russian boy Ivan (Burlyaev), who is left bereft and hell-bent in his reconnaissance vocation urged by an inexorable impulse of avenging, the front-line is not a place for child, Colonel Gryaznov (Grinko) intends to send him to a military school (and adopt him when the war is over), but Ivan is already a fearless soldier in defiance of his gaunt figure, after having prematurely experienced a baptism of fire out of man-made atrocity, which entirely traumatizes his child-like innocence, there is no propaganda whitewashing in his characterization, he is brusque to his senior comrades, reckless in his intent to stay on, and holds a skeptical world-view jarringly incommensurate with his age.
Andrei Tarkovksy's first feature film (excluding his shorts), about a boy named Ivan (Nikolai Burlyayev) working behind enemy lines as a military spy during World War II after being made an orphan by the Germans, is his most conventional film, though that hardly makes the film a conventional war movie.
It includes a non linear narrative, dream sequences, documentary footage of the battle of Berlin, and many poetic images, mostly of Russian nature or of the pre war Ivan playing with his now dead mother (the remarkable black and white cinematography was by Vadim Yusov).
Since the carnage of war is only suggested (which was obviously intentional on Tarkovsky's part not to show any overt clashes between Germans and Russians), he was forced to fall back on the conflict between the Soviet soldiers and their 12 year old charge, the jaded Ivan.
He uses this footage to work in a scene where one of Ivan's soldier friend discovers the boy's ultimate fate (executed by the Nazis, by beheading!).Ultimately, the message of a poor 12 year old orphan caught up in the horrors of war fails to have the shattering impact that most critics insist that it does.
'Ivan's Childhood' was the Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky's first feature film.
'Ivan's Childhood' is an example of a film which questioned war and had a sympathetic view of the people devastated by war.Tarkovsky is a true auteur of cinema.
Andrei Tarkovsky's "Ivan's Childhood" is a humanist film in which the atrocious realities of war are portrayed through narrative of an adolescent protagonist, Ivan.
IVAN'S CHILDHOOD is the third film I've seen from acclaimed Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, and the third I haven't liked.
"Ivan's Childhood" feels like a propaganda film.
Andrei Tarkovsky started his career the right way with his debut feature "Ivan's Childhood"; a dark, poetic, and beautiful portrait of a youth who grew up during war-time.
Given that 'Ivan's Childhood (1962)' was initiated by other artists, one gets the sense that perhaps Tarkovsky's heart wasn't entirely in this one it feels like a substantially less-personal film than 'Andrei Rublev (1969)' or 'Stalker (1979),' the other two I've seen so far.
Perhaps it'll prove the least durable of Tarkovsky's efforts, but, for now, I have to say that I adored every moment.The loss of childhood innocence is a common motif in war-themed pictures, and seems particularly prevalent in Soviet cinema for the finest example, look towards than Elem Klimov's harrowing 'Come and See (1985).' In this film, a close forerunner, Nikolay Burlyaev plays Ivan, a twelve-year-old orphan employed as a Russian spy on the Eastern Front.
This is director Andrei Tarkovsky's first film and is about Ivan who is an orphaned Russian pre-teen who is personally driven to do reconnaissance for his country during WWII.
"Ivan's Childhood" tells the story of a 12 year old who tries to help with the war effort after his family are killed by Nazi's. |
tt0069895 | The Crazies | In the town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, local sheriff David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is enjoying a baseball game when it is interrupted by a local resident (known as the town drunk) Rory Hamill, who enters the outfield with a shotgun. David attempts to dissuade Rory, but is forced to kill him when he raises his weapon. David and his wife Judy (Radha Mitchell), the community doctor, begin to notice other town residents exhibiting bizarre behavior, including listlessness and repetitive speech. The next night, a local farmer Judy had seen just that morning for his behavior locks his wife and son inside their house and burns it down.
Learning of a pilot's body found in a swamp, David and his deputy Russell Clank (Joe Anderson) investigate it. They discover a military aircraft that crashed into the river a few days before. Suspecting a link between the contaminated water to the residents' odd behavior, David attempts to have the town's water supply shut off, but is denied.
Soon after, all communication services are lost in town and David realizes they are in trouble. He begs his wife to leave and go to her parents' house, but she refuses. Soon after, soldiers arrive to take all residents to quarantine at the high school. Everyone is examined for symptoms of infection. Judy does not pass the examination and is separated from David. David escapes evacuation and heads back to his office, encountering Russell. The two head for the school to free Judy. At the school, the infected townspeople breach the perimeter, and the military personnel evacuate, abandoning the civilians. Judy wakes up strapped to a gurney, and helplessly watches as a crazed school director kills quarantined people one by one. David and Russell save her in time, and also find Becca (Danielle Panabaker), a hospital assistant.
Unable to find a working vehicle, the four make their way out of town on foot. They encounter Becca's boyfriend, Scotty, at his farm. Soldiers raid the farm, shoot Scotty and his mother, and burn the bodies. They learn that the soldiers have been ordered to shoot all civilians. The group repair an older patrol car in David's garage, and are ambushed by the infected family of Rory. After a struggle, Russell furiously shoots the infected multiple times. This greatly disturbs Judy, who argues with David about Russell's state of mind. On the road, they are spotted by an attack helicopter and drive into a car wash for cover. The workers attack the car and drag Becca out with a wrapped hose, breaking her neck. When the rest of the group leaves the car to help her, the helicopter destroys the car.
Russell disables a passing government car with a police spike strip. The driver reveals the cargo plane contained "Trixie," a "Rhabdoviridae prototype" biological weapon. It was en route to Texas to be destroyed when the plane crashed. Enraged, Russell shoots the driver and threatens Judy and David. When confronted about his behavior, Russell realizes he is infected and, after being disarmed, begs to go on with Judy and David. At a roadblock, Russel volunteers to distract the soldiers so that Judy and David can sneak past. He calls out the soldiers on their actions and gets killed.
David and Judy arrive at a truck stop to search for a vehicle, discovering that the military have also executed those who were evacuated. Fending off three infected, they escape in a semi-truck. As they drive away, a massive explosion destroys Ogden Marsh and causes a shock wave that flips over their vehicle. As the couple walk towards Cedar Rapids, a view from a military satellite highlights first the couple, then the city, and the words "Initiate containment protocol" appear, signifying a new containment attempt.
In the credits, Bruce Aune, a real newscaster from KCRG-TV 9 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa reports that an explosion originating from the Dakon Pendrill chemical plant started a massive fire in Ogden Marsh. He says a perimeter has been set and civilians are not being allowed into the area. A Trixie-infected individual appears on camera just before the signal is lost. | comedy, suspenseful, grindhouse film, murder, cult, violence, insanity, absurd, psychedelic, revenge | train | wikipedia | Very cheaply made film by Director George Romero about a virus, known as Trixie, that has somehow leaked out in a small town in Western Pennsylvania.
Romero's zombie classics 'Night Of The Living Dead' and 'Dawn Of The Dead' are two of the best horror movies ever made, but they really cast a huge shadow over his career.
Will MacMillan (David) and Lane Carroll (Judy) aren't familiar to me, and neither is Lloyd Hollar who plays the Colonel in charge of the quarantine (he's very good), but cult fave Lynn Lowry ('Shivers') plays space case Kathy, her Dad (Richard Liberty) will be recognized by anybody who has seen 'Day Of The Dead', and David's 'Nam buddy Clank (Harold Wayne Jones) went on to appear in Romero's 'Knightriders'.
The commentary track by Romero and William 'Maniac' Lustig is also highly recommended as it offers lots of insights into the highs and lows of low budget film making..
After the success of his classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), horror master George Romero followed up with this low-budget thriller.Airplane crashes outside of a small Pennsylvania town and unleashes a bio chemical substance that turns the locals into murderous psychotics.
"The Crazies" (1973) was George Romero's attempt to get a little more low-budget mileage out of his "Night of the Living Dead" (1971) zombie-like stuff by blending it with elements from "The Andromeda Strain" (1971).A germ warfare bug is accidentally released into the water supply of a small western Pennsylvania town named Evans City (where it was actually filmed).
Romero's direction is extremely weak and he has trouble throughout keeping the cast in character.Romero had discovered with "Night of the Living Dead" that there was serious exploitation potential in stories about the breakdown of society and this is where he really tries to focus his film.
Also a decent commentary track by George Romero who wishes he could have done more with it if he had a bigger budget.As long as one doesn't compare it to Romero's other films like the DEAD trilogy or MARTIN (1977), then it's better than most 70s low budget efforts in that cheap, charming way.
Romero's 'Dead' movies have all been quite enjoyable and knowing before hand that this film was about a virus making people go nuts so i thought this wouldn't be a waste of my time.
I am a big fan of horror movies and some of Romero's work, but the Crazies is a real low point in his career.
Actually "The Crazies" has more in common with an Ed Wood production--the hysterical, awful acting; the cardboard, dated characters (one character keeps using the word "MAN" before and after every sentence--he's a Vietnam vet, you see); horrible (and I mean HORRIBLE) sound effects (the spring peeper frogs actually drown out the dialogue in many scenes); over-the-top direction; and ketchup for blood (well, it was filmed in Pittsburgh--maybe Romero had a deal with Heinz).
'The Crazies', while certainly coming from the same cocktail shaker as these movies with its mix of unthinking killers, rampant destruction, bloody violence, and a good dose of social commentary nonetheless cuts a slightly different stride to its illustrious predecessor or the subsequent carnage-ridden affairs that followed.When the inhabitants of a small town in Western Pennsylvania are exposed to a virus through their local water supply and begin turning into homicidal maniacs the army duly turn up, call martial law, and quarantine the town.
Nevertheless, the threat the infected / zombies pose means that the soldiers have been ordered to take no chances and, as panic escalates to fever-pitch, the soldiers fail to distinguish between psychotic symptoms of the disease and justified hysterical fear for one's (uninfected) life
which in turn unceremoniously erases the line separating the soldiers from the unthinking killers they are trying to contain.As with the 'Dead' films, Romero's focus is on characters amidst the chaos and the film follows a small band of townspeople trying to escape the quarantine and the tangible threat of the military as well as the intangible threat of possible contagion from a disease they know nothing about.
The Crazies (1973)A fairly creaky but still chilling movie, and a cult classic, with an original big-government bad-army premise that must have been frighteningly real at the time: a germ warfare mishap has infected a town and the army has moved in to quarantine the entire area.
Director George Romero got away with some raw and imperfect acting in his very original "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968, but that was partly because everyone was either panicked or behaving like a zombie (there were, for sure, a couple great leads in that one).
But to do so they'll have to evade the military and the crazies.George Romero's first really good movie after Night of the Living Dead is this engrossing low-budget thriller with some creepy moments and surprises.
This is one of those films where people deliver lines a bit like Romero's zombies.
In a sense this is almost like an un-official 'living-dead' picture, only this time Romero shows the whole thing from start to finish, how it starts, how it spreads, how the people start to change, and how a group of survivors try to stay on the run.
Confusion, panic, desperation, hopelessness: George Romero's The Crazies not only employs the same dynamic as his 1979 classic Dawn of the Dead, but also has a similar style and pacing, making it an interesting companion piece to the director's long running zombie series.
Technically, the film might lack the polish of Romero's later work (the editing, in particular, ain't that great), and it is perhaps a bit too talkative at times, but for fans of the Pittsburgh auteur, it should still be considered a 'must-see' movie.As in Dawn of the Dead, society is facing collapse in the wake of a deadly epidemic that has been caused by the accidental release of a biological weapon; however in this film, the result of the contagion is not a plague of flesh-eating corpses, but rather a madness that can cause victims to commit sudden acts of violence.Whilst the army struggles to cover up their mistake and prevent further contamination, and a lone scientist (Dawn of the Dead's Richard France) attempts to formulate a vaccine, two firefighters (Will MacMillan and Harold Wayne Jones) try to lead a small group of people (including Day of the Dead's Richard Liberty and cult actress Lynn Lowry) to safety, with the biggest threat coming from the ominous, trigger-happy, HazMat-suited soldiers roaming the countryside.Once again Romero cleverly combines political commentary with visceral action, delivering an intelligent horror that not only provides excitement, tension, splatter, and a delightfully downbeat ending, but also something for the mind to chew over: although seeing a seemingly meek, old woman stabbing a soldier to death with her knitting needles is undeniably shocking, the real horror comes from the distinct possibility of such a situation occurring, and the extreme procedures implemented by the government following the outbreak, which include having a bomber with a nuclear payload circling the area in preparation for the worst eventuality (interestingly, the same 'last resort' was used to contain the zombie outbreak in the excellent 1985 comedy/horror Return of the Living Dead, a film inextricably linked to Romero's work).7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb..
I think the best parts of the movie was the manuveuring of the army to contain the virus as opposed to the people acting crazy.
The government has created a bioweapon called Trixie that causes its victims to either die instantly or become homicidal; this weapons has ended up in the Evans City (home to the opening graveyard of Night) drinking water.Also, the film tries to see things from the side of the individual and the government that struggles to contain the epidemic that it has accidentally started.
The full fear and chaos of Vietnam and Watergate are on display here; the military men and women may be individuals, but en masse they are a frightful and faceless force that are ordered to kill American citizens — on American soil — on sight, simply because they have become infected.The Crazies begins by subverting one of the central themes of Night of the Living Dead.
Colonel Peckem is ordered to contain the virus while Dr. Watts is brought in an attempt to cure the virus, which doesn't seem like a certainty, what with nuclear bombers in flight to nuke the town and soldiers that shoot anyone that tries to escape.Read more at http://bit.ly/2io4Rha. 70's military flick—not a horror movie.
Constant shooting.The plot surrounds a small town in the US that is quarantined by the US army to contain a disease that makes people "crazy", hence the title.
The Crazies was the film where director George Romero returned to similar territory that he had explored in his earlier cult classic Night of the Living Dead (1968).
By having the relentless killers people infected by a virus, the film makes the horror just that little bit more plausible.
This was one of the few Romero films I hadn't seen before, and after seeing it I have no idea why I waited so long!This very low budget movie about a town infected with a virus via its water supply has the classic Romero feel, in that the film focuses far more on the people affected than the situation at hand.
A government plane carrying a biological warfare virus suddenly crashes near a small Pennsylvania town resulting in a poisoned water supply.When the residents embark on a chaotic,murderous rampage,the government send in the army,unannounced,to quarantine the town and resolve the anarchy.A small war breaks out when the citizens find themselves caught between a lethal disease,their crazed neighbors and an occupying army."The Crazies" is a solid horror/action film which is scary at times and rather gory.The highlight of the film is the scene where an old lady brutally stabs a soldier with a knitting needle.The movie is indeed slow at times,but the atmosphere of fear and panic is well executed and the script is realistic.All in all "The Crazies" is definitely a movie worth seeking out.Highly recommended..
Romero's tale of a small Pennsylvania town that comes under siege from the military after a plane crash leaks a chemical that is turning people crazy.
A group of people decide to not give in and try to survive on their own but soon they're battling more than just the government.Romero's THE CRAZIES is a film that is often called a zombie movie but it's certainly not that.
Much like we'd eventually see in Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD, this film certainly has a political message to discuss and in all honesty that takes up the majority of the running time.THE CRAZIES isn't a bad movie but at the same time there are enough flaws that keep it from being a good one.
It seems that some people are starting to praise Romero's lesser known works and try to build them up as some sort of lost masterpieces but I really don't think this film fits into that.
This early film of George Romero is about a small town in Pennsylvania that is infected by a virus created by the U.S. Army.
Things go from bad to worse as some members in the group exhibit signs of the virus and the film follows on from there.This was Romero's third film, and he made it before his first film, Night of the Living Dead, was to make him a horror legend.
In 1968 George Romero created a new kind of zombie with Night of the Living Dead...one that would revolutionize the concept of the walking dead and influence many film makers in the coming ages of horror.
The army arrives in town to contain the virus but its already infected some people...and things go barreling out of control.OK Romero film--it was his first horror film after "Night of the Living Dead".
Like most Romero films The Crazies makes a political statement, and one that has retained a lot of applicability.The alternation of tense action sequences with "behind-the-scenes" views of the command and and science team are very effective.
For the first time out of any Romero film, I actually cared about these characters, which makes the movie more tragic when it comes to the ending.
The Crazies is a pretty good movie in its own right, but it suffers from being a little too similar to George Romero's first movie, Night of the Living Dead.
Romero's subsequent movies failed to recapture the immediacy that made Night of the Living Dead so effective, and he didn't really come into his own as a director until Martin.
Romero learned from these early films and put that knowledge to good use on the further Dead movies.
THE CRAZIES has a very good premise about a small middle American town suffering from a bio-weapon virus outbreak but suffers heavily from early 70`s post `Nam overstatement - " Hey man ain`t soldiers and governments such pigs ?
Not only that but the script gives us no one to root for, there`s a main character of course but he up ends killing so many " Pigs " I failed to relate to him in any way , shape or form.And the other problem is the film`s documentary style direction , which didn`t strike me as an artistic decision on the part of Romero , but more to do with the film obviously being made on a shoestring budget which means - like all of Romero`s movies - the sound mix is truly abysmal.Still THE CRAZIES is more thought provoking than the mega budget bore OUTBREAK.
As the U.S. government and military step in to investigate, a combination of their efforts and the effects of the virus ignite pandemonium.One of George Romero's lesser-praised but entirely worthwhile films, "The Crazies" is equal parts B-movie exploitation and skilled paranoid thriller.
The military attempts to contain a man-made combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.This project began life with Paul McCollough, who authored a screenplay entitled The Mad People.
Hessel expressed interest in it and offered to finance it as Romero's next film, but only if the director would be willing to rewrite McCollough's screenplay to focus on what Hessel considered the most interesting ingredient of the story, namely the military takeover of the town, which occurred in the first 10 to 20 pages.This is the first film from Romero with a "real" budget of $270,000 and the first time he employed a cinematographer other than himself (Bill Hinzman, best known as the first zombie in "Night of the Living Dead").In retrospect, the best casting decision was Lynn Lowry.
George Romero directs a wonderful low budget film about a virus that breaks out in a town after a military plane crashes in the mountains and the virus leaks down in through the water and which drives anyone it comes in contact with to complete madness or mindless drivel.
Romero's "The Crazies" starts in the small town of Evan City where we see a creepy scene in which a man goes insane and kills his entire family.
The film follows a group of people who must evade the highly contagious virus and the even more dangerous US military, who are called in to quarentine the town.
Recommended for those wanting to see what Romero accomplished in-between "NOTLD" and "Dawn of the Dead" or any horror fan searching for a movie with an anti-military message!.
The 'Crazies' act like the zombies in other Romero films.
While not nearly as good as Romero's "Dead" films, The Crazies is still worth checking out.
The threat of the virus in something as simple as water adds to the realism and horror for the group attempting to escape (and drinking the water along the way!).It's a typical Romero film (even though it is only his second movie made!).
"We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take this anymore!" - Howard Beale ("Network")This is a review of George Romero's "The Crazies", a horror film released in 1973, and 2010's "The Crazies", a remake directed by Breck Eisner, son of media mogul Michael Eisner.The better of the two, Romero's film sees the US military accidentally releasing a biological weapon into a small town's water supply.
Much violence ensues.Romero's film is shapeless, overlong, lacking in tension towards its final act and nowhere as good as his zombie movies.
George Romero is probably most famous for his 1978 film 'Dawn of the Dead' which was the second in a series of zombie movies which each reflected society at the time.
Luckily a small number of people are escaping the epidemic, but along the way they lose support from everyone, including the military, which was responsible for engineering the virus in the first place.The Crazies is exciting, non-stop suspense, and unlike horror movies made today, in this movie you actually get attached to the characters and want them to escape the terror, it definitely keeps you watching 'till the end.
Though the film is Romero's personal favorite, in my opinion it's a very good movie, but it's not his best.
Once again, as with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DADand his following movies, Romero's low budget adds to the gritty realism of the film which makes it a cut above the rest - indeed I feel this is much stronger, and far more affecting stuff than the likes of OUTBREAK and other "disease of the week" thrillers of the '90s.Despite a longer-than-average running time, THE CRAZIES never becomes boring or tired - instead it keeps you gripped throughout until the predictably downbeat conclusion.
The film recalls NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in scenes of the soldiers roaming through the countryside, gunning down those that are infected, and the madness back at the army's base in town - with various parties ranting at each other - is a subject Romero returned to with the opening scenes of DAWN OF THE DEAD. |
tt0228786 | Les rivières pourpres | Detective Superintendent (Commissaire Principal) Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno), an investigator well known in Paris, is sent to the small rural university town of Guernon in the French Alps to investigate a brutal murder. The victim's body is found bound in the fetal position and suspended high on a cliff face, his eyes removed and his hands cut off. Niemans learns that the victim was a professor and the University's librarian, Remy Callois, and he seeks out a local ophthalmologist for an explanation to the removal of the eyes. Dr. Cherneze, once on the University staff, explains that the school's isolation led to in-breeding amongst the professors, with increasingly serious genetic disorders. Recently the trend has reversed, with the local village children becoming ill and the college babies remaining healthy. Cherneze hints that the killer is leaving Niemans clues to their motive by removing the body parts that are unique to each individual - the eyes and hands. Niemans questions the Dean and examines the librarian's apartment, where he finds images of athletic "supermen" juxtaposed with texts on genetic deformities. The Dean's assistant (and son) Hubert translates the title of Callois' Ph.D. thesis as, "We are the masters. We are the slaves. We are everywhere. We are nowhere. We control the crimson rivers."
Coincidentally Detective Inspector (Lieutenant de Police) Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel) is in the nearby town of Sarzac investigating the desecration of the grave of Judith Herault, a girl who died in 1982, and the theft of her photos from the local primary school. The girl was killed in a horrific highway accident, witnessed by her mother, who was so traumatized she took a vow of darkness in a nunnery. The mother tells Kerkerian that when Judith was ten she fell ill, and they went to get help in Guernon where she was born; she claims they were then attacked by "demons" and, when they fled, her daughter was killed in the road accident. She says the pictures were stolen to erase her daughter from history, and that her face is a threat to the demons who have returned to complete their mission. She tells him it all began in Guernon.
Niemans questions Fanny Ferreira (Nadia Farès), a glaciologist and student, who is immediately suspect because of her climbing ability. Despite her contempt for the school and its arrogant professors, she works for the university to steer away frequent avalanches, and is incensed when Niemans implies she might withhold evidence to protect the school. She tells him that anyone with good equipment could've hoisted the body up the cliff, and brushes off his obvious attraction. Soon after, the pathologist reports that it was acid rain in Callois' eye sockets, which has not fallen in the area since the seventies. Niemans enlists Fanny to take him up the glacier to get ice samples to compare with the acid rain in Callois' eyes. On a hunch, Niemans follows a glacial melt tunnel to a cave that contains a second body, frozen into the ice.
Kerkerian traces a car from the accident to Phillip Sertys in Guernon and meets Niemans while attempting to break into Sertys' apartment. Sertys is the body in the ice, a doctor that worked in the maternity ward at the University hospital. They find Judith's stolen photograph as well as evidence that Sertys was breeding and training fighting dogs - and then they find the dogs, and Niemans the "supercop" is momentarily paralyzed by fear, until Kerkerian coaxes him through.
Sertys was also mutilated, and his eyes replaced with glass prosthetics, "Like you would find at an eye doctor's" remarks the pathologist, leading Niemans to race back to Cherneze's practice. The doctor is already dead, and they almost catch the killer, who fights off Niemans and races away after deliberately emptying Niemans' gun into the wall but not hitting him. Kerkerian gives chase but the killer escapes. Returning to the scene, where the killer has written "I will trace the source of the crimson rivers" in Cherneze's own blood above his body, they learn the prints on Niemans' gun belong to Judith Herault.
Kerkerian goes back to search the grave in Sarzac, which is empty except for a picture, while Niemans goes to Fanny's home. Niemans tells her that although he sees her as physically capable of committing the crimes he doesn't believe her to be guilty. When he returns to the university, the local police captain tells him that Callois' thesis is full of Nazi-style eugenics, suggesting perfection can be achieved by breeding athletically gifted and intellectually gifted children together.
Kerkerian returns with the photo which Niemans recognizes as Fanny and, on the way to her house, they narrowly avoid being run off the road by the Dean's son as they piece together the story. Due to the poor bloodlines and genetic mutations in the faculty's inbred offspring, the doctors at the hospital had been swapping healthy village children with the university children. Sertys, they deduce, must have swapped Fanny for Judith, and Callois arranged the matches in the college's breeding program. Once at Fanny's house they find the missing hands and eyes of the victims in her basement, but Fanny is now gone and so are her grenades. Niemans gives the order to evacuate the university while he and Kerkerian travel up the mountain to find Fanny.
The duo confront Fanny only to be set upon by Judith, who is her identical twin. Judith tells Fanny to kill Niemans, but she refuses, and instead turns the gun on her sister. At the same time Kerkerian fires at Judith, but hits Fanny in the shoulder and the gunshots trigger an avalanche. Judith is swept away and the rest are buried in the snow until a rescue team arrives with search dogs. Fanny is airlifted to hospital while Kerkerian asks Niemans to explain his fear of dogs. | mystery, suspenseful, action, murder, sadist | train | wikipedia | This is especially true for the leading roles which are portrayed by two of the most talented French actors: Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.The plot is based on a novel by Jean-Christophe Grange who, together with director Mathieu Kassovitz, also developed the screenplay.
Unfortunately, many of the novel's explanatory scenes were omitted, so that ,you end up with a film which is not boring but quite confusing', as main actor Vincent Cassel puts it correctly.
The following is a basic plot summary that intends to spoil as little of the story as possible:Commissaire Pierre Niemans is called to the remote university town of Guernon to solve a gruesome murder case in which the victim - the university's librarian - was brutally tortured and mutilated.
This knowledge eventually gets them into life-threatening situations, the most deadly of them marking the end of the movie, which is set on top of a huge, snow-covered glacier.The acting is simply excellent: Jean Reno portrays Niemans as a surly, reserved but brilliant professional with an attitude that often offends the people around him, even if he does not mean to.
The conspiracy revealed by the cops is larger and was also one of the aspects which were simplified for the movie.All in all, one could complain that some of the action scenes look rather out of place, like Kerkerian's fight with two skinheads or the obligatory car chase later on in the film.
Mathieu Kassovitz's film featuring the incomparable Jean Reno (The Professional) and Vincent Cassel (Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen) is a thrill ride that never stops.The French countryside with the spooky houses is a feast for the eyes.
Jean reno is good as usual but vincent cassel dishes out excellent acting nuances which add to his character.
Chief Inspector Niemans (Jean Reno) is called from Paris to investigate an horrific murder involving torture of the University's research librarian(close your eyes if mutilated bodies offend you)...At the same time a local police officer is looking into the desecration of a grave in the local cemetery.
But then the shadows are greatly enhanced and who knows what may jump out at them!The police get very little help from the suspicious-looking University staff, a fact which surprises me considering their lives are possibly in danger.For me the final scene when all is revealed is quite a let-down after a reasonably interesting investigation.
"The Crimson Rivers" tells of two French detectives on converging investigative paths leading to the "who" in whodunit as they leapfrog from one tense moment to the next in this good but not great macabre and sometimes gruesome serial killer mystery.
The novel by Jean-Cristophe Grangè on which this film is based is simply one of the best thrillers ever written,in the same league as The Silence of the Lambs and Misery,and with the help of writer/director Mathieu Kassovitz(who was also supposed to be one of the actors)the author has successfully brought his masterpiece to the screen.From the very beginning,thanks to the location and Bruno Coulais'unsettling score,we realize French people can make good horror thrillers: Pierre Niemans(Jean Reno) is in Grenoble to solve a couple of weird and brutal murders,while Max Kerkerian(Vincent Cassel)investigates a damaged tomb somewhere else.
Soon they discover the two cases are connected,and the two men have to run against the clock in order to uncover the awful truth about what's been going on in the local university for years.The book has been simplified(the first chapter is entirely missing,as well as some of the details about Cassel's case),but the movie manages to be very interesting,and the chemistry between Reno and Cassel is great.Special praise for Dominique Sanda,her creepy cameo being the film's best sequence(Sissy Spacek appears in a similar scene in The Ring 2).Only defect:why did they make the sequel?.
They join forces and find a plot of eugenics in the University, with abductions, murders and revenge.Yesterday I saw this great movie again, trying to find some answers to questions I raised the first time I saw it four years ago.
It had two great lead actors: Jean Reno at his best (Watch his face, as he looks at the first corpse!), and a great Vincent Cassel, whom I didn't know before.
And the violence is not "celebrated", which means it's not shown, as if it were any kind of fun or something the viewer also should do.Once again: Watch Niémans' face, while he looks at the first corpse; this scene shows clearly what he thinks of the torture and the killing and that it's absolutely barbaric and immoral to do a thing like that.
It appeared to be a feeble attempt at making it seem like an action movie.I know that the french can do better than that, considering "high tension", and "frontiers" to name a few..
So far so good until, out of the blue, the writers feel the need to make Cassel go Chuck Norris on some wannabe Nazis's in a fight scene so absurdly bad, including 1980's sound effects, it makes you question what kind of movie you're actually watching.
After the interesting fight the movie goes for two awards in the weird category with an even so interesting foot-chase ending up in the middle of anti-climax land leading right to a totally uncalled for Mexican stand- off between Jean "The Unit" Reno and his local constabularies.
Once the two are brought together, the audience has a fairly good idea of what is going on, and the film becomes more an action movie than a suspense.
Reno's attraction for Nadia Fares' character, Fanny, is, however, too contrived, giving one the sense that the director suddenly realizes the film must end soon, and is bringing the story to a close with scant regard for the abrupt change of pace.
In many ways it uses the same old cliches (mismatched cops who must work together, bizarre methods of death) we've seen dozens of times in Hollywood thrillers, but it manages to remain entertaining because of Kassovitz' energetic and inventive direction, the spectacular backgrounds of the Alps, and the contrasting acting styles of Cassel and Jean Reno, who really seem to enjoy working together.
To start with I'm a big fan of French movies, a lot less pretentious than Hollywood is in the main.They seem to me to be more English than the likes of Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.This film brings together two strong actors (Jean Reno, Le Jaguar and Leon and Vincent Cassel, Brotherhood of the Wolf)in a decent plot.
But the scenery, the characterizations, and most especially the "chemistry" (a rarity when talking of two male leads) between Jean Reno and another french actor who I am quickly coming to appreciate for his work in The Brotherhood of the wolf and Read my lips, and also for being married to one of the most gorgeous women in the world Monica Bellucci, the incomparable Vincent Cassell.
One wonders why this picture was made at all : the plot as such is totally unbelievable if not ridiculous, the characters (experienced loner cop versus younger one, quite fascinated) quite predictable, the ending totally murky and impossible to understand (maybe after several viewings but you'd have to have a masochistic tendency for that ; the idea being you have to read the book to understand fully what it's all about)and the acting is bad.
There are two essential differences: (1) it looks better, and (2) the French policemen have far more charm than their American counterparts typically do, which is a good thing, since these policemen must abuse their power in a similar kind of way (often with little justification beyond the fact that it's in the script), yet convincingly come across as ENEMIES of fascism.
It is also important that the film and its various strands of character, theme and narrative all eventually lead to the same place, confounding but also confirming what the viewer had expected all along.The Crimson Rivers (2000) by La Haine (1995) director Mathieu Kassovitz sticks to this method fairly closely for the most part; giving us the usual archetypes familiar from this kind of heavily investigatory detective fiction alongside the usual contemporary preoccupations with dark, gloomy, atmospheric visuals and intriguing, idiosyncratic characters.
So essentially we're dealing with the typical buddy-cop clichés, though with more believability and less reliance on comic relief, with any real attempt at humour usually undercut by the explicitness of the violence and that fantastic air of dark, disturbing dread.The central performances from Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel are both very good, with Reno portraying the older, wiser, more intuitive detective paired off with Cassel's headstrong loose cannon.
As a result, the ending seems like an anachronism within the film's post-modern framework; offering us all the answers presented at once in a manner that seems incredibly lazy and unfair given the great sense of mystery that was previously unfolding.In this respect, I would draw comparisons to two of the most recent films by Italian horror/thriller director Dario Argento, in particular Sleepless (2000) and The Card Player (2004).
Both of these films feature a great first half rife with mystery and suspense, but loose it in the final act with a complete disregard for logic, character or the thrill of expectation.
This film left me a sense of empty,the impression is of a big occasion waste.In fact the first half of the picture is really brilliant and thrilling ,the story seems very well thought and the places where the plot is developed are suggestive..but after 1 hour of watching ,the picture starts being a little boring and the good ideas shown during the first half aren't well developed,so the final ,really too easy,can delude the audience!,the plot has too many holes and the talent of the actors (Reno and Cassel ,really very good) isn't enough to save the movie from being banal.With an initial plot like this Hitchcock or Polanski would have realized a masterpiece..
it almost feels like two separate movies until our heroes Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno / Léon) & Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel / Brotherhood of the Wolf) meet.I was too surprised find out that this movie was not done in English.
Of all the Jean Reno films I've seen thus far, I'd have to say this is my third favorite (just behind "Ronin", but WAY behind the outright superb "Leon") My Grade: B USA DVD Extras: Commentary by Director, Mathieu Kassovitz, Jean Reno & Vincent Cassel; Making of documentary; 'Making of a corpse' featurette; The Chase storyboard comparisons; The Avalanche multi-angle; filmographies; and Theatrical Trailer (if you have a region-free DVD player buy the 2 disk UK set instead, as it has better extras).
Jean Reno, who is getting more and more into "pop-corn" stuff these days, has been pretty OK this time.Don't expect too much of a "french touch", Matthieu Kassowitz really filmed it according to the most academic hollywood standards...which makes it puzzling in many ways, especially for european viewers.The problem is with the plot, which is lacking credibility for me: an elite college in the middle of nowhere, in a public-education country?
It may be OK on the paper with all the convincing descriptions, but this superficial 120-minutes movie doesn't go deep enough to draw your attention without any doubt...As a matter of fact, the director Kassowitz (by the way so good in acting, like in "Amelie"...), seems to take pleasure in not detailing the script to the audiences...you have to understand by yourself.
It's not because it's obscure that it is necessary well-written!!To finish with, the end is not convincing, botched up...Overall, an average entertaining thriller, with hollywood-filming technics in french locations, better viewed with home video for the photography.
"The Crimson Rivers" is a Mystery - Crime movie in which we watch a very famous murder detective following the footsteps of a serial killer.
Regarding the direction of this movie which was made by Mathieu Kassovitz I believe that it was very interesting and I liked the way he presented the murders and also the ending.Finally, I have to say that "The Crimson Rivers" is a very interesting movie with a great plot that will surprise you.
What disillusioned me a little was the ending, which falls into an absurd cliché.The script is based on an apparent coincidence: two police officers investigating isolated cases end up realizing that they will have to collaborate to solve a case that ultimately unites them: a wave of macabre and mysterious murders, all around an ancient and prestigious university, isolated in the middle of the French Alps.Much of the quality of the film comes from the excellent performance of Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel, two of the most international and prestigious French actors today.
It is based entirely on the weight of the two main actors, on the ability of both to interpret well, and on the story told.As I mentioned initially, the film is perfect until very near the end, when it tries to surprise us with a turnaround that, for me, made no sense and prejudiced the plot.
There's a serial killer loose in a small mountain town located in rural France, and who better to track them down than the country's two most prolific film actors (or the ones with better physiques than Gerard Depardieu anyway), Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.
This is well worth watching for people who enjoy a good thriller, can stand a little gruesomeness but are not interested in pointless slasher movies or self-congratulatory plodding "mysteries".
Through out all the plot twists, intrigue, and interesting character development; the ending, one of the most important parts of any film, completely disappointed me.
This is quite a troubling amazing movie and the acting of the cast is very good especially Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.
The actors and cinematography were great, but decisions made by the director and other crew weakened the film.There is a twist ending, but the filmmakers don't bother to explain the complicated plot.
Just like Donnie Darko, you will have to get the DVD for the extra features to make proper sense of the movie.Even one of the main actors Vincent Cassel said (English translation), "I can't help explain the film because I didn't understand it!" The film editor said, "When I have to edit that [mess], I'm going to be terrified!"Pre-production was started without even a finished script.
Amazing film, beyond any doubt, Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel give superb performance, the plot is fantastic.
The fourth and last good thing is the wonderful cinematography of matthieu Kassovitz (if you are curious of french cinema, Kassovitz, director of this movie, is the actor who plays nino quincampoix in Jeunet's "amélie poulain").
This dark and disturbing film-noir from France is a very good crime movie with likeable leads (Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel), who both put in great performances.
This movie is no worse it is a great thriller with some great actors like Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel.
They deliver their roles great and I especially liked that there were a parallel story between those two,and that it connected in the end of the movie.
Okey Hollywood,here`s a French one.This is better than your average Hollywood picture who looks like this.Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel stars as two investigators who`s after an crazy serial killer.The murders leads them deeper back in time than they could ever imagine.
Every single shot is very well crafted and supports the dark side of the plot, enhancing the great performances by Jean reno and Vincent Cassel and making this movie haunt you well after you left the theater.
I'll admit the plot is quite bizarre but it is not incomprehensible and the ending was weak but I thought it had a good twist (there have been lots of big budget Hollywood movies with much poorer scripts).
And to finish i just want to stress on the very good acting,and the good casting,although i don't watch many French films,i would never have gone to see this if i had a choice but i will be eternally grateful to my teacher who send us to this movie,it was a pleasant surprise,and i would like to recommend it to everybody who likes a good thriller..
Having just seen "Les Riviéres Pourpres", or "Crimson Rivers", I thought I´d like to comment it.In this movie Jean Reno plays Pierre Niemans, a "supercop" of kinds, sent to e remote mountain town to investigate a grisly murder.
Dub Be Bad To Me. Having read some good things about this film, and being on a bit of a French-Hollywood high in the wake of Brotherhood of the Wolf, I decided to give this classy-looking Jean Reno vehicle a rent.
I haven't seen yet any french actor who doesn't recite his dialogue, I think Jean Reno outperforms Vincent Cassel(he is not helped by his dialogue either) and some supporting roles are simply terrible.
In fact the film is superb while the two sub-plots are independent (slightly better the one with Jean Reno) but, by the time they converge, it begins to lose mystery and to gain action.
The quarrel between the old pro investigator (Jean Reno) and his unwanted sidekick from the province (Vincent Cassel) offers much fun throughout without ever being ridiculous; the murder mystery creates suspense right up to the end (which is a bit of a let-down, I must admit).
And of course, there is Jean Reno, who's one of my all time favorite actors and Vincent Cassel who always surprises me with his different roles, I couldn't have thought of anyone better but these two actors to be in this film.So great cast, great directing (I'm sure I'll be seeing the director at Hollywood very soon), great plot, and great atmosphere.
The acting by Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel are both top notch - all in all a remarkable film, that is well worth watching - you're pretty much guaranteed not to guess the ending in the beginning of the film. |
tt0410730 | Taxidermia | The focus of Taxidermia is mood, tone and visuals rather than a specific plot narrative. The summary presented here relays the events in the film, but the manner in which they are presented in the film is equally if not more important that the events themselves. This summary should not be considered an adequate substitute for the experience of actually watching the film.Note: Hungarian names in the film and this summary are in "Eastern order" (family name first.)Morosgoványi Vendel (Csaba Czene) is a lowly soldier/orderly stationed at a remote Hungarian farmhouse in WWII. The farmhouse is occupied by Lieutenant Balatony Lajoska (Marc Bischoff), his obese wife (Viktória Kiss), and their two teenage daughters. Morosgoványi lives in a crude shed with pigs and spends much time having sexual fantasies about the young girls, typically while spying on them, masturbating or experimenting with his remarkable ability to shoot flames out of the end of his penis.Following the slaughter of one of the hogs, Morosgoványi is propositioned by Mrs. Balatony who pulls Morosgoványi down upon her in the wooden bathtub containing the pig carcass. They have vigorous and loud sex, with Morosgoványi fantasizing that he's actually screwing the Balatony daughters. Upon finishing, Morosgoványi falls asleep and it is apparent that he was fantasizing the entire encounter while actually copulating with the dead pig.The next morning, Lt. Balatony kicks open the door to the shed, and shoots the slowly awakening Morosgoványi in the back of the head, blowing his brains out. Mrs Balatony subsequently gives birth to a very large, fat baby. The lieutenant examines the boy lying in the wooden bathtub and discovers a pig-like tail on him. Without speaking a word, he retrieves a pair of pliers from the shed, calmly snips off the tail, and slaps the boy on the rump.Thirty years later Balatony Kálmán (Trócsányi Gergõ) still has his tail stump, and has grown into a hefty professional speed eater. In an stadium full of cheering fans, Kálmán and his friend Miszlényi Béla (Koppány Zoltán) compete for Hungary against the Russian team, shoveling huge spoonfuls of offal and other disgusting material into their mouths in an attempt to finish their enormous helpings first.Narrowly losing the initial round, Kálmán is berated by his uncle/coach for being distracted by Aczél Gizi (Stanczel Adél), the women's speed-eating champion who is present in the audience and cheering for both him and Béla, who also fancies Gizi. During the break between rounds, Kálmán and Béla trade jibes over Gizi while casually regurgitating the meal they have just gorged themselves.After wiping their mouths off, the competitors face up to the next round - chosen by the Russians to be a giant blob of gelatin/fat with various disgusting animal parts congealed within. Still distracted by Gizi, Kálmán suffers an attack of lock-jaw, and - unable to get the spoon out of his mouth - collapses backwards.Béla visits Kálmán, who is recovering in hospital with an enormous scar on his chest, Gizi by his side. Béla and Gizi blatantly flirt yet Kálmán appears not to mind, instead savoring the drop of sweat that falls onto his face from Gizi's hairy armpit. At his subsequent wedding to Gizi, Kálmán sings a folorn song about unrequited love while Béla convinces Gizi to "elope" with him. The "elopement" consists of taking her outside and drunkenly screwing her from behind while she looks through the window at her husband.We next see a sports factory where fat young boys are apprenticed to a government program to develop world-class speed eaters. Seated at an enormous trough of semolina, the stern coach blankets the trough with a few scoops of cocoa powder before starting the boys off on their training. In an office above the factory floor Kálmán is in training and is frustrated. Just at the time when he is attempting his professional comeback from injury, the International Olympic Committee has refused to recognize sport eating. While vomiting into a recycling machine, he complains to his coach.Gizi discovers that she is pregnant. Her and Kálmán's joy is obvious, but they are concerned by the Communist rules which require pregnant women to be reassigned to a particular factory which would negatively affect her calorie intake and thus her competitiveness in sport eating. They bribe the obstetrician, who gives them a choice between "cyst" and "myeoma" as a diagnosis which will apparently enable special treatment.While on holidays at the seaside, the famous Kálmán and Gizi are playfully suggesting names for their child when they are "invited" aboard the yacht of a visiting Russian dignitary. Before boarding, a flunky explains that they are expected to give a demonstration of their sport. Specifically, this involves eating 45kg of caviar (with a few bacon hocks thrown in) within 20 minutes. Gizi clearly struggles, perhaps concerned for the baby. Beneath decks, Kálmán supports her by reminding her of her previous glories. Back upstairs they are expected to attend dinner, but Gizi is so sick that she passes out face-first onto her plate.Another thirty years pass. We see Balatony Lajoska (Marc Bischoff), - painfully thin - at work at his taxidermy business. Cluttered throughout with various animals, the workshop shows a man who is dedicated to his work. Lajoska leaves his shop and travels to the grocery store where he purchases a huge volume of butter and chocolate. He is obviously smitten by the checkout girl, who ignores his creepy attempts at making eye contact. Lajoska visits the apartment of his father Kálmán, who is now a ridiculously immense naked blob of shapeless flesh. The chocolate bars are for Kálmán, who boasts that by leaving the silver wrappers on he can increase his intake from 400 to 570 per hour. The butter is for Kálmán's super-sized cats, who lurk menacingly behind iron bars in their porcelain-tiled lair.Kálmán clearly despises his son, partly because of his profession ("carcass stuffer") but mostly because he is so skinny. Lajoska endures a barrage of insults from his father as he cleans the house and the cage. Kálmán is too fat to move and even needs his son to change his bedpan for him. Kálmán's life revolves around his enormous cats and his television, which he swears at while watching his former wife Gizi coaching an American champion speed eater.Back at his taxidermy shop, Lajoska is asked by a dapper businessman for his help regarding a special project. "Domestic or wild?" The businessman smirks and admits "Domestic". Peering into the customer's paper bag, Lajoska nods and accepts the work.Again at the grocery store, the same shopping list and the same uncomfortable stare at the checkout. At Kálmán's apartment, his father needles Lajoska with continued insults. When he calls his son "cyst", Lajoska angrily confronts him about how ungrateful he has been. The two get into a terrible argument, throwing chocolate bars at each other. Lajoska storms out suddenly, telling his father he can die for all he cares.Lajoska throws himself into his work. We see extreme closeups of his work under a magnifying class as he prepares various animals for mounting. Back at the grocery store a few days later, Lajoska is buying a small amount of butter and chocolate; the fight with his father was probably the latest in a long series. The female clerk is gone, replaced by a man.At Kálmán's apartment, Lajoska realizes something is wrong. Having left the cage open after their terrible fight, the cats have attacked and killed Kálmán, chewing a hole into his enormous gut. A string of entrails leads back into the cage where a pair of satisfied cats sit licking their chops.Lajoska embalms his father, stuffing straw into his stomach through the holes the cats gnawed. We next see him strapped standing into an elaborate contraption in the basement of his workshop. Pumps slowly sigh, liquid flows through clear tubes, syringes dive into flesh, and trays of scalpels and other vicious medical instruments move past on articulated arms.With the aid of mirrors, clamps and levers, Lajoska begins the exacting and painstaking work of eviscerating himself. There is no doubt as to his intentions and progress; we are shown in exacting detail scalpels slicing flesh, opening body cavities, removing organs. Lajoska guts himself in front of us.With trembling hands, obviously exhausted from his work, Lajoska finally sews up his own sweating torso. Completing the taxidermy, he pushes a button and we see a razor-sharp blade crank slowly around to the front his neck. After a few calm breaths, the blade is released and via a spring it whips around behind, decapitating Lajoska. A moment later, a saw falls on his right arm, blood gushing as it's severed just below the shoulder.We cut to the businessman returning to the shop. Unable to locate the proprietor, he goes into the back room and discovers, in the same paper bag, the completed work he requested of Lajoska: a glass globe containing a tiny human fetus. Satisfied, he is about to leave a stack of cash on the bench, when he changes his mind. Venturing further into the shop, he eventually makes his way down to the basement where he discovers Lajoska.We cut immediately to the same businessman at an avant-garde art gallery, lauding the artistic genius of Balatony Lajoska. The glitterati are drinking champagne and eating hors dourves from a porcelain pig.On display in the gallery are two exhibits: firstly: Balatony Kálmán, resplendent in golden tights with a snarl of cat fur protruding from the hole in his magnificent belly, but primarily Balatony Lajoska - minus his head and right arm, standing casually naked with a stitched torso, looking more like a classical Greek statue than a man who mutilated himself. | comedy, dark, allegory, absurd, psychedelic, satire | train | imdb | null |
tt0091344 | King Kong Lives | The movie starts where King Kong ended.Ten years after King Kong fell from the Twin Towers, we see him at the Atlanta University kept alive by doctors. Amy Flanklin (Linda Hamilton) is in charge of keeping King Kong alive. They build a heart in order to transplant it inside Kong, because his is finished. The problem is that they don't have enough plasma to do the operation. What they need is a miracle.In the jungles of Borneo, an adventurer Hank Mitchell (Brian Kerwin) happens to meet another giant ape. This one is female and she took a fancy to Mitchell. As he was being chased, the aboriginal of the area shoot spleeping darts at the ape, and Mitchell captures her. Somehow the Atlanta University got wind of the find and convince Mitchell to sell them the female. They can use here for the plasma and as a live specimen.Lady Kong is taken to the US and is kept in a nearby warehouse while they build her a facility. She somehow knows that King Kong is nearby and does eat.The doctors perform the operation to replace King Kongs heart and it is a success. Soon Kong wakes up and senses the female nearby. Mitchell convinces the University to move Lady Kong as quickly as possible because something is going to happen. . They agree but its too late.As they try to capture Lady Kong so they can transport her to her new facility, she doesn't go without being upset. That stirs up Kong to the point that he escapes. He arrives at the Warehouse and destroys the equipment used by the crew to subdue Lady Kong. HE takes her in his arms and they escape into the wilderness.Lt. Col. R.T. Nevitt (John Ashton) is given the task by the US Army to capture the apes. He prevents anyone from coming near the area so it makes it difficult for Dr. Franklin and MItchell to get near them. They however suceeds. Flanklin checks Kongs heart and its ine.The next morning, Flanklin and Mitchell notice that Kong is gone, leaving Lady Kong alone. A few minutes later, helicopters with gas are emptying their containers on Lady Kong. This makes her fall asleep. King Kong arrives and the army prevents him from getting close by bombing the area in front of him. The Army captures Lady Kong and take her away. King Kong is trapped on a mountain peek and jumps down into a river in order to escape. He hits his head on a large rock and everyone thinks he's dead.Col. Nevitt takes Lady Kong to an abandoned Missile Silo and prevents anyone from seeing the ape. After three months, Franklin manages to get a court order from the Pentagon and she manages to see the ape only once for a few minutes. Something is wrong, because the ape does not want to eat and she pines for her Kong.Mitchell comes back from Borneo with a deal for the University to buy a 10,000 acre piece of land for the kongs. Wehn he hears about how Lady Kong is treated, he gets upset and heads over to the Silo to get answers. He is quickly turned around.Meanwhile Kong survived in a swamp eating aligators. He suddenly hears the cry of Lady Kong miles away from him. Its too much for him and he decides to go after her. In his travel he encounters a small village and scares them. That information quickly reaches Col. Nevitt's ears and he proceeds to find Kong.The villagers proceed to go hunting after Kong and small group of them brings dynamite. They prepare an ambusgh and Kong eventually triggers the trap, The villagers have Kong trapped inside tons of boulders and they begin to torture him. Kong gets mad and kills them all. Now the Army has no choice but to kill Kong.Knowing that King Kong is on his way to save Lady Kong, the Army is prepared. The attack begins, but Kong manages to pass right through them and reaches the silo. Mitchell and Flanklin were about to release Lady Kong when they noticed she was pregnant. Kongs saves the female ape and they again escape. Duddenly, Lady Kong is in labour and falls on a barn.The army arrives and Kong has had enough. He attacks and the Army fires back. The shooting stops when Kong kills Col. AShton with one big knuckle punch. Hurt real bad, Kong reaches the barn just in time to see Lady Kong give birth to a son. Pleased that he has a son, Kong dies.Lady Kong is taken back to Borneo with her son. | romantic | train | imdb | null |
tt0412019 | Broken Flowers | Don Johnston (Bill Murray), a former Don Juan who made a small fortune in the computer industry, wants to live in quiet retirement. He is content to lounge around watching old movies and listening to classical or easy listening music. His current girlfriend, Sherry (Julie Delpy), is ending their relationship and moving out of his house when a letter in a pink envelope arrives. After she walks out, Don reads the letter; it purports to be from an unnamed former girlfriend, informing him that he has a son who is nearly nineteen years old, and who may be looking for him. Initially, Don does not intend to do anything about it, but his busybody neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright), who is a mystery novel enthusiast, urges Don to investigate. Winston researches the current locations of the five women most likely to have written the letter and gives Don the information along with maps and flight reservations, and persuades him to visit them.
Ultimately Don meets with four women, each encounter worse than the last and each woman damaged in some way:
Laura (Sharon Stone) works as a closet and drawer organizer and is the widow of a race car driver. She clearly has issues with men, coming across as grasping and overly eager, which she has passed on to her teenage daughter, Lolita (Alexis Dziena), who is a flirt, parades nude in front of Don on their very first meeting. That night, Laura sleeps with Don.
Dora (Frances Conroy) is a realtor. Once a "flower child" of the 1960s, she has reversed to the opposite extreme and is now apparently resigned to a very uptight existence in her otherwise happy marriage to Ron (Christopher McDonald).
Carmen Markowski (Jessica Lange) works as an "animal communicator." Don recalls how she was formerly so passionate about becoming a lawyer. But "passion is a funny thing," she says. She is cold to Don and has an odd relationship with her secretary (Chloë Sevigny).
Penny (Tilda Swinton) lives in a rural area amongst bikers. She still holds a grudge against Don, and apparent rage overall. When Don asks her whether she has a son, she becomes furious, which results in one of her biker friends punching Don out. The next morning, Don finds himself in his car, in the middle of a field, with a nasty cut near his left eye.
Later, Don stops at a florist to buy flowers from a young woman named Sun Green (Pell James) who treats his cut. Don leaves the flowers at the grave of the fifth woman, Michelle Pepe, whom Don originally thought might be the mother before finding out she had died five years prior. Finally, Don returns home where he finds a pink letter from Sherry, admitting she still likes him. He discusses the trip and second letter with Winston, who theorizes that Sherry might have written the original letter as a hoax. He then goes home to compare the two letters. Don then meets a young man in the street (Mark Webber) who he suspects may be his son. He buys him a meal, but when he remarks that the young man believes that Don is his father, the young man becomes agitated and flees. As Don attempts to chase the man, he notices a Volkswagen Beetle drive past. A young man (Homer Murray) in the passenger seat is listening to the music which Don himself listens to as Don is left standing in the middle of a crossroads. | comedy, boring, depressing, paranormal, dramatic, atmospheric, psychedelic, humor, philosophical, storytelling | train | wikipedia | So, yes, it's wonderful minimalism, but perhaps a bit too slight of a movie to have any lasting resonance.Bill Murray has added another very good performance to his career, and Jim Jarmusch has made another compact little gem (unlike some of his more recent films).
The film, helmed under the more effective title "Dead Flowers", is an unintended journey of self-discovery which is purposely incomplete but not pointless; the screenplay leaves the scenario open for discussion, and writer-director Jim Jarmusch structures each sequence in such a cockeyed way that we don't really know where the movie is headed.
I can't think of an actor better suited to play the expressionless chronic bachelor Don at the heart of Jim Jarmusch's newest movie than Bill Murray.
It's a characterization Murray has so down pat that I'm tempted to think he's not really acting all that much, but he's so perfectly cast that it doesn't much matter whether he's acting or not.If you're not familiar with the movies of Jim Jarmusch, "Broken Flowers" is a nice introduction, as it's the most accessible Jarmusch film I've seen.
I liked how subtle the film was; Don doesn't make any huge ground-breaking discoveries about himself, but nevertheless you sense that he's a slightly different person after his journey than he was before it.You'll have to be patient, as Jarmusch tells his story very slowly, and nearly all of Don's interaction with others is ponderously awkward.
But the movie slowly begins to fascinate, and you find yourself watching the faces of the women he visits (and examining the visible details of their lives) much in the same way that Don is himself, looking for the slightest hint that she might be the one who sent that fateful letter.A very fine film, poignant and sad in a rather obscure way, and one that stays in your mind for a while after seeing it.Grade: A-.
"Broken Flowers" is a travelogue and like most Jarmusch films, the story is more concerned with the journey but not so much about the destination.
One of the ex's we meet works in real estate and decides it would be a good idea for her to get into the water business because "one day in the near future it will be more valuable then oil." The atmosphere is awkward and rather then care whether this woman is responsible for the anonymous letter, we just feel like getting out of there.
In Broken Flowers, Bill Murray as Don Johnston is also on a trip, but more certain of his goal than anyone in Stranger, for he seeks out his alleged son by visiting former lovers, one of whom anonymously wrote that she had borne him a child 19 years ago.The formidable women, including a randy Sharon Stone happily lampooning her film persona and Tilda Swinton, tougher and more dangerous than all the others in her biker mom role, never really sway him from seeking his son or finding himself.
In fact he outstrips all of his former loves in kindness and caring in calm response to often explosive situations, for instance when Stone's daughter, Lolita, comes on to him only to find he is not available.I complain American films are not sophisticated like Euro flicks, but Jarmusch has come close with this slow, laconic, and demanding indie.
Hats off to Bill Murray for mixing minimalist with passionate this time aroundhis purpose and his change of character make his aging Hollywood star Bob from Lost in Translation just a dress rehearsal for this Oscar-worthy performance and film.Perhaps Don's discovery is twofold: his potential to love others and himself.
Between this film, Lost in Translation and the Life Aquatic he presents us with a very real sense of what it means to be in your mid fifties and contemplating all that has been missed while pursuing something else.The movie moves slowly, at a measured pace, but it has to, because that is how the story unfolds, with the protagonist moving down the road of his past reluctantly, and with trepidation and rightly so, because he has left skeletons behind.
We watch the fateful letter at the beginning when it's being dropped in the mail box right up to its delivery through Don's mail slot.Jim Jarmusch, and his amazing cast have done wonders with this film.
The style of the film is paced slow allowing you time to wonder at Murray's dead dead dead pan delivery, it's the stuff that made watching him so enjoyable in 'The life aquatic' and 'lost in translation' but turned up a notch.
One of my favourite things about this film is how it addresses wanting children from a mans point of view, Don constantly says to his neighbour that he's not interested in finding out or even going and then he does the opposite, it is the male equivalent of being broody and it ends up with Don clutching at straws and almost saying 'someone, anyone please be my son?' With a well-chosen eclectic soundtrack from Jarmusch complimenting scene after scene the film flows from comedic highs to tender lows.
There is almost no character development, no story development that engages the viewer in any significant way, and a cast of characters that are cartoonish in their broadly drawn quirkiness: the aging Don Juan, the out-of-control Lolita, the warm family-man, the biker chic, the lost young man searching for meaning...this is a stable of old characters that take up time and space in this movie, but add nothing of substance.We are reminded in every possible way that this man is a "Don Juan" and yet NOTHING in the story or character development suggests how someone so broken, so numb, so completely uninterested in life or people, could be that sort of man.
The parallel between the film's pace and Don's life seems like an amateurish parlor trick to fool the audience into thinking that the mundane is meaningful - not in this movie!
All the symbolism is lurid in its obviousness (ex: Don watching the old/original "Don Juan" movie on TV as his life unravels) while the character/story development is so subtle as to be non-existent.I could not imagine a more uninteresting use of major acting talent (not just Bill Murray, but the whole cast).
Oddly, it doesn't seem to be Bill Murray's Don himself who is interested in these women, making the display of skin even more gratuitous.I'm guessing the lack of resolution at the end was supposed to be indicative of Don's ambivalence about life's direction, but it just looked/felt like the scriptwriter had run out of ideas and so ended the movie.
$9 and 2 hours of my time spent with characters I didn't get to know or like, and a story that went nowhere in the worst way - UGH!If this had in fact been a student film, any good professor would have suggested that Jarmusch trim the self-conscious "subtlety" and develop a story worth watching..
After reading an outstanding review of this film, and enjoying Bill Murray's recent films, I somewhat hurriedly went out to view Jim Jarmusch's 'Broken Flowers'.
Despite not liking much of Jarmusch films, I held out hope that the presence of Murray, Stone, Lange et al would be enough to make a difference.
The story was boring, Bill Murray's acting, which I normally love, was basically non-existent, and most of the scenes dragged on way too long and became so repetitive as to render them pointless.
I understand Murray's character was emotionally numbed and basically incapable of feeling anything that even faintly resembles human emotion, but to watch his expressionless face in scene after scene of awkward encounters and countless miles of driving his rental cars is enough to force even the most devout fan of movies into a comatose state.
And I think that director Jim Jarmusch didn't really fully rise to the occasion.What makes "Broken Flowers" watchable and actually worth watching is the impressive performance by Bill Murray, along with some great supporting acting from Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton.
Bill Murray was really in his ace in the role of Don Johnston, just a shame that the storyline was a ball and chain around his ankle.Having seen "Broken Flowers" once, I can honestly say that I am not going to Watch it a second time, because it just doesn't have that much weight to sustain multiple viewings..
At first I thought at the end of the movie he was thinking about how he had been so wrong about assuming that the young man was his son and how looking back, he might have been wrong about other assumptions in the past.
Much the same goes for this Jim Jarmusch film, written expressly for actor Bill Murray.
Don. But accepting Murray (if we must) as a Lothario, the film contrives to send him on a 'road trip' to find out if he has a son, despite a pink letter saying that the son would likely be coming to find HIM.
"Broken Flowers" was a waste of movie time; the plot was boring; the music horrible and although Bill Murray is a favorite of mine, especially in "Lost in Translation; I got really tired of seeing the deadpan close-ups he is so famous for.
This movie seemed like a good candidate for 2 hours of my time: a 7+ rating on IMDb, a powerful cast (Bill Murray, whose Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters I loved; Sharon Stone; Julie Delpy from Before Sunrise/Sunet); a cool opening with the path of a letter though the United States Postal System...
It added nothing to the story whatsoever.Melancholy and thoughtful was probably what the director was trying to achieve, but instead we have Bill Murray looking like he's spaced out on drugs for most of the time.IMDb has this scoring in the mid sevens as I write this.
It seems like the actors are sleep walking through the film (which is just as well because most of the audience will be doing the same thing out the doors of the cinema).I could have forgiven these faults if the ending had been worth bothering going to the cinema and waiting for.
I won't spoil it for those of you that still want to see this (mainly because i'm not sure how i possibly could) but don't expect any kind of closure at all.However, the film does create a nice atmosphere on the few rare occasions when they decide to actually follow the story rather than watching Don Johnston drive his car through mountain roads whilst listening to terrible music for minutes at a time.
The film is written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, who has brought us such offbeat delights as Down By Law, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai and Coffee And Cigarettes, and all of those I liked a lot.
I didn't really find any of the characters that interesting and at times it was hard to relate to characters in the film and wonder at the end what the point of the movie was.
It was still mildly entertaining and I liked their performances and some of the creative scenes so for that I'am slightly recommending this but it doesn't work on a whole as well as past Jarmusch movies that were virtually ignored while this one is getting a lot of buzz..
"Lost in Translation" is a much better example of a film that takes its time to tell a story and uses silence and Bill Murray properly..
I thought I was a Bill Murray fan, I mean, I really enjoyed Groundhog Day. In this movie, though, he never, never, never changes his bored expression.
Broken flowers, written expressly for actor Bill Murray, is a good film with great acting but it suffers from what I think is an independent film theme of being too slow while trying to be thought provoking.
I am a big fan of slow-moving and thoughtful films but Broken Flowers crawled along and I found it very difficult to care in the slightest about Bill Murray's character.
GET ME OUT OF THIS MOVIE!" Which was just what I was about to do - but then mercifully the whole thing ended - by NOT ending, as is the way with films like this I suppose.Want to see a quirky movie with complex characters - see Junebug.
Like Lost in Translation, his character moves from scene to scene, place to place, apparently only because his friend Winston tells him to, and then he comes home, gets back in his jogging suit and goes back to his apparently pointless life.
In fact, the entire tedious quest that takes up most of the movie -- Murray showing up at the various past girlfriends' houses unannounced, standing stiffly at the doorbells with flowers in his hand -- seems completely pointless and ridiculous, something no intelligent character would ever waste time doing.
As a huge fan of Bill Murray I loved "Lost in Translation" and "Life Aquatic", and so was looking forward to this film, especially with the good reviews, but it was a huge disappointment.
I was at first excited to see Broken Flowers as the idea for the story seemed quietly funny and interesting, but as usual Jarmish stomps on any vaguely appealing laughter by bringing out some of the dullest performances from such a group of wildly diverse interesting actors I have seen in years, Whilst Coffee and Cigerets should have won the razzie for the worst most pretentious film in history Broken Flowers is just dull, Dull to the point where I was more aware of the people sitting behind me than the pointless un - verbose un - funny dialog on screen, My main concern is how Jarmish could have possibly managed to achieve such performances from these actors..even the usually fabulous Ms Lang was a let down (and I loath to say it) Bill Murray was just moronic, and Jefferey write couldn't decide if he was from Ethiopia, India or Wales, all in all it was a painful hour and a half, Jarmish recently said he is happy that the massive do not like his films as he doesn't make films for us to like - Well at least that is one thing he got right..
His latest squeeze, played by Julie Delpy, has left him (gee what a cameo), and so did countless others before her.But the pace picks up slightly (it moves terribly slow throughout the movie) when he receives a pink envelope, and inside a typewritten note, telling him that he has a son from an affair twenty years ago, and that son is now on a road trip looking for his father.
"POTENTIAL SPOILERS"Bill Murray stars as an aging Don Juan prompted by his amateur detective neighbor (Jeffrey Wright) to travel across country visiting old girlfriends after a mysterious letter arrives indicating he may have fathered a son nearly twenty years ago.
Those expecting something even vaguely similar in theme or style to the ultimate Murray acting showcase "Lost in Translation" will be even more disappointed.Somehow Jim Jarmusch has managed to craft a film of almost nothing but awkward silences and a with complete lack of any forward momentum.
"Broken flowers" is highly pornographic in that regard.If you want a well-acted movie with complex characters and realistic situations, go see something by Ingmar Bergman instead of wasting your time and money on this bore..
I'm more of fan of Jim Jarmusch than Bill Murray, but I think his performance in Broken Flowers is the highlight of the movie.
"Broken Flowers" by Jim Jarmush tells the story of a boring, lifeless older man, Don Johnstone (Murray), who gets a letter one day, telling him he's got a son looking for him.
Excellent story, though the philosophical punch line was so mangled by Bill Murray just walking woodenly through the scenes that it takes some imagination to think of how it would have been if done properly.I would also say that although I like Jarmusch generally, the philosophy in the ending scene was supposed to suddenly stand out as a thread through the movie, but this thread was so murdered the reaction I had was, gosh, this was supposed to have stood out as a message of the film.
Perhaps that sums up my entire response to the film it never fully engaged me.Bill Murray is an interesting guy, I enjoyed Ground Hog Day and I thought Lost in Translation very good.
I adore the way Jim Jarmusch tells stories like this, his using details to describe a character, his making you laugh and leaving you quite moved...But reading through the comments, I couldn't help noticing the large number of bad opinions about the film.
but maybe I don't like how the plot is narrated or how characters are portrayed...) Broken Flowers is surely a good, really good movie.
Murray plays an over-aged bachelor named Don Johnston who gets a mysterious pink letter in the mail from a girlfriend twenty years past that claims she bore him a son.
I really liked this movie- Broken flowers.I am fascinated by the character Rita.
Jim Jarmusch is loved by the female audience and this movies shows why: he understands them well and his female characters are interesting.
Having read the description of this movie, only a minute or two ago, I now know why things ended as they did - sounds logical, although I would have given Mr. Johnston a different reason to go searching, which has been done, but I feel Bill Murray could have carried it away with flowers.One scene truly surprised me, and it was well done.
I would have to say, even though I was wrong in my idea of why Mr. Johnston was searching, I did enjoy the movie, and as I have said, a good job was done by all.Always looking forward to Bill Murray's work..
It reminded me so much of the way French films are (which I love).The mysterious ending was disappointing to me, but I still liked the movie. |
tt0104348 | Glengarry Glen Ross | ACT IThe movie begins in a Chinese restaurant somewhere in Chicago with character Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon), a veteran real estate salesman, attempting to contact a doctor for his daughter. In the phone booth next to him is Dave Moss (Ed Harris) attempting to sell properties in Rio Rancho Estates. They both go into the mens room and start complaining about the type of potential customers, or leads, they have been getting from their sales company. They exit the bathroom and Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) is successfully selling real estate to a man at the bar.When they return to their office, a representative, a hot-tempered, arrogant businessman called Blake (Alec Baldwin, in a role written just for the movie; not in the original stage play) sent by the owners of the company they work for, Mitch and Murray, is there. He berates them over their poor sales, and announces a "contest" in which the best-selling salesman gets a Cadillac, and the worst performing salesman is fired. The salesmen themselves blame their lack of sales on the poor quality of the leads they have gotten. Blake then tells them that he has some "premium" leads for sales in a new development, the Glengarry Leads. These are buyers who are both likely to buy and able to afford the land they are selling, so getting these leads is incredibly important to all the salesmen. Blake tells them that the leads will go to the best performing salesmen, the first likely being Roma, who has been leading the office in sales on the big board.Shelley is so distraught with the situation that he confronts the office manager, Mr. Williamson (Kevin Spacey), about providing him with the better leads. He takes advantage of Shelley's vulnerable situation by offering to sell him the better leads at fifty dollars a piece as well as a cut of 20% of all his profits. Shelley is unable to afford the terms and is stuck attempting to sell his second-rate leads.The movie then skips to Dave Moss and co-worker, George Aaronow (Alan Arkin), going to a local diner across town and talking about the unethical behavior of their employer, Williamson, and about their mean and ungrateful rep, Blake, over their sales work. Moss proposes that they strike back at Mitch and Murray by stealing all the Glengarry leads and sell them to Jerry Graff, a competing real estate agency, for $7,500. Moss's plan would require Aaronow to break into the office, stage a burglary, and steal all the prime leads. Aaronow wants no part of the plan, but Moss tries to coerce him, saying that Aaronow is already an accomplice simply because he knows about the proposed robbery. Aaronow continues to decline.Meanwhile, Ricky Roma is selling real estate to a meek, middle-aged man named James Lingk (Jonathon Pryce) back at the Chinese restaurant by promising financial success in investing. Roma does not broach the subject of a real estate deal until he has completely won Lingk over with his speech. Framing it as being "an opportunity" rather than a purchase, Roma plays upon Lingk's feelings of complacency and insecurity.ACT IIThe next day, the salesmen come into work to find that the office has been burglarized and the Glengarry leads have been stolen. Williamson and the police question each of the salesmen in private. It would appear that Aaronow and Moss have done it due to their nervous attitudes. As a police inspector interviews each of them one by one in Mr. Williamson's office, Roma is especially distraught because he was the only one whose successful sales record entitled him to the Glengarry leads. Everyone is in a terrible mood except for Levene who reveals that he managed to sell $82,000 in property the night before. He explains his success story to Roma who listens with great respect and happiness for his co-worker. The negative tone in the office overshadows Levene's great sell. After his interrogation, Moss leaves in disgust, only after having one explosive last encounter with Roma.During the cycle of interrogations first with Moss, then with Aaronow, and then to Levene, Lingk arrives at the office to tell Roma that his wife has told him to cancel the deal they made the night before because they can ill afford the sale. Scrambling to salvage the deal, Roma tries to deceive Lingk by telling him that the check he wrote the night before has yet to be cashed, and that accordingly he has time to reason with his wife and reconsider. At the same time, Levene abets Roma by claiming to be a wealthy investor and friend of Roma's who just happens to be on his way to the airport, and is dependent on Roma for a ride. Williamson (unaware of Roma and Levene's stalling tactic) lies to Lingk claiming that he already deposited his check in the bank. Upset, Lingk rushes out of the office, threatening to contact the state's attorney for legal action, and Roma berates Williamson for what he has done. Roma then enters Williamson's office to take his turn being interrogated by the police. Alone with Williamson, Levene, still giddy and proud of the large sale he made that morning, takes the opportunity to mock Williamson in private. Levene further yells at Mr. Williamson for costing Roma's sale commission and tells him not to make things up unless it helps with business.Suddenly, the tables turn when Williamson firmly asks Levene: "How do you know I made it up?" In his zeal to emasculate Williamson as he has done to him several times, Levene inadvertently revealed that he knew Williamson was lying to Roma on the spur of the moment about taking Lingk's check to the bank, and that Williamson actually left Lingk's check on his desk and did not make the bank run the previous night.... something only the man who broke into the office would know. Williamson catches Levene's slip-up quickly and compels Levene to admit that he broke into the office. Levene tries laughing it off, but he eventually breaks down and admits that he indeed broke into the office because he and Moss conspired to steal the Glengarry leads to sell to Jerry Graff. Apparently, Levene ended up being Moss' accomplice in the plan after Aaronow (which Levene apparently does not know about) had turned down Moss' offer. Levene explains that the current situation has made him realize that being a salesman is what he was meant to do in life. Mr. Williamson tells Shelley Levene that his "big sale" has an incredible client credibility, and that he is a terrible salesman.Mr. Williamson tells Levene that he is finished and he will turn him into the authorities. Levene attempts to bargain with Mr. Williamson, but Williamson reveals to Levene that the buyers to whom he made the $82,000 sale earlier are in fact crazy and have no money, and that he has no interest in helping Levene with anything for the simple reason that Williamson dislikes him. The film ends as Levene walks, defeated, into Williamson's office where the police are waiting. Roma walks out of the office for lunch, and Aaronow sits alone at his desk to continue his sales calls as usual. | cult, boring, realism | train | imdb | It is adapted from the stage play, and I appreciate the way in which it was shot, retaining so much of the raw appeal that can only be felt at the theatre, as opposed to the cinema.This movie is a veritable who's who of acting, with Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce - not to mention a then-relatively-unknwon Kevin Spacey.If you can appreciate powerful acting, films based on dialogue with few scene changes, and can withstand an absolute barrage of foul language (which I must add is perfectly suited to this film), then this movie will blow you away..
I've read the comments about the amount of profanity in this movie..if you've ever worked in a less than ethical sale office, you'll know the language is very real...having worked a few years in telemarketing selling everything from wireless cable licenses to vitamins and ad specs, I can tell you, the dialog is very real.This is my favorite movie of all time...sure, it's not flashy, upbeat or effect-laden, but it's so realistic that the first time I saw it, I got goosebumps...Every character in the movie is one that I recognized from my office experiences...the mega-closer mouth piece (Baldwin), the complainers who always complained about the leads (Lemon and Arkin), the office manager who'd never actually sold anything before but had a little rub (Spacey), the hotshot salesman (Pacino)...
I cannot believe this film is rated below an 8What else can be written about James Foley's adaptation of David Mamet's Pulitzer prize winning play other than devastatingly scorching.Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, and Jonathan Pryce: perhaps the greatest acting ensemble ever put before a camera, collectively portray employees of a real estate agency- the sales department.
Or did the real cinema pros - the cast - just take the ball and run, literally directing the film themselves, so used to playing those roles on stage, with the exception of Pacino and Baldwin.
I rented it on a whim and I've watched it four times since Monday.Glengarry Glen Ross is the story of a failing real estate office in which four agents are told they'd better get some property sold quick, or they'll be out of a job.
It amazes me how all the big names in this film (and there are plenty, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin) were pulled together for this two-act movie play about a salesman's life.
Scripted by David Mamet, the dialog never hits and weak patches -- it is realistic, extremely fun to listen to, and the actors all deliver flawless performances.Al Pacino finally finds the perfect role to let himself vent (as he started to do in "Scent of a Woman" the same year, and won an Oscar for -- he deserved it more for this).
Well, hold tight, because help is on the way, as writer/director David Mamet goes to great lengths to answer it in `Glengarry Glen Ross,' an unflinching, hard-edged film that examines the motivations of those who would readily and eagerly separate you from more than a few of your hard earned dollars, and whose least concern, apparently, is the value of their product or that parcel of land, which according to them is situated just this side of Shangri-la.
Whether it's the smooth and savvy top-dog of the office, Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), schmoozing a client into handing over a check, or a veteran loser like Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) showing up at someone's door on a cold call at a most inopportune and inconvenient moment and refusing to leave, Mamet convincingly maintains that the con-is-always-on, and the result-- especially in this film-- is a bleak, but riveting commentary on the human condition, delivered with an intensity that will keep you on the very edge of your emotional seat right up to the end.
All aspiring actors should be required to watch "Glengarry Glen Ross" as a prerequisite, because all you need to know about great acting is in this movie.
Utterly joyless film, scripted by David Mamet from his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, about harried, put-upon real estate agents struggling to satisfy the corporate bosses and keep their jobs, lying to and cheating their clients, their co-workers, and maybe even themselves.
The mind tricks the salesmen are pulling are just amazing and may be compared to scenes of other great movies like The Wolf of Wall Street.The little substance of the plot - the sales team of a real estate office is put under pressure, as someone robbed it - is not annoying by the drama added.
Baldwin's role is about six minutes long and you wish it lasted for an hour.He plays Blake, a job motivator who is asked to motivate the rest of the cast to encourage them to sell real-estate, and his motivations and handling of the dialogue just rip the screen apart cause it's just too small for him.The rest of the cast is great and David Mamet writes one of his smartest scripts, but besides how great the cast is Alec Baldwin's performance just blows them all away..
How can you miss with all of these tremendous actors: Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Alec Baaldwin and last but certainly not least, Jack Lemmon...I think Lemmon's performance was one of the best acting performances I have ever seen....David Mamet's depiction of the sales business being the perennial snake pit manifests itself to a point of nauseating callousness in this movie!!
This is truly one of those films that one cannot imagine being remade with any success because it is hard to imagine finding actor's more perfectly suited to the roles, who more perfectly understand both their own characters and Mamet's unique rhythms, and who click so precisely.So, even if you've never liked Lemmon much, or you've found Pacino over-the-top, Ed Harris dull or Alan Arkin annoying, see this movie, because you will take away a profound respect for their talents..
You get this vibe, of such such utter desperation, all through this film, set in a rundown real estate office, a perfect set piece, where across the street is their watering hole/Chinese restaurant, which took me back to Cadillac Man. At the moment, things are pretty down at Mitch and Murray, this downtown real estate office, in lower area of New York, where jobs are on the line, and it's employees are given an ear bashing and a hard and nasty word from a boss (Baldwin-explosive and intense) outside of this office.
GGR is compelling viewing all the way through, as are the actors brilliant performances, Al Pacino's character, of course, as hotshot Richard Roma, stealing the limelight, where I too, loved Spacey, as the weak minded galah, running the place, where evidently, this guy shouldn't be.
The film has been done solid, thanks to the acting and script, and too done under the wonderful direction and watchful eye of a versatile director, who makes movies, that I like.
Great performances by an all-star cast: Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Jonathan Pryce.
One of the greatest scripts ever written.The clue is that the direction and action is obviously driven forward by the power of the writing.This is the legacy of Glengarry Glen Ross.If taken in the spirit intended, viewing GGR is to participate.So much that is beautiful, the least of which is the beauty of the Spacey/Lemmon work, Lemmon having been a muse to Spacey.Watch this film.
Glengarry Glen Ross is exceedingly well acted by all,--Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin and, in a small but pivotal role, Jonathan Pryce.
The frustrations, the bitter resentment towards peers and superiors, it's all feelings that anyone has felt and he pours it into this compelling journey of interesting and diverse characters.Looking at the roster of actors here it's kind of baffling that only one of them managed to get award nominations for their work in this, because every single member of the cast delivers fireworks; it's honestly one of the greatest ensembles ever put on film.
It's like they all had some private competition on who can act the best...and they all won.Still, what makes Mamet's script work so well is that it's not just a vehicle for these incredible actors; it's loaded with calculated flavor and universal themes that have lived on and even became more socially relevant now than they were when the film was made.
In his brief scene Baldwin chisels a realistic and frightening performance.The rest of the cast speaks for itself: an inspired Jack Lemmon as the powerfully desperate Shelly "The Machine" Levene; Al Pacino as the seductively slick Ricky Roma; Ed Harris in a bravado performance as Dave Moss, George Aronow, the hapless, but likable everyman played by Alan Arkin; Kevin Spacey as the street-lame office manager; and Jonathan Pryce in an effective role as a cuckold client.
Each salesperson has their own distinct personality: Ricky Roma (Pacino) is the charming, hot-shot sales expert who stands atop the sales leader board, Shelley Levene (Lemmon) is the aging, past his prime veteran who's value with the firm is quickly dropping and whose personal life like his professional life is falling apart, Dave Moss (Ed Harris) is the frustrated, angry middle aged man who's tired of the conditions he experiences everyday at the office and is ready to fight back, and George Aaronow (Arkin) is the weak, pathetic man who really has no business working in sales other than the fact that he's desperate for work.Things change for the office when "downtown" sends Blake (Alec Baldwin in perhaps his best performance ever), an extremely successful sales rep, over for a sales team meeting.
Not one is a real 'good guy' and he shows that there is a dark side in everyone of us.I'm a big Al Pacino fan so he easily is my favorite character in the movie but maybe even better acting in this movie is Jack Lemmon.
Desperation sets in really fast for four real estate salesmen (Oscar-nominee Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin and Ed Harris) after an efficiency expert (Alec Baldwin) tells them that the top two sellers for the month will keep their jobs while the others will be fired.
Inspiration to become like these "Lost Souls" and "Flesh Feeders".Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce, and Alec Baldwin "Lead" the Great Acting Ensemble with James Foley's unobtrusive Direction.
We all keep going to the cinema hoping something special will happen.Sitting through all the CGI laden rubbish ..all the Marvel muck..teen angst and so called comedies and horrors...Then we have this...the special effects in this movie are the actors themselves,,Lemon,Pacino,Spacey,Harris,Baldwin,Pryce, Arkin,,,,what a cast..Directed by James Foley this is a masterclass in all there is to know about movies.Jack Lemon gives the finest performance in a movie....ever.The only other movie I hold anywhere alongside this is last years exceptional " Birdman".Blockbusters and re-makes come and go but this will be here to stay as a testament to how great a visit to the cinema can be..
Boasting a star cast of Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin & Jonathan Pryce, all brilliantly introduced in the film's opening moments, Glengarry Glen Ross is an acting powerhouse but what makes it even better is its deftly written story & excellent direction.The story of Glengarry Glen Ross concerns four real estate salesmen working for Mitch & Murray who are berated by the very person their superiors sent to motivate them, and find out that they have limited time to close the deals or they're fired.
Pacino is incredibly charismatic, Harris covers his character's frustration amazingly well, Lemmon delivers possibly the most impressive performance of them all, Spacey chips in nicely with what he's given & Alec Baldwin is present on the screen in only one scene yet his show-stealing monologue will manage to stay with the viewers long after the film has finished.On an overall scale, Glengarry Glen Ross is an intensely interesting cinema that enters through the back door of a real estate office to examine the tactics used by salesmen to do their duty.
The men are Shelley 'The Machine' Levene (Jack Lemmon), a salesman stuck in a seemingly impenetrable rut, Dave Moss (Ed Harris), who is planning to upstage some sort of a corporate rebuttal against the system, George Aaronow (Alan Arkin), another agent stuck in a rut, and Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), the fiery suit who can close pretty much any deal and is currently the big man in the office.When Blake (Alec Baldwin) is sent by the unseen owners of the business, Mitch and Murray, to give the men a profanity-laced tirade, criticizing them for their work ethic and offering prizes to the "closers," the men become desperate and power-hungry.
But the performances I was sold on the most were Jack Lemmon, who unintentionally makes his character sympathetic, despite being a shameful, snaky soul, and Alec Baldwin, whose appearance in the film is less than ten minutes, but carries forth an impact that is truly a lasting one.
It's a shame a great film by all these actors today is seldom seen.Starring: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, and Jonathan Pryce.
It's a dark, profane, bitter, and cynical story about an office full of sleazy, lowlife salesmen (Pacino, Lemmon, Harris, and Arkin) who's job is to get in contact with cold potential customers (leads), and pass off what's essentially uninhabitable swampland as prime real estate.
The situation is a humiliating paradox, that becomes outright desperate when a manager (Alec Baldwin) comes to the office from headquarters and announces a motivational sales contest that will mean prizes for the winners and unemployment for everyone else.The characters are developed to perfection, and it is their words and reactions to the situation at hand that make this film such a work of genius.
A masterclass in ensemble acting, with Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin and Kevin Spacey all in devastating form as men keeping their head above water, and Alec Baldwin in a near-cameo that is still the benchmark for any actor who only has one scene to make an impression.
This film shows how to make astonishing cinema without violence, without sex, without blood, without explosions, without easy gags....just talented actors perfectly directed and intelligent dialogues.Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon's performances are superb..
Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin and Jonathan Pryce are all excellent in characterisations that are multi-layered and believable.
In what is essentially an ensemble cast, the entire cast give superb performances particularly Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin and Ed Harris, and even Kevin Spacey makes a telling cameo.Cinematography and editing wise Glengarry Glen Ross cannot be faulted either.
This, in my opinion, is the only way to adapt a stage play to a movie.The story itself is a very gritty and tense interplay between a group of real estate salesmen who have been given an order by their boss "close a sale or your fired" (played wonderfully by Alec Baldwin).
Director James Foley hauled out out six of the best character actors in the country: Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey.
Glengarry Glen Ross is a very enjoyable tale of the struggles of a group of Real Estate Salesmen - enjoyable as it's well directed, has an excellent script and a brilliant cast.Kevin Spacey is his usual excellent self, Baldwin does a good job of his role - but the star is undoubtedly Jack Lemmon, who is excellent as the washed up salesman Shelley Levene.Excellent performances from Jonathan Pryce and Ed Harris make this a must see..
A great film, and if you ask me, Pacino could have done with his second Oscar of the year for his performance.Last but not least: Alec Baldwin's five minute performance is acting at it's VERY BEST.
Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin and Kevin Spacey are real estate "investment" salesmen who are given leads to follow up on to sell various properties.
My strange title spells out the A B C of selling - Always Be Closing but also hints at how ugly this film's dialogue often is.But David Mamet's screenplay, from his Pulitzer prize-winning play is about a man's world and is set in one, where men of varying personalities and abilities speak freely as men do, often in passion, often in anger and often with both.Whilst cinematically restrictive, director James Foley's rather claustrophobic 4:3 ratio swings along with the crisp, tart dialogue and soon one is entranced by the super-actor ensemble cast of Ed Harris, Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce and Alec Baldwin.
Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin head up this adaptation of an award-studded stage production.
There's Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Jonathan Pryce and Alec Baldwin.
Let's see, we've got Oscar winners Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin & Kevin Spacey and Oscar nominees Ed Harris & Alec Baldwin.
Now, that's not far from the truth, but it's precisely in the talking where the beauty is.Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), Shelley "The Machine" Levene (Jack Lemmon), David Moss (Ed Harris), John Williamson (Kevin Spacey) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) are characters brilliantly written and masterfully played.
"The best cast I've ever worked with" said Jack Lemmon after filming Glengarry Glen Ross, and it is definitely no surprise as to why he would make such a bold statement.
But what else do you expect from an ensemble of greats; including the likes of Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Price and a cameo from Alec Baldwin.
Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin.
Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris , Alec Baldwin all give a very powerful performance as conscience free salesmen and motivators. |
tt0364517 | Jeux d'enfants | The film begins in Liège in Belgium, where a little girl, Sophie, is being bullied by other children. Only a bus driver and a boy, Julien, help her collect her books that the others have thrown into a puddle.
To cheer Sophie up, Julien gives her a small tin box, a gift from his fatally ill mother. Because it is important to him, he asks her to lend it back to him from time to time. As Julien wants the box back at the moment he gave it to her, Sophie demands proof of how important it is to him. Julien disengages the handbrake of the bus without hesitation, and the bus full of children rolls down a hill. Their game has begun: the box changes its owner after each completed dare.
Between the son of wealthy Belgian parents and the daughter of poor Polish immigrants a lasting friendship develops. As children, they misbehave in school, wreak havoc on a wedding, and request silly tasks of each other. As teenagers their romantic relationships with others suffer as a result of their dares. Meanwhile, the two friends ignore any consequences or punishment during their game.
While they are always looking for the next kick, a love is slowly evolving between the protagonists. Not wanting to admit it, they divert their attention from it by even more extreme dares.
As young adults, Julien tells Sophie that he wants to get married, only later revealing that he means to someone else. The climax is reached when Sophie interrupts Julien's wedding, after which he is cast out by his father and Sophie is nearly killed during another game. Julien returns to marry his wife, and Sophie declares that they will not see each other for ten years.
Ten years pass, and Julien is married with two children. Sophie has also married her husband, a famous soccer star. A successful Julien admits that he has not forgotten Sophie, though he assumes that she has forgotten him. On the night of Julien's tenth wedding anniversary, Sophie sends a message to him, indicating that the game is back on. Julien and Sophie meet for a brief moment in the midst of another dare, yet it is enough to remind Julien that their game is "better than life itself." After a dramatic accident, Julien and Sophie finally reunite, despite the protestations of their spouses.
The film has two alternate endings, which are shown consecutively. In the first, Julien and Sophie decide as an ultimate dare to finally share their dream together, their "dream of an eternal love" – the pair embrace while they stand in a construction pit that is about to be filled with concrete. The couple kiss as they are pulled beneath the cement, and both drown in the sludge. The other ending has the now aged Julien and Sophie spending time together in a garden and carrying on playing their game with milder dares. However, the opening scene of the film (an overhead view of a building site and a pit filled with concrete in which the upper side Julien's tin box rests partially sunk) replays, suggesting that the two friends actually did bury themselves and drown beneath the concrete. | comedy, humor, dark, romantic, prank | train | wikipedia | The movie does not ask you to take it seriously, but simply to watch as Julien and Sophie play with the elements of conventional life.
This bittersweet comedy about love is in line with great recent French movies such as Amelie or L'Auberge Espagnole, But Jeux d'Enfants is not trying to copy any of the previous.
In fact, it is one of the most original movies I've seen lately.Directed in a superb way by the inventive Yann Samuell, this film can make you laugh out loud in a minute and shed some tears on the next due to the extreme complexity of the feelings the director and the actors share with you.
Nothing in this film seems exaggerated; it's a fairy tale of our time with a great dose of realism.The chemistry between Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard is simply perfect.Whether you like it or not, it's difficult to be indifferent to this movie and this is one of the best compliments a director can receive..
But this film continually had me reeling when trying to get a grip on it and, in the end, just when I thought it was a predictable love story...!!
We usually expect to finish watching a film and have no questions - to have everything wrapped up nice and neatly so we can get on with our lives.If you do not want to suddenly find yourself asking "Pour quoi?" a week later or waking up with the haunting refrains of the unique renditions of the Piaf song in your head, then I would suggest you rent a more predictable movie.However, if you like being alternately surprised, delighted and haunted by a unique film and wonderful soundtrack - check this one out..
Which is not to say that realism is necessarily less manipulative than expressionism, both aim to effect their viewing audience, expressionism is just less constrained.When you are used to a steady diet of Hollywood realism, it is difficult to switch gears and watch a film like "Jeux d'enfants" without attempting to force it into the realism mold.
So it is with Julien and Sophie, the central characters of this film, who in childhood become fast friends because of a game they share (or visa versa) which involves one challenging the other to do something outrageous while passing a gayly decorated candy canister to them.
Right away this film starts off in a dream like state, giving us the sense that we're really watching a school play put on by 4th graders.
It's funny how when it comes to french movies, french people are just so harsh (i'm refering to previous comments about this movie and others)!This one starts really (i mean really) good and, it's true, goes through worse scenes ...
I love romantic crap like this normally, especially offbeat stuff -- but the characters never seem to grow up, they remain children playing children's games.
The fact that these outsiders disappear conveniently when they are not needed in the story shows how shallow the storytelling truly is.Admittedly, a movie I like very much, SHE'S SO LOVELY, features a similar storyline where childish people are separated by time and when they come back together, they throw away everything that has happened in the intervening years just to be together again.
But to the more mature audience, this is downright appalling.The premise is that two kids grow up playing a mean-spirited game in which they constantly dare each other to do cruel things to innocent bystanders.
It's not a conventional movie, but if you can appreciate a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour, and the idea that love is just a game that adults play, then I'd highly recommend it.
based on a different game the two main characters play, the story tells about how a life-time love can be understood and what can be done to achieve it.
one can argue that this is one of the most different kind of love that has been told in cinema.from the beginning till the end of the film, the emotional worlds of both main characters are well explained with good connections.although there can be some disappointments about certain parts of the film, the song "la vie en rose" goes wonderful with the story and creates a good reason to like the film..
Sophie is abused because of her heritage/race (in French films this is allowed to be a background detail, in an American film they only mention it if that's what the movie's about in the first place, and even then they feel compelled to include a moral lesson about it {basically in order to deny that it is a facet of everyday life}).
The dialogs are pretty bad, some of the worst I have ever heard, Guillaume Canet is not convincing (I have almost never found him very convincing), his father in the movie plays very badly, the story is dumb, the ending is...
stupid.I think I have not dislike a movie so much since "le pacte des loups" (brotherhood of the wolf) from Christophe Gans (and I watch / see about 80-100 movies a year), but at least that movie had some action and lots of good actors.I had never commented here (only rated), and when I saw the rating and the comments, I thought I had to write something down.I guess we won't have problems to sell the DVD we were offered : not such a bad movie in our (large) collection !!!I am open minded (I watch SF, westerns, drama, comedies, silents, horror, fantasy...
If the daring game makes sense, I really don't believe in the love story & what could have been a romantic JULES & JIM feeling in the script turns into a pretty anti-climactic ending.
in the end, you're just checking your backpack in case you didn't leave your flame-thrower home.To sum things up, this movie is obviously a product generated to aim at AMELIE's audience BUT it doesn't have it's good storytelling or visual charm.
Do not waste money on this, there are much better french movies being exported, much better ones to get on DVD too [including real tasty romantic love stories]..
The direction of the film can be characterised as "cute"...but i am becoming less tolerant with films that just try to be "different" from typical Hollywood flicks, with the use of a few pretentious scenes ("oh..the typical Box Office Hit viewer could have NEVER understood that one!!")...and directorial tricks.I do like to think that there are still sincere film-making attempts in THIS century, whether its in Europe or elsewhere..."Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things"..
" i will probably tell you to forget about this movie , but if just for a second , you forget all the common sense you have and can follow the Passion that moves the characters , you will get the game and the way they play it.
But where the Hollywood movies pretty much only involve hurt feelings solved with a heartfelt apology, debut writer/director Yann Samuell has his characters play for deeper stakes that bitterly cut to the psychological core of each damaged partner.
If you like good romances, not the usual romantic comedies, but different, brand new romances, this movie is great.
The lead characters (Sophie and Julien) pulled me up to the sky and showed me how love really feels like.This is the worst dare one could do, and the best story one could watch.
One of the greatest movies i have seen in a long time the characters show a real connection you can actually feel the sexual tension between them, and the emotions they are going through.
This is one of those films you'll either love or hate...Julien & Sophie meet as children; each coming from a depressing, tragic home...their bond is an escape from 'real life' & an obsession over a game of dares where they attempt to one-up each other...at first the dares were just naughty & funny...but as Julien & Sophie got older, their dares turned darker & more destructive...The question is...is this obsession fueled by love?
or are they just extremely foolish?...I really enjoyed this film; its not that i like seeing people suffer...but its a great study of how two people -- who are obviously so right for each other -- are more obsessed with besting one another instead of being honest...Overall: This film is AMELIE meets FIGHT CLUB...this is definitely NOT a chic-flick...its a romantic/comedy where the guys might find more enjoyable than their girlfriends....
You feel the romance since the first scene but you don't get there is a love story going on until the half of the movie.
If you want a ride that pulls at and shakes up your heart, your rationality, and your outlook of the world and of life and of love, I definitely recommend this movie to you.
The wonderful performance of these two actors is remarkable due to the fact that they act such naturally!!I was very surprised that these 2 actors that are not two very important names in Hollywood performed such well in the movie.I just loved the theme of the film.I do not consider myself a romantic person,but the story had impressed me a lot.With regards, g.v..
Probably Samuell, who at 39 arguably has a modern anti-romantic view of love, chose Armstrong deliberately to puncture and romance before it got off the ground in the same way that Brecht would interrupt a serious play just as the audience was being drawn in and throw in a vaudeville act to remind us that we were in a theatre watching a play.
I think I won't watch a French movie for a long time.It was just a wast of time for me.To the people who cares these reviews you don't miss anything,it was a total torture to be patient till the end of the movie that I did it myself in 39 years of my life What is more boring than a French movie?
This is a love story with an edge and will remain with you long after any Meg or Julia flick.I'm not quite sure whether Samuell's made a film about how passionately romantic two people can be or whether this is a thinly veiled anti-romantic movie masquerading as a love story.The cornerstone of romantic films is that both lovers are immensely likable characters.
Not only is it daring to employ such an unconventional and twisted denouement, but the ending also is open to interpretation - two people seeing the same film could easily differ on what it all means.
It has all the makings of a great love story, maybe I'm just a sucker for romantic movies (and i really am) but this is one of the best i've seen so far.
I think the french can make great movies and save a lot of money in the process, watching one of their movies is like being in the mind of the director, you can even be sometimes surprised of the developments, in the last 10 American movies i saw i could tell you exactly who is going to be arrested, who will day...
But not all of them are fulfilled in their respective lives.We recommend this movie for people who love romantic comedies.
The actors who are Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard make the story even more realistic because of their real life as a couple.This film touch your heart and leaves room for our child's imagination regarding the end of the film.
i always feel french make the best movies on love.
acting is perfect and yes the script is without reason so don't expect anything else than madness.the last scene won me over and yes the story does not have the most logical , make everybody happy ending but sometimes its better that way.
Only french guys are capable of developing such beautiful surrealistic screenplays ( a la 'Amelie') which the Hollywood movie makers would never like to step on.The director influences our emotions so easily that we get hypnotized by the narration .
I think we can better understand the real essence of the characters if we start watching the film from the end to the beginning, if we realize the intense feelings they have for each other, the reasons they do what they do, the whole idea of the game they play even in the final moment.
A different kind of love story.I didn't really like the fact that a voice was explaining the whole movie but it helped to inform the watcher of history and such so I didn't mind to much.
Anyway,I voted 9 because I found the scenario really original and interesting..also congratulations to the director of photography!Everything in the film has perfectly chosen,especially the two little children..and the music..(La Vie En Rose)There's nothing much to say:Go and see it!It can change your life if you find something from yourselves like i did....
I first started getting into foreign films when I saw the movie "A Beautiful Life", and then I craved for more.
Then I saw Amelie and was entranced by the way the French film their movies.
His use of color, imaginative storytelling, and mastery behind the camera helped this film go from average love story to a clear representation of human emotion.
The colors that Samuell uses to help heighten the emotion of these two characters and build a very surreal world for us are enjoyable every time I watch this film.
I suggest this film to everyone who is looking for that creative story about love and games.Grade: ***** out of *****.
It excellently blended so many genres of films, from the dark comedic aspect to the romantic love story that most people know the French for.
At first, when i finished watching the movie, i thought that it was a complete waste of time, and this was because i did not like the ending one bit!
The way the movie was done was very similar to Amelie, which was also a very good movie.Throughout the whole movie, the two "lovers" play a game in which who ever has the tin box has to do the other ones dare, and eventually it spins out of control as love gets involved.The ending was not one of my preferred tastes.
The cast for the two main characters are great; however, I think Marion Cotillard carries out as Sophie more beautifully than Guillaume Canet does as Julien.It's a movie that is worth seeing..
Even the young actors who play Sophie & Julien's childhood are brilliant in their performances.The French title, 'Jeux d'Enfants'(meaning - Children's Game) and the English Title, 'Love Me If You Dare' both are quite apt.
The movie's end just stuns you and leaves you humming the song...If you love good cinema, watch it !!
The French Know How to Have Fun. A game of dare between two friends spans across time, taking playfulness to new heights.An original love story that is as refreshing as it is creative, with fun elements of magical realism mixed in.
This film is about two children playing a game of dare for years.
But what they don't dare is to admit their love for each other.This film is beautifully shot, especially the childhood scenes.
It is shocking that how a supposed dare game can be manipulative and destructive, affecting their lives profoundly in many ways.Though this film is not a masterpiece, it is enjoyable and fun to watch..
Jeux d'enfants aka love me if u dare( English version title) is a good movie.
Well for all you romantic people out there who loved Amelie, you should really really see this movie.
Whatever the case, this is a beautiful piece which portrays love lasting throughout time in a thoughtful, igenius way...I was lucky enough to see a screening of this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival and hear the director talk about this piece...and it truly is a piece of cinematic joy.
Until the end of the movie you can not predict what is going to happen unlike the other romance films.
It makes one wonder what if he could change the way he is living and do something really stupid/ different.The movie is marked by good performances from both the lead actors with others having too little a role to play.
This is why the film has been called poor man's Amelie due to its understated,unusual sort of optimism-especially Julien's life would have been worse than death,had he survived-both without the woman he loved and with his childhood dream shattered for good-this is the way many people are slowly dying as human tools of the consumerist world,without daring to break free.
SPOILERS####### The film loved fooling around with cinema and camera tricks but overall, once they became adults - I found the movie so repetitive and eventually boring and I felt sorry for Julian and Sophie and all the people in their life.
Just because the protagonists were like this from childhood to adulthood and performed this kind of shame and outrage on each other as well as all the people they encountered throughout their lives did not make for a romantic movie for me.
This is not a comedic love story in my estimation.After the first 30 minutes, I was ready to quit on this movie, but wanted to keep an open mind and made it to the end.
This reminds me of another dark romantic comedy - "The Secretary".When you watch this film, you must enjoy it in its silliness and just let it take you to the amazing insanity of falling in love.
And after you watch this film, ask yourself: "Is Love a dare I can take?".
They've been playing this game for their entire lives, and this is the way they express their love for each other. |
tt0238936 | Devdas | In the early 1900s, Kaushalya (Smita Jaykar) hears that her younger son, Devdas (Shah Rukh Khan), is to return home after he had left at age 10 for law school in England. Kaushalya tells her neighbor Sumitra (Kirron Kher), who is overjoyed. Sumitra's daughter, "Paro" Parvati Chakraborty (Aishwarya Rai) and Devdas have shared a deep friendship since childhood. When Devdas went to England, Paro had lit an oil lamp to prompt his early return and never allows it to extinguish.When Devdas returns, the friendship between him and Paro becomes love. Everyone believes that Devdas and Paro will get married, but Devdas' scheming sister-in-law Kumud (Ananya Khare) reminds Kaushalya of Paro's maternal lineage of nautch girls and nautanki performers, inappropriate for the Mukherjee family. Sumitra publicly announces her desire for Devdas and Paro to marry, and Kaushalya rejects and humiliates her in public by saying that she is from a lower class in society. Devastated, Sumitra hastily arranges Paro's marriage to a man from a wealthier family than the Mukherjees: Thakur Bhuvan Chaudhry (Vijayendra Ghatge), a forty-year-old widowed aristocrat with three grown children.When Devdas' father also rejects Paro, Devdas leaves his parents' house and takes refuge at a brothel. He leaves a letter for Paro, falsely stating that love had never existed between them. At the brothel, he meets a good-hearted tawaif (courtesan) named Chandramukhi (Madhuri Dixit), who falls in love with him. Soon, Devdas realizes his mistake in abandoning Paro. He returns to her during her wedding and asks her to elope but Paro refuses, reminding him of the way he had discarded her so easily.Paro learns from her new husband that he has married her only to be mother to his children and lady of the estate, but that his love is only for his late first wife. She dutifully fulfills her responsibilities, while Devdas, heartbroken at having lost Paro, permanently moves to Chandramukhi's brothel and becomes an alcoholic. When Devdas' father is on his deathbed, he asks to see his son Devdas, but Devdas arrives later, at his father's funeral, drunk.Eventually, Devdas becomes so ill that the slightest dose of alcohol could kill him. He returns to the family home to heal, and discovers that his sister-in-law has stolen his mother's keys to the family safe. He confronts her but Kumud tells his mother that Devdas had stolen the keys. His mother believes her and Devdas leaves, banished. Paro arrives at Chandramukhi's brothel, accusing her of driving Devdas to drink, but soon realizes that Chandramukhi loves Devdas. Paro urges Devdas to stop drinking, but Devdas remains stubborn. He promises Paro that before he dies, he will come to her doorstep one last time.Paro invites Chandramukhi to a celebration of Durga Puja at her husband's home and introduces her to her in-laws without revealing Chandramukhi's profession. However, Bhuvan's ill-natured son-in-law Kalibabu (Milind Gunaji), a frequent visitor to the brothel, reveals Chandramukhi's background and humiliates her in front of the guests. He also tells Bhuvan of Paro's relationship with Devdas. As a result, Bhuvan permanently forbids Paro from leaving the mansion. Devdas tells Chandramukhi that she must let him go, and decides to travel the country; on a train, he meets his old college friend Chunnibabu, who urges him to drink in the name of friendship. Devdas drinks, knowing full well it will be fatal.On the verge of death, Devdas travels to Paro's house to honor his promise, collapsing under a tree in front of the main gate. Paro runs through the mansion, attempting to reach him. Bhuvan sees this and orders the servants to shut the gates. Devdas sees a blurred image of Paro running towards him, but the gates close just before she can reach him, leaving her sobbing inside. Devdas dies, whispering Paro's name with his last breath. At the same time, the lamp that Paro had lit for him flickers out forever for all eternity. | melodrama, insanity, romantic, flashback | train | imdb | null |
tt0499549 | Avatar | Opening scene: a camera sweeps high across the treeline of a lush, green world. Intercut is a sequence of images of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a crippled war veteran and former Marine. He wakes up in a giant spaceship on its way to Pandora, a lush Earth-like moon orbiting Polyphemus, a blue planet similar to Jupiter. He is one of a large number of passengers, all waking up after almost six years of cryosleep en route to Pandora. Drifting out of his sleeping pod in zero G he's tended by the ship's staff. He opens his locker, which is marked SULLY T. Then, through voice-over and flashback with hospital and military officials, we learn that Jake has a deceased twin brother -- Tom, a scientist -- who was to be part of a high-level program overseen by corporate and military strategists. Because Jake and his brother are an exact genetic match, he was presented with a unique opportunity: take over his brother's contract with a corporate-military entity and travel light years away to an outpost on the previously glimpsed world, Pandora. Acknowledging the notions of "being free" and having a "fresh start," Jake agrees to the deal as his brother's body is cremated.Now being transported from the spaceship to Pandora via a shuttle, Jake is one of many soldiers and civilian personnel about to touch down on Pandora, some 4.3 light years from Earth. We catch views of the base and its construction and immense mining machines digging up the soil in a large quarry as Jake ponders his new role. The passengers are all instructed to wear a full-face breathing mask since the atmosphere of the planet will not support human life; 20 seconds of exposure to the poisonous atmosphere of the planet causes unconsciousness, with death occurring about four minutes later. While the other passengers disembark and take their first steps onto the base, called "Hell's Gate," which is surrounded by a huge perimeter fence. Jake follows them in his wheelchair, earning the moniker "Meals on Wheels" from a few haughty Marines. He acknowledges through voice-over that he lost the use of his legs during one of his tours of duty on Earth, and while a spine can be fixed, that "takes money," which is tough to come by in the present economy.Jake goes immediately to a military briefing where Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is addressing the assembled soldiers and a few civilians who have come along. He reminds them they're "not in Kansas any more," and he tells them about Pandora's indigenous population, the Na'vi. Quaritch, sporting a heavy set of scars on the side of his head, says they are "hard to kill" and practically everything "out there" will try to kill you. And, while it's his job to keep his people alive, he says he will not succeed in this task -- "not with all of you." If they wish to survive, he continues, they will have to follow "Pandora rules."Jake goes to a science lab where he meets biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) and Dr. Max Patel (Dileep Rao), two members of the Avatar Program. As Jake gets his first look at his own avatar, we learn about the program itself: humans are unable to breathe Pandora's air, but the Avatar Program enables a human to link with their own avatar, a genetically-bred human-Na'vi hybrid, and function as if they were a Na'vi native. In his avatar body, Jake will be able to walk again and breathe the atmosphere.Jake and Norm enter the science department just about the time Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the program's science lead, awakens in a specially designed pod that links her to her avatar and flips open the top. Norm says to Jake he hears she likes "plants better than people." She arises from her pod and converses in Na'vi with Norm. Satisfied with Norm's command of the language, she turns to Jake. She tells him she needs his brother Tom, the PhD who trained 3 years for the Pandora mission, but she doesn't need him, since Jake has no lab experience and has never been linked to an avatar.Grace storms off to the base's control room to confront Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), base commander and representative for the Resources Development Administration, an organization that oversees all military and other personnel on the colony. He tells her Jake will serve as a security escort on her team while they're on the planet's surface. Grace tells Parker she needs a researcher, not a "jarhead dropout." She doubts Jake will be of any use to her botanical research. Parker replies, "Grace, you know how much I enjoy these conversations with you," but in this case he disagrees, saying they "lucked out" with Jake. Since he's a perfect genetic match for the avatar intended for his twin brother, they can use his military skills in an avatar body toward the overall objective of the operation -- mining the mineral unobtanium, a potent source of energy that sells for many millions a kilo, and can bring cheap power back to a dying Earth. Parker tells Grace one way to help accomplish this objective is to win the hearts and minds of the natives, to obtain their cooperation. Grace argues that many of the Na'vi have been killed by the military under the auspices of Selfridge's operation.Back in the lab next morning, Jake and Norm are linked to their avatars for the first time. Jake, in his avatar, wakes up in a different room with other avatars and staff. Within a few moments, Jake is making his handlers nervous because, overjoyed with his ability to move his legs again, he is moving too quickly and trying to walk, the first time he has been able to do so since becoming a paraplegic. The human lab workers cannot stop him; a Na'vi is over 10 feet tall, sometimes closer to 12 feet, and far stronger than humans. When his long tail knocks over instruments, a staff member tells him to stop and lie down again. Jake ignores him and bursts out of the room and into the daylight. He finds himself in a recreation area where other avatars are playing sports and staff, in their protective gear, are performing various duties. Jake meets Grace's avatar, who, better-tempered than human Grace, accompanies Jake to the barracks where he is eventually encouraged to rest. Before he lies down to sleep, Jake inspects his neural queue, a long appendage that looks like a braid of hair. At the end of his queue is a cluster of hidden tendrils. When the avatar sleeps, the link is broken and Jake himself awakens.Jake later meets Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez), a retired Marine pilot with whom he'll spend several weeks getting used to his avatar and exploring Pandora. Jake will serve as the door gunner on her crew.Jake reunites with Col. Quaritch, who is lifting weights. The Colonel tells Jake he's looked up his service record and was impressed with what he accomplished on some of his tours, including one in Venezuela. The Colonel warns Jake about the dangers awaiting him on Pandora. He also states his belief that the Avatar Program is a joke but that it offers an opportunity for a unique reconnaissance mission: If Jake can find out and tell the Colonel what he wants to know about the natives (how to persuade them to move away from the unobtainium ore deposits and how to hit them hard if they won't), the Colonel will see to it that Jake gets the surgery he needs to regain use of his legs. Because, the Colonel says, he takes care of his own. The Colonel climbs into an AMP suit -- a bipedal exoskeleton used for missions on Pandora -- and moves off.Relinked with his avatar, Jake flies over Pandora's surface in Trudy's gunship, along with Grace, Norm, and others. The team lands in a forest, where Grace and Norm begin to take samples of the flora and make measurements. Jake is distracted by his surroundings and wanders into a field of helicoradian flowers, which are quite tall and shrink at Jake's touch. Trouble arrives when a titanothere -- a heavily-armored dinosaur-like creature -- confronts Jake. Grace orders him to stand his ground and not shoot, or else the animal will get angry and charge. His armor is too thick for guns to have any effect anyway. Jake successfully holds his ground, but only because a larger creature, a thanator, has approached him from behind and has caused the titanotheres to retreat. The thanator then turns to Jake. Grace tells him to run, and he's pursued by the thanator in a chase that separates Jake from his crew. He loses his gun and is downed by the animal, but frees himself by releasing his backpack. Ultimately, the chase leads to a waterfall, where Jake jumps to safety, leaving the thanator alone above him.Jake's crew searches for him but Trudy says they'll have to return to base since night ops are not allowed. Grace says he won't last the night.It's now night and we see Jake sharpening a long stick into a spear Jake is being watched from above, this time by a Na'vi. The Na'vi aims an arrow at Jake and is about to shoot, but decides against it when small, ethereal, luminescent creatures land on her bow. (Later we learn they are "very pure spirits," also known as the "seeds of Eywa", the Na'vis all-powerful god.) The archer retreats. Jake is stalked by a pack of viperwolves. He dips the end of his spear into a combustible pitch-like liquid. He lights the end and uses it as a a torch against the viperwolves, who encircle him, teeth bared, jaws gnashing. The animals attack Jake; he fights back, kills some, and is taken down by others. Then the archer who was observing Jake joins the battle on his side. She kills some viperwolves and causes the rest to flee. She tenderly puts out of their misery some whimpering wounded animals and says prayers over them. Jake attempts to thank her for helping him fight off the attackers. She meets his thanks with scorn, tells him all this is his fault, that they did not need to die, and that he should "go back" to where he came from. Jake asks if she feels that way, why she helped him. "You have a strong heart. No fear," she explains. "But stupid!"Jake attempts to follow his rescuer up into a tree, asks for her help, and says he wants to learn. He's repulsed and told to "go back," that sky people can't be taught. Just then, the seeds of Eywa reappear and start to land on Jake. He asks what they are. "Very pure spirits," she replies, and Jake is covered by them, making an impression on his companion. When the seeds drift off, she relents and tells him to come with her.As Jake tries to keep up with his rescuer, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), he is felled by a bolo thrown by a patrol of Omaticayan warriors. Their leader is Tsu'Tey (Laz Alonso), next in line to the throne and the man Neytiri is expected to marry. Neytiri stops them from harming Jake by telling them "there has been a sign from Eywa." Tsu'Tey tells his men to "bring him" along to "tashik" (father, approximate spelling) and "eywa" (mother).Jake is presented to Neytiri's parents, Eytukan (Wes Studi) and Mo'at (CCH Pounder), who are the king and queen of the tribe, respectively. Jake tells the elders that he is a warrior -- a "dreamwalker" -- and his intention is to learn from them. Mo'at tastes Jake's blood from a wound on his forehead and decrees it is the will of Eywa for him to live with the Omaticaya, and for Neytiri, however reluctantly, to be his teacher in their ways and customs. After a ritual gathering, Jake is brought to his bed, a leaf high up in the "Hometree" that encircles him like a cocoon. As he falls asleep, human Jake is revived.At morning chow, all the scientists, including Grace, are focused on everything Jake has to say. Norm seems very disappointed and sullen; he was Grace's original choice to bond with the Omaticaya. Even the military and corporate reps have warmed to Jake. Hometree sits atop a massive deposit of unobtainium so Jake appears to be their best shot at convincing the Omaticaya to move -- or advising the Colonel on how to force them to do so. He's informed that he has three months to achieve his objective before the bulldozers arrive.The next scenes revolve around avatar Jake's training with Neytiri and human Jake's reports on his experiences via the videolog he dictates after every day's activity. He bonds with his direhorse, an important animal to the Na'vi. Jake must learn to mount the animal and connect his neural queue to its antenna. Human Jake continues to report on the Hometree's infrastructure and other Na'vi details.Sensing that Jake is being manipulated by Quaritch, Selfridge and the rest of the military section of the mining operation, Grace decides to take her operation "out of Dodge." She moves them into the Hallelujah Mountains, a remote region of immense, floating islands that are sacred to the Na'vi and are also rich in unobtanium. Grace wants her turf away from the RDA officials and military types at the base.In his next videolog, Jake discusses his language lessons and says his time with the Na'vi is like "field-stripping a weapon." Enough repetition and you can't help but learn it. This is intercut with scenes of his continued training with Neytiri, who teaches him about the Na'vi-forest connection. She tells Jake that all energy is borrowed and one day we have to give it back. Jake seems to comprehend this, and as he says a prayer for an animal he hunted and just killed, Neytiri says that he is ready for an important rite of passage: to bond with and ride a "declan" -- a flying mountain banshee. To reach the banshee's nesting grounds, Jake must accompany Neytiri, Tsu'Tey and two other Na'vi trainees to the highest region of the Hallelujah Mountains.Several factors (the height, the ferocity of the untamed banshees) make this a dangerous lesson, but Jake's lack of fear and successful bond with his banshee earn him the grudging respect of the Na'vi warriors present, even Tsu'Tey. He makes the bond with the tendrils in his queue, and as he rides the flying animal he remarks that he's not much of a horseman but he was "born to do this." Jake, Neytiri, and the others ride together to the Tree of Souls, the most sacred place to the Na'vi.While flying on a hunting sortie, Jake and Neytiri are suddenly pursued and attacked by a creature known to the Na'vi as toruk, a giant and brightly-colored flying mountain banshee with murderous intentions toward everything that flies. Neytiri says its name means "last shadow" -- the toruk's shadow, once seen, is usually the "last shadow one ever gets to see," as its attack is almost always fatal. Back at Hometree, Neytiri shows Jake the skeleton of a precursor of the present toruk. She tells him the last person to ride a toruk was her grandfather's grandfather, who used the animal to unite the five Na'vi tribes in a time of great sorrow. Such a person would earn the title Toruk Mato, "Rider of the Last Shadow."When Jake comes back to his human form, it's clear he's been changed by this latest experience, for he says, "out there is the real world ... in here is the dream." The Colonel comes over to him to tell him his mission is accomplished and he's to return to Earth that day. And good to his word, the Colonel has arranged for Jake to get the treatment he needs to regain use of his legs. Jake wishes to delay his departure because he says he's right at the point at which he's to be initiated into the tribe and accepted as one of them, and then would have the status to negotiate with the Na'vi to relocate. The Colonel acquiesces.Jake attends a Na'vi ceremony, where he learns the Na'vi believe that every person can be born twice. Neytiri leads Jake to a place of prayer, the "tree of voices," where they use their queues to bond with the tree. Neytiri tells Jake he can make a bow from the tree ... and that he can choose a woman. Jake tells Neytiri that he has already chosen her, and she says that she has chosen him. They sleep together under the tree and Jake wakes up back in the lab.In the morning, Neytiri awakens to falling trees, then the presence of bulldozers. Soldiers are advancing as the forest falls around Neytiri, who is dragging and carrying Jake to safety. When he finally revives, Jake climbs onto one of the bulldozers and tries to stop it, eventually blinding its camera system and drawing some gunfire. Other Na'vi warriors arrive, while the Colonel, reviewing films back at the base, recognizes Jake in his avatar form as the person who tried to stop their mission. The bulldozers continue their operation, wiping out the sacred ground.At Hometree, the Na'vi want war. Grace and Jake argue against it. There's an intense debate. Tsu'Tey tries to kill Jake, having learned that Jake and Neytiri are mated for life. Jake declares he is a Na'vi and deserves the right to speak. Suddenly, both Grace and Jake's avatars fall unconscious as the links between them and their human forms are abruptly broken by the enraged Colonel.Grace and Jake face off with RDA and military brass. Grace reveals that Pandora's trees form a network that has more neural connections than exist in the human brain and that the Na'vi can tap into that network. Consequently, the Omaticaya will never leave Hometree. Parker and the Colonel discuss options. Gas out the Na'vi ... turn gunships on Hometree ... Jake presses to be allowed to return to the Omaticaya to try to convince them to leave, and he's granted one hour to achieve that objective.Jake and Grace are not welcomed back. Neytiri rejects Jake. Both Jake and Grace are bound and left behind by the Omaticaya, who are preparing to fight against the humans, who have arrived in a large fleet of flying ships. The fleet launches gas canisters into Hometree and the surrounding area. As the battle escalates, most of the weaponry is targeted at the root structure of Hometree, which is toppled by a series of explosions and heavy artillery. Many Omaticaya are killed. Mo'at frees Jake and Grace and asks them to save the tribe. Jake arrives and is rejected again by Neytiri when he tries to console her. Neytiri's father Eytukan is killed by a large piece of shrapnel; his dying wish is for Neytiri to take his sacred bow and assume leadership of their people.The destruction seems endless, and, suddenly, Jake and Grace return to their human bodies and are promptly placed under arrest for treason. Norm is also arrested for trying to prevent soldiers from disabling their avatar forms.Some time has passed, and, Hometree having fallen, the Na'vi gather at the Tree of Souls.Trudy arrives at the cell which holds Jake, Grace, and Norm. She dupes their guard by saying she wants nothing to do with them, only to knock out the guard an instant later. As they prepare to flee the base, Grace is shot and wounded by the Colonel. The team flies Trudy's ship to the remote lab in the floating mountains. Jake returns to his avatar body.The hopeful reunion with the Omaticaya is not to be, initially. Jake is an outcast, an alien. So he makes a bold decision. He realizes that to regain the trust of the Na'vi, he has to take things to a higher level. He summons his banshee and sets off to find the toruk. His strategy is simple but can result in death; Jake believes that the toruk never looks for an attack above himself and thus he can be approached that way. Jake jumps off his banshee and onto the back of the toruk. We next see him arrive riding the toruk at the Tree of Souls in the middle of an Omaticayan ceremony. Jake successfully bonded with the toruk. The Omaticaya are stunned to see their greatest legend come true. Jake dismounts and makes his way through the crowd of Na'vi, who, awed, part before him. When he reaches Neytiri, each holds out an arm to the other and she says "I see you." Tsu'Tey, who is now tribe leader, concedes Jake's new role of Toruk Mato. He accords Jake much respect.Jake convinces Mo'at to help Grace, who is dying. Mo'at begins the preparations, which involve getting Grace's human and avatar bodies in place at the Tree of Souls. The idea is to permanently transfer Grace's consciousness to her avatar. Mo'at lets it be known that Grace must pass through the eye of Eywa, and that the great mother might choose to let her pass through to her avatar self, or she might opt to have Grace remain with her. The ritual is not successful, though before she dies, Grace tells Jake that she has seen Eywa. Jake, heartbroken and furious, speaks as Toruk Mato and says it's time to 'send a message' to the sky people that this is their, the Na'vi's, land. But to do so, they first must go to each of the Na'vi clans to ask them to come and fight as one.The human military have picked up the infusion of Na'vi into the area, from a few hundred to 2000 within a day. At this rate, the Colonel says as he addresses his troops, the Na'vi will soon total 20,000, at which point their perimeter will be overrun. Rather than let that happen, he continues, they must stage a pre-emptive attack while they still can. Their plan is to turn a space shuttle into the carrier of a massive bomb. Their target is the Tree of Souls, and the attack is planned for 0600 the next day. They believe that if they destroy the Tree of Souls, the Na'vi will go away and never come near this place again.Jake is busy rallying the Omaticaya. At the Tree of Souls, he asks Eywa to look into Grace's memories, and stresses that humankind killed their mother (Earth), the entity that protects the balance of life. Neytiri appears and tells Jake that Eywa does not take sides.The story jumps to the day of the final battle. The military forces are close and the bombship is moving toward the Tree of Souls. The united Na'vi force begins to arrive from the sky and on the ground. Jake on his toruk, Tsu'Tey, and other warriors engage in battle with the military aircraft, mainly Scorpion assault ships. Casualties mount on both sides. The gunships have unmatched firepower, but are no match for the declans, who grab hold of them and smash them against each other..A flurry of main-character action: Jake, riding the toruk, is pursued and shot at by Col. Quaritch's ship; Trudy arrives and opens fire on the Colonel's command ship; Neytiri's banshee is shot down and killed; Norm's avatar is mortally wounded and he jumps back to his human form; Tsu'Tey takes on the bombship and is killed in the attempt; Trudy dies when her ship is blown up.Neytiri watches this action from the ground. Jake attempts to contact Tsu'Tey and is unsuccessful, as is his attempt to reach Trudy. Meanwhile, the bombship closes in on the Tree of Souls.Jake tells Neytiri via communicator to disengage from the fight. Suddenly, through what's left of the surrounding forest, a battalion of Titanotheres, Pandora's heavily armored dinosaur-like animals, arrives and engages the Earth forces. They quickly lay waste to infantry and soldiers in AMP suits. Neytiri observes this and tells Jake that his prayer to Eywa for help has been heard as the animals rout the humans on the ground.Jake and his toruk take to the sky to confront the bombship as the military's ground forces retreat in disarray. Approaching from above, Jake grenades the bombship. It crashes in flames and explosions well away from the Tree of Souls. Jake also throws explosives into vulnerable parts of the command ship. It begins to burn and go down.Col. Quaritch puts on an AMP suit and jumps free of the command ship before it disintegrates in a ball of flames. He makes his way to the temporary camp set up by Grace and the others when they moved operations away from the base. Human Jake, of course, is inside the camp and linked to his avatar. Quaritch, set on killing Jake, is now attacked by a thanator that carried Neytiri to the site, Neytiri having bonded with the animal. With the aid of his AMP suit the Colonel kills the thanator and Neytiri is trapped underneath it.Before the Colonel has a chance to kill Neytiri as well, avatar Jake arrives. The two engage in combat, the Colonel in his AMP suit and Jake as his avatar, armed only with a piece of pipe. Jake smashes the suit's plastic canopy, the Colonel pops it off, dons a breathing mask, and, before he moves off toward the structures that house the pods, asks Jake how it feels to have betrayed his race. "You think you're one of them? Time to wake up," he taunts, as he smashes into the mobile lab, looking for Jake's pod, intent on destroying it and human Jake. The battle resumes. Jake is grabbed by an arm of the AMP suit and hangs from his queue before the Colonel. Meanwhile, Neytiri has almost freed herself.The Colonel now moves Jake closer to him and reaches for his knife, intending to finish Jake by slitting his throat. Suddenly, Neytiri shoots an arrow at the Colonel that penetrates deeply into the center of his chest. The Colonel, reeling, is unable to continue his attack on Jake. Neytiri's second arrow lodges right next to the first. It brings the Colonel in the AMP suit to the ground. However, much damage has been done to the lab, which is leaking oxygen. Human Jake is awake but having difficulty both breathing and trying to get a mask on. Neytiri arrives and helps Jake on with his mask. Cradling human Jake, she says, "I see you." It's the first time they have seen each other face-to-face.Cut to the former military base, which is now under Na'vi control. Most of the remaining humans are being marched into a shuttle to be shipped back to Earth; however, a select few Earth people, such as Norm and Dr. Patel, are invited to stay on Pandora.Jake signs off in his final videolog, where we learn that he has chosen to transfer his consciousness to his avatar for good. In a ceremony similar to Grace's, Jake passes through the eye of Eywa ... and wakes up in his avatar with Neytiri watching over him. | suspenseful, cruelty, murder, boring, fantasy, allegory, violence, dramatic, thought-provoking, good versus evil, insanity, psychedelic, action, romantic, revenge, entertaining, sadist, sci-fi | train | imdb | null |
tt0057372 | The Nutty Professor | Professor Julius Kelp is a nerdy, scruffy, buck-toothed, accident-prone, socially awkward university professor whose experiments in the classroom laboratory are unsuccessful and highly destructive. When a football-playing bully embarrasses and attacks him, Kelp decides to "beef up" by joining a local gym. Kelp's lack of physical strength prompts him to invent a serum that turns him into the handsome, suave, charming and cheeky girl-chasing hipster, Buddy Love.
This new personality gives him the self-confidence to pursue one of his students, Stella Purdy. Although she resents Love, she finds herself strangely attracted to him. Buddy wows the crowd with his jazzy, breezy musical delivery and poised demeanor at the Purple Pit, a nightclub where the students hang out. He also mocks a bartender and waitress and punches a student. The formula wears off at inopportune times, often to Kelp's humiliation.
Although Kelp knows that his alternate persona is a bad person, he cannot prevent himself from continually taking the formula as he enjoys the attention that Love receives. As Buddy performs at the annual student dance the formula starts to wear off. His real identity now revealed, Kelp gives an impassioned speech, admitting his mistakes and seeking forgiveness. Kelp says that the one thing he learned from being someone else is that if you don't like yourself, you can't expect others to like you. Purdy meets Kelp backstage, and confesses that she prefers Kelp over Buddy Love.
Eventually, Kelp's formerly timid father chooses to market the formula (a copy of which Kelp had sent to his parents' home for safekeeping), endorsed by the deadpan president of the university who proclaims, "It's a gasser!" Kelp's father makes a pitch to the chemistry class, and the students all rush forward to buy the new tonic. In the confusion Kelp and Purdy slip out of the class. Armed with a marriage license and two bottles of the formula, they elope.
During the short closing credits, each of the characters come out and bow down to the camera, and when Jerry Lewis, still portraying Kelp, comes out and bows, he trips and goes into the camera, breaking it and causing the picture to go black. | absurd, cult, satire, entertaining, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0486576 | 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer | The movie opens out in space as a strange alien planet slowly fades away and implodes. A mysterious blue entity leaves the planet prior to its destruction, and is next seen flying through the atmosphere over Earth. At the same time, a number of strange circumstances unfold (the China Sea freezes over and the Sphinx is covered with snow).A news reporter states that the FAA was forced to ground all flights as a result of these events. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffud) watches the news from the airport and is disgusted because the news is more focused on his upcoming wedding to Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) than the strange events.The Fantastic Four board the plane now cleared for flight. Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) is obviously uncomfortable crammed into a Coach seat. Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) suggests that the team get an endorsement and form their own private airline. He then leaves to fly himself back home as the Human Torch.Back at the Baxter Building (the team's headquarters), Sue and Reed discuss the details for their upcoming wedding. Johnny shows off his prototype new uniforms to the team (they are loaded with company logos and product placement). Johnny tries to snoop on Reed's latest product while Reed explains that the global disturbances are being caused by a similar tyoeof cosmic radiation that originally gave the Fantastic Four their powers.Johnny insists on throwing Reed a bachelor party. Reed is opposed to the idea, until Johnny blackmails him with the threat of telling Sue that Reed is spending more time researching disturbances than taking care of his end of the planning.The mysterious entity passes over the nation of Latveria, and its residual energy frees Dr. Victor Von Doom (Julain McMahon) from his imprisonment.Johnny takes Reed and Ben to a nightclub for Reed's bachelor party. Reed and Ben are obviously uncomfortable (Reed because of his shyness, Ben because of his Thing powers).A military force led by General Hagar (Andre Braugher) arrives at the Baxter Building to see Reed. Sue takes them to the club where they see Reed dancing (making full use of his Mr. Fantastic abilities) and Reed is embarassed.Ben explains to Sue the history Reed has with General Hagar: Hagar had designed a new defense system several years ago, while Reed testified that the technology it called for was unreliable. General Hagar is concerned about the anomolies occurring worldwide, and shows the team sattelite photos of the mysterious entity. The generals' assistant, Captain Frankie Raye shows the team photos of craters that have been appearing in the same spots as the entities appearance. Hagar asks for a way to track the mysterious entity, but Reed turns him down because his wedding is in a few days. Johnny flirts with Captain Raye as they leave, but she shoots him down.Later on, Ben finds out that Reed has decided to build the tracking system for the general anyway. Ben (and Johnny, who flies in when Reed is building) both agree to keep quiet.The next day is the date of Sue and Reed's wedding! Hundreds of guests file in (including a cameo by Fantastic Four creator Stan Lee).Sue discusses her future with Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington), Ben's blind girlfriend. Susan realizes that she has a zit on her forehead, but is able to conceal it with her Invisible Woman abilities.Reed finishes the satellite tracking system less than an hour before the wedding begins. He is happy to have finished the project, but once Ben points out that he is about to be married, Reed goes limp with shock.Johnny comes in and has a brief discussion with Ben about his relationship with Alicia, at which point Ben almost breaks Johnny's skull out of anger and embaressment.Victor Von Doom begins to track the mysterious entity, trying to figure out the power that brought him back to life.As Reed & Sue stand before the minister, Reed's Palm Pilot goes off telling him that the sattelite tracker has come online. Sue is outraged that he lied to her. The entity then passes through New York City, causing a massive power outage and sending one of the news choppers covering the wedding flying towards the rooftop.Sue uses her force field ability to block the chopper from hitting the guests. Ben jumps in and rips off the tail of the helicopter to prevent anyone from getting cut to pieces by the blades. As the entity passes overhead, Johnny shouts "Flame ON!" and gives chase.The Human Torch follows the mysterious thing through the city and watches it pass through a building- thus getting his first look at The Silver Surfer (Doug Jones). Torch and Surfer begin an Ariel chase across half the country, but the Surfer ends it by grabbing Johnny by the throat and levitating him to the stratosphere, then sending Johnny flying back down to earth. Johnny is barely able to re-ignite his flame in time to stop crashing.In space, the Silver Surfer contacts his master and awaits further orders.Johnny describes the Silver Surfer to the team, who are skeptical at first. General Hagar orders Reed to find another way to track the Surfer.Sue confronts Reed, worried that the two of them can never have a normal life if they continue to act as part-time superheroes. Sue is unsure if they can ever actually raise a family together.Johnny, still dazed from his encounter with the Surfer, tries to fly but ends up falling off the building. Sue runs outside to check on him but when she touches his forehead Sue suddenly bursts into flames! Johnny shouts "Flame ON" but he only succeeds in turning invisible. Reed sees what has happened and runs outside. He suggests that Sue touch Johnny again, and they revert to their normal powers- though Sue is now naked after burning off her clothes.Reed does a physical on them both and sees that Johnny's molecules are in a state of flux, and that he may switch powers with any of them just by touch. Ben immediately takes advantage of this and grabs Johnny's shoulder, turning him into the Thing! Johnny is appalled by his new appearance and grabs Ben, changing them both back.Sue is still watching the news when she is joined by Reed. Reed announces that he has decided to give up being a hero once they are married. She is ecstatic, but Johnny overhears them and is angered.Victor Von Doom calculates the next appearance of the Silver Surfer. He confronts the cosmic entity, suggesting a partnership between the two of them. The Surfer ignores Doom's idea and blasts him with a burst of cosmic energy. Doom is angry, but then notices that the energy is restoring his normal organic appearance.Johnny tells Ben about Reed & Sue's plan to leave. Ben is mad but decides that something like this is something that they can't argue with.Reed points out that the Silver Surfer's energy has been tracked to several other planets, which are now lifeless husks. They realize that 8 days after the Surfer's appearance on any world, that planet dies. Reed gets the idea to track the Surfer using the coordinates of the craters he leaves behind.En route the the newest spot (in London), Johnny confronts Reed & Sue about their decision and they argue.The Surfer's passing through causes The London Eye (London's famous Ferris wheel) to be damaged, and many civilians are in danger. The Fantastic Four quickly rush to save them, with Johnny trying to chase the Surfer again. But Johnny accidentally collides with Reed and they switch powers. Ben & Sue almost let the Ferris wheel collapse before Reed gets the idea to use Human Torch's power to weld it back into place. Reed sets back down and quickly reclaims his rightful power from Johnny, angry that Johnny's recklessness almost killed a lot of people-including Sue.General Hagar is outraged at the Fantastic Four's failure. He has decided to get extra help: Victor Von Doom. Ben, outraged that their old foe is still alive, attacks. Reed convinces Ben to back off, and asks what Victor has to contribute.Victor shows a recording of his previous encounter with the Silver Surfer. They observe that the Surfer's energy attack originated from his board, and theorize that if they can divide him from the board the Surfer will be vulnerable.Johnny and Ben spend the night at a bar, discussing the turn of events. Johnny asks Ben what he wants to do if the world is indeed coming to an end. Ben admits that part of him would want to go down fighting, but he mostly would want to spend his last moments with Alicia. Johnny agrees, apparently jealous that Ben has someone so special to him.Reed has surrounded himself with databases, working around the clock to find the solution without Victor's help. Sue comes in and reassures him, ordering Reed to relax. Sue mentions that Reed's pulse must be overexerted, and the word "pulse" inspires Reed: he can create an energy pulse generated by a power field to divide the Surfer from his board. Reed requests some equipment from General Hagar to build the power field.Sue confronts Victor about his intentions and his return. Meanwhile, Johnny flirts with Frankie again but she blows him off as a reckless jokester.The Fantastic Four arrive at the newest coordinates and begin to set up the pulse generators. Ben has a humorous confrontation with a bear when setting up his section of the generator.Susan is setting up her generator when the Silver Surfer appears in front of her. Sue approaches the Surfer, asking him why he is working to destroy the planet. The Surfer claims that he has no choice; that he is not the destroyer but merely a beacon.General Harding spots the Surfer and opens fire. Silver Surfer merely swats down the missiles with his cosmic powers. Reed activates the pulse system, knocking the Surfer off his board (and in the process turning his body from bright silver to a dull, tarnished gray).General Harding brings the Surfer and the board to a hideout in Siberia for further study. He places the Fantastic Four under "house arrest" until they are finished studying. Sue decides to go out and confront the Surfer. She asks him who the real destroyer is, and the Surfer responds (showing her an image) that the true destroyer is his master, a vast cosmic entity known by many names and forms which his people refer to as Galactus. The Silver Surfer explains that his service spares his homeworld from the destroyer. Surfer explains that he is compassionate towards Sue because she reminds him of his beloved.Out in space, a vast cloud is shown moving towards Earth. The destroyer is drawing closer.Victor is permitted to do tests on the board. He uses a special device to free the board from its confinement and bond with it. General Hager tries to stop him, but Doom blasts him with his new cosmic energy and vaporises the general.The Fantastic Four escape from confinement, also freeing the Silver Surfer. Frankie is reluctant to let them leave, but Johnny pleads with her and he manages to convince her.As they get outside, Reed summons his new invention- the FantastiCar, a flying hovercraft for the team. Reed, Sue, Ben and the Surfer climb in (Johnny flies along beside them). The Silver Surfer confesses his real name- Norrin Radd. He agrees to try and help them.The Fantastic Four track Victor to Southeast China, and attack. They are able to lure him over the land, but must abandon the FantastiCar after he attacks it. Norrin confronts Doom, who fashions a javelin from the board's energy and hurls it at him. Sue steps in front of Norrin, conjuring up a force field to protect them both, but the javelin passes right through the force field and impales Sue, mortally wounding her. Seeing no other option, Johnny suggests that all of the other team members transfer their powers to him. They argue, but Norrin points out that they have no other choice- Galactus has arrived, and is extending its tendrils into the planet to devour it.Reed tells Johnny to aim for the remote emitter Doom is using to connect himself to the board. Ben, remembering his thought of going down fighting, takes control of a giant crane and uses it to attack Doom. The combined efforts of the team's powers is successful and Doom crashes into the ocean, sinking out of sight.Norrin re-connects with his board, and infuses Sue with a small part of his cosmic energy, restoring her to life. The Silver Surfer tells Reed to treasure every moment with Sue, and flies off to face the cosmic entity. He is joined midway by Johnny, who uses the last of his combined powers to give the Silver Surfer a boost into the cosmic storm.In the heart of the cloud, Silver Surfer tells Galactus that he will no longer be a servent. Norrin Radd charges up a massive amount of cosmic energy and then releases a huge blast, stopping the cosmic entity by apparently destroying them both.The Fantastic Four, including the revived Sue, are thrilled to see that the destruction of the planet has stopped but saddened by the loss of the Surfer. Johnny accidentally comes into contact with Ben, but is shocked to see that nothing happened. To everyone's relief, Johnny's second encounter with the Surfer has restored his powers to normal.Sue reveals that she has decided against her past ideas and does not want to break up the team, since they just saved the world together. Reed agrees that they cannot run away from their responsibilities and that people do not have to be "Normal" to have a family. Reed also has an idea regarding the prospect of a wedding.Sue and Reed decide to hold a Shinto-style wedding while they are still in China. They must rush through the ceremony when Reed's pager alerts them of new danger. Sue tosses the bouquet to the women in the audience (including Frankie, who apparently has decided to pursue a relationship with Johnny). When it looks as if Frankie might catch the bouquet, Johnny "accidentally" sneezes and burns up the flowers.The Fantastic Four boards their newly restored Fantasticar and speeds off to another adventure!!!In a bonus scene partway through the credits, the Surfer and his board are seen floating through space. The Surfer appears to be dead after his encounter with Galactus. But suddenly the Surfer's board turns and begins to move toward him. | good versus evil, murder | train | imdb | But it wasn't so bad either; it's just that after Marvel Comics' recent domination of the film genre, it's natural for one to expect that each of its characters having a shot at the big screen would present something legitimately entertaining to the audience.
(And while I personally don't think it's an issue, I imagine how some fans of the comic book might sneer at how the characters of Silver Surfer and Galactus were handled.) Instead, director Tim Story and screenwriters Don Payne and Mark Frost opt to flesh out the characters more but the end result feels less natural and more repetitive.
I mean, every time she was on screen, you'd have to fight being distracted from what's going on.Or Mr. Fantastics gray hair changing density and shape with most every shot.That the larger than life 'Thing' Ben Grimm is seemingly reduced to a pint size butterball party favor.The interaction and perception of our hero's with the general public is tapered down like a cheap parlor trick leaving no sense of drama or superiority.Ioan Gruffudd's acting was wimpy and stylized by director Tim Story as if he was in a day time soap opera.Too bad the great possibilities for one of the best comic groups ever thought of, were laid to rest on such an incompetent team that possibly could have ruined it's chances forever.I would have enjoyed myself better watching the animated series from decades ago..
It's a quick, mildly entertaining means of spending 90 minutes but, if you're anything like me, you'll walk away from this film wondering what could have been if the epic introduction of the Silver Surfer and Galactus had been put in better hands..
However, their happiness will be tested when strange occurrences around the globe point to one culprit: a mysterious being known only as The Silver Surfer (Doug Jones and Laurence Fishburne).One of the biggest improvements 'Rise' has over the first film is the fact that the Fantastic work more as a team in this film.
As usual, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm steals the show as the only character to truly evolve during this film, Mike Chiklis as Ben is seriously under-used, my 1.5 year-old nephew could play better than Gruffud's Reed and Alba isn't even that pretty anymore.
The Fantastic Four are back in action, trying to save the world once more, this time from mysterious alien 'The Silver Surfer' whose creating havoc by inflicting blackouts and huge craters throughout the World,Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) & Susan Storm (The rather tasty Jessica Alba) are due to get married, but their nuptials are disrupted by the arrival of the Silver Surfer, and so along with Johnny Storm & Ben Grimm (Hunky Chris Evans & Michael Chiklis respectively) go into battle.A lot of money was spent on this sequel ($130M +) and it shows with amazing special FX, The story being a PG rated film is family friendly and doesn't require a PHD in comic books to follow, and also being PG rated the violence is pretty much non-existent so anybody expecting something in the vein of 'The Punisher' this isn't for you...
However, purists would go up in arms at the depiction of possibly one of the largest being in the Marvel Universe, which I thought was a better alternative in the movie without making it look too stupid with its ridiculous purple tin helmet.And what is a Silver Surfer story without Victor Von Doom showing interest in its immense power?
While you might think that the movie might have too many villains, with Galactus, Doom and the Surfer (well, for the most parts), and with 4 heroes in the fray, Rise of the Silver Surfer managed to maintain a breezy pace without getting too deep into its themes nor suffer from having to introduce in detail its characters.
We've already established most of that in the first movie, and the details of the Surfer and its master was just enough to enlighten new fans, while keeping older fans happy enough with its accuracy.So it's much like the comic book again, with our family of four having to deal with first of all, the rock star like atmosphere of the marriage between Mr Fantastic and Invisible Girl, before the Silver Surfer's rude arrival causing major climate changes in cities around the world, and of course, trusting the USoA army to wanna play world police again.
Look out too for Stan Lee, whom I think for the first time in the recent slew of Marvel movie adaptations, actually play himself!Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer brings back the best elements in the first movie, and provides an avenue for more of such adventures with the familiar quartet.
3.) Never let the next FF baddie cramp the heroes' style 4.) Enough with Doom 5.) And please upgrade on the special effects, they still look cheapeven for a big-budget film.Of course, this is supposed to be a "light-hearted" family film, and like a Diet Coke it's "Half" the calories (PG folks)while the hardcore comic-book fans with avoid it like the plaque.
Then the Fantantic four led by Mr Fantastic, the Invisible girl with telekinetic powers, the Human Torch, Johnny Storm(Chris Evans) spreading blazing balls and the super-strong rock hunk named Ben Grimm or Thing(Michael Chiklis and enamored to Alice Masters: Kerry Washington)fight against Silver Surfer, the Galactus's henchman.
Seriously, I thought they couldn't make a worse film that the original Fantastic Four, but I have been proved wrong.From the gratuitous attempts at showing Alba as naked as possible, to the less-than-convincing physical presence of the Thing, to the miscasting of Alba and whoever plays Reed, to the pointless changes in the story, to a bland visual style (performed upon one of the most visually dynamic creations in comic book history) to the endless scenes of dull dialogue.
The special effects are even better than X3 and Ghost rider, and the Silver Surfer is beautiful to watch.The story this time is more interesting, and its nice to finally see superheroes being given recognition and funds to carry out their work by the government.
This time its a lot funnier, and Reed richards is geekier than ever in his science geek - cum - superhero role.The movie never drags, although sometimes the humor that involves The Thing is pretty lame, and dumbs down the movie a lot, while most of the scientific stuff is mentioned to the viewer in a "you wont get it anyway" summary type explanation that isn't always convincing.However, the look of this movie is so grea that you have to see it, and especially the "day after tomorrow" type disasters that SILVER SURFER brings along with him, including draining the river Thames in London.Againi, the cast looks great, with Jessica alba beautiful as usual and Lee evans looking really buff and toned.My advice - go watch it and enjoy yourself instead getting scared straight or bored straight watching all the other "big" summer sequels..
As Dr. Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic, played by Ioan Gruffudd) and Susan Storm (The Invisible Woman, played by Jessica Alba) try to get married in the midst of the hoopla as superhero celebs, the team discovers that they aren't the only super-powered beings in the universe when they come up against the mysterious Silver Surfer and the Earth-threatening Galactus.
Also unlike other such stories, the military/police are not grateful for the Fantastic Four's help and do not seem to collaborate with them, treating the superheroes as brats they have to deal with.Nonetheless, with its general patronage appeal, expect the movie to deliver good, clean fun and passable entertainment..
If you liked the original, you'll love the sequel.If you want a deep story, fleshed out characters, go watch an art house movie 'cause FF2 is just damn good fun from start to finish.
I admire the fact they changed his appearance (from a giant monolith with a crown to a cloud of dust and energy), and he's a good character to put into the movie, but they could of put a little more background into him besides "Some call him Gah Lac Tus, the destroyer of worlds." Ooooo scary.4: Last, but certainly not least is the Silver Surfer.
More comedy, more action and less of the plot problems, rather they add a new character, they work as a team, and Doom comes back and just as quickly turns on everyone in what can only be described as the moment the makers were hoping would make the film a PG-13 in America for reputation, unlucky guys, apparently.Going from London to China to Japan, i think, and Germany, and just in New York, where the Baxter Building's roof now has glass on the top in the shape of their logo :) It's dizzying, and a little too fast, when in all they could have gotten it done slower with more breathing space between random action that rots your brain until you go, oh, it's almost over, but wait, they have to wrap it up, come on, okay, that's it, yep, oh, you aren't going to die?
And Lawrence Fishburne adds deep bass and humanoid-ity to the Surfer, who, considering i never liked him, kind of showed me his worth, and although the film should be called Silver Surfer meets the Fantastic Four, as it's more his movie than their's, especially the final battle, the film keeps it's tone high, take that darker sequels, yes Spidey, AWE and X3!
funny, silly, and despite poor graphics in some bits, and annoying moments including bad pacing, the film is just as good as the original, and shows promise once again that the next Fantastic Four could be a little longer and a lot less about Sue...
I like the acting by cooler Ioan Gruffudd, the sexier Jessica Alba, the handsomer Chris Evans, and the, well, Michael Chiklis.I also want to attack a "problem" in this film that people are complaining about: Galactus.
Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver SurferStarring: Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington and Doug JonesGenre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/FantasyRated PGAfter the so-so turnout of the first Fantastic Four movie, I was wondering how were they going to make the sequel better than the first movie?
The Comic Book Movie Genre Takes a Huge Hit. This is one of the first movies I can say I hated from beginning to end!After the opening fifteen minutes, I felt like going back out to the lobby and staring at the cardboard cutout display, knowing I would find better acting there than was present on the screen.Perhaps I have reached the point of CG overload, but it seems the more things blow up, fly through the air or transform miraculously, the more I yawn.
Of course is not going to satisfy all people like hard core fans that want everything in detail like a comic book, but everyone knows that's impossible because the movie is not intended to that audience alone , also normal people who never heard of that kind of heroes.And Mr. Fantastic is very good and Ioan Gruffudd makes a great MR.Fantastic.
A sequel to 2005 box office winner, The Fantastic Four, "Rise Of The Silver Surfer" sees director Tim Story and the original cast principals return for more super hero schlocky fun.
While the effects are considerably better than the poor fodder served up in the first movie; granted it wouldn't have been hard to improve on that score.With a lovely light hearted approach, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer does its job.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is not just the opposite of a great action movie, it is the opposite of decent film-making of any kind.
(deserves to be stated twice) -The characterizations of the individual members of The Fantastic Four are overbearing and for the most part wrong.The story and acting suck - Jessica Alba is just plain wrong for Sue Storm.Dr. Doom is a petty, one-liner dropping villain instead of a badass.Having to hold back the vomit crawling up my throat every time The Thing or Johnny have anything to say to each other...or anyone else for that matter.The special effects mostly suck, and they REALLY suck at the club when Reed is dancing.Going "Ultimate" with the story instead of culling better ideas from a 40 year pedigree.Worst Stan Lee cameo in any Marvel movie to date.Galacticloud I could take a long time and point out more but that's about all I care to recall about this movie since I've already wasted enough of my precious life watching it once and I'll never watch it again.
From there, the Fantastic Four must do something or their world will soon end.It is quite short, somehow like a short movie, but still it can entertain you with excellent fights with special effects which is the most entertaining, the talking about how to destroy or bring the board away from the Silver surfer is quite fast.
The Fantastic Four themselves are all well characterized, especially the interplay between The Thing and Johnny Storm which is very reminiscent of the source material.Certainly it's cheesy but it's *fun* and at the end of the day that's exactly what a comic book superhero film should be..
The CGI, though good in some spots (the Galactus cloud creature as it starts to penetrate the Earths atmosphere was quite well done, and the Silver Surfer reminiscent of the T-1000 in Judgment Day), there were many other uses that just didn't seem to rise to the polish expected in a live action/CGI film.Aside from being almost short in it's running time (92 minutes), the story sometimes confused children, which was evident in the amount of chatter going on around me and my friends.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, was supposed to be one of the big summer events, but over all didn't make it as huge of an impact as expected, but I was hearing pretty good things from my friends who saw it.
But the fantastic four ban together to save the world once again.Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is definite entertainment, a lot of special effects and a decent story, but the actors are still not that great in my opinion.
I feel actually so bad because I know there are a lot of comic book fans who love this kind of story and grew up with the fantastic four, but I guess I should just stick to Batman, I prefer the darker stuff, for super hero's I always thought that yeah, they should have some cheesiness to the story, but not when it takes over the whole film, you know?
Having the Human Torch and Silver Surfer bounce around from New York to Washington D.C. to outer space and Cairo without much second thought, almost feels like something out of a ripe-for-parody 1950's B movie.That's the case for a lot of this movie: a villain with the name Dr. Von Doom (could they have been any less subtle?), this general blasé feeling by every character in the film about the world ending, etc.
There could be a couple of things good but mostly there are more, I shouldn't say bad, but just not good.I really liked how the Silver Surfer looks in the movie but it is just that for a film based on the comic-book genre, it is awfully thin.
(Comic books may be thin in physical appearance but they are usually big on ideas and graphics) When I say thin, I'm thinking three things, the script, the CGI (except the Silver Surfer) and Jessica Alba.I liked 2005's Fantastic Four despite it being critically bombarded by many reviewers.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is loosely adapted from the stories in the original comic book.
As good as the Silver Surfer looks with that chrome body of his that is all so cool, the movie did not tell us who he really is except that he was once named Norrin Radd and he works for something or someone known as Galactus, who or what looks like a cosmic storm cloud and is said to be a devourer of planets.I cannot imagine what the fans will think of this film.
I can only guess they will be disappointed.If you had read this far then I think you are interested to find out more so here goes and I'll lead you into the film.The movie begins with the Silver Surfer flying away from an exploding planet and into earth.
They seem forced and not always believable.All in all Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is an entertaining summer movie that takes the franchise it builds upon to new and exciting levels and is a clear improvement on the first film in the series.
Reed Richards (Ioan Grufford) and Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) make plans to get married, but are interrupted when the Silver Surfer (Doug Jones/Laurence Fishburne) shows up, trying to destroy the earth and it's up to the fantastic four to deal with him, as well as with the return of Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon).Let me start off by saying that I was never that big a fan of the FF comics (More Batman and Spiderman).
For real lovers of comic-book writing, there's just too much being changed.But if you know nothing of the Silver Surfer/Galactus or Dr. Doom, or comics at all, you will most likely enjoy this film.
As in the original film, "Rise of the Silver Surfer" features a "Thing" costume that could have been a bit better done, and an actor playing Mr. Fantastic who doesn't look a whole lot like the Reed Richards of the comic books.
"Rise of the Silver Surfer" is actually one of the better comic book adaptations that I've seen--yes, MCU movies included. |
tt1754123 | Lidice | At the beginning of the story Lidice is just one of many small Czech villages trying to survive the war as best as it can. Day-to-day existence within the Protectorate flows along almost serenely and the biggest upheaval is a pub brawl where by accident a drunk father kills his own son. The crime is justly punished and the poor wretch íma starts his sentence. But thanks to this he, alone, survives his family as well as his entire village which becomes the scapegoat for the assassination of Heydrich. The tale of this deeply paradoxical hero is full of contradictions yet remains truly human and forms the spine of the whole film.
íma is the father of two sons and is not a bad father by any means. His wife, Aneka, became
paralysed a long time ago and íma deals with the situation pragmatically by taking care of the family but, meantimes, engaging for many years in another relationship. The entire village takes it as a muted fact of life. Aneka seems resigned to her fate, íma´s lover too, only the elder of íma´s sons seems unable to accept his father´s double life. In a drunken brawl, when the younger íma attacks his father, an extremely unforunate set of circumstances see father kill his son and the family´s destiny takes on almost classical tragedy proportions.
Whilst Aneka and the younger son have to come to terms with the loss of of a son and brother (as well as the family´s breadwinner), íma himself is going through an internalised struggle in trying to accept his own guilt and in searching for a way back to the family´s acceptance which he believes he has lost for ever. One sees though that the binding basic bonds are able to survive even such a tragedy. And so with every reticent visit of his younger son or a small package form Aneka íma is able to begin to nurture hope that his family have not given up on him completely and he will have somewhere and, above all, to somebody to return to.
Life in the village passes by, the tragedy is forgotten and folk yet again turn their attention to their own struggles and the war. The gossip about the partisans in the forests, about the brave pilots in England (the stress being on these as two of Lidice´s young men have joined up there and local citizens are proud of them), they all spout their theories how things will turn out. Meanwhile, new babies are born, people die, the young fall in love and amongst these is a couple whose romance becomes fateful for the whole village.
Pepa Fiala, already married but remaining more like a starry-eyed lad than a grown man,
falls in love with the young Annie. As part and parcel of his courting (which is rather complicated owing to his situation, his family duties and the fact that he cannot be readily at hand, above all publicly, for Annie) he covers up with an imaginary partisan conspiratorial role. That itself puts him in an even better light as far as Annie is concerned and the whole affair could end like any run-of-the-mill love affair were it not for one of Pepa´s letters to Annie, where he alludes to his secret mission, getting into the wrong hands at the wrong time. The times are truly inappropriate for such play-acting. Just then an assassination had been carried out on Heydrich. Someone must be punished. Quickly. As an exemplary warning. For the whole world to remember. The point is not to find the real culprit. The point is to find a suitable sacrificial lamb.
That turns out to be Lidice a village which, in fact, had nothing to do with the actual assassination. At the given moment, though, it came in handy there was the letter with the mysterious messages, a very young lass who falls apart before the first question is even put to her and anyway, no-one needs to ask anything more, and nor do they wish to.
The plan is plain and simple the village must disappear. During one night all men above the age of sixteen are shot, the women are dragged off to concentration camps. All the village children are assembled at the square and seven of them (being ´ethnically suitable´) are picked out for adoption in Germany. The eighty six remaining are taken off and eventually executed en-masse in gas-filled lorries.The village is burnt to the ground.
Lidice was meant to be an example of deterrence and thus the Nazis were extremely rigorous when one of the seven children chosen to be re-educated refused to speak German straight off it was sent back and murdered together with the others.
While the news of the bestial Nazi revenge spreads like wildfire throughout Czechoslovakia,
within the jail compound where íma gradually, albeit with difficulty taking into account his crime, manages to gain new friends the news of the Lidice tragedy is kept from him by everyone. íma explains to himself the lack of post and visits in his own way it is proof that the family was in the end unable to forgive him and is trying to forget about him.
The greater the shock then when he discovers the fate of his family and the village just when he is on the threshold of regaining his own freedom. His guilt which perversely saved his skin becomes suddenly a burden he has to bear all by himself. Nobody will keep reminding him of it. But neither can anybody absolve him. When the authorities discover at the end of the war that a Lidice man exists who survived it all, they judge that a hero of such ilk is inappropriate and suggest to him he simply vanishes. íma becomes a nobody. A person who does not belong anywhere, of no use , someone who has outlasted his existence and validity of his essence. The new world is possibly even more complicated than the one gone by and the only hope left for the desperate íma at the start of his ´new life´is to be left to die and share the destiny of his family and neighbours.
Just possibly the only true hope exists in the openness and the complete unplanned future left to íma a form of freedom gained by someone who reaches the very bottom. íma is free because there is nothing in the world that anyone can take from him. He is not tied to anything, he has nothing to fear as he cannot lose anything. His only duty is to live. | murder | train | imdb | null |
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