imdb_id
stringlengths 9
9
| title
stringlengths 1
92
| plot_synopsis
stringlengths 442
64k
| tags
stringlengths 4
255
| split
stringclasses 1
value | synopsis_source
stringclasses 2
values | review
stringlengths 119
19k
⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
tt0053853 | Gasu ningen dai 1 gô | A high-speed pursuit between police and an escaping robber along Itsukaichi Highway is under way. The pursued car crashes and overturns down an embankment. Two policemen and Detective Okamoto (Tatsuya Mihashi) look to find the robber and are astonished to find nothing inside, not even blood.
The men hear the strains of music outside the property of a large nearby house. Okamoto directs one of the men to search the premises, while the other rings the buzzer at the front door. Investigating the music, Okamoto sees an outdoor stage upon which a dancer wearing a grotesque mask is rehearsing, accompanied by her servant Jiya. As the dancer ends her routine, the buzzer sounds. Jiya answers the door and informs the officer that he and his lady, Fujichiyo Kasuga (Kaoru Yachigusa), are alone and nobody has been by. The cop tries to take a peek inside, as Jiya informs him they do not have a car.
The next day, Okamoto shares lunch with his girlfriend, newspaper reporter Kyoko Kono (Keiko Sata). Kyoko questions him about the details of the robbery. Okamoto reveals there are no clues on how it was done or who did it. Kyoko feels she can find out as much information as Okamoto can, and perhaps even solve the case. Okamoto doesn't take her seriously.
The police officer who earlier had driven the squad cars is thanked by the bank president for supplying extra guards. The bank president assures the cop that the bank's alarm is tested every day. The alarm suddenly goes off as a mysterious robber kills a bank employee and confronts the police officer. The cop opens fire on him, but the bullets have no effect on the robber. More cops from police headquarters arrive. They observe the dead employee behind the locked bars that protect the safe. The bank president, overwhelmed with grief, is led away.
At a meeting with the editor, lead employee Kawasaki (Kozo Nomura) suggests that Kyoko try to get information out of her boyfriend. Although she doubts Okamoto would keep any new developments from her, she gets a call from him inviting her to lunch. They meet, and Okamoto asks Kyoko if she has ever heard of the dancer Fujichiyo. She can't give much information, other than that the dancer comes from a distinguished family and was at one time wealthy, but has not danced in some time. Okamoto wonders why, and Kyoko tells him it's because of the dancer's parents and grandparents, but he doesn't believe her. Sensing trouble, Kyoko leaves the restaurant and calls her newspaper for more information on Fujichiyo.
Okamoto's boss Tabata (Yoshifumi Tajima) informs him of the bank robbery and that an employee and a policeman have both died of suffocation by the mysterious robber. There are still no clues as to who did it. Okamoto tells his theory that the dancer Fujichiyo might be behind the robberies, but Tabata does not believe him.
The next day, Okamoto heads to Fujichiyo's house without official permission. Kyoko drives up and offers him a ride, but he lectures her and she drives off. Kyoko arrives at the dancer's house and sees a brand new car being dusted by a chauffeur. She meets Fujichiyo and discovers that she will give a solo recital in a month, with a supporting company, and she requests that no word be given out yet, as things are not definite. Kyoko points out that the publicity would be helpful. The dancer insists that nothing official be released yet, and that there is no guarantee that any announcement will be made if and when the recital does take place.
As the car carrying Fujichiyo travels down the road, it passes Okamoto. Kyoko drives up and lets him get in and they follow her. They find her at a public library and see her check out a book. The librarian Mizuno (Yoshio Tsuchiya) tells them the book she checked out contained ancient songs, and that she studies the library's ancient engravings.
Fujichiyo leaves and stops at the home of a respected chamber music tutor named Osaki (Kamayuki Tsubono). He informs her that he is too busy training to assist her at present. She then offers him 200,000 yen if he will perform. Osaki is amazed at the amount and gladly takes it.
Upon returning to his office, Okamoto discusses his research into Fujichiyo's affairs with his boss and her plans to stage a comeback. He believes she is getting the money from an unknown sponsor. Tabata suggests Okamoto continue his investigation.
Kyoko's newspaper office receives a call from a man claiming to be the bank robber, demanding to speak with the editor. The man states that at 3:00 the next day, he will rob the Kyodo bank in Shhinjuku. He suggests the bank employees be given prior warning so no one will get hurt. The man hangs up before insisting they make sure the story is printed correctly.
The next day the Kyono bank is infiltrated with police posing as bank employees, waiting for the robbery attempt. Some are positioned inside the vault. The hour of 3:00 is announced by the clock. A policeman named Hotta (Yukihiko Godo) tells Okamoto the time and that the robbery should have occurred by now. However, Inspector Inao (Yoshio Kosugi) comes inside the vault to tell them that they have caught the thief attempting to rob the bank. The captured man (Rem Yamamoto) is interrogated by the police and he tells him that he is the one who issued the warning on the phone. The police demand to know where the 56 million yen ended up, but he doesn’t know where the money is.
Okamoto and Kyoko meet at a restaurant where she congratulates him, but he doesn't believe the man's story, and still feels the answer lies with Fujichiyo. Kyoko admits the man's arrest does not answer the question of how the dancer got the money. She reasons that she might have gotten it from her family. Another detective enters the restaurant and tells Okamoto he is needed back at HQ. At police headquarters, Tabata announces that a theater hired for the recital has received money with serial numbers matching those of the stolen money. The police arrive at Fujichiyo's house and search the premises. Okamoto finds the money, and the serial numbers match. She is taken to police headquarters and questioned by Okamoto and Inao. They ask who gave her the money, but she refuses to tell them.
Some time later, the librarian Mizumo enters the police headquarters, where a group of journalists are in the Press Room. He then tells them that he was the one who robbed the banks to get Fujichiyo the money, but they are skeptical. He leaves and enters the conference room of the police station. Okamoto recognizes him and Mizuno offers to show the police the method used, on the condition they take him to the site of the second burglary. He is brought to the bank, where the circumstances will be recreated, with the bank president playing the part of the deceased employee. Mizuno walks up to the bars and to everybody's surprise he transforms himself into a cloud of swirling vapor in front of everybody. The police fire at him, but the bullets have no effect. He then goes though the bars and suffocates the bank president, killing him. The Gas Man then opens the bars and takes a stack of money. Inao fires several bullets at the Gas Man, with no effect. The Gas Man throws the money at Inao's face and wraps around the man's neck, killing him. The gaseous form of Mizuno escapes though an overhead window before telling the police that Fujichiyo is not guilty and they must release her from custody.
A meeting is held in police headquarters. Fujichiyo still refuses to cooperate with them capturing Mizuno. They keep her in custody so that they have a chance of catching Mizuno. However, Mizuno appears suddenly on the room and the police try to catch him. Okamoto shoots him at point-blank range but he escapes in his gaseous form.
Mizuno then heads to the prison where Fujichiyo is being held. He kills two policemen and unlocks the dancer's cell. Fujichiyo tells him that if she escapes with him she will be considered a criminal. Mizuno insists she comes with him, but she still refuses. He listens to her, releases all of the prisoners and vanishes. A riot erupts between police and prisoners. While all of this is happening, Fujichiyo sits quietly in her cell alone.
In the newspaper office, Kyoko gets an idea of how to further his cause for Fujichiyo's freedom. She suggests contacting the Gas Man to her editor for an interview. The newspaper prints an invitation to him and an impromptu meeting is set up on the upper floors of an office building. The interview begins with Mizuno assuring the press that he is not from outer space, but is an earthling as they are. He is asked how he became the Gas Man. Mizuno brings up the late professor of biology, Dr. Sano (Fuyuki Murakami).
His story begins as he was working at a college library. His successful career as a test pilot in Japan's Self Defense Force was cut short, due to the discovery of cancer in his lungs. He was visited by Dr. Sano, a professor at Johoku University and a medical doctor of Japan's space research program. It turns out that Mizuno was referred to the doctor by the Self Defense Force because the training he received made him a perfect candidate for their space pilot Ppogram. Dr. Sano said that they were going to change the existence of the human body, which would allow it to withstand the intense heat of the sun. Mizuno was offered 20,000 yen to undergo the experiment, but he admits the money was not important to him. He went to Dr. Sano's lab, where he was given an injection and lay down on a metal table where he is secured by steel bars. Dr. Sano turned on the machine and Mizuno soon fell asleep. Later Dr. Sano opened the chamber to find that Mizuno had become the Gas Man, with swirling mist where his body once was. Mizuno then regained his former shape with ease. He accused the doctor of deceiving him as to the true purpose of the experiment. Dr. Sano tried to leave but Mizuno caught him. Dr. Sano accidentally reveals that Mizuno was not the first person he experimented on. Realizing that the doctor might have killed them, and feeling betrayed, Mizuno kills Dr. Sano.
Resuming his interviews, Mizuno admits that he feels indebted to the doctor. Because of his new-found powers, he can help Fujichiyo dance again. He also admits that he loved her before he became the Gas Man. The police suddenly barge in and fire rifle grenades loaded with poison gas, but to no avail, as Mizuno escapes again.
The police ask Fujichiyo to help them catch Mizuno. A Dr. Tamiya (Hisaya Ito) patronizes her, and says that he does not believe she knowingly received stolen money. Feeling the Gas Man is a threat to society, he and the other officials ask that she help them set a trap for him at her concert. She does not go along with the plan. The police have no choice but to set Fujichiyo free.
In the newspaper office, it is revealed that an unspecified tragedy had affected Fujichiyo's life, forcing her to live her current existence.
Fujichiyo meets Osaki and is told that the musicians are to scared to perform the concert, fearing a confrontation between the Gas Man and police. Fujichiyo tells him not to worry and that she can do the recital without them. Mizuno appears before her and he says that everything is ready for her recital, but he is upset that the money to make her recital was stolen, and upset at the taking of other people's lives. Mizuno is unperturbed by such trivialities. He tells her that what he did was all for her and that his love for her is an obsession.
Dr. Tamiya meets with Okamoto and Tabata at Dr. Sano's lab. They devise a plan how to do in the Gas Man without harming Fujichiyo. They decide to use U.M. gas which can be detonated in an enclosed area. The theater Mizuno chooses as the location for Fujichiyo is such a place.
Kyoko pleads with Fujichiyo to cancel the concert. The dancer resists the suggestion, seeing it as her destiny. Kyoko persists in her argument. Fujichiyo has been told by the police that they intend to trap Mizuno. In the process, many people may be inured or killed. Kyoko reckons the audience will be mostly thrill seekers, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Gas Man. She insists that Fujichiyo tell Mizuno not to attend, then help the police try to capture him later. Fujichiyo tells her that she must perform so that she can return the honor for his sake. Kyoko then asks her if she really loves him after all that has happened. Surprised at the question, Fujichiyo says that she does.
On the night of the recital, an unruly mob and a frenzied media gather outside the theater. The police try to keep both groups away from the theater. Fire engines are at the ready once the gas has been detonated. Kyoko manages to break though the police barricade and runs for the theater. Okamoto follows her in. As Kyoko enters, she sees Fujichiyo and Jiya on stage as the dancer performs "Daughter of Fuji". Mizuno is seen sitting in the crowd watching contentedly.
In Sano's lab, Tabata and Tamiya discuss the challenging task of trying to fill the theater with gas, getting everyone but Mizuno out, then setting the theater ablaze.
As the recital continues, the crowd begins to get restless, waiting for the Gas Man to appear. Mizuno stands up and informs them that he is the Gas Man, but the crowd is obdurate. Mizuno transforms into his gaseous state, scaring all but one from the theater. During the disturbance, Kyoko runs to the stage pleading with Fujichiyo to leave, but she refuses to stop, saying that this is her final performance. Her servant also insists on staying with her. Mizuno alerts Okamoto to the fallen man.
At the lab Tamiya suggests to Tabata that they wait until Mizuno is completely alone in the theater. Tabata is torn for he doesn't quite have the opportunity he needs to set fire to the place. Having no choice, he orders the gas to be released.
Okamoto and Kyoko take the fallen man out of the theater. They head for Sano's lab with news that Fujichiyo and Jiya have insisted on remaining with Mizuno. Tabata decides to throw the switch but Kyoko pleads with him not to do it. Tabata says it is too late to stop now. The switch is thrown but nothing happens. They find out that the detonating wires on the circuit board have been severed by Fujichiyo. As the recital ends, Fujichiyo bounds off the stage, embracing Mizuno. While savoring the moment with the man she loves, she reaches for a cigarette lighter to burn the theater down along with Mizuno and Jiya. Knowing that they can never live happily together as a normal couple, she ignites the lighter, causing the theater to go up in a maelstrom of flame, killing Fujichiyo and Jiya.
While everyone outside gazes at the burning theater, they wonder if the Gas Man is dead. They then see the mangled, smoldering clothes of the Gas Man, slowly crawling out of the theater then returning to his original form, dead. | insanity, murder | train | wikipedia | The title may suggest a bad sci-fi movie, but this film is actually quite dramatic and well produced.
Part mystery and part science fiction, it is well acted and the special effects of the man turning into the vapor is expertly done.
The segments of the Vapor traveling about the city and telling of his experiences are a high point of the movie, and explain what it would feel like to actually be a cloud of gas.
The central story, of the attraction between the Vapor and the dancer, is well written and effectively developed on screen.
This is an example of a Japanese science fiction film that often gets overshadowed by the likes of Godzilla and Rodan, but is quite good on its own merits.
The story behind the crime.
Something repellant...."Maybe not necessarily repellant, but the sight of someone's body vaporizing till he becomes invisible...
well, I've seen prettier things.The second feature of this double bill is The Human Vapor and was directed by Ishirô Honda, the man who also gave you Gojira (a.k.a. Godzilla) and countless sequels with the rubber-suited monster.
Honda worked for Toho Studios who, apart from Godzilla and Samurai films, made four movies about humans who could change the state of their bodies.
The Human Vapor, released in 1960, was the last of these four films.No monster in Gasu Ningen Daiichigo (1960) or The Human Vapor, but a librarian who agrees to be a test subject for a scientific study.
Little did librarian Mizuno know the other test subjects had died during the test.
He discovers he can vaporize his body and kills the professor (by asphyxiation).
Mizuno might want to turn his back to humanity, but he's also madly in love with a beautiful dancer who's been saving for her comeback performance.
Maybe not such a bad idea, but it's a crime my friendly neighbourhood officer tells me.
The police pursue his trail (he might be invisible, but his car isn't) to the place where Vapor-Man abandons his car.
That's where She lives and when She suddenly appears to have enough money for her comeback and can't/won't reveal any information on her maecenas, she's arrested.This makes Mizuno so angry he becomes even madder than he was before (it seems like the test affected both his visibility and his sanity) and he wants revenge for the imprisonment of his beloved dancer.
More banks are robbed and more people get killed.
That's as far as I'll go because, who knows, you might want to check this movie out and as the saying goes, there's no crying over spilt endings.
The movie is very decent and a remarkable ending.The bad news is The Human Vapor isn't just the American title of the film, it's also the American version and sadly a lot went lost in the translation.First and foremost, Gasu Ningen Daiichigo was a mystery and in The Human Vapor the anti-hero tells his story in a long flashback.
This would've been only half so horrible if the narration had been more interesting and if it hadn't replaced the dialogue in quite a lot of scenes (which leaves us with the "I told him and then he said" effect).
The jerking effect of the re-edited version is also not really a plus side.
If you can't remember why the soundtrack seems so familiar, you must have seen The Fly (1958).Crappy editing, dialogue and Americanized dubbing (Japanese characters are less credible with sentences like "Ah, go peddle your papers!") aside, nothing can keep us from knowing this is a terrific movie.
The Human Vapor still has enormous amounts of tragedy and pathos, an anti-hero who can't control his limitless powers and an enchanting but painful love story.
What it lacks as a crime story, it wins as a character study.
It's fascinating to see how Mizuno evolves from a friendly lab rat into a psychotic megalomaniac.
We also wonder about the role of the dancer Fujichiyo.Does she know where the money came from?
Does she also love Mizuno?
Her personality is quite different from the other female character in the film, the reporter Kyoko.
Traditional versus modern.Mizuno's acts are beyond redemption, but still you feel some sort of sympathy for the Human Vapor and most of that comes from his unconditional love for Fujichiyo.
(Not unlike the Phantom of the Opera's love for Christine Daaé.) True, the special effects are minimal, but who needs special effects in a sci-fi movie when you've got a story?.
Probably the most sad and dramatic of all Toho sci-fi epics.
Here, we have the title character, who is a librarian in his real life, willing to make sacrifices to pamper his lover, the Kabuki dancer, even if it resorts to chaos and havoc.
Caught in the mix is a policeman and a reporter, out to catch the rampaging "Vapor Man" before he causes any more harm.
I usually prefer more light-heated pieces, like the works of writer Shinichi Sekizawa.
Though this is a really dark film, which could use more lighter themes, it is a movie with a very compelling story with an astounding climax.
Gasu ningen dai 1 gô: Silly little sci-fi.
Cashing in on the influx of western sci-fi movies Toho created The Human Vapour and it's a thoroughly mixed bag.It tells the story of a man who can turn into vapour and proceeds to use his ability to rob banks.As you can imagine it all looks very tacky as everything did back then, complete with the same sound effects you'll have heard a thousand times from movies like this.The core story is fairly unique and the film does have quite the heart.
Sadly from an entertainment standpoint it's rather underwhelming and that's a shame.Think of this as a sci-fi verison of the H-Man (1958) in many regards, but inferior and more than little goofy.It manages to meet the quality of the films it mimmicks, but alas that really isn't saying much.The Good:Plot isn't terribleQuite a good finaleThe Bad:Taglines are ridiculousWhy keep calling him gasman when he's not gas?Lifeless in placesThings I Learnt From This Movie:Abbreviated to Vape Man, I'm shocked this hasn't been remade.
Superior Japanese SF/Horror.
The Human Vapour shows that there was a lot more to 60s Japanese science fiction movies than Godzilla and Mothra.
While the version I watched was badly dubbed and transferred to video, it still stood out as superior b-grade sci-fi.
The FX may be quite primitive but the concept was handled well, the acting more than adequate, and the central relationship between the Vapour and the Kabuki dancer was suprisingly touching.
Ishiro Honda is best known for his Kaiju films, which is rather a shame because he made many other fine and creative movies.
This scifi/horror mix a good example of one of his more intimate, darker and multilayered creations and is to be recommended to old-school fans of these genres.The scifi/monster elements in this film are a variation on H G Wells' Invisible Man, although our protagonist/villain is more complicated and more tragic than Wells'.
The protagonist in this film uses his superhuman powers to rob banks and finance the come-back of a Noh dancer who is recovering after a recent stay in a sanitarium, and there are a number of scenes with her dancing and wearing traditional garb...these scenes are in contrast to the eponymous protagonist, who wears a business suit and participates the sordid business of crime.
Yet our protagonist loves the dancer and the dancer appears to at least partially reciprocate.In the hands of a lessor director, this material could become boring and maudlin, yet this film is moody, suspenseful, and there is a haunting sense of impending tragedy that is maintained throughout.
Certainly our protagonist has become unhinged, and there are hints that the Noh dancer may also have been at the sanitarium for mental health problems.
So then, this film presents us with mix of madness, art and science fiction that is interesting on several levels...not the least of which is the love story between a fragile artist and a homicidal lunatic.In a strange way, this film has many of the same themes as the 2010 pseudo art house flick, 'Black Swann,' yet is more deft and has more depth.The FX, while clearly belonging to the world of 1960, are creative and tell the story, and contribute to the coherent mood of this film.
The American version has been edited badly, but still conveys the major meanings.
I recommend this to fans of old-school horror and scifi, and to those studying the work of Ishiro Honda..
The Human Vapor is a surprisingly worthwhile change from the usual round of men in rubber suit Japanese horror films.
It is an effective cross between The Invisible Man and Phantom of the Opera with just a dash of Hangover Square.The kabuki sequences were very well staged.
It is marred only by over-abundant comic relief and choppy editing (although the latter is almost certainly the fault of it's American distributors).It is also hampered by its current un-availability in any medium.
My sad, long out of print, much-abused VHS rental copy is close to 20 years old and appears to have been made from a very worn out, badly scratched and faded TV print.Does anyone know of a restored print?
Interesting sci-fi noir.
The police are in pursuit of a man who can change into gas and who is using that ability to rob banks so that he can pay for a recital by a dancer with whom he is in love.
The film is an imaginative thriller from Toho, directed by Ishiro Honda and with effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.
The third act, in which the police set a trap for 'the gas man', seems a bit weak - surely the titular character would have suspected a trap when he is the only person at the recital; however, I was watching a subtitled version and might have missed something (perhaps 'the gas man's' behaviour was in keeping with his obsession with the dancer).
The special effects are simple but effective, and overall, the film is an entertaining example of Toho's early 1960's non-Kaiju tokusatsu (although not as good as 1958's "The H-man")..
Tarrantino Knows His Stuff.
Although I love giant monsters, It was cool to see Honda do a movie without them.
What I most admire about his movies are the quirky/funky artificial looking art direction.
If you like 60's go-go stuff with a twist, you will dig this crazy movie!.
Music from the film.
I saw this film only once, in Sydney around 1977, and was called "Vapour Man".
I have looked for it sporadically since due to the soundtrack.
Japanese cinema and TV series like "The Samurai" and "Phantom Agents" were almost as influential on Australian kids of the time as American and British products and luck we were indeed.
The Human is a surprisingly worthwhile change from the standard Japanese horror film.
It is a cross between The Invisible Man and Phantom of the Opera with just a dash of Hangover Square.
It has tremendous production values and some good, sincere acting.
It has tremendous production values and some good, sincere acting.
It is marred only but over abundant comic relief, and choppy editing.
Superior, surprisingly adult Sci-Fi from Toho IN IT'S ORIGINAL VERSION.
I only recently saw the unedited, widescreen and subtitled version of this truly almost classic adult science fiction film: a near classic in it's original version, not the cut U.S. version.
It's really not for children as there is much time spent on the characters and their relationships, a rarity in sci-fi films from that era.A librarian Name Mijuno is approached by a Dr. Sano to take part in a scientific test, unaware that the prior subject died.
He acquires the power to change from physical form to vapor and back again, kills Dr. Sano and embarks on a series of seemingly impossible bank robberies and leaving a trail of bodies.
Mijuno is in love with Fujichiya, a classical Japanese Kabuki dancer.
The money Mijuno is stealing is for her comeback.
There is a police detective and a determined woman reporter who eventually tie Mijuno and Fujichiya together.
Fujichiya can't believe that Mijuno is responsible for the crimes as he for years has treated her with nothing but kindness and love.
The police plan to trap the Human Vapor at her comeback performance.
This movie is set apart from others by the doomed tragic love between Mijuno and Fujiciya, great acting, a more mature plot and some great special effects.
This is a sci-fi film you can show to your date or wife or significant other..
**SPOILERS** Washing out, due to contracting tuberculosis, as a top test pilot for the Japanese Air Force Mizuno suffered a nervous breakdown that landed him into a Tokyo sanitarium.
It was at the sanitarium that Mizuno met and fell in love with fellow inmate the famous and equally destroyed,mentally, Fujichiyo who at one time was Japans greatest dancer.Declared by the sanitarium doctors as being fully recovered and Let out in the outside world Mizuno ends up working as a librarian.
In his work in the library Mizuno is approached by a Dr. Sano who's been a great fan of his when he was flying planes for the air force.
Dr.Sano telling Mizuno that he can get him back into shape to fly planes has Mizuno agree to him being experimented on by the doc.
Dr. Sano ends up putting Mizuno into this state of suspended animation for 10 days.
when he comes out of it he's told by a scared and nervous Dr.Sano, who seemed surprised that he survived that it, the experiment was a total failure.
Finding out from Dr. Sano that there has been other experiments by him, where all those involved died, and with him now being the only survivor an outrage Mizuno suddenly turns into a cloud of gas and attacks Dr. Sano engulfing and suffocating him to death.Mizuno realizing that he has achieved, due to the late Dr. Sano's experiments, super powers goes on a crime spree vaporizing into a fine mist and then robbing Toyko banks and killing a number of bank employees and police by asphyxiating them.
Mizuno then makes his escape by fading away into thin air.
Mizuno's, who's later dubbed by the police and newspapers as the Vapor Man, crimes are not for his own greed and misguided revenge against the world but to get enough money to have his love dancer Fujichiyo be able to get back to dancing by having a public recital of her talents.
Mizuno wants Fujichiyo to become Japans premier dancer and the crazed Mizumo doesn't care how many banks he'll rob and people kill, with his new found powers, in order to do it.A really strange and at the same time touching love story, if you can excuse or overlook the bank robberies and killings involved, of a man ,Mizuno, gone insane with love for the woman ,Fujichiyo, he loves.
Who's a sweet caring and conscientious person not having the heart to betray and turn him in to the police.
For the crimes that he committed for her which she had no knowledge of.Arrested and thrown in jail Fujichiyo refuses to tell the police who her lover, who's committing all these vapor crimes, is.
It's Mizuro himself who comes forward to tell the shocked public that he's the notorious Vapor Man and vaporizes himself going on to both rob a bank and kill a bank guard to prove it.The police are helpless to stop the Vapor Man and finally have to release Fujichiyo.
That leads to her, and the Vapor Man, renting out a Tokyo theater to give her dance recital like the Vapor Man always demanded.
This has the attending Mizuno, whom these jerks don't realize, the Vapor Man tell them to get the hell out of the theater and get their money back at ticket counter.
This makes the theater crashers even more rowdy and in return Mizuno vaporizes attacking them and driving the entire bunch out in panic.The Tokyo police in a last desperate move, when the theater is emptied out with only Mizuno and Fujichiyo being in it, pump gas into the place in oder to knock out the Vapor Man and take him captive.
Fujichiyo realizing what's happening and wanting to stop once and for all the death and destruction of her lover Mizuno pulls out a lighter.
As she and Mizuno embrace, after her very successful dance number, Fujichiyo flicks her bic and blows the entire theater up killing herself in the process.
Mizuno unfortunately survives and now has to live the rest of his life, which is forever, with the guilt of not only the many people he killed and victimized as the Vapor Man. He also has to live with the fact that he drove his one and only love Fujichiyo to kill herself because of the crimes that he committed for her..
Another sad and weak Japanese 60's film..
*Spoiler/plot- The Human Vapor, 1960.
A lowly Japanese librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong.
It transforms him into 'The Human Vapour' or a living cloud.
He uses that new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer.
The Human Vapour is ruthless in his quest for money and kills anyone who stands in his way, especially police.
He soon becomes Tokyo's most wanted criminal.*Special Stars- Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kaoru Yachigusa, Tatsuya Mihashi.
English Narrator: James Hong.*Theme- Experiment on humans should be never routine.*Trivia/location/goofs- Japanese.
The dialog for this film is badly dubbed into English.*Emotion- Another sad and weak Japanese 60's film to make it to USA drive-ins.
The production mistakes make this film only watchable to a special cult-like audience.
Too many US film's were better made on the same plot scenario to bother with this early effort.*Based on- Atomic and radiation mutation fears, especially in Japan Post WW2. |
tt0041349 | Fast and Furry-ous | Introduction: The title sign is shown first, and the card is blown away when the Road Runner whips by. The pair whip past the camera to change the credits. The camera zooms to the Road Runner and the scene shows the Latin name he keeps for the first three cartoons: ROAD RUNNER: Accelleratii Incredibus. He moves into superspeed and briefly pulls up the road. Wile E., on a cliff, watches with binoculars as the Road Runner tears across the roads. He licks his lips as his name is shown: COYOTE: Carnivorous Vulgaris. The coyote puts on a napkin, grabs a knife and fork, and rushes down the mountain and onto the road behind the road runner. As soon as he catches up, he tries to strike the Road Runner with his knife and fork. However, the bird just beeps and dashes off. Wile E. slows to a stop, drops his jaw in disbelief, then paces as he thinks of a new scheme.
As the Road Runner approaches, Wile E. is hiding between large rocks with a steel trash can lid. He holds it out and the Road Runner stops just short, causing the Coyote to wonder why he didn't hit it. Wile moves the lid while glancing at the road runner, who promptly sticks his tongue out and speeds away. Wile gets ready to follow him, but the Road Runner returns as quickly as he left and holds out the lid, which the Coyote runs into. The Road Runner runs off again.
Wile E. takes delivery of a boomerang and throws it over its hiding place, but is quickly hit by another boomerang, thrown by the Road Runner directly behind him. Wile E. steams with rage and is about to chase his opponent but his own boomerang hits him before he can move.
The Coyote paints white lines on the gravel and brings out a SLOW School Crossing sign. Wile imitates a schoolgirl and prances in front of the sign, but the Road Runner blasts by, resulting in Wile E. holding onto the sign with his arms. The Road Runner returns with the wig he was wearing and a sign that says "ROAD RUNNERS CAN'T READ".
The Road Runner is now spiraling up another mountain, while Wile is preparing a rocket-launcher contraption. he launches into a rock instead of the Road Runner.
The Coyote now tries to squash the passing Road Runner with a gigantic boulder. When Wile pulls the string out from under the boulder, its massive weight causes the boulder to reverse its center of gravity in mid-fall and squash its owner.
Having had enough of directly trying to defeat the Road Runner, Wile draws a curve in the right lane of the desert's main road, and continues it across into a rock face. He then paints a lifesize painting of a tunnel on the face. The bird runs directly through it. Then, Wile tries to follow, but flattens himself against the rock. Wile gears up for a 2nd attempt, but the Road Runner runs back out and knocks the coyote down again.
Wile leaves a stick of TNT covered in dirt in the middle of the road and connects it to a detonator. When he pushes down on it, the detonator explodes on himself.
Resorting to the Acme Corporation, the Coyote hopes that his ACME Super Outfit will give him the ability to fly, but he drastically fails to defy gravity.
Wile now puts together a meat grinder, a refrigerator, and an electric motor (the motor turns the grinder, grinding the ice cubes the refrigerator is spitting out, creating a path of snow!), and skis towards the road, narrowly missing the bird. The coyote continues across the desert floor and off the edge of another cliff. Wile's expression changes slowly as the power begins to run out of the refrigerator, and then he falls to the ground. The motor automatically turns on and snow forms on top of Wile, who holds up a "MERRY XMAS" sign.
Having tried most everything, Wile now puts on a pair of Fleet Foot's jet-propelled tennis shoes, and discovers he can now move at the speed of the Road Runner. Happy with himself, Wile returns to his attack base, but then the Road Runner turns up directly in front and beeps. A chase ensues, but when the dust clears, it is revealed that the Road Runner didn't even move! Wile turns around and returns to the Road Runner, infuriated. Both of them start on the "dragstrip" a second time and it is Wile who accidentally initiates the false start. Wile's eyes pop out and he initiates the chase again. As Wile is gaining on the bird, both rivals come to a highway 'cloverleaf', where they circle around and around, constantly changing directions to the tune of "I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover", until they meet in the center stretch. The chase continues down the road until the tennis shoes run out. Wile sees a sign displaying "SHORT CUT" and follows it, looking to intercept the Road Runner.
Wile hears the beeps then steps out into the middle of the road with an axe, but it is a bus that approaches and flattens Wile E! The bird, perched in the back window of the bus, pulls down a shade emblazoned with "The End" .
That's all Folks! | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0085297 | Carmen | Place: Seville, Spain, and surrounding hills
Time: Around 1820
Act 1
A square, in Seville. On the right, a door to the tobacco factory. At the back, a bridge. On the left, a guardhouse.
A group of soldiers relax in the square, waiting for the changing of the guard and commenting on the passers-by ("Sur la place, chacun passe"). Micaëla appears, seeking José. Moralès tells her that "José is not yet on duty" and invites her to wait with them. She declines, saying she will return later. José arrives with the new guard, who is greeted and imitated by a crowd of urchins ("Avec la garde montante").
As the factory bell rings, the cigarette girls emerge and exchange banter with young men in the crowd ("La cloche a sonné"). Carmen enters and sings her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love ("L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"). The men plead with her to choose a lover, and after some teasing she throws a flower to Don José, who thus far has been ignoring her but is now annoyed by her insolence.
As the women go back to the factory, Micaëla returns and gives José a letter and a kiss from his mother ("Parle-moi de ma mère!"). He reads that his mother wants him to return home and marry Micaëla, who retreats in shy embarrassment on learning this. Just as José declares that he is ready to heed his mother's wishes, the women stream from the factory in great agitation. Zuniga, the officer of the guard, learns that Carmen has attacked a woman with a knife. When challenged, Carmen answers with mocking defiance ("Tra la la... Coupe-moi, brûle-moi"); Zuniga orders José to tie her hands while he prepares the prison warrant. Left alone with José, Carmen beguiles him with a seguidilla, in which she sings of a night of dancing and passion with her lover—whoever that may be—in Lillas Pastia's tavern. Confused yet mesmerised, José agrees to free her hands; as she is led away she pushes her escort to the ground and runs off laughing. José is arrested for dereliction of duty.
Act 2
Lillas Pastia's Inn
Two months have passed. Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès are entertaining Zuniga and other officers ("Les tringles des sistres tintaient") in Pastia's inn. Carmen is delighted to learn of José's release from two month's detention. Outside, a chorus and procession announces the arrival of the toreador Escamillo ("Vivat, vivat le Toréro"). Invited inside, he introduces himself with the "Toreador Song" ("Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre") and sets his sights on Carmen, who brushes him aside. Lillas Pastia hustles the crowds and the soldiers away.
When only Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès remain, the smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado arrive and reveal their plans to dispose of some recently acquired contraband ("Nous avons en tête une affaire"). Frasquita and Mercédès are keen to help them, but Carmen refuses, since she wishes to wait for José. After the smugglers leave, José arrives. Carmen treats him to a private exotic dance ("Je vais danser en votre honneur ... La la la"), but her song is joined by a distant bugle call from the barracks. When José says he must return to duty, she mocks him, and he answers by showing her the flower that she threw to him in the square ("La fleur que tu m'avais jetée"). Unconvinced, Carmen demands he show his love by leaving with her. José refuses to desert, but as he prepares to depart, Zuniga enters looking for Carmen. He and José fight, and are separated by the returning smugglers, who restrain Zuniga. Having attacked a superior officer, José now has no choice but to join Carmen and the smugglers ("Suis-nous à travers la campagne").
Act 3
A wild spot in the mountains
Carmen and José enter with the smugglers and their booty ("Écoute, écoute, compagnons"); Carmen has now become bored with José and tells him scornfully that he should go back to his mother. Frasquita and Mercédès amuse themselves by reading their fortunes from the cards; Carmen joins them and finds that the cards are foretelling her death, and José's. The women depart to suborn the customs officers who are watching the locality. José is placed on guard duty.
Micaëla enters with a guide, seeking José and determined to rescue him from Carmen ("Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante"). On hearing a gunshot she hides in fear; it is José, who has fired at an intruder who proves to be Escamillo. José's pleasure at meeting the bullfighter turns to anger when Escamillo declares his infatuation with Carmen. The pair fight ("Je suis Escamillo, toréro de Grenade"), but are interrupted by the returning smugglers and girls ("Holà, holà José"). As Escamillo leaves he invites everyone to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered; at first, José will not leave with her despite Carmen's mockery, but he agrees to go when told that his mother is dying. As he departs, vowing he will return, Escamillo is heard in the distance, singing the toreador's song.
Act 4
A square in Seville. At the back, the walls of an ancient amphitheatre
Zuniga, Frasquita and Mercédès are among the crowd awaiting the arrival of the bullfighters ("Les voici ! Voici la quadrille!"). Escamillo enters with Carmen, and they express their mutual love ("Si tu m'aimes, Carmen"). As Escamillo goes into the arena, Frasquita and Mercedes warn Carmen that José is nearby, but Carmen is unafraid and willing to speak to him. Alone, she is confronted by the desperate José ("C'est toi ! C'est moi !"). While he pleads vainly for her to return to him, cheers are heard from the arena. As José makes his last entreaty, Carmen contemptuously throws down the ring he gave her and attempts to enter the arena. He then stabs her, and as Escamillo is acclaimed by the crowds, Carmen dies. José kneels and sings "Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!"; as the crowd exits the arena, José confesses to killing the woman he loved. | tragedy | train | wikipedia | Filmed in Spain by Spaniards, this is a Spanish tale based on a French novel and the French opera which it inspired.
Saura's flamenco "Carmen" is an exciting work of art.A modern ensemble of musicians and dancers is rehearsing a flamenco interpretation of the Carmen story.
He chooses a girl named Carmen to play 'his' Carmen, and life begins tragically to imitate art ...The opening credits are backed by Dore prints with Bizet playing.
Antonio is being pulled in two directions, simultaneously possessed by the duende of authentic flamenco and lured by the bewitching Carmen of 19th-century romanticism.
Antonio has Cristina as his senior dancer (the marvellous Cristina Hoyos), but as he tells her, good though she is, she is not 'the' Carmen.
The young gypsy beauty scrambles into the dance class late, her unruly dignity immediately apparent, and we see in Antonio's face that he knows.
This is 'his' Carmen.The film's artistic conceit is a subtle movement between actuality and fantasy, echoing the conflict between the truth of flamenco and the falseness of the Bizet Carmen.
Are Cristina and Carmen at each other's throats in real life, or is this Antonio's heated imagination expanding on the Tabacalera clash?
The hostility between Cristina and Carmen boils over into violence, faithfully reproducing Merimee and Bizet, and all portrayed in dance.
As Antonio arrives in the role of Don Jose to arrest the gypsy wildcat, Bizet's tragic motif begins to play.Carmen and Antonio drink a glass of manzanilla together, symbolically cementing their relationship.
She is Carmen.Antonio dances alone in the rehearsal room.
The image of a man moving beautifully in a bare box of a room is one of the film's quiet triumphs.At this crucial point in their blossoming love affair, Carmen and Antonio begin to take divergent paths.
In a Christ-like gesture, Antonio drinks a solitary glass of manzanilla, the cup of the passion which will not pass him by.The best scene of the film, straddling reality and fantasy, ordinariness and high artifice, dance and dialogue, is the poker game.
There is a powerful flamenco dance in which Antonio and the gitano confront each other and fight.
The corrida is lovingly depicted in mock-dance, with balletic veronicas and a silent faena: then there is the 'dance-off' between a jealous Antonio and an imperious Carmen, with their contrasting rhythmic signatures: and the squalor of betrayal and abuse in which the story culminates.
The presence of Paco de Lucia, legendary guitarist and the scion of a great flamenco dynasty, is in itself a certificate of the film's artistic authenticity.Verdict - a superb, unfussy modern work which captures the strong flavour of this ancient Spanish folk-art on film..
Carmen is one of the best films I've ever seen.
It's hard to say whose performance is best: Antonio Gades, Cristina Hoyos and Laura del Sol are superb.They dance their souls out.
This is an amazing film, both for the incredibly energy evoked from the frenetic flamenco dancing, and from the unique way that the filmmakers interweave the story of the stage production with the lives of the characters preparing for it.
You don't need to love opera or flamenco(I don't)to be captured, enraptured, enthralled by this film.
You don't need to love opera or flamenco(I don't)to be captured, enraptured, enthralled by this film.
It is accomplished here as well as in any.If you love Carmen, you'll love this version.If you love flamenco, you'll love this version.The plot of the classic opera is played out in the actual rehearsal of the opera by a flamenco troupe.
The direction wonderful.If you like dancing, you'll love this version.There is tragedy.
Saura/Gades' " Carmen" is the most sensual of all adaptations and truly Spanish.
Passionate, dramatic, riveting as Flamenco itself, the film is simply amazing.
The original music is written and performed by one of the greatest classical guitarists, leading proponent of the Modern Flamenco style, Paco de Lucia who plays a musician with the same name.
Legendary Flamenco dancer and choreographer Antonio Gades co/wrote the script and choreographed this fabulous version of the celebrated Georges Bizet/Prosper Mérimée novella/opera.
He plays a main character Antonio, the famous dancer/choreographer who works on retelling the story of Carmen in the Flamenco style that combines dances with singing and rhythmic hand clapping and has a highly charged level of dynamics that appeals enormously to the viewers.Brilliant and graceful Cristina Hoyos whose technical excellence matches the elegant artistry of her dancing shines in the supporting role.
Hoyos had been the first dancer in Gades' company for twenty years (1968-1988) and she was the protagonist of three films that Carlos Saura made of Gades' three great shows: "Bodas de Sangre" (1978), "Carmen" (1983) and "El Amor Brujo" (1985).
Gorgeous Laura del Sol is a young dancer named Carmen in whom Antony sees from the first sight another Carmen, who was immortalized by two Frenchmen, the writer Prosper Mérimée in his most famous novella written in 1846 that had inspired George Bizet's world famous Opéra-Comique version from 1875.As in the opera and in the novella, Carmen in Saura's film is desirable and deadly, the ultimate femme fatale who has to be free above anything else.
There some 50 movie adaptations of the story and the opera to the screen, and as different as they are, they all have in common the only possible tragic end.
Saura/Gades' film is unique as the most sensual of all and truly Spanish.
In Carmen, Saura once again seeks to establish a dynamic rapport between reality and fiction, between the actual passions of the personalities in a dance company preparing the choreography for the dance portions of the opera Carmen and the scripted passions from the story of the fictional Carmen, the famous fatal mix of a free spirit (read disregard for fidelity) and her ability to drive men mad with desire.
Saura used this same vehicle fiction/reality in an earlier black-and-white film, Bodes de Sangre (Blood Wedding).
But, whereas the tensions between the dancers rehearsing Blood Wedding showed to advantage how they evolved into the fictional characters of the story to be performed through directing their emotions into their roles, in Carmen, the parallel between the petty, libidinal urges of the dancers of the troop during rehearsals and the spirit forging to do with the mythic Carmen never comes even close to being believable.
However, it hardly matters, the melodrama Saura tries to impose upon his Carmen, because the Flamenco dancing and guitar music of the rehearsals_ which are 95% of the film _by some of the best known Flamenco dancers and musicians, more than repays the price of entry.
This is one of the best films we watched in my high school Spanish class.
Watching these amazing dancers moving to the music of Bizet is well worth checking out..
On the face of it, Carlos Saura's 1983 Carmen is simply yet another version - to join dozens of others - of Bizet's world-famous opera, using flamenco music and dance, and a modern story-line, alongside elements of the opera.
Following in the footsteps of many a Hollywood musical, Saura sets his story in the period of rehearsal before a new production, except in this case there is no successful opening night as the climax of the movie, but a tragic death echoing the opera.
The music and dancing are dramatic, passionate and exciting, especially for those of us who love flamenco; and the weaving together of the modern characters and plot with those of the opera is effective, if somewhat contrived.
Spanish food, drink, language, literature, music, dance and much else are unique and immediately identifiable.
Bizet, who never set foot in Spain, based his 1875 opera on a story by Prosper Merimée, also a Frenchman; and no matter how Spanish his music sounds, it is merely imitation.
So for Saura to base a film on Carmen has a significance not shared by the other two films in his "flamenco trilogy" - Blood Wedding and Love the Magician - where the originals are quintessentially Spanish.It is tempting therefore to regard the film as a kind of reclamation for Spain of Bizet's pseudo-Spanish Carmen.
And certainly in the adaptation for guitar of some of Bizet's music, and in the translation to flamenco dance of some of the action of the opera, such a reclamation or reconciliation has taken place.
But I for one wish that Saura had gone further; had deconstructed the original stereotypes; and had shown that by the late 20th century José had grown up, and could refrain from knifing Carmen, no matter how Spanish he might feel and how free-spirited she might be.
While rehearing Carmen of Bizet, the middle-aged choreographer Antonio (Antonio Gades) brings the sexy Carmen (Laura del Sol) to perform the lead role.
When Carmen has an affair with another dancer, Antonio is consumed by his jealousy like D.
José in the original opera, entwining fiction with reality."Carmen" is another great movie of Carlos Saura's trilogy dedicated to the Flamenco dance.
The dramatic love story is developed with the lives of the artists entwined with the characters they are rehearsing, and many times is not absolutely clear whether what is happening is reality (with the dancers) or fiction (of the play).
Paco de Lucia is another attraction of this original version of the famous Bizet's opera, which is based on the novel of Prosper Mérimée.
wonderful, passionate film.
Even Carmen-haters will agree that this is a version that overcomes the boredom bred of familiarity and infuses new life into this overproduced work.The setting is a flamenco school in Spain, and the search is on for the star of a production of a flamenco Carmen.
The complications arise from there, from some unhappiness on the part of the best dancer in the troupe who feels she should be the star and not the newcomer, and from the storyline of the opera.The director of the film is the real-life director of one of the most famous dance schools in Spain, and the dancers, except for the character of Carmen, are members of the school.The dancing is exciting and dangerous, the story, though very familiar, attains fresh vigor in the new setting, and is altogether one of the best films of the eighties..
The amazing grace and power of flamenco has never been on more vigorous display than in Carlos Saura Carmen, the second of the Spanish director's flamenco trilogy that includes: Blood Wedding (1981), Carmen (1983), and El Amor Brujo (1986).
Although the epitaph for movie musicals has now been written, there was never one more alive than this soaring dance interpretation of Bizet's opera based on the novella by Prosper Merimee.
Winner of the BAFTA award for Best Foreign-language film and nominated for an Oscar in the same category, in Carmen, Saura attempts to expand the limited vision of the French opera into a deeper and more artistic example of Spain's national identity.
Supported by performances by Spain's great guitarist Paco de Lucia and familiar songs by Bizet such as Toreador's March, La Habanera, and the lovely Intermezzo, the film bursts with energy and sensuality.Shot in Gades' dance studio in Madrid, the film is marked by riveting performances by Antonio Gades, former director of the National Ballet of Spain, Cristina Hoyos, an acclaimed flamenco dancer, and singer and dancer Laura del Sol in her first leading role.
Carmen opens with the director of the dance company (Gades) rehearsing for a dance production of the opera.
According to Gades, he wants a girl with "a wild and strange beauty, her lips full and well shaped, opening onto small teeth, whiter than the whitest pearls, her long, black, shiny hair with blue glints similar to a raven's feathers, and eyes with a voluptuous but surly expression." It is only when the director/choreographer travels to a similar studio in Seville that he finds his Carmen, played by the dark-haired del Sol. The film then moves seamlessly between the rehearsals of the company for its new production and the lives of the dancers, reflecting the story of the opera in an almost surreal way that blurs the distinction between illusion and reality.
When he discovers, however, that she is married and her husband has just been released from prison after serving a sentence on a drug-related charge, his possessiveness turns into a destructive jealousy that ends the film on a melodramatic tone.Some of the most memorable scenes in Carmen include Gades dancing the Ferucca in his own home as his lover sees him through his window, then, once inside, watches while he performs a full routine.
Though the performance by del Sol captures Carmen's fiercely independent streak, for me she seems a bit too wholesome to be fully convincing as a jezebel, leaving the tragic resolution of the story feeling unmotivated.
Whether or not you find the drama convincing, however, ultimately the film is not about the story but about the passion and breathtaking art of the dance.
Carmen is a powerful experience that can evoke in the viewer an unexpected feeling of wonder.
A very compelling version of the opera, with amazing Flamenco dancing, bare bones sets, and wonderful music; probably my all time favorite foreign film.
It's a very compelling version of the opera Carmen, with amazing Flamenco dancing, bare bones sets, and, of course, wonderful music.
Obviously a low budget Spanish production, the film contains dancing by some of Spain's premier Flamenco dancers.
The combination of the soaring opera music and the sound of the dancers boots on the wooden stage, makes the telling of the story even more powerful.It's independent movie making at it's best and probably my all time favorite foreign film..
Personally, I think that the film was done very professionally, I loved the choreography and the acting.
The film itself is very emotional, and what I liked about it most is that it makes you think afterwards.
Antonio Gades has absolutely lived his role to the end, and I must say that it's one of my favourite pictures and Saura is a wonderful director..
Carlos Saura's Carmen is one of the finest achievements in world, let alone Spanish, cinema.
It manages to excite interest in flamenco in its wonderful staged adaptations from Bizet with powerful physical force.
At the same time we see the impact of the creation and rehearsal of a new interpretation of Carmen on the choreographer/director and the principle dancers.
great dancing, great music, great story.
The story of the opera repeats itself in a production.
This did look like an interesting film and it absolutely was, not to mention that it was a brilliant movie in its own right.
The music is magnificent as well and performed with authentic flavour which makes the experience even more passionate.
The choreography is very vivid and shows a big amount of technical, even virtuosic brilliance, while the Flamenco dancing is not only efficient but the dancers actually show they're into it.
The story is still as beautiful and passionate as ever, while the performances of Antonio Gades and Laura De Sol are superb and the two are riveting together.
Carlos Saura's Carmen is a tense and surreal story of a director who falls in love with the lead actress he has chosen for his stage version of Bizet's Carmen.
The acting performances are very good: Antonio Gades as the perfectionist, passionate and contemplative director Antonio and Laura del Sol as Carmen, the epitome of the femme fatale.
Saura cleverly uses the switching between reality, play and a combination of both, which adds to the surreal feel of the film.
One is the dance, here wonderful flamenco.
There's always something antecedent to it that animates the desire, in the original gypsy world of flamenco I suppose this was marginalization, poverty, lawlessness, it comes down to an anger, passion or pride that can't be reasoned and is let out in abstract shape.
Here we have a flamenco staging about a flamenco staging of Carmen become animated by the same tumultuous passions in the opera.
So when Carmen and her rival in the troupe dance out their rivalry, or Carmen and her instructor dance out the seduction, we have a richer, more dangerous life than the opera or dance could afford.Saura had made another exercise prior to this and what looks like a few more, mixing dance with a story about the urges.
CARMEN (Carlos Saura, 1983) ***.
Nominated for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar, it details the vicissitudes behind a flamenco dance company's staging of Georges Bizet's famous opera "Carmen" based on the Prosper Merimee' novel.
In that respect, it adheres to pretty much all of the established tropes of the sub-genre: the girl cast in the title role on the strength of her ideal temperament is a non-starter at first and, naturally, incurs the jealousy of the company's star attraction (past her prime and basically relegated to being a co-choreographer with the director/male lead, himself not so young anymore!); the latter, then, has a turbulent relationship with his new protégé (married to an estranged drug dealer just out of prison and an unrepentant wanton to boot!) – which threatens the production and, ultimately, brings about his personal downfall.Clearly the film's mainstay for the casual viewer is the way the plot line being 'dramatized' becomes mirrored in reality: apart from the male lead's afore-mentioned double-duty, rather unsubtly, the female protagonist shares her name with that of the character she is 'interpreting' – making this turn-of-events somewhat predictable.
What strikes me about the film is the incorporation of the art of the rehearsal into the lives of the characters and visa versa.
Throughout the movie the two intertwine and at times one is never too sure if one is watching the lives of the characters or a scene from a rehearsal.
All these years later my friends and I still love to debate whether or not "Carmen" is really stabbed at the end.
The passion of the dance, the quality of the acting, the love of art, and the brilliance of the performances all combine to create a superb movie that, once again, blends and twists the line between life and art. |
tt0070326 | Anderusen dôwa ningyo-hime | The movie opens in live action Denmark. The narrator talks about Hans Christian Andersen and his authorship of the original story. After a brief shot of a live action ocean and the opening title card (with a mermaid song in the background), the scene dissolves to 2D hand-drawn anime.
Princess Marina, who lives in the undersea kingdom with her father, grandmother, and five older sisters, is playing with her best friend Fritz, a dolphin. On her way home, the Sea Witch conjures a powerful storm. Marina's sisters berate her for being late, reminding her that their grandmother won't give her the pearl hair-pin that signifies adulthood unless she is responsible. Marina and her sisters are then summoned to their father and grandmother and are told to go to bed early because of the storm.
The following day, Marina's sisters go to the surface. Marina is curious, but she is forbidden to go because she has not yet come of age. While exploring a ship destroyed by the storm, she discovers a statue of a human boy. Deciding she is ready to see the world above, she and Fritz sneak away to the surface with the help of Fritz's uncle, Duke the whale. There, she sees the handsome young prince from the statue on a ship.
Suddenly, another storm arises and throws the prince into the sea. Marina saves him and brings him to shore, leaving him there to be found. A raven-haired young woman arrives and cares for him. Marina and Fritz then return home to the palace. Marina's father scolds her, but her grandmother tells the king of the rescue. The next morning, Marina joins her sisters and receives her pearl hair-pin.
Determined to see the prince again, Marina obtains a potion from the Sea Witch which allows her to exchange her tail and her beautiful voice in order to become human. She is warned that if the prince marries another, she will die and turn into sea foam the next morning. Marina drinks the potion and is transformed.
The following morning, she is discovered by the prince on the shore. Marina lives with the prince for one month and they become very close. One day, Fritz visits and informs Marina that if she needs him, she can signal him by raising her pearl hair-pin.
The prince takes Marina horse-back riding the next morning. While riding, the prince's jealous cat Jemmy pounces on Marina's horse, spooking the horse into throwing Marina off. Marina is surrounded and chased by a pack of wolves. The prince comes to her rescue and kills the wolves, enraging Jemmy who then vows to get rid of Marina.
The prince tells her that his parents want him to marry a foreign princess, but he wants to marry the girl who saved his life. Since he cannot find her, he wishes to marry Marina. Jemmy reports the conversation to his parents, and the queen suspects that Marina has bewitched her son.
When the ship arrives carrying the princess his parents intend for him, the prince's father orders Marina's arrest for treason. The next morning, the prince meets the foreign princess and recognizes her as the same raven-haired girl who had supposedly saved him. The prince and princess are soon married.
Heartbroken, Marina summons Fritz so she can say goodbye. Fritz vows to find a way to save her. Marina's sisters, having given their hair to the Sea Witch, give her a magic knife. Her sisters tell her that if she stabs the prince through the heart, she will turn into a mermaid again. Marina accepts the knife. With dawn only minutes away, Marina sneaks into the prince's room but finds that she cannot bring herself to kill him. Marina kisses him goodbye as he sleeps.
As she throws the knife into the sea, the reflection wakes the prince. He rushes onto the deck, calling after her, but she jumps before he can reach her. As he calls her name one last time, he sees that she has left behind her pearl hair-pin and a scale from her tail. As the sun rises, Marina's body slowly turns to foam and ascends into the sky. The prince suddenly realizes that Marina was the girl who had saved his life. He grieves her death as Marina's spirit goes on to Heaven for her self-sacrifice, while a devastated Fritz calls out her name. | fantasy | train | wikipedia | I've been searching for the original "The Little Mermaid" movie for years.
Of course, the Disney version has the happy ending where the heroine is rewarded for rescuing her prince...of course she falls in love and he follows suit quickly after...of course there is no third party, disregarding Ursula's attempt to distract Eric.In the real "Little Mermaid", we have a mermaid named Marina who has also fallen in love with a human.
She gives it all up to be with a man she has seen and saved...her life as she knows it, just to find love.
If he does not, she will die and become part of the ocean.Throughout the movie, you think that Marina will get her man, but another woman comes into the picture...she has sidetracked Marina's true love and he falls in love with her.
The catch: Marina must stab her love while he is sleeping.The most poignant part of the movie is watching her hover over the bed...
Even though the last time I've seen this movie was ten years ago, I still remember the big eyes of a Japanamation character first narrowing, then accepting defeat.
I don't care how old you are, (and ignore how horrible my description of this movie may be) but if you're not at least a little teary at this scene, you've got problems.Anybody who has seen the Disney "The Little Mermaid" must see this.
I saw this Anime version of Little Mermaid when I was 8 or 9 years old, long before Disney got there happy little hands on it.
I believe the original version of this movie gets across a poignant message about sacrifice, love and loss.
(If you read the story, there is much more to it than that, but as far as the movie goes, that is the message I saw in it.)I was very disappointed in Disney's version at first.
Ariel/Marina was not supposed to be able to talk, never mind being able to sing, and she was supposed to have pain when she walked....part of her sacrifice to be with the prince she had fallen in love with.
And then, being a Disney version, she gets the prince in the end.
However, life does not always end "Happily Ever After" as Disney would have children believe.
I think our overindulged children of today would be better off knowing that you don't always get what you want and that there is such a thing as sacrifice.
In the end, I still love the original Anime version of it better.
So, I was pretty mad at this movie, but then I read the Hans Christian Andersen story years later, when I'd experienced my own first love and loss.
I gained a new appreciation for this movie, as it depicts a desperate love, and this mermaid is willing to give up everything to be close to him.
no such luck so far as it is quite a rare film.The thing that makes this film so different to the Disney version is the fact that it depicts the true story of the Little Mermaid.
Disney didn't perfect the Little Mermaid story they told one version of it.
If you grew up on bouncy, sanitized Disney videos and slick animation and not written fairy tales, this film may not be your cup of tea.
Unlike Disney's happily-ever-after version, this one fairly faithfully recreates the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Anderson.
Yes, inevitably, a little of the 70s creep into the artwork but that's not necessarily a bad thing since it gives this film a unique look and feel (which wasn't meant to be anime as we know it now).
In the early to mid 70s, it aired on TV every Christmas along with other animated shorts like The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince (two more tearjerkers).
On the other hand, if you loved the fairy tale (or if you enjoyed The Selfish Giant or The Happy Prince animated shorts) then give this a try..
I do really like Disney's version, but in a different way..
True to the original story, sad but graceful and beautiful.
This is a very sad and beautiful tale, the way Hans Christian Andersen has intended it to be.
Even more sad than this though is that mass audience now knows only the dumbed down Disney version, which actually is a clear case of plagiarism.
Definitely not Disney, haunting, true to the original story.
I'm sorry if you saw this as a small child and are forever traumatized but your review is very incomplete, not to mention the you speak of things that were never in the movie including saying that the prince "marries another prostitute" the mermaid drowns herself, and that there is beheading in the film.
The movie is definitely for older children, I saw it as a little girl when I was five and loved it, however it is important to realize that the end is very tragic.
Understand that anime tends to be very different from Disney.It is not the happy, fictionalized fiction you would see in Disney's Little Mermaid or Aladdin.
There was something about this movie that I loved as a little girl, and still do.
This is my favorite movie out of all of the Little Mermaid's I have seen because it is the closest to the real story.
I have been searching and searching for days to try and find this particular version of the Little Mermaid to buy.
That was about the time that I saw this particular version, so I was just wondering if it was re-released or something like that.
I first saw this movie when I was a little girl.
When I eventually saw Disney's version I was kinda disappointed, but also understood that they couldn't make it the same as the original.
I love Hans Christian Andersen's story, it is charming and beautiful with memorable characters.
I love the Disney film as well and prefer it just by a small margin, but I find this one just as beautiful and poignant if not more so.While the animation is not the best there is, it is still quite nice with fluid backgrounds, pretty colours and well drawn characters.
The music is tender and gives the film its heart, while the writing is wonderfully poetic and the story still has its magic and tenderness with well-explored themes of love and loss.The characters are engaging still.
Marina is a great protagonist and a beautiful one too, while the Prince, King, Fritz and the Witch are well done too and all the characters are very well voiced in both the original and dubbed versions.
Oh, and the ending has me in floods of tears every time I watch it.This anime version of The Little Mermaid isn't completely perfect, some of the sound is a little hazy and the lip synching is occasionally sloppy, but overall it is wonderful.
This movie will teach him and our future children that not everything in life is perfect, and that love is a very important thing.
The scenery is lovely, the palace is a little less extravagant than the one in the Disney version, but at least this company didn't put a picture of a dildo stuck into the castle on the cover.
The people who made this movie were a lot more professional than the ones who made the Disney version.
Hans Christian Anderson would be proud of this movie, whereas the Disney version probably made him turn over in his grave.
We have a copy on video but it is a little warn out and has some sound and picture glitches, nothing big but still we would like a perfect one and we copied the entire movie onto the computer so we can get some still shots..
I'm not being corny--this is an actual line from the film, straight from the Sea Witch (her sister Sand Witch was on vacation) to goofball princess Marina.There should be a special section in video stores for Brutal Truth Fairy Tales.
That is, Marina, our little mermaid, dies at the end.
Well, I can't help thinking that kids expecting Disney magic would be a little horrified by this version.
But if you're an anime fan and you'd like to see the mermaid thing a little more like it was originally written, you probably would enjoy wasting 1.5 hours with this..
"There is no other Little Mermaid besides Disney!" We got into a huge arguement right there in the store :) So I rent the Disney version....I had a bunch of friends over and I remember standing up at the end saying "No!
Sure the Disney movie is fun and has lots of great songs to sing along to...my little girl loves dancing to it.
We loved the disney version of "the little mermaid".
Disney makes movies with happy endings.
Someone gave us this older version of the movie, and we watched it.
I used to look forward to the summers as a kid when I'd visit my Dad and rent this movie.I so looked forward to seeing a big screen version with Disney came out with it's take on the film.
I sorely disappointed because it was only vaguely similar to the 1973 version.Thank god this movie actually has some realistic concepts like: "There isn't always a happy ending", and "You don't always get what you want".
I'd rather my two little girls learn those lessons than think the world will be nothing but singing animals and happy endings..
I, myself, was also exposed to the movie at a young age, but unlike the person in the comment above, I fell in love with the story.
Now, you can think what you want, but the blood, violence, nudity, dying, it makes the story, and it is a story that has touched my heart, much more than any cheesy Disney tale, which is why I am so distraught that my VHS has broke on me after all these years.
When I first saw this film, back in 1989(?) I thought it was the Disney version.
Even though it was a "children's film" it had a mature feel that was unlike anything Disney could HOPE to achieve.
This movie was great I literally cried at the end when Marina turned to foam.
And when she gave up her voice someone she loved who was forced to marry someone he thought saved him but she didn't it was all Marina.
Marina is sweet and I think more people should be like her if everyone was the world would be a better place!.
Which makes the movie more impacting.This movie came out in 1975, years before Disney's little mermaid, and is the best of the two in my opinion.
Television version of The Little Mermaid is better than the movie.
I found this version of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" to be on of the best.
This story is about the little mermaid told in the original form of Hans Christian Andersen's tale.
In his story the little mermaid did not live happily ever after with the prince and she doesn't in this version either.
When I first saw this anime as a child I cried my eyes out but even now many years later I can still appreciate that this film does not cater to the "Happily Ever After" cheesiness that most people have come to expect..
I would like my children to experience this movie in its original form as Hans Christianson Anderson meant it to be told.Like other comments I've read, I too was disappointed with the Disney version of this tale, but not surprised.To all of you who loved Marina and Fritz over Ariel and Sebastein, you will love The Last Unicorn...then again, you may have already seen it way back when..
It is a great version of Hans Christian Tale..
Marina is a beautiful and sweet mermaid, I love how they draw her because she's very cute.
Many people don't like the drawings and animation, but it was a 70s movie and for me it looks great.
I know that they show nudity in this film and is not for children, is for young adults and all that appreciate anime classics.
This movie makes me cry because it gives so much impact and a beautiful message of love.The people that don't like this film, definitely don't appreciate old anime and didn't know that the real true story has a sad ending.
I came across this version of the Hans Christian Anderson tale by chance, which was when I caught part of it playing on a T.V. in a dentist's office.
It definitely set itself apart from Disney's version in some ways, especially towards the end.
Since I haven't read the original, I found out the ending of that and this anime rendition are different from Disney's take.
Anderson's version and this remake are not for the faint of heart, even if it may be better than Disney's as far as the ending goes in that it mirrors it's faithfulness to the initial, as that has been pointed out by other reviewers on here.
Gorgeous anime but I prefer the Disney Version.
I'm sure all of us go with the Disney version because of its romantic happy ending and getting a nice kick out of it afterwards.
However, the realistic version as you see in this movie where it has a heartbreaking ending and you probably start crying.
I grew up on Disney films like most people, considering I'm only 14 now.
I absolutely fell in love with the movie.
Obviously the animation isn't as stunning as Disney's, but i's still beautiful in it's own way.
But Marina was everything I'd imagined a mermaid to be, she was sweet and beautiful in a way that wasn't in your face like Ariel always was IMO.
The Prince was just like I imagined, the sea witch was actually scary (indeed she was) and Fritz was an adorable character (he seemed more like a friend, than a companion like the Disney film).
I pity the Prince in this movie, when he realized that Marina was the girl who saved him, I can only imagine how bitter his life must have become.
This movie showed me what true love really is: Willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for love, and it also reminded me that not everyone gets the happy ending.
It made me think unlike Disney's version, and it spurred a new found interest in fairy tales again (the originals) and led me to find some other beautiful retelling's of this story (The Russian one from the 60's was good too).
When Hans Chirstian Andersen wrote the "Little Mermaid" he felt proud of himself he connected his life into the Little Mermaid's life ever since the emotional story has been release there had a series of countless version of the tale.One of those was a feature animated movie directly from Japan from Toei, ANDASEN DOWA NINGYO-HIME (The Mermaid princess-or-Little Mermaid) tells you the story of a young mermaid princess who soon to fall deeply in love with a human prince in order to be with the prince she must make a horrible deal with the sea witch to become a human girl in order to do that she must give up her voice and her family as well.
Once she got up to land she stays with the prince thinking he will be with her forever but soon to find out there are plans for him to marry another princess which he feels is the girl who saved his life.
The next morning will bring the mermaid's death she did had a chance to live but it will lead up to kill the prince but the power of love is too strong she knows once she turns into foam she'll be happy as long as the prince is happy.The Little Mermaid give a strong impact when The Walt Disney Company release the film in 1989 with a more happy tone to it.
There very little versions that stay true to the original tale one of them was a another animated feature in Russia which had a much more darker tone but this one how ever will remain a special place in my heart with the idea of giving up anything you got for love.
One of the best version of the Andersen fairy tale ever presented..
The ending is absolutely heart-wrenching, watching her little friend jumping out of the see over and over again calling out her name as she turns into the sea foam.
Original title "The Mermaid Princess" Hans Christian Anderson.
Maybe from western fairy tales like the little mermaid.Lunare.
This was the best mermaid movie I have seen, although the animation, not the greatest!
This was the absolute original story about the Little Mermaid.
The Disney Version has a happy ending, and this one does too!
I loved this film soo much more than I did the Disney version.
I'm glad I'm not the only one looking for the version of this Little Mermaid, I loved it ever since I saw it when I was about 6...that must probably explain a lot with my views on true love!
I liked the Disney version, but this one is for those who understood The Little Mermaid, why she had to do what she did...I'm not making sense here now lol Why do I have to fill up 10 lines anyway to get approval?!?!
All I wanted to say was I loved this film!
Where the later Disney version is bright, bold and perky, this Little Mermaid is slightly dark, mysterious and rich with beauty.
I saw this movie as a young child, and loved every scene.
(And isn't Marina a much more fitting name for a marine-dwelling mermaid than the Disney counterpart?)You want to hate the girl that the prince marries. |
tt2076220 | Holy Motors | After waking up one morning, a man called "The Sleeper" locates and opens a secret door in his apartment. He enters, wandering into a packed movie house, while a young child and a giant dog wander up and down the aisles.
Meanwhile, a man called Oscar rides to work in a white limousine, driven by his close friend and associate Céline. Oscar's job involves using makeup, elaborate costumes and props to carry out a number of complex and unusual "appointments", sometimes for the service of others, and at other times for seemingly no reason at all. The rest of the film is set in Paris. At his first appointment, Oscar masquerades as an old woman beggar in the street. At the next, Oscar wears a motion capture suit and performs an action sequence and simulated sex with an actress on a soundstage while being directed by an unseen man. At Oscar's third appointment, he plays the role of Monsieur Merde, an eccentric and violent red-haired man who kidnaps a beautiful model from her photo-shoot in a cemetery. The next scene finds Oscar as a father picking up his daughter from a party in an old red car. The two argue when the daughter reveals that she had spent the party crying in the bathroom instead of socializing. Céline continues to drive Oscar to his appointments.
In a little interlude, Oscar performs a short musical piece on accordion with a group of other musicians in a church. In the fifth scene he assumes the role of a Chinese gangster assigned to murder a man who looks identical to him. After he has stabbed the man in the neck and carved scars into his face that match his own, the victim suddenly stabs the gangster in the neck as well. Oscar manages to limp his way back to the limousine, seemingly injured before being seen sitting comfortably inside the limo removing his makeup. A man with a port-wine stain on one side of his face is sitting in the limo and discusses Oscar's work with him, informing Oscar that others believe he is getting "tired". Oscar admits that his business is changing, and that he misses the days when he was aware of cameras. He remains in his profession, though, for "the beauty of the act". Later, in what turns out to be the sixth sequence, Oscar abruptly runs from the limo, dons a balaclava, and shoots a banker (who looks identical to Oscar when he left for his first appointment in the morning) eating at a cafe before he is gunned down by the banker's bodyguards. Céline rushes to him, urging him towards his next appointment, and again Oscar returns to the limo unharmed.
In the seventh sequence, Oscar's character is an old man on his deathbed. A young woman named Léa referring to Oscar as "uncle" keeps him company, and the two talk about their lives. Oscar then pretends to die as Léa cries, before he leaves the bed and excuses himself to go to another appointment. Léa reveals her real name to be Élise, and she tells Oscar that she too has another appointment. When Céline stops the limousine beside an identical limo in what turns out to be the eighth sequence, Oscar recognizes the woman inside and asks if they can talk. The woman, Eva, tells Oscar that she has an appointment as an air hostess who spends her last night at a vacant building, and that they have twenty years to catch up on. As the two ascend the interior of the building, Eva sings "Who Were We", its lyrics suggesting that Oscar and Eva had a child together. When she concludes, Oscar says he should leave before her "partner" arrives, and on his way out he narrowly avoids him. When Oscar returns to his car, he sees that Eva and her mysterious partner have seemingly jumped to their deaths from the top of the building. He lets out an anguished cry as he runs past the two and enters his limo. Oscar finally heads to his ninth and final appointment in what seems to be an ordinary family man scenario. His dossier on the appointment refers to "your house", "your wife" and "your daughter". However, when Oscar enters the house, it is revealed that his "wife" and "child" are apparently both chimpanzees.
Céline drives the limo to the Holy Motors garage, a place filled with identical limousines. She parks the car, places a mask on her face and exits the premises. The moment she leaves the building, the limousines begin talking to one another, vocalizing their fears that they may be considered outdated and unwanted. | insanity, cult, psychedelic, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0086637 | Zelig | Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the film focuses on Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen), a nondescript man who has the ability to transform his appearance to that of the people who surround him. He is first observed at a party by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who notes that Zelig related to the affluent guests in a refined Boston accent and shared their Republican sympathies, but while in the kitchen with the servants he adopted a ruder tone, and seemed to be more of a Democrat. He soon gains international fame as a "human chameleon".
Interviewed in one of the witness shots, Bruno Bettelheim makes the following comment:
The question of whether Zelig was a psychotic or merely extremely neurotic was a question that was endlessly discussed among his doctors. Now I myself felt his feelings were really not all that different from the normal, what one would call the well-adjusted, normal person, only carried to an extreme degree, to an extreme extent. I myself felt that one could really think of him as the ultimate conformist.
Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow) is a psychiatrist who wants to help Zelig with this strange disorder when he is admitted to her hospital. Through the use of hypnotism, she discovers Zelig yearns for approval so strongly he physically changes to fit in with those around him. Dr. Fletcher's determination allows her to cure Zelig, but not without complications; she lifts Zelig's self-esteem but much too high and thus he temporarily develops a personality which is violently intolerant of other people's opinions.
Dr. Fletcher realizes she is falling in love with Zelig. Because of the media coverage of the case, both patient and doctor become part of the popular culture of their time. However, fame is the main cause of their division; the same society that made Zelig a hero destroys him.
Zelig's illness returns, and he tries to fit in once more. Numerous women claim he married them, and he disappears. Dr. Fletcher finds him in Germany working with the Nazis before the outbreak of World War II. Together they escape and return to America, where they are proclaimed heroes (after Zelig, using his ability to imitate one more time, mimics Fletcher's piloting skills and flies back home across the Atlantic upside down). | entertaining, psychological, satire, depressing | train | wikipedia | The entire premise of the movie is wildly original, even coming from WOODY ALLEN who continually cranks out one interesting film after another to this day.
Using photo stills, mixing real footage with his, and providing exposition via modern-day "historians" and aged characters, he gave this innovative film such an authenticity that if one didn't know any better, you would swear there had been an actual Leonard Zelig.Allen plays Leonard, a man so devoid of identity, so eager to assimilate, that he literally takes on the appearance or, at least, the attributes of anyone he comes in contact with.
Eventually, Dr. Fletcher is able to cure him, and with his newfound personality, he and Eudora fall in love.Allen also introduces the idea of Zelig's story being filmed as a movie, so he inter cuts some of the news sources with scenes from the film (very funny).
And when Woody's clever AND funny, you get "Zelig".Telling the story of Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen, who else?) who transforms himself chameleon-like into anyone just to get people to like him, he finds himself the object of on-going observation from a kind doctor (Farrow), who eventually falls for him.
But lest you think this is simply a love story, there are also pot-shots at fame, fads, the 1930s (!!), medical conventions, product cash-ins and the joys and pitfalls of celebrity.Then there's the sheer joy of the technical wizardry that allows Woody's Zelig to stand alongside such figures as Josephine Baker, Brickhouse, William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, "Red" Grange, Al Capone, F.
One of the most sophisticated, cleverest, funniest, exquisitely shot and edited, scored, and acted movies ever made, "Zelig" is a masterpiece and astounding work even for Woody Allen whose mediocre movies are way above the regular Hollywood fares.
Using special lenses to give the movie the old style, mixing his own footage with the real documentaries, including his favorite music, dances, feeling perfectly forever gone era, Woody recreates The Roaring 20Th with breathtaking authenticity.
He has to make jokes, as a character and as a writer, and it would be hard not to when having a 'chameleon' like the one Leonard Zelig is in the film, going from scene to scene, place to place, historical event to celebrity to circus act to scandal-celeb and, finally, anti-Nazi hero.But there's more to the piece than I remembered first seeing the film when I was younger.
We see how Zelig, who first got this gift/curse to be a human chameleon after being beat up as a child (there's a funny story to that, by the way, if you can believe it), does this trick with some people not quite noticing at first, then it spreads like wildfire that this guy can go along with any group he's in.
Allen loves this time period, and the footage he puts together (what he filmed exactly and what wasn't is hard to spot, making it all the more masterful and exquisite, aside from the laugh factor) is infectious in its spirit.
Often, I was laughing at the specific photos, the way people are put together, and Allen's wit as Zelig that I wouldn't bother to notice its "fake" elements.But beneath its satire on society and what it means to fit in, or not, and the trappings of fame and the fun with psychology ("Freud and I disagreed on Penis Envy," says Zelig as a "Psychologist", "he said it only worked for women"), is a heart.
And it's a good thing.Allen, who brought the world such fresh comedy ideas like film stars stepping out of the screen, characters sensing that they might be out of focus, writers lost between fiction and reality to name just a few, created with "Zelig" one of the best mockumentaries to date.
Aside from the comic effect of this premise and its perfect execution via newsreels, photo manipulation and the like containing mystifying historical details that never happened, there's that other level to the film as well: "Zelig" deals head on with the complex relationship between individual and society, poses questions about identity and assimilation, and in bringing up all those serious issues is simply hilarious..
"Zelig" is another terrific film from Woody Allen, about a chameleon who lived earlier in the century and was treated by a psychiatrist to become one, whole person.
It really enhances the quality and the message of the movie.I wonder if the character of Leonard Zelig is motivated by the personality and the performances of Peter Sellers to whom Allen is somehow indebted.
Scenes from the fake 1935 movie telling the Leonard Zelig story, which are shown periodically throughout the film, not only look like a film of that era, but are written and acted as such as well.
This is not the way to make any film, not even a documentary.When it comes to Woody Allen mockumentaries, I much prefer Take the Money and Run. It's not as researched and authentic-looking as Zelig, but it's far funnier, and far more engaging..
While MANHATTAN was breathtaking and ANNIE HALL was good (I still have to see CRIME AND MISDEMEANORS), for ZELIG Woody Allen takes a pass and decides to make a non-movie.The movie starts with a joke in a documentary style.
It's a pseudo-documentary - maybe the first one ever - in which he plays Leonard Zelig, a human chameleon in the 1920s: he literally changes his personality and physical appearance to accommodate the people in his surroundings.
Mia Farrow plays Dr. Eudora Fletcher, trying to cure him.This has some of the things that we would expect in a Woody Allen movie, namely Leonard's explanation of the kind of class that he teaches.
As far as I can recall, none of Allen's other films use the technique of inserting a character(in this case Leonard Zelig) into existing footage like newsreels and archive photos, and so cleverly.
In conclusion, a great film that deserves more attention, despite the high rating and reviews holding it in great esteem elsewhere people talk about Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanours and Manhattan as well as more recent stuff like Midnight in Paris and Match Point but Zelig is rarely talked about and that's a shame because people are missing out on Woody Allen at his most unique.
"Zelig", Woody Allen's follow-up to his "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy", is a hilarious faux documentary focusing on Leonard Zelig, a man capable of transforming himself, and his bizarre adventures.
"Zelig" is a successful film not just because it's a remarkably funny movie with, hands down, some of the best dialogue Woody Allen has ever written, but because it reaches past its premise (which would have been amusing only as a half-hour short or something of the sort) to become yet another Allen film with psychological preoccupations.
It's still an excellent film, but I definitely feel sorry that it wasn't mind-bogglingly brilliant as it definitely had the potential to be.It's shot as and looks like most documentaries do, but the archive footage, thanks to Allen and Gordon Willis, looks absolutely spot-on and just about completely convincing, and the film's best visual moments come with faux footage of a 1935 Warner Bros.
Those scenes are among the funniest in the film as well.With its typical preoccupations with psychology and psychoanalysis, "Zelig" is a look at familiar subject matter from Woody Allen, but through a fresh and different perspective.
I enjoy this type of "fantasy" movie (like Purple Rose of Cairo, but I didn't like the documentary style in which it was brought to us in.Mia Farrow plays a psychiatrist who tries to "wean" Leonard off of his changing ways by giving him more self-confidence.
Really strange mock documentray that takes place in America in the 1920s--a man, Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen) is a human chameleon--he takes on the physical characteristics of any man he is with.
This film is a documentary about the story of one Leonard Zelig, a man who came to prominence in the 1920's when police found him living as a convincing Chinese man and, on arrest, his personality and appearance changed again.
I feel so lucky to found a gigantic mind that reveals the exact things happened in his own life, in fact Woody's most fans were having the same problems as he shows in his films and i couldn't agree he really did these movies In that time of ages.
The soundtrack with those uproarious songs such as "Leonard the Lizard," "Doin' the Chameleon," "Chameleon Days" by Dick Hyman blends in as well and passes of a genuine thing of having made in pre WW-Two.This film is a convergence of Mr. Allen's brilliance of different skills sets that showcases his mastery of the cinematic medium: directing, acting (the most iconic Woody Allen on display here), and writing.Only criticism that can be thrown in this film is that it would have been better if it ended at the halfway mark, the point where Zelig mutters that pancakes quote under a hypnotic trance.
In the style of a mockumentary, Woody Allen starred as a man who was a literal human chameleon, appearing in the background newsreel footage through many different periods of history as he assumed the role of the context he was in.
Whereas Beatty's Reds was a film about idealistic Americans during the Russian Revolution in a documentary framework, this treads a similar path with comedic effect.Woody Allen plays Leonard Zelig, a human chameleon who assimilates with the people around him.
Eventually Zelig is cured and he and Eudora fall in love.Allen's film which is mostly in black and white also successfully integrated the concept of splicing characters into old footage such as Zelig sitting behind Hitler in a rally but really they are well staged re-enactments.
I am not a Woody Allen fan--yet two films he made are remarkably good--"Match Point" and "Zelig.""Zelig" is quasi-documentary at its best.
"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.I found this film clever and the filming techniques are inspired, but it is far from Woody Allen's best.
It is extremely clever, extremely innovative, and way ahead of its time using special effects that later movie makers borrowed.It slows down every now and then with too much narrative, but when Zelig becomes intertwined with the personalities of the '20s and '30s you don't know whether to sit there and be intrigued of just laugh like a loon, so you do both.To say the least, Woody Allen has always been offbeat.
In its own odd way, it may be Woody's most personal film, this mockumentary about a meek man who wanted to be liked so much that he physically changes himself to be like the people he is around.
Changes had happened on main characters, especially the hero.Actor The director shaped a little cute and a bit confused public person who was actually a morbid man.Photography Normal The virtual parts had been done to old style and speeded, so it could look like historical data more and could be called ''documentary''.
It's filmed as a mockumentary, which in itself is a very tricky genre to master.Woody Allen plays the title character, and Mia Farrow, his at-the-time sweetie pie, plays his psychiatrist.
This level of perfectionism is vital because the format chosen by Allen wouldn't have allowed a fake look; it's precisely because it looks real that the gags work.And the more I see "Zelig", the more I realize that the movie works on a self-reflexive way as if it was deliberately trying to embody the very condition of its titular character, a man who tries so hard to fit into every human group, to be liked by everybody that he mysteriously develop the same physical characteristics and mannerisms of the personalities around him.
It's as if for the first time, Allen abandoned his self-absorbed neurotic lovable loser character to let express the most hidden part of his personality, a man uncomfortable with what he is, lost in an era where everything is dramatized for the sake of it.Mia Farrow enriches the story with her part as Dr. Eudora Fletcher, the psychoanalyst who wants to understand Leonard Zelig with the well-intentioned motive to help him to overcome his condition.
Jewish, socially rejected, and then a enigmatic figure coming out of the mind of Woody Allen, Leonard Zelig, the main character in one of the first mockumentaries ever made (I believe it is the first) is a chamaleonic guy who transforms himself with the same clothes and personal characteristics of the person he talks or appears at his side.
And of course, there's a love story between them.Helped with a excellent and complex cinematography by Gordon Willis evoking the memorable News Obituary from "Citizen Kane", "Zelig" tells the story of its character with a grained but very stylish photography, making the film with a realistic look of the 1920's and 1930's, where Allen has the chance to be closer to many personalities of the time, or attending a Nazi party while Hitler's speeching.
It has the same quality that made "Forrest Gump" a interesting and remarkable film where a character passes decades meeting famous people in unusual events.But "Zelig" is a comedy and being so it has some of the funniest lines of a film written and directed by Allen.
In fact, I've never seen a single Woody Allen movie which I wouldn't have enjoyed if he'd made 50% longer.Everything about this movie is outstanding: the humor, both oral and visual, the superb film artistry in creating a complete feel for the period of the film, and the technical expertise displayed without any disturbance of the impression of this being filmed with earlier, more primitive resources.If somebody placed a gun to my head and insisted on a criticism, it could only be that I'd wish that he place the names of the real-life personalities, portrayed as commenting on Leonard Zelig, on-screen every time they were shown, and leave them on-screen a bit longer.My liking of Allen films is so complete that if I were to rate all in order, the lowest on the list wouldn't be below a "9.9," and I can't think of any I wouldn't accord a "10." My personal favorites (both with Mia Farrow, and both black-and-white with the intentionally "grainy" filming technique) - this film, and the equally- and delightfully-quirky "Broadway Danny Rose.".
Woody Allen plays Leonard Zelig, a human chameleon who becomes the person he's with.He can be black, Native American, a shrink, even a Nazi.People go nuts about Zelig in the 1920's.Mia Farrow is his doctor Eudora Fletcher who tries to cure him.
Leonard Zelig's relationship to other people, worldly events, "identity" & the "otherness" in society exactly expresses the the points of view of Joseph K, Gregor Samsa, the Hunger Artist & the rest of their brethren.On a personal level one can view the "chameleon" message of the film as Mr. Allen's gentle explanation of how & why he makes so many different kinds of films, imitations to some, homages to others, to great authors, directors.
You need to be out of your mind to think of something like this.It is a mockumentary on life and times of Leonard Zelig, played by Woody Allen, a conformist to such level that he becomes and assumes the shape of his surroundings.
The fake documentary about 'the chameleon man' takes places in the jazz era in the 1930's and counts with great acting by Woody himself and Mia Farrow, who plays Dr. Fletcher, a psychiatrist that will take a great part in Zelig's life.
If not for this third level, "Zelig" would be just another in a long line of good, funny, solidly enjoyable Woody Allen movies.
(Not that some parts are not funny - the Nazi rally scene is a hoot.)Good support from Mia Farrow as the psychiatrist that Allen falls in love with, but this plays like an amusing Saturday Night Live sketch dragged out to cover a whole movie.
Zelig is a movie best enjoyed by those 35 and older and by Woody Allen fans.
In this extremely clever "Mockumentary", comedian Woody Allen plays fictional character Leonard Zelig, a remarkable man who can fit anywhere in society because he can change his appearance at will.The laughs come fast and furious in this account of Zelig's adventures in the 1920s and 1930s, when he became all the rage and hung out with the likes of Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Fanny Brice, Pope Pius XI, and Adolph Hitler, to name but a few.Woody Allen seamlessly weds old, black and white newsreel footage with his humorous tale, allowing Zelig to be right there in the thick of history.Zelig, from 1983, is a remarkably well-executed Comedy that holds the viewer's rapt attention from start to finish.A big hand goes to Cinematographer Gordon Willis for his painstaking work in this film..
"Zelig" is a fake documentary done by Woody Allen, which is set mostly in the '20's and '30's of the last century, about a man who is known as the human chameleon because he can transform himself psychically into every person that gets close to him.
This fictional biography of Leonard Zelig, a man who can change his appearance to an equivalent of the people around him, is in many ways the best movie Allen directed (and acted) in during the 80s.
Woody Allen's "pseudo-documentary" about the chameleon life of Leonard Zelig..
Zelig is a Woody Allen film with an original style.
Zelig is an excellent film that is enjoyable to watch both for its idea, its subtle comedy (it would harldy be Woody Allen any other way) and its technical aspects..
Zelig is, I think, my favorite Woody Allen movie.
Clever, indeed.ZELIG falls short of being one of Woody Allen's great films for the reason it's a mockumentary; it barely has his presence and that of Mia Farrow as familiar faces and is a visual attack of archive footage and old jazz tunes.
First, I need to point out that I generally don't like Woody Allen movies. |
tt1813152 | Amateur Night | Guy Carter (Jason Biggs) is an unemployed architect struggling to make ends meet. With bills pilling up, his wife Anne (Jenny Mollen) finds a job posting on Craigslist for a driver and sends Guy, against his will, for the job. Guy then goes for the interview expecting to be a pizza driver but finds himself as a chauffeur for a prostitute named Nikki (Janet Montgomery).
Nikki tells Guy that their first stop would be a regular of hers, a kinky doctor in Bel Air (Steven Weber). She tells Guy to wait in the car for her but when she doesn't respond for hours, Guy decides to break into the house. He finds Nikki in a compromising bondage position and thinks that the doctor is torturing Nikki, and tries to rescue her by spraying him with air freshener. They both then flee from the scene after the doctor falls over the ground and hits his head.
Guy is horrified by the situation but is calmed down by Nikki. She then informs him about the duties that came with the job and that he gets a cut of the "take", which prompts Guy to now be very interested in the job. They then proceed to pick up two other prostitutes, Jaxi (Bria Murphy) and Fallon (Ashley Tisdale), for a bachelor party. At the house, Guy is ordered to wash the "hardware," referring to a large bag filled with very messy sex toys.
The four then head to a fancy hotel in Beverly Hills for the bachelor party. The party is filled with over excited testosterone-driven former frat boys. The girls then appoint Guy to play "pimp" to get the frat boys in line. What follows is various strip teases and sexually explicit dancing, followed by a "main event," involving Fallon ejaculating directly on Guy.
Guy leaves the party momentarily when Anne goes into false labor. To his dismay, he runs into the doctor he assaulted, who ends up holding him hostage with a syringe filled with a paralyzing drug, and orders Guy to take him to Nikki. At their arrival, the doctor's plans are foiled when Nikki causes him to stab himself with the syringe. The bachelor party then resumes at full speed but comes to a halt when the girls find themselves robbed. The girls then hold the entire bachelor party at gun point, demanding the return of their money. They chase the culprit down long halls and end up urinating on him before taking back their money.
As they leave the hotel, one of the bachelor party guy approaches Nikki and asks for a "quickie." It is then revealed that he is an undercover cop and he attempts to arrest Nikki. This prompts Guy to once again rescue her and they are caught in a cop car chase. The four manage to escape the cops but end up crashing Guy's car. They continue to escape on a bus.
They return, exhausted, to their homes in the early morning. Nikki thanks Guy by hiring him to design a house for her and tells him the "hardware" will be awaiting him for the next round. Guy expects arresting cops to be at his house but it turns out his car was found by "repo men" and hauled away before the cops could find it.
Being based on a true story, the credits play over scenes that actually took place. At one point, Guy announces to the party guests that the girls are from Bad Girl Entertainment. This is actually the company Bad Girl Productions - a bachelor party planning company with multiple locations. | home movie | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0207333 | Believe | In 1984 Salford, Georgie Gallagher lives with his widowed mother Erica (Natascha McElhone). His passion for football is challenged by Erica’s desire to have Georgie attend the prestigious, rugby-playing Lancashire Grammar School For Boys, run by the strict and scholarly Dr Farquar (Toby Stephens). Georgie is up for scholarship at the prestigious school pending on his passing of the entrance exam.
Whilst attending an open day at the school, Georgie sees a leaflet for a regional Manchester Junior Football Cup tournament. Determined to enter and beat the team of school bullies, Georgie snatches a wallet from a stranger in the hopes of getting the £20 entrance fee. The stranger happens to be an elderly Sir Matt Busby (Brian Cox), and after tracking him down along with the help of his friend Bob (Philip Jackson), the pair learn that Georgie is an unusually talented footballer. Matt and Georgie reach an agreement whereby Matt will coach Georgie’s football team in exchange for silence over his theft.
Still needing the money to enter the football tournament, Georgie attempts to break into Dr Farquar’s house in order to steal back the tuition fee that Erica had been paying in order to ensure Georgie’s passes his entrance exam to the grammar school. He is caught and arrested, and banned from playing football as punishment.
The team finds an article in the paper about Sir Matt Busby and realize that their coach is the famous manager of the legendary Manchester United team. Feeling betrayed by his team and Sir Matt Busby for not revealing his true identity before, Georgie quits the team and refuses to play in the final. Georgie is deeply hurt, feeling that all adults undoubtedly end up lying to him.
On the day of Sir Matt Busby’s 75th birthday, the team gears up to play the final, while Georgie takes his exam with hopes of passing and receiving his scholarship. Georgie urges Erica to attend the final to cheer on the team. Without their leader, the team is down by 2 goals. In a moment of grace, Dr. Farquar interrupts the game with his beloved brass band, while Erica rushes to get Georgie to play the second half of the match. Georgie confides in his mother and says he wants to win the cup in honour of his late father. In the final moments of the game Georgie scores with a direct free kick to win the cup. | horror, prank | train | wikipedia | Wonderful suspenseful ghost thriller for all ages.
I just finished watching this movie and I think it is one of the best I have seen in a long time.
It manages to combine a ghost story, a love story or two, a teenage rivalry, a suspense-thriller, a get-even story, and a "I'm-not-telling" (grin) ending.Children and adults can both enjoy this film.
It manages to avoid any gorey scenes and yet includes plenty of rising suspense and timely comic relief.The two youthful stars, Ricky and Elisha, are truly great actors and will no doubt have very long, very successful careers.
I look forward to seeing them play in more movies soon because they certainly can act.
The pair put quite a lot of "punch" into the story, making all aspects of it real and involving.I really recommend you see this film.
This is a nice, family-oriented little ghost story about two teenagers trying to release a ghost from its eternal walking.
Much of the film is well-crafted with some solid if not inspiring acting from the whole cast and some interesting, effective direction from Bob Tinnell.
Tinnell uses bright colors throughout the film, particularly in the night scenes, creating an obvious homage to Mario Bava and Dario Argento.
Plot elements are nicely climaxed but fall short in the end.
Although the end is a bit weak, I still found myself liking the film quite a bit.
Just wondering if anyone found the the climax of the falling branch to be a page out of Saki's "The Interlopers?" Actor Jan Rubes does an excellent job as an embittered yet caring grandfather looking after his grandson with whom he has not seen since five.
Look also for a nice cameo by Andrea Martin of SCTV fame as an expert on ghosts.
The two teenaged leads were pretty good with Elisha Cuthbert really standing out..
decent ghost story,though not very intense(very family friendly).
i didn't find this movie too bad.i was expecting something more intense.this is a fairly family friendly ghost story and there's nothing wrong with that.Elisha Cuthbert is the leading female character,while Ricky Mabe(whose career so far has been mostly TV series and a one or two TV movies)is the lead male character.the acting is fine,and the movie has bit of an eerie feel to it.however,i didn't really buy into the reason for the ghost haunting the estate.it just seemed too weak of an explanation to me.other than that,i don't have any major gripe with movie.like i said,it's pretty lite family fare,so you want see any blood or violence,and there's no bad language that i recall.it's rated PG for thematic material,but i don't think too many children over ten would have a problem with it.for me,"Believe" is a 7/10.
Such seems to be the situation one witnesses in "Believe", directed by Robert Tinnell, and based on a screen play by Roc LaFortune and Richard Gaudreau.Ben Stiles (Ricky Mabe) a teen ager whose parents are too busy and keep him in private boarding schools, decide to send him to spend some time with his grandfather Jason (Jan Ruber), a wealthy man living along in a majestic estate.
No sooner is Ben installed in the mansion when he begins seeing a woman clad in red, a ghost, who seems to be all over the place.
His grandfather doesn't want to talk about its existence, at all; yet the mystery continues.Ben meets a beautiful neighbor, Katherine Winslow (Elisha Cuthbert) who lives nearby with an unmarried uncle, Ellicott (Ben Gazzara).
Ben and Katherine, who also has seen the ghost, try to get to the bottom of the mystery, until they hit a sore spot in both Jason and Ellicott.
Both older men live with bitterness in their hearts because each one blame the other for the death of Jason's sister Margaret, the ghost, years ago.
Ben and Katherine keep on investigating until the tragedy of Margaret's death is revealed."Believe" has some good moments.
The acting serves the story and the film is easy to look at and will entertain anyone looking for a moderately good time.
Good spooky fun for the whole family.
When I rented "Believe", I was expecting some cheesy ghost film.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a good story, decent acting, and some actual chills.
Even more surprising was the fact that the film makers pulled it off without graphic violence, nudity, or vulgar language which makes "Believe" a good film for the whole family to watch.A mysterious woman in a red coat keeps making appearances at an old spooky house.
Benjamin, a young man recently expelled from school for practical jokes and sent to live with his grandfather, attempts to find out who she is and how he can help her.The house staff all know about her, but won't talk.
With the help of a girl who lives next door, Ben uncovers old skeletons in the family closet and a tragedy that occurred many years before.The film is very well done highly recommended for "family movie night".
Thad is only in the movie for a very short time, and he plays Ben's father.
It's Benjamin played by Ricky Mabe who goes to live with his grandfather who he barely knows.
I have seen that movie a million times with a million different titles.
It seemed as tho the director got together a few people off the street who had no acting experience and made them star in his movie.
The only good thing I can say about this movie is that it's shot very nicely.
The box in the rental store made it look like a horror film for adults, not some tame ghost story you could show on the Disney Channel.
Other than the overall atmosphere the film has, the only other redeeming quality if the beautiful Elisha Cuthbert who played Katherine, and did probably the best acting job in the entire film.
The movie is not a horror film as the box implies, but instead a kid's ghost story that could be very watchable by children, but no other age groups.
The acting and unoriginal story will be enough to keep anyone over the age of 12 away from this movie..
After being continually kicked out of boarding schools, Ben (Ricky Mabe) is sent to live with his stern Grandfather in a small town.
While there, no one is interested in him with the exception of a girl named Kathrine (Elisha Cuthbert).Really, the only thing going for this film is the cast.
Ben Gazzara is always a joy, even if he serves no real purpose in this movie (his role could have been filled by anyone).
There is no way that anyone would have thought within a very short time she would become a sex symbol thanks to "The Girl Next Door" (2004).The story and everything else is rather bland, and seems like it was made for TV, possibly for young adults or children.
Very Good Movie.
I remember watching this movie 9 years ago and almost forgot how good this movie was ...not scary at all ..a very decent ghost story with good acting especially Benjamin stiles as Ricky mabe ...its sad that these days they don't make movies like they used to make...a perfect movie which can be watched with your family on Sunday afternoon ...watch it if you like ghost stories.....can anybody tell where I can find the movie DVD or can even watch it online as it been ages I haven't watched this movie desperately wanna watch it....loved this movie ..you won't get bored watching this movie again and again ...believe it..
A scary, affecting and entertaining movie for the whole family..
Director Robert Tinnell makes "family films," and he makes them well.
A life-long fan of classic (and not so classic-Believe features two scenes inspired by the 1941 Bela Lugosi Monogrammer The Invisible Ghost!) horror cinema, Tinnell turned his earlier Frankenstein and Me (1996) into a touching homage to growing up with monster movies.
So for those of us with children ourselves (or for the monster movie-loving child in all of us), Tinnell makes our kind of movies.
And Believe is his even more polished attempt to put some fright (and insight) into family fare.
"I wanted to make a film where Hardy Boys meet the Wuthering Heights, and I hope that's what I did," explained Tinnell (who also concocted the film's story line).
Indeed he did, with a touch of Val Lewton thrown in for good measure.Believe centers on Ben Stiles (Ricky Mabe), the 14-year-old son of a diplomat, whose absentee parents have put him in a succession of boarding schools.
Ben has a very unusual way to liven things up-he stages elaborate fright gags to scare his fellow pupils.
After his latest stunt gets him expelled, he's sent to stay with his estranged grandfather (Jan Rubes), a reserved and imposing man who lives in a large, forbidding mansion.
As the two try to establish some sort of relationship, Ben comes to realize that the estate is haunted by the ghost of a young woman-something the grandfather refuses to discuss.
With the help of a recently orphaned girl named Katherine (Elisha Cuthbert), Ben attempts to unravel the mystery, leading to a confrontation between his grandfather and Katherine's great uncle (Ben Gazzara) over tragic events that transpired long ago and have affected their lives ever since.Tinnell fills his film with nice eerie touches; shots of a shadow on a wall, leaves rustling in the wind, and shafts of illuminating moonlight (not to mention some evocative, prowling camerawork) generate an uneasy atmosphere."My goal in this one was really to find out if I can scare people," explained Tinnell.
So my goal was to prove I could do that."But there's more to Tinnell's movie than just scaring young 'uns.
"My other goal was to do something that would provide an entry level horror film for kids, with a positive message.
And again, there's been a theme that's run through all four of my films pretty much: communication, the family.
And I really do believe in that." Believe is really a story of families and relationships and the importance of communication-with an engrossing ghost yarn to hang these ten-gallon emotional hats on.Don't be put off by Believe's so-called target audience.
"But I like to think that children of all ages, from eight to eighty, can enjoy this film.
I think the best family films-this is not a children's film, obviously-I think the best family films are the ones in which the parents are sitting and watching with the kids, which is what they should be doing anyway, but don't..
I think that it works for all ages." Indeed it does.Tinnell's heart (and, given the finished product, head) is in the right place.
Nowadays if they want to see any kind of contemporary horror, there's so much misogyny and just gratuitous bloodletting-and it's just not scary and there's no real supernaturalism.
I just wanted to make a film that if I was 12 I would have loved.In the movie, Ben explains why he stages his terror tricks by observing, "People like to be scared." Yes they do, and here Tinnell has offered up his own fright frolic, with some important ideas and involving sentiments thrown in for good measure.
Aimed at those monster movie lovers who've grown up and had kids of their own (as well as those who've never really grown up at all), Believe is a sometimes scary, often affecting and always entertaining movie for the whole family.
It's never easy being 14 years old, but it's especially tough for Ben Stiles.
Then he gets kicked out of boarding school after pulling an imaginative but childish ghost prank on his classmates.
And finally he discovers his grandfather's estate is haunted by the eerie specter of a young woman in a red coat.
Of course after the ghost prank, no one takes his claims seriously.Ben (Ricky Mabe) is the point-of-view character of BELIEVE, a new horror film aimed at younger audiences and lensed by director Robert Tinnell, whose previous work includes horror fan favorite FRANKENSTEIN AND ME.
Unlike FRANKENSTEIN AND ME, which was essentially a coming-of-age story with horror trappings, BELIEVE is designed to generate real chills and it delivers.
Even veteran horror fans should receive at least a few satisfying shivers from the picture.As BELIEVE's story progresses, Ben quickly realizes his grandfather (Jan Rubes) isn't telling everything he knows about the mysterious figure in the red coat.
Granddad goes ape when he discovers that Ben has enlisted the help of a neighbor girl (Elisha Cuthbert), who has also seen the ghost, in his quest for the truth.
The girl's uncle (Ben Gazzara ) is equally upset by this development, and forbids her from seeing Ben. The teenagers realize that somehow their families' histories will unlock the secrets of the Stiles house, and maybe help their phantom finally find peace.
Tinnell refers to BELIEVE as `an entry level horror film.' Pressed for an explanation of this term, he explains: `There's a void for young people -- and older people, too -- who would like quality a quality supernatural experience that isn't misogynist or extremely gory.
I was trying to make something like I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE that kids and adults can both look at and be scared without being steamrolled.'Imagine George Romero shooting a movie for The Wonderful World of Disney and you have some idea of the film's tone.
To achieve this effect, Tinnell asked production designer Jules Ricard to decorate his sets in the style of the classic Hammer horrors.
Then Tinnell shot his movie much in the mode of Mario Bava.
Viewers who know Tinnell only through FRANKENSTEIN AND ME will find BELIEVE a revelation.
Tinnell, a formidable horror film scholar in addition to a gifted young filmmaker, built in several nods toward great ghost pictures of the past.
Horror aficionados will appreciate the film's visual references to movies like THE UNINVITED and THE INNOCENTS.
BELIEVE also quotes from THE HORROR OF DRACULA and (of all things) THE INVISIBLE GHOST.
CHICKEN, but his capsule description of BELIEVE is `the Hardy Boys meet Wuthering Heights.'Tinnell had to bring in the picture on a $2 million budget and a 20-day shooting schedule.
To his credit, BELIEVE looks like a much more expensive film.
Believe is actually a film that more or less is "straight to video" or "tv movie" type.
But in a strange way, it is a pretty good family friendly film.
Pretty dumb, but it's so obvious that the "young lovers" will soon have an enchanting moment.Ah yes, definitely a film for all.
This movie has a haunting spirits and a memorable story that should entertain the whole family.
A somewhat romantic twist weaved into the movie adds to the nice story.
I found this to be a very good spooky mild horror film to keep your attention to the very END!It is nice to see they do make movies with a good memorable story line that thrill and scares us only to be vying for more.It does have a PG-13 rating for it may scare the younger viewers a little too much.Spooky!
"Believe" is somewhat decent, if a completely non-threatening horror film.**SPOILERS**Expelled from school, teenage Ben Stiles, (Ricky Mabe) is sent off to live with his grandfather Jason, (Jan Rubes) on his estate.
Reprimanded for pulling his pranks, he meets neighbor Katherine Winslow, (Elisha Cuthbert) and helps her to get even with some local goons.
As they defy the orders and continue on seeing each other, they come across a possible ghost on the property.
Finding that there's a reason for the haunting and work together to help the ghost get what they want.The Good News: This one here wasn't all that terrible.
The fact remains that there's still some really good stuff in here when it gets to the horror attempts.
It's pretty inventive and creative, really goes all-out and contains some great spots that are a real joy to watch.
The fact that the setting itself is really great makes it all the better, since making it work in a really lame house would be a real challenge.
The only other fact that works for the film is the fact that there's some great back-story for the ghost.
This could be a real life occurrence and winds up being one of the best things about the film.
There's hardly any scares involved as it tries to go for the family approach and doesn't even come close to doing anything about it.
This failing is pretty much the only thing wrong with the film, as the rating will negate what real horror films should do.The Final Verdict: While not exactly a sterling example of the genre, it's a pretty decent film overall.
Really only for those who enjoy the more light and harmless horror affairs, while those who need scares, brutality, sleaze or anything more traditional horror films have are well advised to leave this one alone.Rated PG: Mild Violence.
Misbilled as a horror movie.
It's a soggy waste of a ghost story.
The grandfather's mansion is really nice and they should have used it more.
If you're looking for a Brady Bunch movie with a ghost, this is it.
If you were looking for horror and scares, forget it.
Movie is decent except for the horrible acting by the main character.
It does have a few good scares and jumps in it, ghost girl isn't at all what i expected either but they made it work.
Locations and houses in the movie are gorgeous.
I still think they could of picked a few better actors for the roles too, you can tell the boys aren't very strong because it contstantly seemed like they were reading from a script.
All in all it was an okay movie if you can sit through the horrible acting in some parts. |
tt0065446 | The Ballad of Cable Hogue | Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) is isolated in the desert, awaiting his partners, Taggart (L. Q. Jones) and Bowen (Strother Martin), who are scouting for water. The two plot to seize what little water remains to save themselves. Hogue, who hesitates to defend himself, is disarmed and abandoned to almost certain death.
Confronted with sandstorms and other desert elements, Hogue bargains with God. Four days later, about to perish, he stumbles upon a muddy pit. He digs and discovers an abundant supply of water.
After discovering that his well is the only source of water between two towns on a stagecoach route, he decides to live there and build a business. Hogue's first paying customer is the Rev. Joshua Duncan Sloane (David Warner), a wandering minister of a church of his own revelation. Joshua doubts the legitimacy of Hogue's claim to the spring, prompting Hogue to race into town to file at the land office.
Hogue faces the mockery of everyone he tells about his discovery. That does not deter him from buying 2 acres (0.8 ha) surrounding his spring. He immediately goes to the stage office to drum up business but is thrown out by the skeptical owner. He pitches his business plan to a bank president, who is dubious about the claim. Hogue impresses the banker with his attitude and he is staked to $100.
Hogue, who hasn’t bathed since his desert wanderings, decides to treat himself to a night with Hildy (Stella Stevens), a prostitute in the town saloon. They quickly develop a jovial understanding but before they can consummate the transaction, Hogue remembers that he has still not set up his boundary markers and rushes out, much to Hildy's chagrin. She chases him out of the saloon in a sequence that wreaks havoc on the town.
Back at the spring, Hogue and Joshua get to work, dubbing the claim Cable Springs. The two decide to go into town and are drunk by the time they arrive. Hogue makes up with Hildy and spends the night with her, leaving Joshua to pursue his passion: the seduction of emotionally vulnerable women.
Hogue and Joshua continue to run the robust business, delighting in shocking the often genteel travelers with the realities of frontier life. In moments of solitude, Hogue and Joshua philosophize on the nature of love and the passing of their era. Joshua decides that he must return to town. Hildy arrives at Cable Springs having been "asked" to leave by the modernizing townfolk, who can no longer abide open prostitution in their midst. She tells Hogue that she will leave for San Francisco in the morning but winds up staying with him for three weeks. This time elapses during a tender, romantic montage.
Then one day, Taggart and Bowen arrive on the stagecoach. Hogue lets them believe that he bears them no ill will. Hogue alludes to a huge stash of cash that he has hoarded, knowing that the two men will return to steal it. When they do, Hogue outwits them, by throwing rattlesnakes into the pit they have dug. When they surrender, he orders them to strip to their underwear to venture into the desert, just as he had been forced to do. Taggart, believing Hogue will once again hesitate to defend himself, reaches for his gun but Hogue shoots him dead.
A motor car appears, driving right past Cable Springs with no need or interest in stopping for water. The drivers laugh at the archaic scene of western violence as they race past. "Drove right by," says Hogue in amazement. "Well, that's gonna be the next fella's worry."
Hogue takes mercy on the grovelling Bowen. He even gives him Cable Springs, having decided to go to San Francisco to find Hildy. The stagecoach arrives and Hogue gets ready to pack up when suddenly another motorcar appears. This one does stop and Hildy emerges, opulently dressed. She has become prosperous and, now on her way to New Orleans, has come to see if Hogue is ready to join her. He agrees but while he loads the motorcar he accidentally trips its brake. The car runs over Hogue as he pushes Bowen out of the way.
Joshua, who arrives by a black motorcycle with a sidecar, gives a eulogy for Hogue as he dies. This segues into a funeral with the cast standing mournfully over Hogue's grave. They are grieving not only the death of the man but the era he represents. The stagecoach and motorcar drive off in opposite directions. A coyote wanders into the abandoned Cable Springs. But the coyote has a collar - possibly symbolising the taming of the wilderness. | murder, atmospheric, flashback, psychedelic, humor, revenge | train | wikipedia | His next project would end up being almost intentionally counter to the previous film.The result was The Ballad of Cable Hogue, a small-scale, intimate tale that is equal parts a nostalgic look back to the Old West and a tribute to the kind of man capable of surviving and thriving in such an environment.
Her romance with Hogue is both sincere and sad as Peckinpah uses this as a template for how the romantic West quickly found its way into decline and obsolescence.Peckinpah may have gotten a lot of flack for The Wild Bunch but this film received almost just as much criticism, ironically for being almost exactly not what he had come to be known for.
There is nothing here to trouble the censors, a bit of violence here and there - and some nasty human traits seam through the story, but this is purely a funny and touching movie that again deals with a Peckinpah fave theme of the Old West passing.
Peckinpah faves Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones & Slim Pickens reward their loyal director with impacting shows, while David Warner as the confused preacher Joshua practically steals the film with his hedonistic leanings.Don't go into this film expecting a blood and thunder Western and you will be pleasantly surprised at it's heartbeat.
Warner's manipulative preacher, "Josh," manages to be alternately witty, lecherous, noble and profound, without missing a beat.The best I can say about Jason Robards as "Cable" is, if you loved his character, "Cheyenne" from "Once Upon a Time in the West," you love his "Cable Hogue."Don't read the plot of this movie.
But, over the years, people have seen this film for what it truly is--a tribute by director Sam Peckinpah to the passing away of the old west, and a brilliant performance turned in by Jason Robards as a desert hobo who finally awakens to his need for touching base with the human race, ever so often.Cable is left out in the desert by two comrades, Bowen and Taggart, to make his own way, or perish trying, as they head back to civilization.
All this happens, and after several years of waiting, the two former friends do happen onto his way station, and a touch of revenge is extracted by Cable upon the two who left him in the desert.This film has some remarkable elements; a great supporting cast led by Stella Stevens, playing Hildy, David Warner portrays a lecherous preacher who becomes Hogue's partner in the desert, and Strother Martin and L.
The film is about a would be prospector named Cable Houge (Jason Robards in his best performance and that's saying a lot), who is left to die out in the desert with no water by his too partners (Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones).
Wonderful performances by Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, and David Warner; an entertaining script; all directed with a light and subtle touch - for a change - by Sam Peckinpah.
"Bloody Sam", as he was so often called, was also a mercurial and complicated director who could quite easily master the fine art of congenial character studies as he could the dark and violent side of Man. Case in point is his 1970 western THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE.
Due to typical studio finagling, BALLAD was far from a hit when it was released in May 1970; but it has since then attained a better place in the western pantheon.Jason Robards stars in the title role, a desert rat left to fend for himself after his two unscrupulous partners (the always-reliable Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones) abandon him without any water out on the Nevada desert.
And yet, for all the companionship they provide and all the money he gets from the water, he still can't stop thinking about getting even with Martin and Jones--a fact that eats at him and makes him vindictive, even towards Stevens and Warner.Stuck as it was between THE WILD BUNCH and STRAW DOGS in the Peckinpah film canon, THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE was largely considered by some to be a minor film, seeing as how it had next to no violence to speak of (which makes the 'R' rating it has a bit much today--'PG-13' would be more like it).
Other Peckinpah regulars like R.G. Armstrong and Slim Pickens provide the usual great support; and the period score by Jerry Goldsmith, and Lucien Ballard's fine cinematography top things off.THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE is a film in need of revival, both for Peckinpah cultists in particular and indeed Western film fans in general.
It's a lot of fun, and at the same time, incredibly deep, its joys falling effortlessly into tragedy and back into joy like a desert bloom.Robards plays Hogue, left in the desert to die by two faithless companions, Taggart (L.Q. Jones) and Bowen (Strother Martin in his best film performance).
If "Bunch" is about damnation, "Cable Hogue" is about salvation, and redemption, in a way that probably didn't help the film hit with audiences of the time but makes it timeless today.Robards' performance is the center and the key of "Cable Hogue", the way he plays the character with equal parts ruthlessness and comic grace.
Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) is left in the desert without any water.After a few days he finds a springs with lots of water.
Until the automobiles take over.He becomes a friend with a preacher Joshua Sloane (David Warner).In the nearest town lives a whore called Hildy (Stella Stevens) who becomes Cable's lover and later they move together.Sam Peckinpah directed a terrific western comedy in 1970-one year after he directed The Wild Bunch.Some people may not like it so much because it isn't as violent as The Wild Bunch but I don't mind, I don't mind at all.
It crosses genres with ease - Western, drama, comedy - and even at 122 minutes, never feels padded out.Jason Robards is excellent as the title character, betrayed by his lowlife associates, Bowen (Strother Martin), and Taggart (L.Q. Jones), and left to wander the desert on his own.
He also makes the acquaintance of wistful prostitute Hildy (Stella Stevens) and lustful preacher Joshua (David Warner).Robards's compelling performance anchors this saga, as Cable courts the vague hope that someday Bowen and Taggart will stop by his place for water and he can get some revenge.
Jason Robards plays the hard-bitten and oft-bemused title character, Cable Hogue who somehow survives the ordeal of being left to die in the desert with no water by his partners, perfectly portrayed by the incomparable L.Q.(A Boy and His Dog) Jones and Strother Martin.
This classic Western deal with Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) a roguish hustler who in search of good life discovers water and gets property some lands placed on a desert in remote part of the Old West .
A twilight story ,¨Ballad of Cable Hogue¨ is a director Sam Peckinpah's lovely effort, feeling look at the world of the Western.
He also must deal with his two enemies well played by usual Peckinpah couple, L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin , and a lovely whore wonderfully performed by Stella Stevens in his best role ever acted .
Jason Robards Jr. stars in one of the sweetest romance-comedy westerns by one of the most violent directors of the time Sam Peckinpah.
Released in 1970 and directed by Sam Peckinpah, "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" is a quirky Western drama/comedy/romance starring Jason Robards as a grizzled man left to die in the SW desert, but he miraculously finds a spring and starts a way station servicing stagecoach people and other travelers.
But if "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" is any indication, he was much less adept at staging an all-out comedy.This farcical western starring Jason Robards as a man who discovers a water spring in the desert and proceeds to make a business out of it is an ungainly, even slightly ponderous affair.
I really like Peckinpah, but I thought this one was a struggle to sit through.Two things I unequivocally did like about it -- the scene where Cable Hogue meets the character played by Stella Stevens and can't focus on anything but her cleavage; and the film's theme song, which I still can't get out of my head.Grade: B-.
Hogue also wants revenge on the two former partners that left him high and dry (literally)...but the movie also has a comedic side to it, very similar to the likes of "Support Your Local Sheriff".An All-Star cast also adds to the viewing experience, and the sexually revealing scenes of Stella Stevens (though portrayed in a comedic way) were actually quite risqué for the time.If you're looking for a gunslinger western...this ain't it.
When Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) is left in the desert without any water double-crossed by his partners Taggart (L.Q. Jones) and Bowen (Strother Martin), he prays for God and four days later he finds a spring in the route of the stagecoach to Deaddog City.
Borrowing heavily from Lee Marvin's Kid Shalleen from Cat Ballou, Robards is one desert rascal who turns a crisis into a moneymaker.Old time prospector Cable Hogue is deserted and left to die on the desert by his two partners, Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones.
None of those slow motion hymns to violence are in this film, but Peckinpah does show a good sense of comedy which given the type of stuff he normally did you wouldn't think he would have.Of course the other half of the credit for The Ballad of Cable Hogue belongs to Jason Robards and the droll performance he delivers.
Director: Sam Peckinpah, Script: John Crawford, Edmund Penney, Cast: Jason Roberts (Cable Hogue), Stella Stevens (Hildy), David Warner (Rev. Josua Douglas Sloan)I don't know.
Yes love them or hate them, Westerns are the American mythology, likely to outlast even our ambitious Democratic experiment.What will the poets say about The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) probably my favorite western film since The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)?
Beneath its broad and occasionally satirical joviality there's not just the beating heart of true western heroism but a doctrine of positivity.The film starts with our hero Cable (Jason Robards), who is double-crossed by his partners in crime (L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin).
I can't believe this movie got less than 8 stars.Cable Hogue may have been Jason Robards greatest role.Strother Martin plays his character to perfection,and his character was born to be a villain in this movie.In fact,the lead character in Despicable Me should have been formed around Strother Martin,and should have even looked like him.Martin may have been a B list co-star,but he was a GREAT B list co-star.And Stella Stevens was never better eye candy.Hogue is a miserable human being,with good reason,and in spite of himself he manages to attract this crowd of friends and acquaintances.Of course,a lot of his "friends" are directly related to him owning the only water hole on a stage line,and people with money or influence always have more "friends" than they really want.
Cable Hogue is a man of ideals that are just grand enough for him, as he stumbles upon a luck of a spring in the ground and makes it his own.Robards often has the good memory of his career of that as a character actor mostly, with memorable parts in Once Upon a Time in the West, All the Presidents Men, and lastly in Magnolia, among many many others.
Despite some of the darker undertones that come up from time to time, it might be Peckinpah's sweetest film, where a prostitute with a heart-of-gold like Hildy (amusing Stella Stevens) works just right, and the music by Jerry Goldsmith matches the mood every step of the way, notably in that opening scene with Hogue stumbling about and going into freeze-frame.
Sometimes the humor even gets a little dirty (how about that panty shot!), but it doesn't ring untrue.In one of the few times in Peckinpah's career where the producers knew well enough to let him alone to make his movie, The Ballad of Cable Hogue turned out as one of his better films, a testament to one of his pet subjects without the notorious angle of violence with it..
The movie's most embarrassing sequence is a montage of Cable and Hildie's time together, supposedly showing us the deep feelings they have for each other, and all to the sound of an unbelievably saccharine song, "Butterfly Mornings (!)." I'd like to think that Peckinpah was forced to add this song by greedy studio execs, but from what I read about the film's production in a biography of the director, he was given complete creative control.
The story is told of a poor prospector named Cable Hogue (Jason Robards) who's cowardly partners (Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones) left in the desert to die.
Jason Robards gives one of the best performances of his career as Cable Hogue, an iconoclast, desert rat, and shrewd opportunist, who sees his chance to prosper and takes it when he stumbles across a mudhole in the desert and turns it into a profitable oasis.Robards gets great support from all around him, especially David Warner as a lecherous preacher that becomes a kind of sidekick to Hogue and Stella Stevens as the girl Cable lusts after, but can't quite hold on to.Entertaining, fun, sometimes hilarious, and sometimes quite poignant, The Ballad Of Cable Hogue further elaborates on the central themes in previous as well as subsequent Peckinpah westerns, of changing times in the west at the turn of the century.
It's a character study, with the Hogue himself symbolizing the life and death of the old west.Peckinpah's favorite of his films, it appears (at least to me) he tried to replicate the feel of this three years later, in Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid, with mixed results..
I really wanted to love this movie, and thought that I would, until it came to a close.The story is of a man abandoned in the desert by his two "partners" and left for dead, but who finds the only spring for many miles around right on a stagecoach route and sets up a rest stop and watering hole.
It's the story about a simple guy left for dead in the desert who manages to eventually make it big and forge friendships.As far as what I liked, I thought it was nice to see a Sam Peckinpah film where there wasn't much violence and no slow-motion death scenes.
Like a number of Peckinpah's westerns, the film pays respects to the passing of the 'old west': cars appear on the dusty stagecoach road, old debts are paid or forgiven, and Cable considers leaving the desert for good.
He also falls in love, with Hildy (Stella Stevens).Directed by Sam Peckinpah, who gave us The Wild Bunch, Cross of Iron, Straw Dogs and The Getaway.
Warners, in my opinion, blew it.Excellent pictorial CD by mail from: www.VareseSarabande.com BTW, As a point of interest, Director Sam Peckinpah of "The Wild Bunch" and "Ballad of Cable Hogue" previously had directed TV's "Gunsmoke.".
"The Ballad of Cable Hogue" is the perfect follow up film after the critical and box office success of 1969's "Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch".
After we first meet Cable Hogue (Jason Robards giving one of his BEST screen performances), his 'partners' shoot him for his water in the desert and leave him for dead.
This film gives us three great performances by Jason Robards, Stella Stevens and David Warner.
At that moment, Hildy's heart is devastated as she realizes that it's time to leave him.The tragedy of "The Ballad of Cable Hogue"'s romance is the impossible love between the hooker who wants to discover San Francisco and the old prospector who hates the town and manages his honest business in the desert.
What a poetic ending for a man who would have the honor to hear his own eulogy
And what a powerful significance to the film, probably the only one which 'stars characters actors' from Jason Robards, to Stella Stevens, Strother Martin, L.Q Jones, Slim Pickens, the "Ballad of Cable Hogue" is the delightful swan song of an era, a last tribute to a movie genre.And I join myself to honor Cable Hogue, the unsung hero of 'New Hollywood' and 'Cable Hogue' whose tenderness is like the link between the thrills of 'The Wild Bunch' and the passion between 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller', this is the Holy Trinity of the 'New Western' genre.
Movie fans who recall Sam Peckinpah as a writer and director of violent Westerns will see something quite different in "The Ballad of Cable Hogue".
The film, much like "The Wild Bunch" and "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", makes a statement about the passing of the Old West, a favorite Peckinpah theme.
Sam Peckinpah is mostly known for "The Wild Bunch", but his smaller pictures tend to be better, more personal."The Ballad of Cable Hogue", which Peckinpah regarded as both a personal favourite and the most autobiographical of his films, is a 1970 Western which stars Jason Robards as Cable Hogue, a bearded prospector who sets up a stagecoach station at a watering hole out in the desert.
The Ballad of Cable Hogue Directed by Sam Peckinpah 1970 This movie has several things in common with "Once Upon a Time in the West": Similarities in plot i.e. guy marries a beautiful whore and tries to build his own remote desert transportation stop.
This film reminds us of what a good comedienne Stevens was, and gives a bit of a taste of what it would have been like if she had worked with Howard Hawks, as was at one point planned (for an adult comedy with Robert Redford and Steve McQueen).Jason Robards is also a lot of fun here, very similar character to the more famous "Cheyenne" in Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West." Cable Hogue is a saddle tramp, left for dead in the desert, who finds a water hole and exploits it for all it's worth. |
tt0396513 | Boys Night Out | Three married men, George (Tony Randall), Doug (Howard Duff), and Howie (Howard Morris), and divorcé Fred (James Garner) are friends who commute to work from Greenwich, Connecticut, to New York City on the same train. Seeing Fred's philandering boss, Mr. Bingham (Larry Keating), with his mistress sets the men to fantasizing about sharing the expense of an apartment in the city as a love nest. As a gag, they give Fred the task of finding an unrealistically inexpensive apartment and a blonde "companion" to go with it.
Fred rents a luxurious suite from Peter Bowers (Jim Backus), who is desperate to find a tenant because the previous occupant was a highly publicized murder victim. By chance, Cathy (Kim Novak), a knockout of a blonde, also answers the advertisement for the apartment. Fred explains that the place has already been taken, but that he is also looking for a beautiful young "housekeeper" for his friends. To his surprise, she accepts the job. The boys are delighted; each tells his wife that he is taking a course one night a week to improve his mind so he can stay in New York overnight.
Unbeknownst to the men, Cathy is actually a sociology graduate student writing her thesis on the "adolescent fantasies of the adult suburban male." Her skeptical advisor, Dr. Prokosch (Oskar Homolka), objects, "Can you look like 'yes' and act like 'no?' ... This a nice girl hasn't learned." Cathy responds, "No? This is what a nice girl has learned best." When they start calling on her individually in the evenings, she encourages them to talk, all the while secretly recording their conversations.
Cathy deftly avoids being seduced by the married men, although each lets the others think he has slept with her. She supplies what each one really wants: Howie is starved for more substantial food than his dieting wife will provide; Doug likes to repair things that are conveniently broken each week (his status-conscious wife does not want their neighbors to see him tinkering about the house); George enjoys talking about himself, but his spouse keeps finishing his sentences. Fred, however, is a different story: he is very attracted to Cathy and, disgusted by his friends' fabricated stories, refuses to use his night.
In the end the wives become suspicious, and on the advice of Fred's mother, Ethel (Jessie Royce Landis), hire private investigator, Ernest Bohannon (Fred Clark) to find out what is going on. Based on his report, they assume the worst and confront their husbands. All three married men confess that nothing happened, and Cathy reveals that she is just doing research.
After getting over the shock, Fred and Cathy become a couple, and the boys' night out is no more; instead, the four couples go out together. | plot twist | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0083659 | Blood Link | Craig Manning (Michael Moriarty) is a respected doctor living in the United States, who begins to experience strange visions of women being murdered. Before long, he begins to suspect that these visions are the result of a psychic connection with his twin brother Keith (also Michael Moriarty), who supposedly died in a house fire in Cleveland at the age of 17, but who is now engaged in a murder spree. Recognizing the scenery in one of the visions, Craig travels to Hamburg, Germany to find and stop his brother, over the protests of his girlfriend Julie Warren (Penelope Milford).
Meanwhile, Keith is soon spotted and mistaken for Craig at a Hamburg coffee shop by ex-boxer Bud Waldo, (Cameron Mitchell) one Craig's former patients. Maliciously, Keith goads the older man into an impromptu boxing match, striking him repeatedly and causing a fatal heart attack. Craig arrives on the scene in time to meet Waldo's daughter Christine (Sarah Langenfeld), who joins him in his search for Keith. The two quickly become lovers, but their search is hampered by the local police (led by inspector Hessinger [Reinhold Olszewski]) who think Craig is to blame for Keith's murders. While they hide, Keith locates them, kills Christine, and finally confronts his brother, telling him he was aware of their psychic connection and that he committed the murders as a way of bringing his estranged brother to him. Craig condemns his actions, but Keith escapes, promising more murders. Shortly thereafter, the police arrive and arrest Craig, charging him with Christine's murder.
In short order, Julie arrives in Germany and --certain that Craig's visions are real-- implores the local authorities in Hamburg to help search for Keith in connection to the murders that Craig is now being blamed for. While Craig sits in jail, she concocts a plan to act as bait for Keith, meeting him at a secret location and counting on Craig's psychic connection to help bring the police to her in time. Keith, psychologically unstable and obsessed with his brother, attempts to rape Julie, but during the struggle she is able to stab him to death with his own knife.
With Keith dead, the charges against Craig are dropped and he is freed from prison. He continues to have visions, however, which seem to show Keith returning from the grave. Moreover, he seems to have taken on some of Keith's personality characteristics. The film ends with some ambiguity about whether Keith is still somehow psychically affecting his brother from beyond the grave, or if Craig is simply psychologically scarred from his experience. | paranormal, murder | train | wikipedia | Alberto De Martino's "Blood Link" is a pretty good thriller.Michael Moriaty plays a doctor,who has frightening visions of murder and discovers that this may be because of a psychic link to his siamese twin brother,who is murdering women in Germany.He tries to find him and stop the madness.The cast is pretty good with excellent performance by Michael Moriaty and the score by Ennio Morricone is brilliant.There is some violence and plenty of nudity.The film reminds me a little bit Brian De Palma's masterful "Sisters"(1973),but it has enough suspense and surprises to satisfy horror fans.Check it out..
BLOOD LINK (Alberto De Martino, 1982) **1/2.
Incidentally, given that it deals with Siamese twins who haven't been in contact for years but are able to 'see' what one another is doing, it somehow feels like the long-lost sibling of two Brian De Palma films itself coming, as it does, in between his SISTERS (1973) and RAISING CAIN (1992)!
Anyway, it's mildly interesting (even more so for me, being a twin myself!), good-looking (the film was shot in the U.S. and Germany) and features an understated Ennio Morricone score but, in the long run, emerges as nothing especially remarkable.
Besides, even if the supporting cast is decked out with veteran presences Geraldine Fitzgerald, Virginia McKenna and Cameron Mitchell they're all basically wasted (McKenna, for instance, is already dead within the first 5 minutes!).The lead is played by Michael Moriarty, an actor noted for his intense performances and, here, we get double the dose (with the star, predictably, hamming it up particularly in his serial-killer characterization)!
However, he's flanked by two lovely ladies whose contribution is above-average for this sort of thing Penelope Milford (ex-Oscar nominee for COMING HOME [1978]!) as the good Moriarty's girlfriend and Sarah Langenfeld (in one of only 4 films she did) as the daughter of has-been prizefighter Mitchell, whose cold-blooded murder at the hands of the bad Moriarty she witnesses.
By the way, the film features a surprising amount of nudity (by the two girls and others) but it's not done in an overly sleazy or exploitative manner.The 'face/off' situations between the two brothers provide the expected fireworks; the climax, then, sees Milford distracting the villainous (and impotent) Moriarty by letting him rape her thus enabling the police to track him down through his brother's ability to recognize the surroundings!
This is followed, however, by a far-fetched CARRIE (1976)-like twist set in the city morgue...but which leads to an effectively unsettling 'curtain' where Milford is literally unable to tell which brother she's ended up with!
P.S. If all goes well, I should be getting to another of De Martino's horror films HOLOCAUST 2000 (1977) in the near future, which is one I've missed out on numerous times in the past....
Well, "Blood Link" isn't exactly an important film, but it's easily his most ambitious and valuable role.
Your first impression will probably be that he's terribly miscast in his double role as sadistic murderer and the telepathically linked twin brother who pursues him, but he actually grows in his role and gets more convincing as the story develops.
Craig Mannings is a doctor living in the United States who's frequently disturbed by nightmares in which he sees himself committing gruesome murders.
He's instantly reminded of his former Siamese twin brother Keith, only he supposedly dies in an arson at age 17.
"Blood Link" is an interesting, albeit slow and implausible thriller with some clear giallo influences and a most enchanting score by master Ennio Morricone.
Alberto De Martino one of Italy's most criminally underrated director professionally and adds in twists, nifty murders and even some nudity whenever you tend to lost interest.
Although nearly not shocking or violent enough to rank among Italy's better thrillers, fans might find it enjoyable and worth tracking down..
"Blood Link" is a suspenseful and pretty scary thriller..
"Blood Link" is a suspenseful and pretty scary thriller.The plot: Craig Manning (Moriarty) is a doctor.
It turns out he has a Siamese brother (also played by Moriarty) who lives in Hamburg.
Craig tracks him down to unravel the mystery."Blood Link" is worth watching for the usual excellent performance by Moriarty.
The direction by De Martino is fast-paced and the music by Ennio Morricone is always worth a listen.In the end: If you can find it, "Blood Link" is an interesting horror movie worth watching.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com.
Film needs a better link of scenes and story.
Moriarty in two brother roles, shows us what a fine actor he is.
It's good Moriarty versus Moriarty, where good Moriarty's life, is becoming a living hell, thanks to his Siamese twin brother, who's fortunately a psychotic, who's committed a sting of brutal murders, one not so brutal, involving punching an ex boxing star (lovable veteran actor Cameron Mitchell).
His good brother has it all, successful, likable, and a really nice piece of female a..e The ain't half bad film offers some nice servings of nudity and some nice slappings of venesection (gore) and Moriarty, who's acting presence is always something viewable, especially after seeing in Q.
Michael Moriarty does a good job of playing identical, separated Siamese twins, who share a telepathic link.
Craig is a doctor practising in North America whilst Keith is a psychopathic killer, murdering in Berlin.
Craig acts upon his visions and travels to Germany to try and stop the killing spree.
Although a fan of Euro horror I had not heard of Blood Link until I saw a cheap copy for sale on VHS.
Moriarty is good in both roles.
There is a touch of sleaziness about Blood Link.
It also has a reasonable body count, and although there is a lot of dialogue throughout it's running time it is peppered with kills and nudity to keep it interesting.
Doctor Craig Mannings is having visions where he sees himself killing women, but he slowly realises he's actually seeing through the eyes of a killer.
This complements Michael Moriarty's dual performance of two extremes.
Moriarty is a joy to watch, especially when he comes face to face with himself.
Moriarty playing the evil twin role simply got under my skin and the acts of violence handed out by this character are merciless.
The twist when it comes is nightmarish, but the ending paints a very haunting suggestion that gives the film an effective sting because of its convincing performances.
There's real solid support by Penelope Milford (who's fantastic in the very final scene), Geraldine Fitzgerald and quick cameo part for Cameron Mitchell..
Blood Link is a German and Italian co-production; although it was clearly made for an American audience.
Blood Link is more of a psychological thriller that takes in themes relating to psychology and a psychic link between two people.
Craig Mannings and his girlfriend are doctors trying to create a new way of exploring pain and dreams.
Craig decides to test the new methods on himself but ends up finding a way into his presumed dead ex-Siamese twin brother's conscience.
He discovers that his brother is living in Hamburg and murdering people; but this doesn't stop him from going to Hamburg and tracking him down.
When he arrives in Hamburg, the killings continue until the inevitable meeting between the two brothers.Michael Moriarty has had an interesting career; the highlight of which for me is his role in Larry Cohen's excellent 'The Stuff'.
Moriarty is not an obvious choice for the lead role in a film like this; but he fits into it excellently and makes both characters he plays very believable.
The film is interesting throughout and several good ideas are explored; not least the idea of a psychic link between two brothers that used to share a physical link, but there's also some good ideas relating to the sexuality of the 'bad' twin.
There's a few murders scenes; none of them particularly bloody or over the top but good enough and fitting within the movie.
Cameron Mitchell's aging wrestler's character has a highlight scene in that respect.
The premise of the movie is similar to David Cronenberg's later Dead Ringers; and while the latter is the better film, there's lots to like here and Blood Link is certainly worth a look..
Blood Link stars Michael Moriarty as a respected scientist who studies dreams with his lab/bedroom partner Penelope Milford.
Moriarty is having visions of himself murdering women and comes to understand that he is seeing murders committed through the eyes of his psychopathic lost twin brother--also played by Moriarty.
So the good doctor packs his bags and heads to Germany where his brother is engaged in his murder spree.The doctor believes that if he can find his brother before the police locate him, he can shuttle him back to the States and get him some psychiatric treatment.
But brother has other ideas in mind--namely taking his place in the lab and more appropriately, in bed with Penelope Milford.STORY: $$ (The story doesn't offer anything new to the genre.
Who hasn't seen one of these good/evil twin thrillers before?
The personality quirks (Moriarty playing with his hair) were forced plot details and hindered the film).ACTING: $$ (Rather weak.
Michael Moriarty and Penelope Milford are both talented thespians but they have no chemistry and at times seem to sleepwalk through their roles.
The great Cameron Mitchell gives a quality performance as former prizefighter Bud Waldo who mistakes the murderous Moriarty for the doctor who treated him once.
Sarah Langenfeld has a bedroom tryst with Michael Moriarty because ol' Mike is so blasted irresistible.
A lovely little lady, Penelope bares her breasts early in the film in bed with Moriarty and near the close of the film she is stripped to her birthday suit by the evil Moriarty.
The credits roll with Penelope getting her pajama top removed for a final shot of breasts just in case the viewer forgot what the movie was all about.
Pretty enjoyable evil twin trash..
Seems to me there aren't enough horror films dealing with evil twins.
Blood Link is one such though, and pretty entertaining stuff albeit no classic.
The story follows Dr. Craig Mannings, research psychiatrist having visions of beautiful women getting offed by his hand.
He realises soon enough that in fact he is seeing through the eyes of his maniac brother Keith and so without further ado heads off to Hamburg to find him.
Though directed by an Italian Blood Link has more in common with glossy yet seedy Hollywood thrillers of the era, the sort of thing in fact inspired at least in part by giallo cinema.
There isn't overmuch style on hand, but its a pretty well made affair and there's an understated but fairly pleasing Ennio Morricone score to keep things bubbling along.
Perhaps the most typically Italian thing about the film is a script that cares about nothing more than moving the action along, resulting in a succession of plot holes opening up that threaten to engulf the whole experience if one looks back even for a moment to consider them.
Like how come neither Craig's girlfriend nor employers have anything to say on the subject of his leaving the country to search for a murderer?
Of course, none of this would work without some performances up to the task, and happily awesome character actor Michael Moriarty is on the case, playing Craig and Keith.
As Craig he does not initially hook, coming across very much low key and befuddled, but grows into the role, taking on determination and a harder edge.
The rest of the cast is solid and includes a nice but sad cameo from the great Cameron Mitchell, though mostly notable for its attractive women.
Penelope Milford as Craig's girlfriend, Sarah Langenfeld as a vengeful lass on Keith's case and Martha Smith as a local hooker, all fill their roles well and all show their lovely breasts.
Moments of death or menace in fact often come after or involve sex or nudity giving a nice sleazy edge, which is helpful as in a shocking turn of events there's only bare minimal bloodshed.
A man shares a psychic link with his siamese twin brother who he thought perished in a fire but has actually become a serial killer in Berlin, Germany (don't ya hate it when that happens?).
In fact, the two films it borrows most liberally from--Brian DePalma's "Sisters" and the John Carpenter-scripted "Eyes of Laura Mars"--were themselves very heavily influenced by gialli making this film a kind of trans-Atlantic cinematic feedback.The acting is very good.
Michael Moriarity plays dual roles as the protagonist and his psychopathic brother.
Cameron Mitchell has a pretty decent cameo as an aging prize fighter.
Penelope Milford is also pretty good.
The script has Milford and all the other women in this movie generously shedding their clothes, even though doing so often requires their characters to be unbelievably stupid.
One woman goes to bed with the identical twin of a man who she has just watched beat her elderly father to death, even though she really only has his own word that he is in fact the twin.
Milford herself basically lets the homicidal brother rape her in an ill-conceived effort to save her unfaithful boyfriend from a murder charge.
The ending might be an interesting attempt to explore the same psychological and metaphysical ground touched on in "Sisters" or the later David Cronenberg movie "Dead Ringers", or it could be just another sorry excuse to show Milford naked--hard to tell with these kind of movies.
An interesting film though, especially for Michael Moriarty and/or giallo fans..
Worth seeing for the Moriarty oddness.
Dr. Craig Mannings (Michael Moriarty) believes he has discovered a revolutionary psychology technique and has been using himself as the guinea pig.
Unfortunately, these experiments allow Mannings to see through the eyes of someone else and that person is murdering folks.
Turns out he is seeing through the eyes of Keith (Moriarty again), his Siamese twin that Craig believed was dead.
Using clues from his visions, Craig tracks Keith to Germany but soon finds out that his brother wants him there to create the perfect patsy for his crimes.Alberto De Martino directed this Italian/German co-production.
While you won't get anything original with the plot of normal twin/evil twin, it is worth seeing solely for the performances by Moriarty.
Moriarty has the "normal" sibling as slightly odd, while the "evil" one is like he is playing Klaus Kinski on a good day.
Also worth mentioning is a scene where the evil Keith gleefully punches an aging boxer (Cameron Mitchell) - who just happened to have been treated by Craig in the States - to death in a park.
Sadly, the rest of the film isn't up to the level of Moriarty's enthusiasm.
Also, the plot is full of holes and silly coincidences (odds of your unknown twin running into a patient you treated in a cafe in Germany?) that, at times, make you feel like a reel was left out.
***SPOILERS*** Strange tale of two identical Siamese Twines, played by the prying mantas or string bean looking Michael Moriarty, separate at birth who go on in life in two opposite directions.
One Craig Manning a respected and well loved doctor in the USA and the "Evil One" of the two Keith a ruthless serial murderer in far off Germany who specializes in murdering well stacked women,both young and middle age, after having sex with them.
It's the good twin Craig who get's visions of women being murdered that tips him off on his twin brother Keith's, who supposedly died in a house fire in Cleveland at the age of 17, murder spree across the Atlantic.Craig While taking a trip to Hamburg Germany, where he saw Keith commit his murders, where Keith is soon spotted and mistaken for him at a Hamburg coffee shop by by one Craig's former patients ex-boxer and now professional wrestler Bud Waldo, Cameron Mitchell,whom he treated some time ago for an arm injury.
Feeling that he may uncover his true identity in him not being Craig Manning has Keith trick Waldo, who has a serious heart condition, into a friendly sparring session with him in the park.
With Keith hitting the much older man in all directions and not for once letting up induces Waldo to drop dead of a massive heart attack.
Now really getting into it Keith goes all out to murder anyone, not just sexy and buxom women, who can figure out or prove that he's in fact not Craig but Keith!
In that she can prove that Craig in fact does have an identical twin who's been murdering at will and laying the blame for his murders to his brother Craig!
***SPOILERS*** It's difficult to believe that Keith can commit so many murders in the movie without anyone not only not suspecting he committed them but not being able to catch him as well.
Now dead and on a slab in the morgue Craig come to bid his twin brother Keith a final farewell that in fact turns out to be fatal for him!
***MAJOR SPOILER***The films crazy and unexplained ending in the dead not only raising from the grave or morgue but taking over someone's body and mind was just too much for me to take.
Up until then "Blood Link" at least made some kind of sense as a crime thriller but in it's suddenly turning into a supernatural horror movie it took any credibility that was still left in the film away for it..
Even the great film music composer Ennio Morricone can't muster much enthusiasm in his role.
While Michael Moriarty has given good performances in the past, he seems too wimpish as the good twin, and not psychotic enough in the role as the evil twin.
Well, part of the movie was filmed in places familiar to me, and it was fun recognizing these locations.
And there is an unintentionally funny sequence when the meek Michael Moriarty beats up Cameron Mitchell. |
tt0389564 | The 4400 | The National Threat Assessment Command (NTAC), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge of dealing with the return of the 4400. Dennis Ryland is the head of NTAC. Ryland assigns Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris as the lead team to investigate the 4400. In season 2, Ryland goes to Washington and is replaced by Nina Jarvis. In Season 4 Meghan Doyle takes over as the head of NTAC.
Many of the returnees have trouble getting their lives back on track after being gone from the world for years. More significantly, a small number of the returnees begin to manifest paranormal abilities, such as telekinesis, telepathy and precognition, as well as other "gifts". For example, in the pilot, Shawn Farrell manifests an ability to heal the broken neck of a dead bird, bringing it back to life. In addition, one of the 4400, Lily Moore, has become pregnant between her disappearance and return.
The first-season finale, "White Light", reveals that the 4400 were abducted not by aliens, but by humans from the Earth's future, that Kyle Baldwin was to be their "messenger", and that they were returned to avert a catastrophe.
By the second season, it is revealed that all 4400 have a fictional neurotransmitter, promicin, in their brains, which gives them their powers. The government, afraid of what this large group would do with such power, had secretly been dosing all of the 4400 with a promicin inhibitor, which had worked on most, but not all, of the 4400. One of the inhibitor's side effects is a potentially fatal immune deficiency. The inhibitor is ultimately removed from the 4400 by a dose of promicin extracted by Kevin Burkhoff from the blood of the infant Isabelle, who was never given the inhibitor.
At the beginning of the third season, the Nova Group, a terrorist faction made up of 4400s, emerges. Originally formed as a "defensive" group in the aftermath of the promicin-inhibitor scandal, the Nova Group eventually carries out numerous terrorist attacks against the government and NTAC. The group is responsible for many terrorist attacks including the assassination of the men involved with the promicin-inhibitor conspiracy; the attempted assassination of Ryland; the framing of Baldwin for murder; and the driving of another person to insanity.
During the third and fourth season, it is revealed that only a certain faction from the future wants to see history changed. Another faction, which prefers the status quo, opposes the 4400, and has sent their own operatives, including Isabelle Tyler and "the Marked", into the past. The exact motives of both factions have not yet been revealed.
Eventually, Jordan Collier, a returnee who declares himself the savior of humanity, makes promicin shots available to the general public. However, only half of the human population can actually tolerate promicin, and thus develop superhuman abilities, while the other half die upon taking the shot. Although the government outlaws promicin use, thousands of previously ordinary people have developed superhuman abilities, severely complicating NTAC's task. Collier later annexes a part of Seattle and transforms it into "Promise City", a self-proclaimed paradise open to all people with superhuman abilities. The US government attempts to reclaim Promise City but meets with little success.
At the conclusion of the series, Danny Farell's uncontrolled ability exposed some of the residents of Seattle to promicin, resulting in about 9,000 deaths and as many newly empowered humans, while at the same time forcing the remains of NTAC (now themselves mostly promicin-positive) to ask Jordan Collier and his followers (as the only group immune to the 50% chance of death from exposure) to become the de facto government of Seattle. The series ended with a cliff-hanger, with Collier pledging to build the future he had promised, while the government watches uneasily as Collier's militia remains in control of Seattle, now known as Promise City.
=== Ripple effect ===
Early in the first season, theorists at NTAC suspect that the 4400s have been placed in the timeline with their enhanced abilities for a purpose, to cause some change that could propagate and redirect the course of history. An example of this was when a 4400 named Carl Morrissey attempted to use his enhanced strength and reflexes to fight crime in his neighborhood park. Although Morrissey was killed by a group of thugs, his death inspired others to become involved in various neighborhood clean up projects.
Another example of this effect at work came during the season two episode "Wake up Call". In that episode a mentally ill returnee uses mind control powers to force the other residents of her mental hospital to build an unusual machine. When the machine is activated it cures fellow patient Kevin Burkhoff of his crippling schizophrenia. When NTAC looks into Burkhoff's background they discover that prior to falling ill he was a brilliant neuroscientist who was working on gene therapies which could end up being the basis of the technology which created the 4400. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0072410 | Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too | During the fall, Tigger has been bouncing on anyone he comes across for fun, especially Rabbit when he is gardening, which angers Rabbit, so he calls a meeting with Pooh and Piglet and formulates a plan to prevent Tigger from bouncing: abandon Tigger in the woods, and find him the next day so hopefully Tigger will stop bouncing on his friends unexpectedly. Initially the plan seems to work, but when Rabbit, Pooh, and Piglet cannot find their way home, Pooh makes a suggestion about following a sandpit in order to find their way out of the forest. In an attempt to prove Pooh wrong, Rabbit wanders away. Pooh and Piglet then fall asleep, but are woken by Pooh's empty stomach. He explains to Piglet that his honeypots have been calling to his tummy from home and that he couldn't hear them over Rabbit's voice. Pooh and Piglet find their way out of the forest, but are immediately bounced by Tigger. Piglet, realizing that the plan failed, mentions Rabbit's plan, and Tigger goes into the forest to find him. Rabbit walks through the forest by himself, and is scared by numerous noises such as a caterpillar eating a leaf and frogs croaking. Rabbit tries to run away in a panic, only to be tackled by Tigger. Rabbit is humiliated that his plan to lose Tigger had failed. Tigger explains to him that "Tiggers never get lost", and takes Rabbit home.
In the next chapter, wintertime comes and Roo wants to go play. Kanga cannot be with him so she calls on Tigger to look after Roo as long as he comes back in time for Roo's nap. Tigger gladly accepts. Along the way through the woods, Tigger and Roo see Rabbit skating on the ice. Tigger tries to teach Roo how to ice skate by doing it himself, but unfortunately, he loses his balance and collides with Rabbit while trying to regain it. In moments Tigger slides into a snowbank and Rabbit crashes into his house. Tigger then decides that he does not like ice skating. Later on, while bouncing around the woods with Roo on his back, Tigger accidentally jumps to the top of a very tall tree and is afraid to climb back down. He gets even more scared when Roo uses his tail as a swing, making Tigger think he's "rocking the forest".
Meanwhile, Pooh and Piglet are investigating strange animal tracks that are actually Tigger and Roo's. Suddenly, they hear Tigger howling, for help and quickly hide. At first, Pooh mistakes Tigger's howl for the sound of a "Jagular"; but after seeing that it is actually Tigger and Roo in the tree, he and Piglet come to the rescue. Shortly afterward, Christopher Robin, Rabbit, and Kanga arrive and the gang uses Christopher's coat as a net for Tigger and Roo to land in once they jump from the tree. Roo successfully jumps down, but Tigger, who is still too frightened to move, makes up several excuses to not come down. Rabbit then decides that the group will just have to leave Tigger in the tree forever, on which Tigger promises never to bounce again if he ever is released from his predicament. At that moment, the narrator chimes in for help. Tigger begs him to "narrate" him down from the tree, and he tilts the book sideways, allowing Tigger to step onto the text of the page. Tigger starts to feel better that he made it this far but before he can do otherwise, the narrator tilts the book back the other way, causing Tigger to fall into the snow.
Happy, Tigger attempts to bounce but Rabbit stops him reminding Tigger of the promise he made. Devastated, Tigger realizes he cannot bounce anymore and slowly walks away and Rabbit feels better that there will be peace, but everyone else does not and felt sad to see Tigger depressed and remind Rabbit of the joy Tigger brought when he was bouncing. Then Rabbit shows sympathy for Tigger and takes back the promise they had agreed on; he is then given a friendly tackle by an overly-excited Tigger. Tigger invites everyone to bounce with him and even teaches Rabbit how to do it. For the first time, Rabbit is happy to be bouncing, as is everyone else as Tigger sings his signature song once more before the short closes. | psychedelic, cute, entertaining, clever | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0052719 | Daddy-O | Hotshot street-racer Phil Sandifer (Contino) is working as a truck driver when he is harassed by a sports car driving on the highway. He later meets up with the driver, Jana (Giles), in a local club. Jana challenges Phil to a race; Jana cheats, and Phil loses. At the same time, his best friend Sonny is run off the road and killed by an unidentified assailant (VeSota).
Later at the club, Phil is arrested for destruction of city property and trespassing in the area they raced through, reckless driving, and hit-and-run and manslaughter for Sonny's death. The hit-and-run and manslaughter charges are dropped but Phil is found guilty of the other three charges - as a result, Phil is placed on probation and is stripped of his driver's license. Phil quickly launches into an investigation into Sonny's murder, his first suspect being Jana. She denies any involvement, and joins Phil in his investigation. He follows the trail of clues to nightclub owner Sidney Chillas (Sonny's assailant), and Chillas's lackey Bruce, who runs the gym Sonny used to frequent. Chillas hires Phil as a singer under the alias of "Daddy-O".
Not long after being hired, Phil is beaten up by a couple of drug dealers who have mistaken him for Pete Plum, a pseudonym used by Sonny. Phil draws the conclusion that Sonny had been moving money around for Chillas, and that he had stolen some of the money and was killed as a result. Phil confronts Chillas with the information, and they confront one another in a liquor cellar. Phil manages to knock Chillas out, and soon the police arrive and arrest him and Bruce. The movie ends just as Phil is asked to sing. | murder | train | wikipedia | Contino is a hoot as the lead and VeSota is actually pretty decent.
A staple of Corman films, VeSota is not really a terrible actor, just is laden down with flat, character roles.
The Guy who runs the gym though, Bruce, is just so GOOFY that it defies belief.
It seems his permanent expression is to squint through thick glasses with a gawking mouth.Has a pretty bad soundtrack too, filled with Contino songs.
You'll watch it again and again, consumed with envy at Dick Contino's sheer studliness and convulsed in laughter at some of the worst continuity in modern history.Hot rods!
Well, Dick Contino was no more a teenager than he was a Soviet cosmonaut, but he WAS running dope for Big Bruno.And it DOES feature Bruce, the gym rat.
Watch this movie, ponder this movie, and remind yourself that someone, the actor, the director, the writer, SOMEONE had to invent the incredible bundle of character twitches that is Bruce.Daddy-O Notes: Dick Contino is alive, well, still studly in his early seventies, and the living master of the show accordion.
Does he still hike, hike, hike hike his pants up?Jack McClure, who played Bruce, was also in "Friendly Persuasion." At one point the poor deluded fellow might actually have thought he had a career going.When the movie came out, my little brother and I, absolutely forbidden to see this or any other immoral movies about juvies and their chicks, were enthralled by the ads that ran constantly on the radio.
When MST beat up on Daddy-O I taped it (naturally) and watched it over and over - kids, that line is NOT in their version.
---Anyways this one is a fun bad movie to watch.
I saw it a friend's place and though it is painfully bad it's also very funny....Like this cats way old, man for the teen scene, guess that's why they call him "Daddy-O".--- Check it out if you're lookin' for a middle-aged teenager movie..
Truck driver, singer and high trouser enthusiast Daddy-o is a real hip cat.
He hangs out at a pizza parlour where he acts moody, sings deep songs like rock candy and dances aggressively with women while repeatedly pointing out to them that if they weren't a woman he would punch them, right in the face.
Because their driving is substandard.While Daddy-o is racing against a pointy breasted stranger his best friend gets run off the road and killed.
That's how close these two were, though they are only seen to exchange five lines of dialog in the entire movie.Naturally Daddy-o isn't best pleased and after a run in with a myopic gym manager he drifts into some shady business delivering dope for a fat man who inexplicably spends all his time in the gym.
Maybe he isn't getting any thinner because the gym doesn't have any actual gym equipment that I could see.There are two reasons that I can think of to watch this movie, hence the two star rating.
The first is that the songs are just so crap they have to be heard to be believed, most of them just have the same line repeated endlessly like Rock Candy which goes "rock candy, rock, rock, rock candy, rock, rock candy." (repeat 50 times).The other reason for tuning in to this highly dated yarn is the way the script can't decide if Daddy-o is a mean moody type or a fun loving hipster liable to burst into song at any moment.
An entertaining little potboiler with rock, drag racing, beautiful girls, and a score by John Williams (yes, THAT John Williams, apparently), DADDY-O if not, like, the most, cats, it's at least an above-average 1950s exploitation picture.Dick Contino is Phil, a truck driver who moonlights as a rock 'n' roll singer at the local teen club (just like young Elvis, man).
He meets a gorgeous woman (Sandra Giles of LOST, LONELY & VICIOUS) who loves hot cars and fast men and who challenges him to a midnight race through Griffith Park.
Phil is arrested for drag racing, and in fact is under suspicion for vehicular homicide, because a guy named Sonny (who just happens to be Phil's best friend) was killed in the park that night.
Phil is cleared of that charge, but in trying to uncover the real killer, puts himself and his new sweet-patootie in danger from drug runner Sidney Chillas (Bruno Ve Sota).Favorite moment: Phil asks his sweetie if she'd like to hear him sing; she says, "Your singing can't be any worse than your driving." He immediately proves her wrong by ripping into a song called "Rock Candy Baby" that'll make you long for the melodious and lyrically mesmerizing "Nobody Lives on the Brownsville Road" from EEGAH!
or even "Do the Jellyfish" from STING OF DEATH.Second favorite moment: Phil "quietly sneaking" from a back alley into a gym to look for evidence in Sonny's death; he makes more noise than Keith Moon.Least favorite moment: Nude, sweaty Bruno Ve Sota, hot from a steam bath, getting a rubdown.
It's like watching somebody try to sculpt a replica of Mt. Rushmore in jello.Second and third least favorite moments: Phil (who has adopted the professional name of "Daddy-O") sings "Angel Eyes" and "Wait'll I Get You Home".
Well what can you say about Daddy-O, it really isn't good at all, I don't even know how to rate it, though there are worse movies out there.
This film actually has a story, plot, action and a decent ending.
And I don't think the director meant it to be that way, but it is.Dick Contino is our hero, an aged teenager who wears skin tight shirts and extremely hiked up pants (with the belt buckle to the side)Anyway he's accused of killing his friend Sonny while racing a peroxide queen who becomes his main squeeze.
He gets involved with running drugs for doughy guy and squinty (which again the LAPD don't bother to investigate)Lots of things happen which will take too long to explain but in the end the bad guys lose, Dick gets his girl and pants stay hiked..
Dick Contino, he of the big pecs and mediocre singing voice, does the best he can to save this film.
The main problem is that Daddy-O's character really doesn't give you a lot to like him; the heroine Jana gives you even less to like her.
Pete Plum...doesn't that remind you of a certain Clue character?Dick Contino is a rocking thirtyish trucker who really swings!
"Rock Candy Baby" is like Kids in the Hall: the more you see it, the more you appreciate it and laugh, and laugh, and LAUGH!!!
John Williams, how could you??Sandra Giles (RAWRRRR!!!) plays the bad, feisty feline Jana who makes me wish they let her star in a sequel "Bad Momma-O"!
My favorite scene is when she defiantly says, "Anything goes Daddy-O!!" And that cigarette girl outfit...I'd take up smoking anyday!Extra kudos to my B fave Bruno VeSota who plays the ominously evil Chillas and the even more dastardly rubdown scene.
No one skulks around in a wine cellar better than Bruno!Daddy-O isn't your best delinquent, sing-along flick, but it's loads of B schlock fun, and one of my favorite MSTed eps too..
This movie was soooo bad it was actually good.
I have never seen a movie with so many glaring mistakes but I think that is the magic of this film, it kept you interested in seeing what else could be phonied.
Daddy-O is another in a very long line of Juvie D / rock and rollers that tried to look like an Elvis picture from a distance.
Shot for only $100 grand on cheap sets and with few professional actors, the film makes King Creole look like Cabaret.
Daddy-O would be just another badly dated grade Z picture but for one thing: Dick Contino's Blues.
James Ellroy watched this clumsy oldster and then wrote a richly detailed -and thoroughly speculative - account of Contino's participation in the film while tracking a serial killer!
The story is an action comedy masterpiece and to actually watch Daddy-O after reading DC Blues is like finding lost gold.
The movie is admittedly pretty bad.
Contino plays a singing truck driver (get it?
The songs are terrible, a shame really since Contino had a legitimate reputation as a musician, and the characters range from bland to dislikeable, with the exception of the myopic gym manager who is flat out wacky.
With little story or character interest to engage the audience, there is not much to do except laugh at the dated hipster expressions, groan over the awful song numbers and wonder why Contino's pants are up near his ribcage.
But watching the movie as a story within Dick Contino's Blues makes for a rich experience.
(He wasn't but the papers failed to tell the whole story.) Contino himself was not a good enough actor to save a film this hokey, plus he was five years older than Elvis and getting too long in the tooth to be a convincing Juvie D.
But wondering how he found the time to play amateur sleuth amidst all of this - assuming that any part of Ellroy's crazy caper was even a little bit true - makes this a truly special movie..
Phil, a part-time truck driver and singer who wears his pants far too high, meets a feisty platinum blonde who challenges him to a drag race through Griffith Park.
When he is caught and loses his license, he meets up with the sketchy Frank Wooster who offers him a job singing in his new nightclub.What makes this film notable is that it is the first film score for John Williams.
It is good to appreciate all the work of a great composer, even the work that might not be considered great.Because the film ended up on "Mystery Science Theater", people assume it is bad.
Maybe it could use a little polish, but it is a fun movie and really seems to predate the 1960s AIP pictures..
A disastrously outdated and just basically unlikeable comedy/thriller/musical/torture device from the late 50's, Daddy-O chronicles the life of badass singer/womanizer/tough guy/knucklehead Pete Plum and his involuntary involvement in the drug dealing business.
As the informative IMDb plot description states, Pete Plum a.k.a. the title character wears his pants far too high.
I mean, this guy is to wearing pants what George W.
He's *so* unbelievably bad at wearing pants, Joel and the 'bots even write a song dedicated to his pants-wearing skills (let's face it, it's pretty unlikely that you would watch this movie anywhere outside the MST3K show).
As soon as the jokes about hiking pants up are over, the movie is pure pain.
Dick Contino's singing is pretty funny though.
I'd watch the movie just for his classic song about rocking a candy baby....
Dick Contino (Bruce Campbell's deformed evil older brother - based on facial similarities) plays the role of a truck driver/stock car racer/singer who gets involved in a dope ring when his best friend Sonny gets killed.
Do not watch this movie un-MST3k and alone.
The dancing is atrocious, Dick's singing is quite painful (maybe not quite as bad as the music from the Beatniks), the acting is worse than any high school production and worst of all - we get to see Bruno VeSota in a towel getting a manicure and a massage (think old, fat, sweaty Orson Wells look alike).
If you are watching this movie, press eject now, and put in something better...
"Hike Up Your Pants Just Like Mine...YEAH!!".
It's easy to poke fun at Contino on the basis of a film like "Daddy-O", but he did have...something...or at least enough pop culture weight to rate his own entry in Wikipedia and a novella by James Ellroy ("Dick Contino's Blues") based partly on Contino's character and experiences.
So he apparently was (and is) a real professional performing musician, even if his performances as a teen idol and ladies' man in "D-O" are pure cheese.While "Daddy-O" is not very "Goody-O", I have to admit that it has a lot of energy, and a nicely overloaded plot.
It's obvious from this that Dick Contino isn't much of an actor but he's got decent pecs and a chiseled jaw.
And he jumps with both feet into his role of Phil/Pete Plum, the fast drivin'/hard rockin'/blonde romancin'/Sonny avengin'/undercover investigatin'/scene chewin' hero of this 50's flick about UNTAMED YOUTH (Forty Year Old Actors Division).It's all by the numbers and it's all very silly, but it moves along briskly, and every time your attention starts to wander, there will be a car crash or a car race, or someone will say or do something incredibly corny, or there will be a beating or a fistfight, or the movie will stun your adrenal glands with a shot of buttery meat mound Bruno Vesota getting a massage, or the Platinum Blondie will do her best Veronica Lake impression (she makes Mamie Van Doren look like Meryl Streep).
So you won't think of it as a "good" movie, but you'll probably at least be entertained by this unintentionally hilarious artifact of another era of pop culture.I give it 3 pants out of 10.
Welcome to the fifties, home of some of the most unintentionally hilarious films of all times.Here we have Phil-a pushing forties truck driver with pecs bigger than his girlfriend's breasts.
Phil likes to hike up his pants to his chest a la Ed Grimley, leading to a song by Joel Robinson that is unutterably hysterical.
Phil's supposed to still be a teenager, but than so are all of the aging characters in this film except for the fat guy and his manicurist.
If this guy was a stunt driver, it was in a circus clown car, obviously.Phil becomes involved in the death of his best friend, a thin gloomy kid who's car is run off the road the same night as Phil's race with the Peroxide Queen.
Phil decides to get like Kojac, man, and investigate Sonny's death.Re-enter the bleached blonde.
In the process, we are introduced to the two funniest characters in the film-the effete fat man Chilas, and his goofy sidekick Bruce(a.k.a Squint Boy).
Maybe he thinks that the aging teenagers in the audience will be hypnotized by how high Phil's pants are pulled up and be unable to look away.
I think my favorite is that one about how he won't do anything with his (girlfriend?) in public, but.."Just wait 'til I get you home, baby".Phil discovers that the fat man had Sonny running dope for him.
He and his platinum headed baby doll fool the bad guys(not that this is exactly hard)with some puerile ruses, and the cops sweep in in the end(they answered Phil's special police hot line)and scoop up blind as a bat Bruce and the oily Mr. Chilas.
Daddy-O isn't the worst film by far that I've ever seen on MST3K, but it is cheesy enough to inspire a laugh or two..
Watched this particular film on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
From not really establishing a relationship between two characters on screen, to one minute the film being about singing and getting a girl to running drugs, this film just does it all and does it all pretty badly.
Still, the film while bad, still had enough going for it that I did not want the two lead characters dead and battered at the bottom of a ravine and torn apart by animals.
So it had that going for it.The story has a part time truck driver who occasionally sings and also was apparently racing having a bit of a time with a blond who likes running guys off the road and later offering them a bite of apple.
Well this guy's best friend in the whole world dies in a tragic car accident and the driver suspects foul play.
The truck driver ends up onto something big and soon gets hired on to sing at a club while he is on probation and though his license is revoked he also starts running drugs too.
Oh Daddy-O, you are busy.This film was a pretty good episode of Mystery Science 3000.
The movie was pretty good as it may have been like a couple of other films they did, it had enough differences to keep it funny (the blind gym coach for example).
Though I do prefer it when they do horror or science fiction, a couple of these older films featuring young folk gone crazy are usually pretty good too.So the movie was not as bad as many of the films riffed, but by no means good.
The riffs done here were pretty good and the film was so all over the place that it was varied and never got boring.
Having been wrongfully accused of the death of his best friend, Phil Sandifer (Dick Contino) sets out to find the real killer.
Can Phil find the killer before he gets into more trouble with the law?Daddy-O really isn't all bad, but it's not all good either.
I think the thing that intrigues me the most about the movie is Dick Contino as Phil.
In appearance, he looks like a cross between James Best and Tom Jones.
For whatever reason, he wears his pants so high (complete with belt buckle on the side) that there's only about 8-10 inches between the top and his underarms.
I've seen 90 year-old men who don't pull their pants up this high.
And, I can't tell you how many times someone in the movie calls Phil "kid".
When Daddy-O was made, Contino was 28 years-old - and he looked it or more.
I guess someone deiced that if they called him "kid" enough, maybe the audience would eventually buy into it as well.Other than Contino, Daddy-O has a decent little plot, Bruno VeSota, generally bad acting, a Jayne Mansfield wannabe, a low budget, and some horrible 50s style bubble-gum pop. |
tt1598873 | Cleanskin | Harry (Sam Douglas), a British arms dealer, is seen in bed with a prostitute named Rena (Shivani Ghai). While toying with Harry's pistol, she unloads it but replaces the empty magazine. Harry's bodyguard Ewan (Sean Bean) is a British Secret Service Agent. Harry and Ewan travel to a bank, transporting a briefcase of Semtex. The men are followed by two terrorists, Ash (Abhin Galeya) and Ibrahim (Mens-Sana Tamakloe). Ibrahim approaches Harry and Ewan from the top of a staircase, shooting at them. After Ash shoots Ewan twice, Harry tries to shoot Ash, only to discover there are no bullets in his gun. Ash kills Harry and takes the briefcase of Semtex. However, Ewan manages to shoot Ash in the arm; but, before he can apprehend him, Ash returns fire and escapes with the briefcase.
Ash sews the stolen Semtex into a jacket along with a detonation device. He gives the jacket to Adel (Shane Zaza), who goes to a popular London restaurant and detonates the bomb. Being the only person who knows about the stolen explosives, Ewan is tasked by his two Secret Service superiors Charlotte (Charlotte Rampling) and Scott (James Fox) to find and eliminate the terrorists who created the bomb. His mission is off-the-books and unknown even within the Secret Service. He is given an assistant, rookie agent Mark (Tom Burke). Ewan finds Rena and beats her for any information she has about Harry. She tells Ewan and Mark that a man she frequented, Paul, paid her for information about Harry and to unload his gun. Ewan, Mark, and Rena go to Paul's house where Rena tries to aid Ewan and Mark in capturing Paul. However, Paul kills her and attempts to detonate a suicide jacket but is killed by Ewan.
At a cafè, Ash sees Kate (Tuppence Middleton), his former lover, and they exchange numbers. A series of flashbacks are shown from six years ago, where it is revealed that Ash and Kate were dating at university, where they both studied law. At the school, Nabil (Peter Polycarpou), a Muslim extremist, befriends Ash and asks him to join the pro-Muslim student group he heads. Ash and his friend Yussif (Chris Ryman) join the group and are exposed to Nabil's anti-Western teachings. Later that night, when Ash is at a bar, he sees Nick (Chris Geere) drinking and hitting on Kate. He argues with her but ultimately forgives her. Ash returns to the bar the following day and sees Nick, who insults him and says that he slept with Kate. Ash beats Nick up and goes to his apartment and breaks up with Kate. Nabil continues to brainwash Ash.
In the present, Ewan and Mark are sent to an abandoned building they are told is the home of a terrorist. Ewan confronts the man they find there (Jeetandra Lathigra) and interrogates him. The man begs for mercy, but Ewan sets him on fire and leaves him to burn to death. Searching the building, Ewan takes the man's jacket.
A series of flashbacks cut to three years earlier, where Nabil senses Ash's readiness to do more for the cause. Nabil tells Ash to participate in the punishment of Sgt. Glen Conlan (Glenn Wrage), an ex-soldier living alone on a farm, who he says killed and tortured Muslims throughout the Middle East. An experienced foreign operative named Amin (Silas Carson) is flown into the UK; Ash and his friend Yussif are instructed to act as his local guides and assistants. They travel to Conlan's farm. Yussif confronts Conlan in a barn but is stabbed in the face. Ash then chases Conlan and knocks him unconscious. Ash searches the house and finds a woman with a baby but does not tell Amin about them. Amin then searches the house again and kills the woman and her baby. Ash and Amin take Conlan to an abandoned building, where Ash films Amin beheading Conlan.
Ewan and Mark go to a housing estate, where they are noticed by Ash and another man wearing a bulky jacket. The unknown man takes off running, and Ash gets away on his motorcycle. Mark chases after the unknown man and shoots him dead. Mark and Ewan are told by Charlotte that the Secret Service has found out about their covert mission and is hunting them. Later, when Ewan is sleeping in a hotel, Mark breaks in and tries to kill him. After a fight, Ewan stabs Mark; but Mark refuses to tell Ewan who sent him. Ewan then kills Mark. Ewan realises he is now alone and must stop the terror cell before he is killed. Using Mark's earpiece, he discovers that whoever Mark was working for is facilitating the next bombing.
Ash and Kate get back together after six years of being apart. However, Ash sees his work with Nabil as more important and leaves Kate for a final suicide mission. Nabil tasks Ash with killing the head of a pro-Iraqi War think tank at his daughter's wedding in London. Ash makes a video explaining his reasons justifying his planned suicide attack. He travels to the wedding reception but is confronted by Ewan. Both are wounded in a fight, but Ash gets away. Disguising himself as a waiter, Ash makes his way to the reception's head table. Moments before Ash detonates his jacket bomb, he is shot by Ewan. After disabling the detonator, Ewan leaves the hotel. At the exit, Ewan notices men in suits delivering luggage on a trolley into the hotel lobby and then driving away from the hotel. Moments later, a bomb hidden in this luggage detonates in the hotel lobby, killing Nabil's targets.
In the epilogue, Ewan finds a safe deposit box key in the jacket of the man he killed earlier. He finds the box and its contents: a folder and video camera. He watches the tape, which shows footage of the man Ewan set on fire saying that he is an English citizen named Hussein Malik, who is an undercover Secret Service agent like Ewan. Ewan, distraught, goes back to the hotel room where he killed Mark and finds Charlotte's lighter in Mark's shirt. He realises that Charlotte hired Mark to kill him and framed Scott for being corrupt to cover any trace of her covert mission. Ewan confronts Charlotte at her countryside mansion and kills her, framing her death as a suicide. | boring, flashback | train | wikipedia | However, although a serious topic, you'll find some light hearted humour in parts of the film.Have already recommended to friends and family, purchased on DVD myself, so go and watch too if you already haven't.Overall, a great watch with some excellent action shots and twists and turns throughout..
It started off well, had some great action scenes throughout and finished excellently (a nod to a famous death perhaps?).It amazes me that a film of just £2m can produce such a twisty-turny story with some easily recognisable British actors.
The good thing about his character is that he wasn't the standard angry soldier, he had a history and motivation.My favourite scene was when Ash is about to commit his attack he visits the Cleric, Ash wants reassurance about heaven and the cleric reassures him then hurriedly goes to his sons birthday party leaving Ash alone to commit his act while the Cleric is enjoying himself elsewhere.
I was expecting a rather mindless 'lets get the terrorists' themed action film but was instead treated to a film that, to a limited extent, tried to explore the motivations of the main characters whilst still maintaining the feel and pace of an action movie.
The reasons as to why British born terrorists turn to the path of mass murder are explored well in this very British film.Sean Bean is well cast and his performance is brutal and minimal, he ticks the boxes of Cleanskin's demands.
This is shown with Ewans and Ash's character and their leaders, played by Charlotte Rampling and Peter Polycarpou.There are key moments in the film that are obviously meant to show and mirror the traits and similarity of the two leads, both have started moral but Ewan has turned to questionable and Ash has no excuse for his horrific acts, but the interest is how it is done this with subtlety.
Sean Bean's character Ewan lost his wife "in the bombings a few years back" which I guess is reference to the London tube/bus bombings, and so you can forgive him for wanting to catch all terrorists and "send them to the deaths they pray for" (which is my favourite line in the film).There are lots of twists throughout this movie, and you can never be sure if people are who they say they are - much like the modern world really.Apart from the few niggly continuity mistakes, I think the production team can give themselves a pat on the back for making a film that touches on a very sensitive subject yet tackles this subject from both sides.On a side note, Tom Burke (Sean Bean's sidekick) puts up an excellent performance..
There are scenes that make you squirm, laugh, gasp and applaud (I won't give away too much) and that's why I also found the ending great - just simple acting with continuous twists and turns.Considering the budget, I am amazed how they manage to get Sean Bean, Charlotte Rampling & James Fox all in the same line up?
A great performance from not only Sean but also the girl (Tuppence?), and it was nice to see Peter Polycarpou back on our screen!cleanskin will appeal to a wide audience, not just those who are still recovering from 7/7 (which i couldn't stop thinking about whilst watching) and it's helpful seeing the side from the "good guy" and the side from the "bad guy".having lived in London when i was younger, it was nice to see some of the landmarks i visited as a kid, so it seems they really went out of their way to keep the realism in the film.
After an unsuccessful mission when a load of explosives is stolen by the terrorists Ash (Abhin Galeya) and Paul (Tariq Jordan), the British Secret Service Agent Ewan (Sean Bean) is assigned by his superior Charlotte (Charlotte Rampling) to team-up with agent Mark (Tom Burke) and hunt down the terrorist before the elections.
He's a good actor with a solid presence, and he's has played some fantastic roles and been in some great films and TV series (even recently such as Game of Thrones) but he always seems to have bad luck follow him, for some reason he never has made it to the hall of fame as a true Hollywood star and hero.
A typical law student with an identity crisis that develops into some extreme moral tensions, inevitably seeing him drawn into Islamic terrorism.You may think that having a good-looking sultry student-type turn into a terrorist is a bit bad taste, but Hajaig's script is all about moral ambiguity and identity.
Almost a few stories going on at once, I thought it was good character development, you have to concentrate to keep up in between the present and past sequences, but that's what made this film different in its style and approach of the topic.
I sure we can say that the main terrorist is certainly dead, no no chance of bringing him back, but I would like to see the character of the secret agent continued in a secondary movie with a new task at hand and a cleaned up loyal team (not to give to much away).
This movie was not what I was expecting at all, the synopsis and plot summaries do give you a hint of the subject, but the film itself opened into something a lot better than just chase, shoot and kill.There appears to be a clever character build up to both the heroin (Ewan in my opinion) and the enemy (Ash among others), leaving the viewer piecing together the hints and clues (which almost seem to be subtle) along the way.
I recently caught this film, billed as an action/drama/suspense flick, quite by accident, and immediately wondered why I saw no promo for it...First off, it was nice to see Sean Bean, who has played some bad ass bad guys (eg.
There wasn't too much publicity and it certainly wasn't shown in my local cinema, but I picked up the DVD on the hunch that a film with Sean Bean and Charlotte Rampling must be worth watching, surely!Some great scenic shots with a little sprinkle of humour mixed in.
But the way he is manipulated gives an insight into a world that I never wanted to know about.My partner wasn't really keen on watching the film given its subject, but we sat down together and thought how realistic the settings and characters look.All in all, a pleasurable watch..
The plot is fast paced and full of great action and the script is intelligent and realistic, much more true to life than many of the pieces of trash I've suffered through from Hollywood that are nothing more than government propaganda so a population can feel good about being at war with innocent people while decrying their resistance as the reason for invasion..
My wife purchased the CLEANSKIN DVD for me recently (despite asking for a Sean Bean film of a different name!) and it turned out to be an enjoyable watch.
The theme of terrorism and radicalisation trends throughout the world, and the July London bombings of 2005 suddenly come flashing back whilst watching CLEANSKIN, so you find yourself cheering for Sean Bean quite loudly during the film.Equally, you also find yourself in the mindset of the terrorist Ash's head, and you pray that he won't go on and want to commit such atrocities.
Liked this film loads because it is is quintessentially British apart from its visual style which is slick.Sean bean plays the down at heals, troubled tortured and brutal agent with a dark past, he does it as he always does it, with minimal fuss and brooding intensity.The British terrorist is played well by Abhin Galeya, it shows how these British born guys go and do these horrible things but not in much detail as the film is primarily entertainment but that doesn't mean its not smart but hey look.
The plotting is lean and fast paced.Charlotte Rampling is a class act all the way and plays her part with finesse as do the other actors in the film.All in all a rollicking cracking old fashioned British thriller old boy, wot wot!!.
Ewan has "served for his country" and appears to be very proud of that fact.I thought the performances of both characters Ash and Charlotte were very powerful, although I didn't take a shine to the nutter from abroad (although having watched the film again, I see the reason why he was in the movie).Cleanskin's storyline and unique take on the subject was eye opening and expanded my knowledge on something I know very little about!Overall it was a pleasant surprise to discover this film and Sean is always watcheable..
I enjoyed the way this film go started, straight away there was action and suspense in the opening shoot out.Not sure why some people said it was not that good, I followed it very well, the on screen direction of present day and previous year captions helped keeping up with the flashbacks.
Of course having Sean Bean as the lead role was always going to make me compliment this film, but it really does get you thinking outside the box.The only reason I didn't give the film a higher mark is because of an unnecessary killing during the barn scene by the creepy tall guy.I think the ending also left itself open to a sequel, which I would be more than happy to pay to watch.Congrats too to Peter Polycarpou - he's come a long way since Birds Of A Feather!.
A rough, tough and extremely violent movie that sees Game of Thrones star Sean Bean swap doublet and sword for civvies and gun to play a British secret service agent who's ordered to going under cover to track down some missing Semtex explosive and the home-grown Islamist suicide cell possessing it.
It was marketed as some sort of sean bean action movie turns into a love the terrorist drama then a conspiracy theory anti government thing.
" did we change channels, weren't we watching a sean bean film, who is this guy and why did the movie just end.Seriously, they just stop following the action story and start on a new tact for like 30 minutes of explaining away terrorism drama, then go back to the action movie bit and then go government crazy.I seriously don't get who wants to watch an ultra violent action movie and an terrorist apoligist drama at the same time.Must be an audience of like 5 people in all of the UK.Truly bizarre concept, and the marketing was horrible, tell me its an action movie and thats what I expect..
In the end Sean Bean does indeed get the bad guy, both the terrorist (one of them at least) and at the same time exposing that the terrorists actually had help from within thus throwing some sh-t at the British government and the fight against terrorism at the same time.When watching this movie I could not help but feel that this was just a, mildly concealed, political propaganda movie and that the killing of a few of the terrorists in the end was just to get it to pass as politically correct in the Western world.
The recruiting of Ash was illustrated fairly well, but I think it could have shown him questioning his recruiter and new friends a bit more than he did.Sean Bean gave a decent performance but not great, and I would have liked to see a bit more of an emotional performance based on the past of his character.The action is fairly good.
A British film about suicide bombers in London is most likely to be too dark (and a little too much like real life) to be a mainstream success, so many people may be forgiven for never hearing about Cleanskin.Sean Bean plays a Secret Service agent on the trail of a suicide bomber cell in Britain.
While Sean is your typical no-nonsense tough guy (think Liam Neeson in the Taken films), the terrorists are actually pretty well thought out characters - no 'True Lies' clichéd Arab terrorists here.
It takes something pretty well written to make you have sympathy with a terrorist one minute, then be revolted by his actions the next, plus even weave in a convincing love story into the mix.I won't go into too many details about the film's plot, as there are a few twists and turns you might not see coming.
Although the twist in the end is quite predictable to some, the movie goes as far as possible on this plot-line and leaves a lot of discussion topics for the viewer.Albeit the main characters past and sometime present has some holes, the filmmakers have made the right choices here, to make a good streaming thriller that deals with what is happening when people make the choices and carry consequences, rather than delve into exactly how and what happened that lead to that decision.
STORY:The film starts begins with secret service agent Sean Bean being tasked with stopping a terrorist cell.
4/5EXECUTION:Having never heard of any of the actors apart from Sean Bean I was surprised at how good the acting was all round, I must give particular mention to Abhin Galeya who plays the young student turned suicide bomber exceptionally well.
This is a nicely paced action/thriller movie about a hunt to stop some terrorists that has nice points but ultimately is not entirely convincing and leaves certain things unexplained or overly convenient.The overall story is well-used but developed with some nice twists and unique details.
Solid performances throughout the entire cast, and who doesn't like to see Sean Bean kick some major butt!There was some pretty great action sequences in this movie, but do not go into this movie thinking that it is a full on action flick.We also see the complexity of Ash, as he is changes from a normal University student to a brainwashed terrorist.
This insightful film addresses this very concept of sharing with the audience the factors behind what encourages men to terrorist acts, especially those of suicide bombers who by their actions work with the concept that in carrying out such bombings to kill infidels they gain immediate access into Paradise with the concomitant virgins and joining deceased family and friends.The title holds some clues as to the film's direction: 'A 'cleanskin' is a term for an undercover operative unknown to his or her targets, or, as more commonly used in the UK following the London bombings, an extremist with no previous convictions so therefore unknown to national security.' A strangely quiet man named simply Ewan (Sean Bean) is a rather ruthless British Secret Service Agent who with his partner Mark (Tom Burke) is directed by his superiors Charlotte (Charlotte Rampling) and Scott (James Fox), and faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a British born Muslim suicide bomber Ash (Abhin Galeya) and his terrorist cell directed by Nabil (Peter Polycarpou).
The process of pursuing the capture and the perpetration of the terrorist activity is full of surprising twists and turns and the resolution is entirely unexpected.While the film focuses attention on Sean Bean as the name actor, the story really belongs to the very gifted young British actor Abhin Galeya who plays Ash, a handsome idealistic student in love with a non-Muslim girl Kate (Tuppence Middleton) who struggles with the concept of terrorism yet grows into a man with a terrifyingly single-minded mission.
According to Wikipedia , a "cleanskin" is a term for an undercover operative unknown to his or her targets, or, as more commonly used in the UK following the London bombings, an extremist with no previous convictions so therefore unknown to national security." Not knowing what the title meant maybe was a turnoff at the box office besides being a low budget film without big name stars receiving little promotion if any.A small film with well known English actors is not a bad thing as this was a suspenseful dark thriller with good performances.
He is played like a pawn by Charlotte Rampling because she knows he will do whatever it takes to stop these murderers, particularly when it's in her interests too (she is aiming to knock the top Secret Service guy - James Fox - off his perch and grab a promotion).While the young terrorist Muslim being manipulated by the recruiter of Nabil, Sean is busy on the streets of London hunting down the bad guys.
I like the way the film shows that Ash is potentially brainwashed into wanting to commit atrocities, and we know very little about Ewan's character, which makes Cleanskin an interesting watch.Where Four Lions was too humorous about the subject, this film takes extremism and makes the viewer see both sides of the story.
In a way, the movie and main character redeem themselves at the end when the imperfect good guy kills ANY evil people involved.
The writer has taken no account of her fears or feelings, and has written a comic book character.What is more, why didn't they call in an anti terrorist team to surround the house and take him out – the team wouldn't have needed to know the details, and it would have stopped him escaping – and would be closer to real life.For me, the Characters just didn't work.Sean Bean's character alternates between a "Callan" type character – rebellious toward authority, but with a strong moral conscience about killing – and then is suddenly a Terminator figure.His partner's character came across as quite confusing, and I still have no idea why he did some of the things he did, or why they had a wind up toy.There are lots more about this film I didn't like, the main one being the script.
Pity a great actor like Sean Bean is wasted on this film full of western fantasies about Muslim terror cells . |
tt0220698 | Peter Pan | Set in London, circa 1900, George and Mary Darling's preparations to attend a party are disrupted by the antics of their boys, John and Michael, acting out a story about Peter Pan and the pirates, told to them by their older sister, Wendy. Their father, who is fed up with the stories that have made his children less practical, angrily declares that Wendy has gotten too old to continue staying in the nursery with them. That night, they are visited in the nursery by Peter Pan himself, who teaches them to fly with the help of his pixie friend, Tinker Bell, and takes them with him to the island of Never Land.
A ship of pirates is anchored off Never Land, commanded by Captain Hook with his sidekick, Mr. Smee. Hook boldly plots to take revenge upon Peter Pan for cutting off his hand, but trembles at the presence of a crocodile, which consumed Hook’s hand and is eager to taste the rest of him. The crew's restlessness is interrupted by the arrival of Peter and the Darlings. Tinker Bell, who is very jealous of Pan’s attention to Wendy, persuades the Lost Boys that Pan has ordered them to shoot down Wendy, which Tink refers to as a “Wendy bird”. Tinker Bell's treachery is soon found out, and Peter banishes her. John and Michael set off with the Lost Boys to find the island's Indians, who instead capture them, believing them to be the ones responsible for taking the chief's daughter, Tiger Lily.
Meanwhile, Peter takes Wendy to see the mermaids. The mischievous mermaids delight in tormenting Wendy but flee in terror at the sight of Hook. Peter and Wendy see that Hook and Smee have captured Tiger Lily so that they might persuade her to disclose Peter's hideout. Peter and Wendy free her, and Peter is honored by the tribe. Hook then plots to take advantage of Tinker Bell's jealousy of Wendy, tricking her into revealing the location of Peter's lair. Wendy and her brothers eventually grow homesick and plan to return home. They invite Peter and the Lost Boys to return to London and be adopted by the Darling parents. The Lost Boys agree, but Peter is so set against growing up that he refuses, presumptuously thinking that they will all return shortly. The pirates lie in wait and capture the Lost Boys and the Darlings as they exit, leaving behind a time bomb to kill Peter. Tinker Bell learns of the plot just in time to snatch the bomb from Peter as it explodes.
Peter rescues Tinker Bell from the rubble and together they confront the pirates, releasing the children before they can walk the plank. Peter engages Hook in single combat as the children fight off the crew, and finally succeeds in humiliating the captain. Hook and his crew flee, with the crocodile in hot pursuit. Peter gallantly commandeers the deserted ship, and assisted by Tinker Bell's pixie dust, flies it to London with the children aboard. However, the Lost Boys decide to return to Never Land rather than be adopted in London. Mr. and Mrs. Darling return home from the party to find Wendy not in her bed, but sleeping at the open window. Wendy awakens and excitedly tells about their adventures. The parents look out the window and see what appears to be a pirate ship in the clouds. Mr. Darling, who has softened his position about Wendy staying in the nursery, recognizes it from his own childhood. | fantasy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0061477 | Chuka | The film begins with a U.S. Army commander dictating a report. Held prisoner in the commander's office, in a fort that has been almost totally destroyed, is the Arapaho Indian war chief, Hanu (Marco Lopez). He says very little. Within the fort's ruins have been found a single grave and a Colt pistol once owned by a gunman Hanu describes as a "quiet, lonely man..." At this point the action of the movie commences.
A wandering gunman Chuka (Rod Taylor) rides into an Arapaho camp. It is winter and everyone in the camp is starving, so he gives them some food. Shortly afterwards Chuka crosses paths with a stagecoach taking Mexican passengers Senora Veronica Kleitz (Luciana Paluzzi) and her niece Senorita Helena Chavez (Victoria Vetri) through the territory. Chuka and Kleitz look hard at each other. Suddenly Arapaho, led by Hanu, surround the coach. Everyone connected to the stagecoach expects to be killed, but Hanu recognizes Chuka and the braves simply ride on.
Chuka accompanies the coach to a nearby U.S. Army fort. The outpost's commander, Colonel Stuart Valois (John Mills), is worried the Arapahos may have ambushed his overdue patrol and refuses to allow the civilians to leave. He sends out his scout Lou Trent (James Whitmore) to reconnoiter, but the horse returns without the rider.
Everybody in the fort has a past they would rather forget. Before he became a hired gunman, Chuka was in love with Kleitz, but because he was only a lowly hired hand on her wealthy father's ranch, he was run off. She dutifully married a man selected by her father from their own social class. The soldiers are the dregs of the army. Valois was cashiered from the British Army for suspected cowardice, including being drunk when his command was attacked. His second-in-command, Major Benson (Louis Hayward), is a card cheat, and also (though Valois does not know it) keeps an Arapaho mistress hidden within the fort. Lieutenant Daly was acquitted of a charge of treason. Most of these revelations are told during dinner by Captain Valois, to humiliate the men involved. Only Sergeant Otto Hansbach (Ernest Borgnine) is a first-rate soldier. When the coach arrived at the fort he had been overseeing the flogging of a soldier, Spivey (Michael Cole), for desertion. Hansbach takes an immediate dislike to Chuka.
The fort is constantly being infiltrated by Arapaho warriors, which would be more successful if not for Chuka's instincts and shooting skills. Recognizing that he is no match for Chuka with a gun, Hansbach challenges Chuka to a fight over the latter's threateningly defiant refusal to obey Valois's order to work for the fort as a scout. A brutal fist fight follows, which ends in a draw.
Chuka agrees (for $200) to sneak out and scout the enemy for Valois; in the process, he rescues Trent. On his return he tries to renew the relationship with Kleitz, who is now a widow, but she tells him it is too late. He offers to take the two women to safety, but by the time Kleitz asks him to flee with her niece, the fort is under threat of imminent attack. Chuka tells her in any case he would only have tried to flee if she rather than her niece would have gone with him.
Having seen the size of Hanu's force and the tactics the Arapaho are practicing, Chuka pleads with Valois to abandon the fort and leave the food and supplies inside, which is all Hanu wants. Valois will not consider it, even though his force is hopelessly outnumbered. Before the Arapahos attack he suppresses an attempted mutiny of his soldiers, shooting the ringleader Spivey in the process. Chaka guesses, and Valois confirms, it was the first time he has killed a man. (During the contentious dinner Valois had attempted to provoke Chuka by asking him how many men he had killed.) As they await the attack Senora Kleitz goes to Chuka and they spend the night together. The next morning, over coffee, Hansbach and Chuka talk in a friendly manner, and Hansbach explains his absolute loyalty to his commander. When Hansbach was a young soldier under Valois's command in the Sudan, he blundered and was captured by the enemy. Valois's unit rescued Hansbach from torture and certain death, but Valois was captured and castrated. Valois was eventually rescued, but was left deeply scarred psychologically as well as physically.
The Arapahos attack. They get help from inside the fort, when Major Benson's Arapaho mistress, after stabbing him to death, sets fire to the stables. When the walls of the fort are breached, Senora Kleitz and Valois are killed. Kleitz dies in Chuka's arms. Enraged, he shoots wildly at the Arapaho overrunning the walls. Valois, with his last words, laments that he was struck down too soon to learn if he is indeed a coward. Hansbach is fatally shot, as he slumps to his death he sees his fallen commander. With all the soldiers dead, and he himself seriously wounded, Chuka hides with Helena Chavez while the victorious Arapahos take the supplies and leave. As Hanu rides through the burning fort on a final inspection, Chuka takes aim at him with his pistol. Hanu sees the two of them in their hiding spot. Chaka recoils and puts his pistol to Helena's head, ready to kill her to keep her from being taken by the attackers. Expressionless, Hanu slowly follows his braves into the night. Presumably he again recognized Chuka, and having taken the fort is satisfied. Hanu's debt to Chuka, if he ever owed one, is doubly paid.
Back in the present, the commander is finishing his report. He says he will not disturb the grave to discover who is buried there. Of Chuka and Helena there is no sign, but as a relationship between them was foreshadowed it is to be inferred that they somehow left the fort together, after burying Señora Kleitz. | violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt3106120 | See No Evil 2 | Amy (Danielle Harris) prepares to leave her job at the city morgue while Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) and their boss Holden (Michael Eklund) work the graveyard shift. As Amy is leaving to meet friends at a bar for her birthday, Holden receives news that a number of bodies are being delivered, the victims of a mass murder committed by Jacob Goodnight (Kane) at the Blackwell Hotel. Amy decides to cancel her plans and help her colleagues with the deliveries. Amy and Seth process the corpses, including that of Goodnight. As Amy leaves Seth to finish the work, she is surprised to find Holden has allowed her friends Tamara (Katharine Isabelle), Kayla (Chelan Simmons), Carter (Lee Majdoub) and her brother Will (Greyston Holt) to throw a birthday party in the morgue. During the party, Will warns Seth to stay away from Amy, believing she deserves better than him, causing Seth to leave the party and return to work. Will tells Amy of his disapproval of her dropping out of Med School to work in the morgue, angering Amy, who also leaves the party.
Tamara, who is fascinated by death and serial killers, leaves the party with Carter to go look at Jacob's body. The experience of being in a room with the body of a real murderer arouses her and she and Carter begin to have sex. Jacob suddenly awakens, and kills Carter while Tamara escapes. Jacob searches the room, outfitting himself with a burn victim mask and several surgical tools before cutting the building's electricity.
Hearing Tamara's screams, the rest of the partygoers attempt to find her; Holden, away from the rest, is captured and mortally wounded by Jacob.
Amy, Will, Kayla and Tamara acknowledge their predicament and attempt to reach the upper levels of the hospital, only to find Jacob blocking their way at every turn. Seth arrives with the keys to open a locked emergency stairwell, but Jacob is behind him and attacks them, causing the group to split up. Kayla seeks refuge in a bathroom, where Jacob strangles her. When Kayla mutters "Thank God!" at Jacob's hesitation, he relives old memories, remembering the abuse he suffered at the hands of his religious mother. As Kayla dies from her injuries anyway, Jacob asks her, "Why would God help you?" before setting off in search of the remaining members of the group.
Jacob kills Tamara and captures Will, using him as bait to lure Seth and Amy into a trap, where he proceeds to execute her brother. In the resultant confrontation, Seth is wounded by an electric knife; Amy takes him into a room to cauterize the wound, where she reveals that she dropped out of medical school after realizing the inevitability of death. Noticing that one of the windows leads to ground level, Amy kisses Seth for the first time then squeezes out to get help. Finding Jacob in the parking lot, however, she retreats back inside. Afterwards, Jacob stabs her to death as she attempts to unlock a side exit door. After fighting Jacob, Seth impales him with the nozzle from a piece of embalming equipment and pumps his body full of embalming chemicals, seemingly killing him.
Seth escapes the morgue through a broken window and drives away in his car. As he stops to open the gated entrance, he realizes that not only is Jacob still alive but also that he was in the car with him. Jacob attacks Seth from behind, and gouges out his eyes, killing him.
The final shots of the film show each dead member of the cast before a final closeup shot of Jacob's face as he says, "I see it now." | violence | train | wikipedia | See No Evil 2 is such a typically mediocre horror film where victims get killed off one by one with not much of a surprise and coming from such potentially imaginative director (seeing from their previous works in American Mary and T segment from ABCs Of Death 2), it's quite a huge disappointment here.
When news arrives that the corpse of killer Jacob Goodnight (Glenn "Kane" Jacobs) is about to arrive, Amy cancels her birthday plans to help her co-workers Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) and Holden (Michael Eklund) with the body.
It's not too long before Jacob Goodnight rises from his slab and is out to crash the party and the group must find a way out of the enclosed morgue to survive.While I was a fan of the original film, I didn't find it anything great, but still fairly fun.
What also scores the film points is the shock factor for a certain moment that occurs towards the end of the movie.Overall, See No Evil 2 isn't a perfect slasher film, but it is a fun sequel that features a nice cast with likable enough characters, and a decent body count.
Better then the First One. OK I liked the first movie for what it was but it wasn't something that I'd watch very often.This sequel though I enjoyed quite a bit more then the first one and in the few days that I've had it,I've already watched it almost as many times as I've watched the original movie.I loved seeing Danielle Harris and Katherine Isabelle in the movie being a fan of both of them.I thought Glen "Kane" Jacobs did a very good job as Jacob Goodnight and I found him more menacing in this movie and thought some of the kills in this movie were pretty cool.I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Soska Sisters will return with a 3rd installment.If they do,I'll be watching..
But it exists and I was actually psyched to see it, considering American Mary was interesting and unusual enough to be memorable, I actually kind of liked the first movie, and this one stars two of the great Scream Queens of our time, Danielle Harris (Halloween franchise, Hatchet franchise) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps franchise, Freddy vs.
It occurs the night after the original movie's massacre as a pretty, young morgue attendant (Danielle Harris) is forced to work through her birthday to clean up all the bodies fanatically religious serial killer Jacob Goodnight (Kane) left in his wake before apparently being killed himself.
And when her friends decide to bring the party her to her, sneaking into the morgue after hours, one party goer (Katharine Isabelle), a drunken slut with a death fetish, sneaks off to check out Jacob's body.Unfortunately, Jacob is apparently just as hard to kill as Jason Voorhees and equally good at playing possum.
It's difficult predicting who will die and when, but that hardly matters because none of the characters are remotely interesting.See No Evil 2 is so bad it not only kills the hopes for a See No Evil franchise but also seriously hurts anyone's hope that the Soska Twins will be horror's next big thing.
Instead, her friends bring the party to Amy and her co-workers.Long story short, alcohol is consumed, sex is had and Goodnight returns from the dead to wreak havoc on the hapless morgue workers and the party people.The real strong point is the direction by Jen and Sylvia Soska.
Their first film, Dead Hooker in a Trunk, had flashes of genius and the body horror film American Mary was one of the most original and important movies to hit the horror genre for a good 10 years.Although the script was written by Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby and the only real weak point, it was the Soska's vision that brought to life the entire film.
The film provides a lot of fun, some cool kill scenes and solid SFX with only a touch of CGI which makes this a great addition to the slasher sub-genre and a sequel that outweighs it's predecessor in every way.To read my full review, head over to my blog - Maven's Movie Vault of Horror..
The movie was written by first time film writers Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby and directed by the Soska sisters (twin sister film writers, producers, directors and actors that specialize in twisted slasher flicks).
Anyways, Jacob Goodnight (WWE's Kane),comes back to life to kill incredibly dumb teenagers in a morgue, while contending with flashbacks to his overbearing religious nut of a mom The film's haphazard, illogical and doesn't have a scary bone in it's body.
While the storyline is not original the obvious heart and talent behind the movie doesn't allow that to get in the way, boasting likable characters you find yourself rooting for.This film is a breath of fresh air in the horror genre and yet another success from the Twisted Twins who are definitely filmmakers to keep your eye on.
The film did middling numbers at the box office and I assumed that was the last I was ever going to see of Kane's character Jacob Goodnight.On the contrary, in fact, as See No Evil 2 now exists, serving as a trashy and redundant follow-up to an already-trashy and barely tolerable horror film.
Those who condemn the original Saw film for its graphic depictions of torture and mutilation often never acknowledge the film's twisty storytelling ability or use of audience-deception in order to provide an outcome, but See No Evil almost felt like Saw without the artistry to it, as if it had all been robbed in order for cheap shock value.This sequel concerns a trio of employees working the graveyard shift at a morgue, Amy (Danielle Harris), Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen), and their handicapped boss Holden (Michael Eklund).
We watch an endless array of vicious brutality captured in the dingy, lowlit halls of the morgue that makes an already indistinguishable slasher in story and approach further indistinguishable with its poor visual scheme.One of the worst things that can happen to a horror film, worse than predictability, monotony, jump scares, an incoherent storyline, or poor acting, is when the visual scheme becomes too dark and indecipherable.
Even Jacob Goodnight has desperately little personality, as we see his neglectful and abusive childhood through disjointed flashbacks, which feel like nothing but narrative reiterations in case we forgot the original See No Evil (which, in that regard, the more I think about it, the more that inclusion seems like a good choice).Nonetheless, after an opening that admirably relies on slowburn techniques, allowing the characters to converse casually before things take a lethal turn, See No Evil 2 becomes derivative and repetitive, and merits a watch only if you haven't properly got into the season through decorating or watching better horror films.Starring: Glenn "Kane" Jacobs, Danielle Harris, Katharine Isabelle, Chelan Simmons, Kaj-Erik Erikson, and Greyston Holt.
The first was an okay film (which I enjoy) as rated by critics, it gave what could be a new iconic horror movie villain in Jacob Goodnight.
But, with bodies from the massacre heading in, Amy decides to stay and help her co-worker Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) with the added workload
and thus her friends, including vixen with a morbid side, Tamara (Katharine Isabelle) decide to surprise her at the morgue with an impromptu birthday party.
The film also deviated at times from the slasher formula and that added some freshness to it and the Soskas, as with American Mary, give us some disturbingly gruesome moments but, without going overboard or being gross for gross sake like SNE #1.
And how very convenient that there was a mask lying around at the morgue to mask his facial injuries, and even more so lucky that it was the same side of the face that the mask was made to cover up.Furthermore, it was just downright ridiculous that Jacob Goodnight remained alive and kicking after having had an entire canister of embalming fluids pumped into his system."See No Evil 2" did have some adequate and interesting enough kill scenes to it, but it was hardly enough to make up for all the other shortcomings that the movie had.The special effects, both CGI and practical were actually good enough and did serve the movie well enough.Now, it should be said that there actually some good actors and actresses on the cast list.I am sure that there is some sort of entertainment value for fans of the first movie.
Working on the graveyard shift, workers at a birthday party at a local hospital morgue find the hulking body that was just delivered is a still-alive serial killer responsible for a recent killing spree and sets out to continue killing forcing them to stop the madman.This wasn't all that bad of a sequel and definitely had some solid moments at work.
As well, the fact that this becomes all the more apparent due to the film's surprisingly low body-count where it doesn't really have a ton of choices to begin with here so the timing of this one does feel a little off here throwing the deaths into small spurts and then not going through on it's best work at that point, which leaves the kills all around pretty unsatisfactory with a small cast getting bloody and brutal deaths for the most past off-screen.
The main change from the first film to this second film (or second half as you can also choose to think of it) is the introduction of Jen and Sylvia Soska into the directing chairs for this installment.Fresh from films such as The ABCs of Death 2 (where they directed the 'T for Torture Porn' segment) and the wonderful body modification film American Mary, The Soska twins have most definitely put their stamp on See No Evil 2 whilst still managing to avoid making any major changes to the look and feel of this world of Jacob Goodnight.But they have brought their own immensely talented filmmaking skills and touches to this world and given the film a beautiful look.The film screams 'Soska', with its cinematography, with its body horror elements and with the unnerving tension in many scenes that in other directors hands, could and would come off as cheesy.
The Soska twins know that this sort of build up is vital for a good horror film as it helps with tension and suspense, it gets the audience aware of and familiar with the surroundings the action will take place in, it makes sure the audience is rooting for the characters to survive, it allows us to feel their panic when being chased and, especially in the case of See No Evil 2, your investment in these characters really pays off in a few twists and turns the film takes later.
The plot, much like the first film, suffers a little bit from you, the audience, thinking 'why aren't they just running out of the front of the building again?' I mean Jacob Goodnight is one, slow walking, undead, Godzilla like person in an enormous hospital, surely getting to the front door wouldn't be too much of a challenge.
The rest of the main cast, Danielle Harris, Kaj-Erik Eriksen, Michael Eklund and Katharine Isabelle are very strong in their roles, which is, of course to be expected and they help to make the film fun, frightening, and even, occasionally, moving to watch.
See No Evil 2 (2014) *** (out of 4) Surprisenly good sequel to the 2008 film has a group of friend's celebrating a birthday when one of them (Danielle Harris) can't leave work.
What they don't realize is that the dead body of Jacob Goodnight (Kane) has come back to life and he's seeking more victims.SEE NO EVIL was a decent, run-of-the-mill slasher film that was pretty much entertaining due to its incredibly graphic and over-the-top gore/murders.
I really can't think of too many horror films where the characters are doing smart things because if they were the movies would be over fairly quickly with them all getting away and surviving.
For better or for worse, See No Evil 2 follows the old slasher recipe to the letter, and it didn't bore me mainly thanks to the dynamic direction from Jen and Sylvia Soska (who had left me quite impressed with their previous film, the excellent American Mary) and the tricky casting of three "scream queens" whose mere presence elevates the "geek coefficient" of the film, generating some interest in who the "final girl" will be.
As with Halloween II, See No Evil 2 takes place immediately after the events of the first film, with psycho Jacob Goodnight (Glenn Jacobs) being carted to the local morgue, where pathologists Amy (Danielle Harris) and Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) are pulling the night shift.
However, as with Halloween's killer Michael Myers, Goodnight proves to be far from dead, rising from the slab to hack and slash his way through the group of friends who have gathered for Amy's surprise birthday party.Sibling directors Jen and Sylvia Soska have carved a name for themselves in the world of horror through determination, hard work, a bold approach, and a genuine love for the genre.
Watching See No Evil 2, this does appear to be the case, the film definitely lacking the twisted edge of American Mary, but to their credit, the girls still manage to deliver a slick, well-paced movie that proves reasonably entertaining despite the relatively reserved approach (there's sparing splatter and no nudity, despite a more than qualified buxom blonde being amongst the victims) and the derivative nature of the script.Of course, it definitely works to the sisters' advantage that they have American Mary star Katherine Isabelle along for the ride as serial killer obsessed sexpot Tamara, the actress revelling in her her kinky character, providing the film with its most deviant scene (her molestation of the 'dead' serial killer), the sexiest moment (a tempting glimpse of derrière as she straddles Goodnight), and the goriest (she goes out in style with a juicy throat slashing).
A few moments stand out purely out of shock value and absurdity alone, but the rest of hide-and-seek or running in random hallways doesn't provide enough entertainment for the seemingly long duration of the movie.Following the alleged demise of Jacob Goodnight (Kane/Glenn Jacobs), his body is transferred to a local morgue.
A definite no no in my opinion.The rest of the cast isn't much better either, especially considering who some of them are.The cinematography & direction is just as bad also, especially when you notice things like Goodnight's bad eye switching from his left one (the correct one) to his right (and no, it's not the mirror scene), so I guess bad editing & continuity can be added to the list too.There is honestly nothing really going for this film at all and it comes as no surprise that this garbage was shot in only 15 days.
i liked the first part better of see no evil released in 2006 i saw that years back and its quite one of the best film ever made that started Wrestling Legend Kane aka Glenn Jacobs my favorite wrestler of all time.this is a sequel to it Kane returns as Jacob Goodnight he died in the first part but somehow returns to life and starts doing what he does best killing people.main problem with this film is it is set inside a morgue now why didn't these guys disposed the body plus it would be a better intro if he came from outside and these people were trapped inside he is slow here gives them a chance to escape but don't worry they all die in the end with a twist.the movie is filmed in red totally the use of red lights is overdone camera work is terrible hardly any focus on actors and action scenes talking about action it is mess yes the blood was nice but the kills are not impressive at all this sequel was not needed at all it is basically the same thing we all have seen before many times.talk about the performances Kane is as usual doing his WWE style acting the rest cast members are nice but one lady steals the show her name is Katherine Isabelle she is so hilarious here & damn lucky to kiss Kane but gets killed soon in a very limited screen time Katherine gives her best here specially in the scene when she is explaining to her friends how Jacobo goodnight is alive & attacking everyone the whole sequence looks so funny loud & over the top but she nailed the role perfectly without ruining the serious tone & atmosphere.Overall See No Evil 2014 is a wasted effort if you are a fan of Kane or Katherine Isabelle then this is the film for you worth checking out my rating is 4/10..
Like Jason, he comes back to life, wears a mask, is huge and kills kids who are sinners.The setting is the city morgue as Seth (Kaj-Erik Eriksen) and Amy (Danielle Harris) work the graveyard shift on her birthday.
The violence good enough to please even the most jaded horror movie fan and I'm not going to give you a spoiler but just when you think this film is getting cliché' there is a twist that I didn't see coming and if you do then you're doing better than I am..
Finally Glenn Jacobs (Kane) gives an imposing and menacing performance as Jacob Goodnight the killer which works well in this and any slasher movie.All in all "See No Evil 2" is a very good sequel that does lack the imagination of the first one, but the brilliant turns from Danielle Harris and Katherine Isabelle saves it and helps it rise above average.
(8/10)Danielle Harris: Amy birthday girl who chooses to help on at work with all the dead bodies arriving, when he friends throw her a party she is having a good time but when Mr Goodnight makes a surprise appearance she has to run for her life. |
tt0047073 | Hell and High Water | In 1953, renowned French scientist Professor Montel (Victor Francen) goes missing. The authorities believe that he and four other scientists defected behind the Iron Curtain.
Meanwhile, former U.S. Navy USS Bowfin (SS-287) submarine commander Adam Jones (Richard Widmark) arrives in Tokyo after receiving a mysterious package containing $5,000. Jones meets Professor Montel and his colleagues, a group of scientists, businessmen, and statesmen who suspect the Communist Chinese are building a secret atomic base on an island somewhere north of Japan. They must have proof, so Montel offers Jones another $45,000 if he will command an old World War II-era Japanese submarine being overhauled and follow the Chinese freighter Kiang Ching, which has been making suspicious deliveries in that area. Jones reluctantly agrees- providing that the submarine is armed, and that he is also allowed to hire some of his former navy shipmates.
The day before Jones is to conduct a test dive, news arrives that the Kiang Ching has sailed. Despite Jones's protests that the submarine's torpedo tubes have not been inspected yet, and they are therefore too dangerous to use, there is no choice but to start out after the freighter. When Montel boards with his beautiful assistant, Professor Denise Gerard (Bella Darvi), the superstitious crewmen are upset, believing women on a ship are bad luck, but Montel insists she come along.
On the voyage, they are detected by a Chinese submarine. When contacted, the Chinese are not fooled by their explanation that they are on a simple scientific expedition and fire torpedoes at them without warning. Unable to fire back with his own torpedoes, Jones dives to the sea bottom, hoping to hide there; the Chinese follow. After several tense hours of waiting each other out, Jones finally decides to surface. When the other submarine does the same, Jones rams and sinks it.
Jones wants to turn back, but Montel points out that their contract specifies that he won't be paid unless Montel is satisfied. They continue to follow the Kiang Ching to an island. Jones and Montel land to investigate, but Montel is disappointed by the low radioactivity levels he detects. After a firefight with Chinese soldiers, the patrol returns to the submarine with a captive. They learn the location of another island from the prisoner, a pilot named Ho-Sin.
During a storm en route, Montel is injured. Because he is too hurt to go ashore, Montel insists Jones take Denise in his place, since she is the only other person qualified to gather and interpret the data. Denise detects an extremely high level of radioactivity; then she is forced to shoot and kill a Chinese soldier who stumbles upon her.
Back aboard the submarine, Jones is worried because he recognized an American B-29 bomber sitting on an airstrip. Needing more information, they trick it out of Ho-Sin by putting the ship's cook Chin Lee (Wong Artarne), dressed in a Chinese uniform and beaten by Jones at Chin Lee's insistence, into the same room. Fooled, the captive reveals that the plane is going to drop an atomic bomb on either Korea or Manchuria the next day, with the blame placed on the United States, but Chin Lee slips up and Ho-Sin beats him to death before Jones can intervene.
Jones decides to go ashore and watch for the bomber's takeoff. When he signals, the submarine will surface and try to shoot it down. However, Montel sneaks onto the island in his place. When Jones scolds Denise for not stopping the old man, she tearfully reveals that Montel is her father. The plane is shot down, but it crashes on the island, detonating the atomic bomb and killing Montel. Jones recalls that Montel had said earlier that "Each man has his own reason for living and his own price for dying." | suspenseful, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0113737 | Magic in the Water | Ashley Black (Sarah Wayne) is depressed because her father Jack (Mark Harmon) spends all his time focusing on his job instead of her and her older brother Joshua (Joshua Jackson). She constantly records his radio show and listens to it. One day, her father takes them to a remote Canadian lake that was popular with tourists due to a myth about an aquatic monster named Orky. They rented a cabin next to an elderly First Nations man who uses a wheelchair. Jack meets a local psychiatrist named Wanda (Harley Jane Kozak) who is trying to aid some local men who claim that they have been possessed by Orky. When Ashley runs away, Jack also has the same experience whilst looking for her. As a result, he becomes more devoted to his children.
Ashley and Joshua find out that the reason that Orky is possessing people is to try and tell them that he is dying because a businessman is dumping toxic waste into the lake. Ashley and Joshua help the old man in the cabin next to theirs to find a totem pole in the woods. With the help of Hiro (Willie Nark-Orn), the son of some Japanese monster seekers, they expose the businessman's illegal dumping. Orky, however, still dies from the poisonous waste. The old man summons a lighting bolt which enters a hole in the cave where Orky lives. Ashley and Hiro stay on the dock overnight and leave some cookies out. When she realizes that the cookies have been eaten Ashley screams with joy which suggests that Orky is still alive, or reincarnated. | stupid | train | wikipedia | Do You Believe In Magic?.
What a great movie!Saw this on HBO recently (11-15-2001) for the second time and it was wonderful.
While not quite as good as "The Boy Who Could Fly", which is in a special class all it's own, I rank this movie right up there.Sarah Wayne as Ashley Black especially stole our hearts.
It is a shame that this is the only movie she has ever done according to IMDB's records.
This little girl holds quite a bit of the movie on her own merit.
Her smile captivated our entire family; her acting was excellent.This is a decent, well centered story concerning a family at loss and their rediscovery of themselves in the community they are visiting to "get away".
Through the magical help of a rather large friend, the local resident Indian shaman and local lore, miracles can happen.A reflective, spirited movie ultimately about love and caring about others that lifts the heart and spirit of anybody who watches.Well worth anybodies time.
Two thumbs way up!.
Great Movie and a very Happy Memory.
One evening in 1995 I was bowling with some friends.
The DJ announced that there was a red head-pin being shifted around to all of the lanes.When the red head-pin comes to your lane and you bowl a strike, then you win something.
As luck would have it, the red head-pin came my way and I bowled the perfect strike.
The prize was two movie tickets for a sneak showing of Magic in TheWater.
I was in for such a treat and didn't even know it yet.
The movie itself was great, it really brings out the kid in all of us.
It's just good clean fun for the whole family.
Then there was an unexpected twist.
Just as the end credits started rolling, two figures emerged on the stage just in front of the screen.
Rick Stevenson and Sarah Wayne introduced themselves to everyone and hung out for a while afterward at the theater.
That was really fun, My Mom got to talking to Sarah's mom and Sarah and I got to talking.
It was really a fun experience and one that I'll never forget.
By the way Sarah, thanks for the Oreos!
Rick Stevenson was great too, he did a good job of putting together a movie on a less than Steven Spielberg-sized budget.
He also seemed to really enjoy making movies.
I still to this day own an autographed movie poster (Autographed by Rick & Sarah).
Thanks to both of you for the opportunity and for a really great memory.
I give this one 11 on a scale of 1-10..
magical.
This is a feel-good film which is funny as well as moving.
Mark Harmon, a radio psychologist takes his children on holiday to British Columbia.
The scenery is stunning throughout.
The child actors actually seemed like nice kids unlike most child actors these days.
Mark Harmon copes with changing personalities very well.
The children are excellent.
The whole film though predictable from the start,made me smile and laugh.
It's a good way to unwind at the end of the day.
It was worth watching if only for the policewoman on the door step!
And Orky of course, in his various forms!.
Wonderful movie!.
I saw this on showtime this AM & I loved it!
Mark Harmon is adorable in this and the children are delightful.
I cant think of anything bad about this movie.
Ignore any negative comments u happen to read.
Any one who doesn't enjoy this movie is just too picky, cynical or thinks they are a movie critic.
Its the story of a father, caught up in his work, takes his children on a trip that ends up being a magical experience for all!
Great for all members of the family!
I was quite taken with the scenery and where it was filmed!
Beautiful!
If u missed this movie the first time, don't hesitate to enjoy this movie with your family!
I cant wait to purchase this movie for my family movie library!
Without giving too much away, in a way, the movie reminds me of the song Puff the Magic Dragon!.
The Power of Kindness.
I enjoyed this movie, and still give it an 8, even though I wish one important aspect of the story had not been omitted: That of the clean-up of the hazardous waste.
Without this facet addressed, Orky's survival is dubious.
It is not a deal-breaker for me, but I am wondering why this important scene or dialogue was ignored.I particularly liked the Native American mythology that was in the movie.
The comments by Uncle Kipper about man being able to turn to animal and vice-versa established some important context to Orky and the communication and message it compelled some humans to take heed of.We never did find out why Orky ripped the arms off of the two "gentlemen".
Perhaps the Japanese submergible team could have played a larger part in the movie, too.
Mark Harmon did a good job characterizing the transformation that he experienced.
The ending was an excellent twist, and one that I did not forecast.
The scenes of group therapy were good.Although I wish we had witnessed the waste clean up, I will not detract a star for that..
When a working dad takes his two kids Josh, and Ashley with him, they discover a water monster is not there to scare tourist, they find out it is very nice.
This was a cool movie, and the acting was wonderful!
This is a family movie that every one will enjoy.
I saw it on the Fox Family Channel.The two kids, Joshua and Ashley and this chinese boy find a sea monster that everyone thinks its there to sare off tourist, but acually never scares them off.
Ashley sees it's dieing and wants to save it.Like i said it's a wonderful movie that the whole family will enjoy!.
water world.
Rick Stevenson's "Magic in the Water" is the usual sort of family movie that they crank out, although it is worth seeing.
I wouldn't recommend the movie as your first choice, but if there's nothing else it's definitely worth checking out.
My favorite parts were actually the "digging to China" scenes; looking back on it, those scenes remind me of "God's Little Acre".So, the movie is OK to check out.
Stevenson now has a company called Official Best of Fest, that distributes film festival movies that most people would otherwise never get a chance to see.
Interesting concept.Yeah, I'm a sexy guy....
A Coming of Age Family Fantasy Drama.
4 March 2013.
Mark Harmon of television's NCIS, Joshua Jackson of television's sci-fi Fringe in one of his first performing roles, and Sarah Wayne who won best supporting young actress at the Young Artist Awards and her only performing role offer up this fantasy family drama feature film.
The underlying theme of a child trying to convince others of the existence of something unbelievable has been presented a number of times and in this movie, the presentation is solid.
Unlike the occult Dark Water (2005), this fantasy movie isn't as emotionally layered or seriously scary but instead is more in line with a juvenile audience, closer to Pete's Dragon (1977).
Yet Magic in the Water actually shines in comparison to Pete's Dragon which suffers from the weak special effects technology of time and avoidance of its over the top slapstick comedy which may be a result of its being more for young children than the older children like the coming of age classic Fly Away Home (1996) based on the true story of a girl who helps to fly migrating geese to their winter home.
Magic in the Water takes from the minimalist use of the "monster" as in Alien (1979) and instead uses the performance of the actors themselves as the focus on the movie.This movie doesn't quite have nor does it need the definitive ending of the adult fantasy K-Pax (2001) nor the comedic undertone of Lake Placid (1999) to succeed.
While more restrained by Loch Ness (1996) with its use of special effects and the focus on the "monster" which allows this movie to retain its intellectual and emotional superiority, it doesn't have that consistent depth of Super 8 (2011) or the charm of ET (1982) nor the intense substance of Whale Rider (2002) or the emotive haunting mystery as Wave Length (1983).
While The Water Horse (2007) and is more about the bonding between a boy and a sea creature and Loch Ness (1996) is more about the more deliberate search for a monster creature and the coming of age of the man played by Ted Danson who is instructed to disprove its existence, Magic in the Water has a stronger environmental message and a fascinating mental health edge and father-daughter, family focus that is meaningfully satisfying..
You know the routine by now....
MAGIC IN THE WATER is par for the course for an American kid's fantasy film.
It features a couple of bratty children and their humble father who become involved with a mysterious lake said to be inhabited by an ancient creature.
The usual gamut of stereotyped characters are involved, from the Native American shaman to the eager-to-please Japanese folk and the by rote human villains.This is neither the best nor the worst of its type, merely a humdrum outing designed for kids and kids alone.
The stylistic similarities to FREE WILLY are more than obvious, but the central creation is kept off screen for the most part so it all becomes a little dull.
The special effects are pretty good for the most part, though.
The less-than-stellar cast includes Mark Harmon (TUAREG: THE DESERT WARRIOR) and future star Joshua Jackson (of DAWSON'S CREEK fame)..
Children deserve better.
I seldom worry too much about wasting three dollars, but I will always regret the time and the three dollars I wasted seeing this in a theater years ago.The actors must have had some major bills to pay to accept their roles in this junk.
The story is as hackneyed and cliched as any I have seen anywhere.
Children definitely deserve better than this.
Even THE MIGHTY KONG was better than this!.
Childhood Memory.
This movie came out when I was 5 years old.
I remember because my dad took me to go see it on our father/daughter date.
Anyway, for years now I have been trying to tell people (and they all thought i was crazy and tried convincing me that it didn't exist)about this movie and I couldn't remember the name of it or what it was really about I tried google and everything I could think of but the only things I remembered was there was a loch ness monster that ate Oreo and something about a hole to china.
After 18 years of not knowing what to search for I finally found on the answer question thing yahoo has that there was a movie Magic in the water and there was a little girl that ate Oreo.
after googling I had a friend order it for me online and we got it the other day and just watched it with my dad (and the rest of the family including my husband that made fun the whole time lol).
But after all these years I finally own it and I'll cherish it forever.
Great movie that I will always recommend to families!!.
About 3 fries short of a Happy Meal..
I decided to stay in British Columbia and watch another Lock Ness movie.
This time the star is a little girl Sarah Wayne, in her only film.
She was absolutely adorable, and made the experience pleasant.I wish I could say the same for Mark Harmon, but he just didn't do it.
It's another story of a dad who is "forced" to spend some time with his two children (the other is BC native Joshua Jackson from "Dawson's Creek') and leaves them to find their own entertainment while he writes a book.His daughter discovers the magic in the lake and he becomes infected, causing him to forget the book and do some bonding.They manage to save the creature from the evil toxic waste dumpers with a little help from and old Indian played by Frank 'Grey Wolf' Salsedo..
Glug Glug Glug.
You know, I can't always pinpoint in a bad movie the precise moment that it loses me but there was in the case of 'Magic in the Water'.
The scene has a little girl named Ashley who is positive that a Loc Ness-type creature lives in the lake leaves some Oreo cookies on the edge of the dock.
Upon her return she discovers that the white stuff has been licked out and the rest of the cookie remain, dry as a bone.
I didn't get up and leave the movie but I did suddenly have an urge to go to the can.There are half a dozen moments like that in 'Magic in the Water' an inexplicable E.T. wannabe that follows every family movie cliché like they were the sacred laws of the land.
The story involves a dad who is constantly attached to his cell phone and his two kids Joshua and Ashley who move to the lake where a fabled creature named Orky is said to be living.
Yes his named is Orky and when your laughter has subsided you may read further.All the standard characters are here: The busy non-believing dad (Mark Harmon), the wise old man in this case and Indian named Ben; the meanies who want to use Okry's (Orky *snicker*) lake as a chemical waste dump.'Magic in the Water' is the bi-product of two better movies: 'E.T.' and 'Free Willy' which this movie steals from at will and rather shamelessly.
Oh and the Oreo Cookie company of course. |
tt0057999 | Dear Heart | Evie Jackson (Geraldine Page) is a middle-aged, single postmaster from Ohio who is attending a postmasters' convention at a New York City hotel. Outgoing, honest, and somewhat tactless, she has many friends but pines for a romantic relationship, one that will be more meaningful than the flings she has had with married conventioneers in previous years. She uses various means to make herself feel less lonely and more important, such as sending herself a welcome message and having herself paged in the hotel lobby.
Harry Mork (Glenn Ford) is a womanizing former traveling salesman for a greeting card company, who now wishes to settle down. Harry has accepted a promotion to an office job in New York City, and has gotten engaged to Phyllis (Angela Lansbury), a middle-aged widowed housewife from Altoona, Pennsylvania. Harry is staying alone in the same hotel as Evie while he starts his new job and finds an apartment, where Phyllis, who is still back in Altoona, will later join him. While Harry is checking in, Phyllis's son Patrick (Michael Anderson, Jr.) suddenly arrives, seeking to bond with his new father. Harry is surprised to find that Patrick is not the young boy he had expected based on a photograph, but instead is an 18-year-old bohemian with a beard (which, it is later revealed, got him expelled from school). Harry is mildly annoyed by Patrick's unexpected arrival and embarrassed by his casual attitude towards women, sex and nudity, particularly after Patrick moves into Harry's hotel room with his purportedly platonic female friend, Émile Zola Bernkrand (Joanna Crawford).
Evie meets Harry when they are forced to share a dinner table in the crowded hotel restaurant, but Harry is more interested in buxom blonde hotel shop clerk June Loveland (Barbara Nichols) than he is in the overly friendly Evie, and quickly makes an excuse to leave for a tryst with June. Returning to the hotel, Harry meets Evie again in the lobby, where she is upset after escaping from the unwanted sexual advances of a strange man outside her room. Evie and Harry end up enjoying each other's company over drinks in the courtyard of an Italian restaurant, and make a date for the next morning. However, the next morning Patrick shows up again wanting to spend the day with Harry, so Harry breaks his date with Evie to go look at apartments with Patrick and Zola. A disappointed Evie spends the day with a trio of older spinster postmasters, but cheers up when Harry returns, offering to take her to dinner and show her the apartment he rented in Greenwich Village.
Evie optimistically thinks Harry is planning to reveal that the apartment is intended for the two of them to occupy, and is crushed when she realizes that Harry is really planning to live there with his soon-to-be wife, Phyllis. Harry takes Evie back to the hotel and impulsively kisses her, but Phyllis unexpectedly arrives from Altoona. So Harry goes to stay with her in the hotel across the street, while Evie sadly arranges to return to Ohio the next day. But Harry soon discovers that Phyllis does not want to live a happy domestic life with him in the old-fashioned apartment he rented. Instead she wants to live in modern hotels with room service, where she won't have to cook or clean, and to sleep in separate beds. She also wants Harry to be a father figure to Patrick so she won't have to deal with him and his teenage problems. Harry realizes that he truly loves Evie, and that Patrick and Phyllis need to spend more time with each other rather than with him. He breaks off his engagement and happily reunites with Evie at the busy train station just before she would have returned home. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0092072 | Terror at Tenkiller | In rural Oklahoma, under the cover of night, a marina worker named Tor murders Denise, a local waitress, by slitting her throat, then dumps her body in Lake Tenkiller.
The next day, a pair of co-eds, Leslie and Janna, head to Janna's summer home near Lake Tenkiller for summer break, and to get away from Leslie's abusive fiancé, Josh. At the lake, the two get summer jobs at the diner where Denise worked during previous summers. They meet Tor, who takes an instant liking to Leslie. Shortly after Leslie and Janna's arrival, Tor stabs another waitress, Debbie, to death in a hot tub. He also knifes and dismembers his lecherous boss, Preacher, outside of Janna's place, after catching him spying on the women. After a while, both Leslie and Janna grow to trust and like Tor and offer him to come to their cabin for a beer. By this time, the two women have received threatening voicemails on their cabin's phone and assume it's Josh. They pay little mind to it and continue life as usual. Later on, Janna goes out to tan on the dock while Leslie is working the closing shift alone at the diner. Tor visits Janna and Leslie's cabin for a beer and murders Janna by stabbing her in the back as she's washing her hair. Meanwhile, Josh is looking at maps, making phone calls, and chain smoking presumably trying to locate Leslie.
When Leslie returns home from work, she finds Janna's body and believes that it was Josh who killed her. Tor consoles Leslie and soon plays a harmonica and admits that he was the one who killed Janna because he believed that she was a corrupting influence on Leslie. Tor then begins to tell her how much he loves her. Leslie runs off into the wilderness after slashing him across the face with a car key while he professes his love for her. While chasing Leslie, Tor hears Josh's car pull up, and murders him by slashing his throat, leaving his corpse propped up in a room for Leslie to find when she returns to the house. Knocking Leslie out when she finds Josh's body, Tor places her in his boat and starts rowing across the lake, but is knocked overboard and seemingly drowns when Leslie awakens and swims to shore. Narration by Leslie comments that the police were never able to discern who her attacker really was or where he came from. In the last shot of the film, Tor is shown leaping out of the water and the image freezes as the credits roll. | murder | train | wikipedia | One of the worst films EVER made!.
Tere is truly not one redeemable aspect of this film, despite it's distinctive 80's feel.
The acting is dull and the script is even duller.You wait forever for anything to happen and then nothing really does.
You can make a better movie at your home with an old VHS-C cam.It plays out like a grainy, 80's Lifetime drama movie with barely a conflict or one good use of dialog.
for a movie that has so much dialog, it would be nice f it was actually decent.
The actresses look about 45 and are about as stilted as can be.The final 20 minutes bring some very small rays of cheesy light to the proceedings, but very little.
Even the finale plays out flat as a pancake, and don't forget the awful final voice over from the actress at the end before...oh, well, you'll be able to predict what happens anyway..
Slasher fans, avoid it!.
The most interesting thing about this film was the VHS cover - a girl with huge breasts in a swamp.
Terror at Tenkiller started off looking promising, with the right mood for a slasher film and cool 80's synth music.
It even had plenty of breast shots, in fact there was loads of flesh on display.
But it was just soooooo boring!
It played out like a soap opera rather than a slasher film, and I had to listen to endless talking between the two girls about how one of them should leave her boyfriend and stand up for herself...etc.
The gore is virtually non-existent and what we do get is done very poorly.
When one of the girls is killed, we see the knife puncture her skin, then bizarrely the rest of the stabbing isn't even shown.
The pace is as slow as a tortoise and it doesn't take long before you just want the film to end.
Slasher fans should stay away.
I know what I'm talking about as I've seen loads of slashers and this one sadly falls into the "bore-fest" category.
Watch "The Forest" or "Don't Go In The Woods" instead - those films at least have some entertainment value..
This movie was not my favorite, but I did enjoy watching it.
The plot in the movie was like any normal situation when there is a girl (I forgot the names) that is having difficulty with her boyfriend and her best friend asks her to spend some time with her camping.
This reminds me of "Friday the 13th" when all the sudden there is a killer at large and things start to happen to people.
I felt sorry for what happened to the girls friend because her friend was the strong hold in the movie that brought it up and kept it interesting.
Her friend the girl that had the problems just seemed like this weak airhead that couldn't make up her mind what she wanted to do, should she follow her best friends advice and get away from the creep or should she just kiss and forgive each time her boyfriend acted like a jerk.
I wanted to see her be stronger in this movie.
The jerk for a boyfriend suddenly finds the girl and later on during the movie he deserves what he gets.
he should have just left her alone for awhile.
The killings were fake and senseless but what do you expect with a low-budget movie like this one.
It wasn't the greatest, but I at least give it a 5..
a killer is loose at a beautiful lake in the summer..
This is a low-budget slasher flick, hardly worth watching except for the splendid performance from co-star Dale Buckmaster.
Outside his brief acting career, Buckmaster is a world-famous accounting professor as well as an excellent amateur golfer.
He steals the show from the lead actors with his amazing portrait of a low-life sleaze-ball who gets what he deserves in the end -- a grizzly death.
I suspect his accounting students cheered at his demise!
But the rest of the cast is just awful.
The young girls and the crazy killer.
I don't want to spoil the ending, but it is no surprise to learn that there is a killer loose in this summer community besides the lake.
Too bad Buckmaster didn't get a sex scene with the young honeys.
Instead, they killed him off.
Our loss.
Now that would have been something to behold!.
EXTREMELY boring....
This has to be one of the most boring slashers I have ever seen.
Nothing happens...
and when it does it's so slow and totally without enthusiasm, from the makers side.
We have seen the story a 100 times, the acting is so bad it's not even funny, there's hardly any effects and the kills are uninspired.
Even Oasis of the Zombies is more "fun" to watch than this one...
and THAT says a LOT about Terror at Tenkiller!
Then there's that music...
it's so flat and (surprise, surprise) boring.
It takes the suspense out of any situation.
Not good...I would not recommend this flick to my worst enemy.
Watch paint dry instead...
that's a kick in the head, compared to this c***!.
Completely without suspense.
There's no mystery or suspense in this film at all, the characters are utterly vapid, and Ye Gods!
but the music has to be the worst I have EVER heard in a film.
The guy who is somehow supposed to come off as an attractive psycho is ugly as sin...It's hard to believe this movie was ever even released in VHS.
It seems as though it may have been scriptless.
I highly suggest watching the Rifftrax version of this, if you want to see it at all - it's the only way it will be tolerable.
Very, very cheesy ending, too.
(Note: The above reviewer who calls the female lead 'plump' must be hallucinating - she is just another anorexic looking 80's chick!).
And the scene dies of neglect..
Rifftrax Review: 9 out of 10: Bad, slow films where nothing happens have stumped the boys before.
(The Beast of Yucca Flats, Robot Monster) but they really bring their A-game here.
The riffing is on point and upbeat.
They really seem to be enjoying themselves.
They perform a miracle and make Terror at Tenkiller actually watchable.Terror at Tenkiller: 1 out of 10: A woman on the run from her controlling boyfriend hides out in a cabin with a friend.
But local girls are disappearing and they could be next.The Good: Well it made for a surprisingly well done Rifftrax track.
Also, it gave an acting start to Michael Shamus Wiles who went on to become a solid working actor (He, like everyone else, is awful in this film.) The Bad: Good lord where to start.
Do you like to watch woman talk on the phone?
Do like endless discussions about nothing?
How about panning shots of an unremarkable lake?
Scenes that go on a least a minute after they were supposed to?There is no mystery to who the killer is.
The killer is one of the five characters in the movie.
He has no motivation, no one-liners, no hockey mask or hook arm.
Just a bro with a few screws loose.
There is also no terror, suspense, or horror to be found.
Well except for the realization that there are forty minutes to go and the characters are taking yet another nap.
The Ugly: Why do we watch slasher films?
Is it to see two women discuss their relationship problems in front of wood paneling?
Or is it for the ye olde sex and violence.
Well, I hope you're a fan of the former.
The only nudity is an accidental flash from lead Stacy Logan clearly caused by the full-screen transfer and the violence is both bloodless and incompetent.
In Conclusion: I thought The Final Terror was the nadir of eighties slasher films but Terror at Tenkiller is in a whole other category.
It is like one of those seventies search for Bigfoot films where they spend seventy minutes in a swamp and never actually find Bigfoot..
Tedium at Tenkiller.
I watched Terror at Tenkiller yesterday and made it through the whole flick.
I had seen it before years ago, but couldn't remember a thing about it.
Needless to say, it's pretty forgettable.
The main female character is a bit on the plump side, and she quickly shows off her assets by taking a shower after a swim (Too bad the lighting is pretty dismal and she's the kinda girl that wears panties under her swimsuit) Needless to say the shot of her getting out of the pool confirms that this chick has got some junk in the trunk.
A rare occurrence in most movies who's producers seem to be convinced all men enjoy looking at anorexic women with boob-jobs.
At this point I still had high hopes.Once again the have an example of characters that are supposed to be in school, and still under their parents wing, but look to be pushing or over 30.
The leads girlfriend in the flick looks about 31 (although I must admit she keeps in shape as she spends ample time in a bikini) Anywho, the acting is pretty stiff, but not terrible (Except for maybe Thor), that's the best I can say about the rest of the movie.The quality of the picture is pretty dismal throughout, with the ending being almost unwatchable because it was filmed outside in the dark, the few effects are for the most part non-effective (except one involving poor ol Preacher).
The story itself make no sense, and the scares are literally non-existent in spite of several attempt to try and produce a jolt.
Attempts at suspense fall flat.
There is big hair though and to further confirm the fact this flick was made in the 80's, has a soundtrack that was almost surely made entirely on one of those big ass sampler keyboards you used to play around with that were on display when you first walked into Sears circa 1984..
80's American trash at its finest.
I love good BAD movies and it don't get much better than this 80's gem.
Shot in Oklahoma in the mid 1980's everything about this flick is a clusterF...and I love it.
The overacting and super dumb characters is something I could watch and be entertained with for about 3 more hours than this just over an hour film.
From the cover you'd think this baby was filled with action and suspense, wrong, its light on kill scenes and filled with either boring or brilliant scenes depending on how yer looking at this picture.
Bottom line here is, this is a funny riot.
Its a nice escape back to the 80's when straight to video horror films were all the rage...
and even though its on DVD the transfer looks like it was taken directly from a VHS master, so stick some black tape over the DVD player display and its like you just popped this baby out of the big box into the VCR..
Still good fun....
....only cuz I once lived around where it was filmed.
I went to the university you see in the beginning.
After watching it one evening...my friends and I sat out on a day of finding where it was filmed.
It was not filmed at Lake Tenkiller.
Anyway...on to the film..It was bad....but not *that* bad.
Like someone said before, I have seen worse.
I consider myself a horror movie nut, and this is as cheesy as most of the other films to come out of the 80s.I don't know if I'd recommend this movie to anyone outside of Oklahoma...but I do recommend it to my friends who have lived or live in the Tahlequah area...
Not the greatest, but there is worse....
This movie was pretty shoddily made and didn't have such great acting.
The legend behind the actual lake was somewhat original but didn't leave me with that feeling, y'know?
The characters which should've been main were developed, though, and there was a slight bit of suspense in the air.
The ending was lame but the rest of the movie more than made up for it.
It was extremely boring to watch some certain things and the fact that the girl had been a swimmer...
gee, what a coincidence.
The last chase in a lake!
Wow!
This gets a five for some certain scenes (one of which contain a mini hacksaw and some guy's arm...).
Mostly a lot of talk....
And I mean that literally!
Jana and Leslie decide to head up to Jana's father's cabin in order to get Leslie away from her extremely possessive jerk of a boyfriend.
Mysterious murders begin plaguing the town, and Leslie and Jana become the next targets!
As good as that may sound, TERROR AT TENKILLER has one major problem - It's way too talky!
Not a lot really happens until the final act when Leslie faces off with the killer.The acting is pretty atrocious, and borders on bad soap opera acting (Port Charles, anyone?) Also, there is a scene with Jana when she is changing clothes that shows a different actress in her spot with bigger boobs doing the nude scene!
I'm not kidding.
Ed Wood would've been proud.Despite everything I just mentioned, TERROR AT TENKILLER still retains some 80s trash charm.
It's good for one watch, but that's it.
A true cure for insomniacs everywhere..
Objectively terrible, but it just has a good nostalgic feel to it..
I saw this movie a very long time ago, maybe 1988-1990 when I was pretty young and didn't think it was terrible since at that point I also thought that NES had great realistic graphics and comic book characters stay dead.
Recently though I tumbled on the Rifftrax version of the film and I thoroughly enjoyed the treatment they gave the movie.
I also got a wave of nostalgia and loss as I viewed the film since it now seems otherworldly.
It brought me back to the time when the majority of families had the time and money to travel during the summer or have a lake cabin or family retreat or spend time at a lodge to escape the hustle and bustle.
Granted I didn't have the same hangups as people in the film had to deal with being unceremoniously murdered but hey, most people who didn't live near Tenkiller or Crytal Lake didn't really have to worry too much about that.
Sure the movie was boring, and was badly made even for straight to video standards but despite all that I still enjoy watching it from time to time.
I also find myself perusing websites dealing with cabin rentals.
Terror at Tenkiller really did make me want to head out to a nice cabin in the woods near a lake.
No other slasher has made me dwell on that..
Dull as dishwater slasher clunker.
Loaded with lots of tedious talk, plodding along at a glacial pace that's slower than a snail on downers, and utterly bereft of any suspense or spooky atmosphere, this excruciatingly drab and uneventful slice'n'dice dud tells the decidedly less than riveting and stirring story of mousy Leslie (busty knockout Stacey Logan) and her much more feisty gal pal Janna (slim and attractive Michele Merchant, who at least brings some zing to her part), a pair of college coeds who go on vacation at a remote cabin in the woods next to a lake.
Things go terribly awry when a dangerous maniac shows up and starts bumping folks off.
Writer Claudia Meyer and director Ken Meyer totally fumble the ball by strictly adhering to the old adage that "talk is cheap": There are way too many lengthy scenes of folks yakking up an agonizingly boring storm in between the infrequent and flatly staged murder set pieces which to make matters worse deliver precious little in the way of either thrills or gore.
The murky and pedestrian cinematography, a frustratingly inconclusive "it ain't over yet!" sequel set-up non-ending, and the droning synthesizer score add further abject insult to already appalling injury.
On the plus side, the two female leads do look mighty tasty in bathing suits and the rustic lakeside scenery likewise looks pretty.
A real snorefest..
First-Ever Wellness Slasher.
Student Leslie escapes from her abusive boyfriend to spent her summer vacation in a cabin at Lake Tenkiller with her best friend Janna.
Upon arrival Leslie is immediately drawn into the relaxing environment with a little help from Janna, who constantly reminds Leslie to take it easy.
In between napping, resting and sleeping in late both girls find the time to flirt with mystery hunk Tor who appears to show interest in Leslie.
When threatening phone calls interrupt the girls dreamy vacation things turn from sweet to sour: a killer is on the loose and soon enough the two Students are in mortal danger.
Cheesy but charming mid-80s direct-to-video Z-grade slow burning slasher that is impossible to hate.
Dumb but sympathetic characters, soothing Casio soundtrack, brief nudity and gore, one nightmare and one hell of an ending.
Grab some popcorn and enjoy the ride, because Terror at Tenkiller will be the highlight of your bad movie night.
I'll promise. |
tt0960770 | Holding Trevor | Young, friendly, and intelligent, Trevor Holden (Brent Gorski) is in a stalemate. Entangled in an unhealthy relationship with Darrell (Christopher Wyllie), a seductive but self-destructive heroin addict, and trapped at a low-paying job, Trevor finds scant comfort in Los Angeles' vapid party scene, where conversation rarely rises above inquiries like "So, are you an actor?" Worse still, he and his two best friends - roommate Andie (Melissa Searing) and singer Jake (Jay Brannan) - are being pulled apart by boredom and discontent. At the hospital for his boyfriend's latest overdose, Trevor finds a potential new beginning in Ephram (Eli Kranski), a medical intern with ambition, a warm demeanor and strikingly good looks. After they spend a romantic evening together, Trevor seems poised to make some changes. He begins by ending his relationship with Darrell and then strives to reconnect with Andie and Jake. But what should be a joyous event - a party celebrating a negative HIV test - results in Andie secretly discovering she is HIV positive because of a drunken hookup. Later on, Trevor gets into a fight with Darrell at the party, which is overheard by the guests and causes a rift between Trevor and Ephram. Trevor is devastated by the tragic death of Darrell after an overdose. Ephram informs Trevor of Darrell's death and seeks to comfort him in the aftermath. After being offered a job in New York City, Ephram confesses his love for Trevor and suggests he abandon his life in Los Angeles and come live with him. Andie, reeling from her frightening revelation, seeks comfort in Trevor and pleads with him to not leave. Trevor is torn between pursuing the love of his life or staying to assist a dear friend in need. Trevor remains committed to bettering his life, but realizes that some people are too precious to abandon. | comedy, queer | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0337876 | Birth | Sean and Anna (Nicole Kidman) are a married couple living in New York City. While scenes of Central Park are shown on screen, Sean is heard lecturing to an unseen audience, explaining that he does not believe in reincarnation. After the lecture he goes jogging, collapses, and dies. Ten years later, Anna has accepted a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Joseph (Danny Huston).
When Clifford (Peter Stormare), Sean's brother, arrives at Anna's engagement party, his wife Clara (Anne Heche) excuses herself, saying she forgot to wrap Anna's gift. Instead, she buys a replacement after hurriedly burying the original gift while a young boy (Cameron Bright) secretly looks on.
At a party for Anna's mother (Lauren Bacall) the boy, who has followed Clara, claims to be Anna's deceased husband, Sean, and warns her not to marry Joseph. At first Anna dismisses the boy's claim. When Anna receives a letter from him the next day warning her not to marry Joseph she realizes the boy truly believes he is her reincarnated husband.
That night Anna and Joseph discuss the letter. Since the building watchman seems to know the boy and that his name is Sean, Joseph calls to get more information. When Sean answers the phone, Joseph rushes downstairs to confront him. He takes him to Sean's father (Ted Levine) and the three of them order Sean to leave Anna alone. Sean refuses to recant his story and Anna watches Sean collapse in his father's arms.
Sean leaves a message on Anna's answering machine, which her mother overhears. That day at lunch, Anna's mother mentions that Sean wants to meet Anna in the park and that she will know whereabouts. Anna hurries to Central Park and finds Sean waiting in the spot where her husband died. He offers to submit to questioning.
Anna's brother-in-law Bob (Arliss Howard), a doctor, talks to Sean, recording his responses on tape. Sean answers all the questions, even giving intimate details of Anna and Sean's sex life. Sean is brought to Anna's by his mother (Cara Seymour) and he is able to identify parts of the apartment. Everyone except Anna remains doubtful. Anna's family become worried, particularly her sister Laura (Alison Elliott), who treats Sean with contempt.
When Anna misses an appointment with her fiancé to spend time with Sean, Joseph begins feeling worried, not merely about the boy but about Anna's odd behavior. His jealousy is made plain when he physically attacks Sean. When Sean runs out, Anna follows him and Sean kisses her on the lips.
Anna seems convinced by the boy's story and asks Clara and Clifford to meet him. Clara encounters Sean at the door and asks him to visit her later. When he visits he brings a backpack full of Anna's love letters to Sean. This package was Clara's spiteful engagement gift, which the boy had secretly unearthed and read the night of the party. We learn that Clara had been Sean's lover before his death, and that he gave the letters to her unopened as proof of his love. Clara had been jealous that Sean would not leave Anna, but at the last moment abandoned her plan to give Anna the letters. When Clara points out to Sean that if he were really a reincarnation he would have come to her first, Sean runs out, confused.
When Anna finds Sean, she suggests they run away and marry when he is of legal age. He tells Anna that since he loves her he can not be the reincarnated Sean.
Anna apologizes to Joseph, and they are married at the beach. Sean writes a long letter apologizing to Anna, wondering why he had the delusion of being her husband. Anna wades into the sea in anguish after the ceremony. Joseph gradually pulls her back to the shore and whispers into her ear. | mystery, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0072400 | Where Have All the People Gone | On a camping trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains in central California, a father (Peter Graves) and his two teenage children are exploring a cave when they experience an earthquake. After emerging, they hear from a ranch hand who was outside that there was a bright solar flash prior to the earthquake. He soon falls ill and dies, whereupon his body turns to a powdery substance. As the family comes down from the mountain to the nearest town, they discover that everyone has turned to the powdery substance inside their clothing, and there are few survivors.
Most, out of fear and survival, are out for themselves, but as they try to make their way home to Malibu (where the mother had returned earlier from the camping trip), they find two people that need their help, as well as a man who invites them to be neighbors.
They face dangers ranging from wild dogs, who seem to have been driven mad from the solar flare, to a gunman who steals their car. They rescue a woman (Verna Bloom), and later a young boy whose family was killed by two men who stole their car. Besides the physical journey, they struggle to overcome the emotional trauma of the events.
They find their way home and find a note left for them by the mother. They are informed that a virus starting after the solar flare is responsible for most of the deaths, and that some people have a genetic resistance. Jenny almost commits suicide by attempting to drown herself into the ocean waves, until she is rescued. After initial grief, they later continue with a hopeful outlook, by moving into Northern California. | cult | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0103268 | The Willies | === Prologue ("Camping Out") ===
Two brothers, Kyle and Josh, and their cousin, Michael (Sean Astin), gather around a campfire and decide to tell scary stories to one another, each one of which they claim to be absolutely true (in the style of urban legends). In the first ten minutes of the film (even before the opening credits), they tell a series of brief stories:
"Tennessee Frickasee" - A woman at a fast food restaurant finds a rat in her fried chicken.
"Haunted Estate" - An old man (Bill Erwin) dies of a heart attack after experiencing the terrors of an amusement park's horror ride.
"Poodle Souffle" - An old woman puts her toy poodle in the microwave to dry off (with predictable results).
At this point, Michael says he knows a story they haven't heard of yet (Kyle asks if it's about when his friends "found the pirate ship in that old cave," a reference to Astin's earlier film The Goonies), and promises that this story will give them the willies.
=== "Bad Apples" ===
A young boy named Danny struggles at his school with bullies and an overbearing, impatient teacher (Kathleen Freeman). The only one who shows him any sympathy is the school custodian, Mr. Jenkins (James Karen). While on duty, Mr. Jenkins disappears in the bathroom, and Danny enters later to find Mr. Jenkins' body with a detached head, and a humanoid monster lurking in the stall. Danny tells his teacher, who goes into the bathroom to investigate, only to be killed by the monster. Danny lures the bullies into the bathroom, and they too are killed. It is soon revealed that Mr. Jenkins was the monster all the time, with his body being a disguise.
Mr. Jenkins moves to another school, where it is revealed that he is still targeting bullies.
=== Interlude ===
Michael explain that his father, the brothers' Uncle Henry, knew Mr. Jenkins personally, hence the accuracy of the story. Kyle and Josh say they have an even stranger story to tell.
=== "Flyboy" ===
Gordy Belcher (Michael Bower) is a reclusive, mischievous kid who often plays pranks on others, and who is overly obsessed with flies (even pinning them into positions inside a model church). He becomes fascinated with a secret manure created by Farmer Spivey, which causes crops to grow in increased sizes. He often steals the manure from the old man, much to Spivey's chagrin.
After being kicked out of the school after tricking a girl into eating flies, Gordy stops by Spivey's farm, where the old man offers him a special manure with new ingredients, as a way to "call a truce." Gordy goes home to find his mother has thrown away all his flies, save for three he kept in a hiding spot. He places them in the jar of manure which causes the flies to grow to an immense size overnight. They attack Gordy when he wakes up, and the boy's parents find him with blood stumps where his arms and legs had been. Gordy awakes the next day with prosthetic replacements.
=== Epilogue ===
The brothers explain that Gordy is now made fun of by the kids he used to pick on. Michael is incredulous, to which the brothers contend that Michael's story was far less believable. At that point, Uncle Henry arrives, and the brothers ask him to prove the story about Mr. Jenkins. Uncle Henry (also played by James Karen) then rips off his face, revealing the humanoid monster from "Bad Apples". | violence, horror | train | wikipedia | Starring Sean (Lord Of The Rings, Goonies) Astin this anthology is a curious creature as it only has two stories plus the wrap around.Rather light hearted and more in the vein of Goosebumps this is suitable for more or less all ages.The first story is about a monster residing the toilets of a school and the other regarding a weird kid whose hobby is pulling wings off flies and making them into characters in his dioramas.Though looking very dated and with some appalling sfx the movie certainly has its charm but definitely shouldn't be confused with a horror.Watchable though predictable stuff, the second story is at least rather disturbing.The Good: Clu Galager Sean Astin Second story gets under your skin The Bad: Looks rather tacky Should have been at least three stories Things I Learnt From This Movie: A 3rd mini story in the opening of the film was removed due to being considered distasteful which involved a poodle and a microwave.
this movie is basically about two brothers and their cousin who decide to scare each other by telling each other spooky urban legends while camping out.i guess you could compare it the TV shows Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark,although it's not as good as either of those two.anyway,what follows are two separate tales.the first one is pretty good.it's sort of a black comedy.it is quite amusing,and compelling.plus,it is well written.the second of the tales is not so good.much of the odd behaviour and events are given no reason or explanation.also this tale is boring and feels way too long.the ending makes no sense and doesn't tie into the rest of the story.long story short,the first tale is good-second one-not so much.for me,this movie is a 5/10.
Sean Astin and two other boys are camping out and tell each other a bunch of nasty stories.
The movie itself first portrays a school where the janitor (James Karen) turns out to be a hideous monster...fortunately, not totally malevolent.
The next half portrays a boy who gets a little too obsessed with bugs.Yes, it's probably one of the sillier movies out there.
It is about these 2 brothers camping out with their cousin played by Sean Astin, they decide to tell scary stories, the first one is about this woman the goes into a chicken restaurant and orders a bucket of chicken and when she takes her first bite she notices that it doesn't taste like chicken she looks and its a big rat that she took a bite out of.
This is a fairly good film.I believe it should be rated R for certain reasons.There are disturbing scenes like when the woman eats a dead rat,or a puppy's guts splatter.There are a few very short stories that don't even bother introducing the characters.Then we get to the main stories.The first is about when a janitor turns out to be a monster that kills bad people.This story was rather good,although not an oscar winner by a long shot.The second is just plain disturbing.It's about a kid who's obsesed with dead flys,and it gets more disturbing,you'll have to see to find out,and the ending for the whole movie is twisted..
This is a PG-13 movie made with a cast of mostly kids, written with humorous and yucky stories that appeal the most to kids (or, like "Tennessee Frickasee", are often TOLD by kids), and is ultimately a hearty attempt at a horror movie for kids.
The stories would only scare a four-year-old (who, depending on the case of who the kid is, may not even be scared of them).
I did like it enough to consider it a fair horror-comedy/anthology, but I only wished I would've gotten to see it back in elementary school when I thought "Ghoulies 2" was the greatest movie ever made, because that's when I would have liked it the best..
it is not a long drawn out plot that you can get bored with in 10 minutes.....the plot is this: 3 young kids telling ghost stories in a tent trying to scare each other.
I definitely could.The "bookend" storyline, with the three kids in the tent, was a big yawn-fest though (with the notable exception of the excellent Goonies reference.) I *do* recommend this film, though mostly for the Tale of Gordy Belcher..
I think the film would have worked better with 3 big stories instead of 2.
Sean Astin gathers his brother and cousin to spend the night in his tent with his uncle (James Karen) watching the kids.
Fun little flick, is fairly tame (it does contain one scene of brief graphic violence) and makes a good pick for kids (10 or older) who are fans of scary story books like "Southern Fried Rat".
I rather liked the ghost stories the kids told, Like the school janitor who turns out to be a monster and kills kids who pick other children.
Like a poodle blowing up in a microwave, a carnival ride giving a man a heart-attack, and a lady ordering a bucket of fried chicken and biting into a dead puppy.
( now that is disgusting, and outright twisted )But another highlight for me were the appearances of James Karen ( the janitor/monster ) Sean Astin ( camp out teen ) Jeremy Miller( Growing Pains...
( He played Scuz in " The Return of the Living Dead " ) All in all " The Willies " is pretty good movie.
I noticed some popular people in it too, like Sean Astin from "Rudy." It's got all you want from a b-horror movie, including the bad dialogue ("The Monster killed Mr. Jenkins, it PULLED off his head!"), bad acting, mess-ups (including a long appearance in one shot with the boom mike and a disappearing and re-appearing goo in another scene), and plenty of cheesy effects.
The film is about a group of kids, camping out and telling scary stories around the fire.
The second feature is about this ass-hat of a kid named Gordy Belcher, that is obsessed with flies.
A really weird early 90's kids horror movie..
One of my earliest horror related memories is of reading a comic (I'm guessing it was a reprint of old EC tales) in which a kid who enjoyed pulling the wings off flies ended up having both of his arms torn off (I recall that he may have even been given giant fly wings as replacements, although I may have made that bit up over the years).
This story seems to be the inspiration for the second of the two main tales in kiddie-centric horror anthology The Willies, whilst the first, about a boy who discovers a monster in the school bathroom, appears to have borrowed heavily from an early Stephen King short story called 'Here There Be Tygers'.
Even the short stories in the pre-credits sequence are based on familiar urban legends—meaning that the film doesn't rate very well for originality.
Writer director Brian Peck also loses points for the poor structuring of his film, with the second story in particular long outstaying its welcome.As highly derivative and poorly paced as the film may be, however, The Willies is still just about worthwhile thanks to its tongue-in-cheek approach (loved the Goonies in-joke), nicely developed characters (the solid cast includes future hobbit Sean Astin, and James Karen and Clu Gulager from Return of the Living Dead), some hokey creature effects, and above all, a genuine sense of fun.
Plus, it's hard for me to hate too much on a film that, despite being aimed predominantly at a younger audience, actually proves rather disturbing at times: fly-boy Gordy (Michael Bower) surveying his macabre dioramas featuring dead flies is nice and twisted (the Church even has a dead fly attached to a crucifix!) and his fate is as gruesome as it should be (which reminds me...
like, the acting is definitely on par for what a kid-tailored movie would look like, but there are so many weird little faux pas that make me also think it's just a movie that's so bad it'd good.
There are a lot of things you see that may be interesting as a thought, but when executed in filming are not so great (like that weird plastic spider hanging down in the fly kid's basement while he is working...
Anthology movies need more than two stories..
This movie starts out with kids telling each other urban legends such as the poodle in the microwave and getting something extra at a chicken place.
Then it gets worse as the next story about this kid obsessed with dead flies is on and it goes on and on and on.
The film begins with three boys in a tent trying to gross each out by telling urban legends, you know stories about a woman microwaving her dog and a woman eating a rat at a fried chicken restaurant.
The story is about a weirdo who has a fetish for collecting flies and the other story is about a kid who discovers a creep in his High School bathroom.Not really going into a lot about the stories cause you needs to watch.
The film has it's moments of pure grossness and is filled with cameos by Clu Gulager and James Karen both from Return of the Living Dead (the film is directed by a star of that film as well), it also has a wink to The Goonies (in which Sean Astin stars).
The next mistake is with the movie starting off with three very short stories which are urban legends that EVERYONE has heard of before - no surprises.
As it has been noted by other user comments, the story of the bullied boy and the monster in the bathroom was obviously inspired by the Stephen King short story, "Here There Be Tygers".
There is a monster that doesn't look bad for a movie that had a very low budget, but that's just a few seconds of entertainment.
The second story, about a boy obsessed with flies, goes on forever.
Aside from the creature effects, the only thing entertaining about "The Willies" is one in-joke that references the movie THE GOONIES, which Sean Astin also appeared in..
I greatly enjoy this horror movie with its gross jokes and cinematic recreations of Kentucky Fried Rat and "the poodle in the microwave" urban legends.
The first story is about a monster in the boys bathroom at school.
Geez, I hope kids didn't get the idea to start sticking their dogs in microwaves after watching this movie.
It's a pretty lame waste of time while you're waiting around for the writers to finally get to the point.And as it is introduced, these stories are guaranteed to give you "The Willies." Though in reality, unless you scare very easily (including the P-13 audience that this movie caters to), then you're probably not going to get anything more than a pain in the brain.
This movie is a real turkey, even if Sean Astin or Jeremy Miller are in it (notice how they conveniently reference to Growing Pains in the 'fly' story), and possibly not good enough to be the best worst movie.
The first part of the movie sets up our wraparound story concerning Sean Astin and his cousins telling spooky stories in a tent.
My favorite line is spoken here towards Astin's character: "Wait...this isn't that dumb story about the time you and your friends found that pirate ship in an old cave?" You gotta love Goonies references.
Sean Astin with his brother and cousin take turns telling so-called scary stories, but they are anything but.
Bill Erwin, Kimmy Robertson and Doug Benson are also totally wasted in a brief mini-story about a old man scared to death in a poor man's Haunted Mansion amusement ride.In story one, Kathleen Freeman did real good as a mean teacher, Ian Fried also did okay as a little boy being bullied and crying monster and no one believes him.
I was really disappointed with that because when I saw his name and James Karen in the credits, I was expecting the funny chemistry they both had in the cult "Return of the Living Dead" film where they both had great parts.
Here, even though they both were in Story One, did not have any scenes together.In Story Two, Michael Bower was cast very well as the strange and weird over-weight boy no one likes.
Story Two was a very weird and disturbing sequence that seem to go on for too long and with a very predictable (and unsatisfying) ending.All in all a very disturbing and weird little film.
Three boys relate scary stories in a tent on a dark night.
Writer/director Brian Peck not only maintains a snappy pace and a surprisingly mean-spirited tone throughout, but also astutely nails a distinctly male adolescent obsession on all things gross, vile, and disgusting, with the popular urban legends concerning a dead rat found in a bucket of fried chicken and a poodle exploding in a microwave rating as sidesplitting sick hoots.
For me it really blurred the line between what constitutes kid friendly and child nightmare inducing, like you had the blood and gore, not much at all but it was definitely there, you had the nauseating scene of the old lady taking a big 'ol juicy bite out of the fried rat, it had one use of the word s**t!
I'm not gonna pretend it wasn't, the acting was mostly terrible, especially from the kids in the wraparound campfire scenes(Sean Astin not included), and in the story of the kindly janitor who was really a monster in disguise who had an appetite for school bullies!
I loved that, bullies and mean teachers simply being devoured, you'd never get that in a movie like this these days, it's not P.C. enough!
Like when the kid goes to the school bathroom and the spindly fanged beast crawls out of the toilet, I sure wasn't expecting something so spooky and threatening to appear!
And the movie's ending was quite mean-spirited also, those boys asked to know the truth and they certainly got it!
I'm not saying this was a brilliant film or anything, it could've benefited from a third story although I reckon the vignettes could serve as that, but it was overall a fun scary time, its overtly dark elements make it notable amongst most other child horror movies that I've seen.
As a result, the viewer has fun with it.B-movie or not, this is the second best horror-comedy I've ever seen, between Ghostbusters and Blithe Spirit (1945).It feels like the entire Growing Pains cast and crew were bored one weekend and decided to make a movie.
If you liked the Growing Pains Halloween episodes, you will enjoy this.Jeremy Miller is the reason I wanted to see this movie.
you know what's coming, but you'll still like it.Kids are sitting in a tent telling stories.
Sean Astin and Josh Miller (looks like he might be Jeremy Miller's little brother) are mostly credible, though it looks like they could have used a few more takes.The better stories are the shorter ones.
I should have turned it off after the dog in the microwave, but since I like to torture myself I continued watching it.The worst part is probably the second story, about the creepy kid who pulls wings off of flies.
And this movie is made in 1990, you would think they could fake a scene like that.The Willies feels like it's made by a sadistic nine-year old.
The Willies starts late one night as brother's Josh (Joshua Miller) & Kyle (Jason Horst) are camping outside with their cousin Michael (Sean Astin), they decide to pass the time by telling scary stories...First up is Michael with a story entitled 'Bad Apples' in which a young boy named Danny Hollister (Ian Fried) is bullied at school, however the sinister new janitor Mr. Jenkins (James Karen) decides to help him out...Next up is Kyle as he tells a strange story called 'Flyboy' in which an overweight bully with a worrying fascination with dead flies gets what he deserves in a horrible twisted way...Written & directed by Brian Peck The Willies didn't do much for me & I doubt it'll do much for you either.
The script is strange as far as episodic anthologies go, instead of the usual three or four stories it only has two main tales & a few bizarre 'urban myth' type mini scenes at the start, these consist of the person who orders food from a fast food restaurant only to find a dead rat in her chicken, a man who dies of a heart attack on a ride & someone who tries to dry her poodle off in the microwave only for it to explode.
I have no idea what the purpose of these scenes are but they add nothing to the film, as for the two main stories they are both weak.
For a start they are too long which is a huge mistake in these types of films, usually the stories in anthologies are short, sharp & quick with a nice twist at the end usually involving people getting what they deserved.
The first story is the better to watch as a whole but it has no twist ending as far as I could see while the second one has a nice 'just deserts' ending but the build up to it is weak & drawn out for no good reason.
I really like horror anthology films so The Willies comes as a disappointment, frankly it lets the genre down.Director Peck was obviously working on a low budget & as a whole The Willies is pretty tough to sit through, there's plenty of continuity errors & it's poorly made.
The acting is poor, no ones going to win any awards thats for sure.The Willies is a poor film, it's not scary, it's not fun, it's not entertaining & it only features two overlong stories. |
tt0056062 | Hell Is for Heroes | Montigny, Meurthe-et-Moselle, 1944: Squad leader Sergeant Larkin (Harry Guardino) and his men are taking a well-deserved rest behind the lines after conducting front-line combat operations for several weeks. Rumor has it the unit will be rotated state-side and the men are almost giddy in anticipation. During an interlude at a church and later at a tavern, the senior non-commissioned officer, Platoon Sergeant Pike (Fess Parker), happens upon acquaintance Private John Reese (Steve McQueen) who has been assigned to his platoon. Reese was a former master sergeant, demoted to private after a court martial, who walks about armed with a distinctive M3 submachine gun. Reese is the quintessential troubled loner, managing to alienate almost everyone in the squad right from the beginning. Unlike his jubilant comrades, the prospect of a long break from combat, perhaps the end of the war itself, renders Reese morose. The company commander, Captain Loomis (Joseph Hoover), is worried because Reese, although already having won a Distinguished Service Cross, acts irresponsibly when there is no fighting, but Pike comments that he is a good soldier in combat.
Pike informs the men that they will shortly be going back on the line rather than home. After much bitter complaining, the men get ready to move out. The remaining members of 2nd Squad include con-man/scavenger Corby (Bobby Darin); Corporal Henshaw (James Coburn), a mechanic who can fix anything; the easy-going, somewhat-naive kid, Cumberly (Bill Mullikin); and family man Kolinsky (Mike Kellin). The squad has their own mascot, a young Polish displaced person Homer Janeczek (Nick Adams), who is not a soldier, but stays with the squad in hopes of accompanying the men upon their return to the United States. The morning after they arrive at their appointed post and dig in, the men realize that an unannounced overnight withdrawal of the main American force has left them spread dangerously thin. Finally, Pike arrives to explain the situation, which only heightens everyone's awareness that any reconnaissance by the Germans across the valley will quickly reveal how weak the American defenses are there.
One stroke of good luck is the sudden and mistaken arrival of an Army company clerk, Private First Class James Driscoll (Bob Newhart in his first film role). Larkin quickly puts Driscoll’s jeep to use by having Henshaw drive it back and forth behind their lines, after rigging it to backfire and sound like a tank, in an attempt to fool the Germans. Driscoll himself is put to use improvising misleading radio messages for a hidden microphone, discovered by Corby, left by the Germans in an abandoned pillbox (Newhart was noted for his telephone conversation skits in his stand-up comedy routines). Additionally, Larkin has his men run wire to three empty ammo cans, partially filled with rocks and hung from trees, distributed along gaps in their front lines, which they can pull to create noise to make the Germans believe that a much larger American force is present.
A German raid results in Cumberly's death, but Reese manages to eliminate three Germans in close combat. Worried that the German survivors will report on the understrength American lines, Reese recommends attacking a large, opposing German pillbox, flanked by a minefield and barbed wire, to make the enemy pause and convince them the Americans are at normal strength. Larkin, fearing an overwhelming enemy assault on their positions, decides to go find Pike and obtain his permission for the pillbox attack. Unable to locate Pike because he has gone to the rear, Larkin returns and berates Pike when he finds out Henshaw, whom Larkin had put in charge in his absence, had been convinced by Reese to go to a supply dump to obtain satchel charges. After a heated argument with Reese, Larkin is killed in an artillery barrage. Reese decides to proceed without orders and two others, Henshaw and Kolinsky, go along. Shortly after they set out, Sgt. Pike and the rest of the company begins to return to the line.
The squad's attack fails when Henshaw accidentally sets off an undetected S-mine, fatally burning with the exploding flamethrower tanks he carries, as well as illuminating the battlefield. Reese and Kolinsky retreat, covered by smoke from the company mortar squad. As they run back to their lines, Kolinsky is struck by shrapnel through the back and abdomen, and finally dies, screaming about his guts, as a medic and others attend to his wounds.
A furious Captain Loomis berates Reese and promises him a court-martial for defying orders to hold the line, but only after the American assault at dawn. The dominant German pillbox fires on the advancing Americans, who press on despite heavy casualties. Determined to eliminate the pillbox, Reese gets within striking range, aided by Corby, manning a flamethrower. Reese throws a satchel charge into the pillbox, but, in the process, is wounded in the back and stomach. When the unexploded satchel charge is tossed out by the alert defenders, the wounded Reese retrieves it and carries it back through the pillbox opening, blowing up the fortification's occupants and himself. Corby, at Pike's command, directs his flamethrower at the blown-out pillbox window, until it is engulfed with fire, as the Americans continue to advance, and fall, to other unseen German weapons. | violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0042286 | Broken Arrow | Major Vic Deakins (John Travolta) and Captain Riley Hale (Christian Slater), pilots in the United States Air Force, are assigned to a top secret exercise over Utah, flying a B-3 Stealth Bomber (a fictional iteration of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber) with two B83 nuclear bombs on board. After successfully evading Air Force radar, Deakins attacks Hale and ejects him out of the plane. Deakins then releases the bombs without detonating them and reports that Hale has gone rogue. He then ejects from the plane, leaving it to crash.
A search and rescue team is sent to recover the warheads. They do not find the warheads and report a "Broken Arrow", a situation wherein nuclear weapons are missing. The team later locates the warheads in a canyon but are killed by mercenaries, including Sgt. Kelly (Howie Long), a corrupt member of the team. Deakins arrives moments later and plots his next move with Pritchett (Bob Gunton), the operation's financier. They plan to blackmail the US government with the threat of detonating the warhead in a populated area.
Hale survives the ejection and is found by park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis). He convinces her to help him track down Deakins. After recovering the warheads and escaping to a nearby copper mine, Hale attempts to disable them by intentionally entering the arming code incorrectly. However, as Deakins had rigged the device, Hale's actions instead arm the warhead. He hides the remaining one deep in an abandoned mine.
Deakins' team arrive and secure the unarmed warhead. Deakins then shortens the detonation time and leaves Hale and Terry to die. A NEST team helicopter chases Deakins' team. During the chase, Deakins kills Pritchett after he becomes fed up with the latter's complaints. Hale and Terry escape from the mine via an underground river just before the bomb detonates. The bomb's EMP destroys the NEST helicopter, allowing Deakins to escape. Terry and Hale track him to a motorboat used for transporting the warhead. While trying to steal the boat, Terry is forced to hide onboard while Deakins moves the warhead. Military forces rescue Hale.
Hale deduces that Deakins intends to use a train to transport the warhead. Travelling on helicopter with Colonel Wilkins (Delroy Lindo), Hale infiltrates the train and finds Terry. A gunfight ensues and the helicopter is destroyed; Wilkins and most of Deakins' mercenaries are killed. With his own helicopter sabotaged by Hale and his plan falling apart, Deakins decides to detonate the warhead regardless. Not wanting to die, Kelly holds Deakins at gunpoint and orders him to disarm the weapon. Hale takes advantage of the situation and kicks Kelly out of the train to his death.
Terry detaches the rear section of the train (with the bomb) from the front, but gets into a shootout with the engineer. The latter is shot and falls on the train brakes, causing the train to stop. The detached boxcars continue to coast at high speed. Meanwhile, Deakins, still in possession of a device that can either disarm or detonate the bomb, forces Hale to drop his gun and challenges him to close-quarters combat. Hale eventually overpowers Deakins, acquires the detonator, disarms the warhead, and leaps out of the train. As the detached boxcars slam into the halted front half, the warhead flies into Deakins, and the entire train derails and explodes, incinerating him.
Hale finds Terry and the damaged nuclear warhead. The two formally introduce themselves to each other amidst the wreckage. | revenge, historical fiction | train | wikipedia | But both films had a lasting impact on his career.This is the story of Army Captain Tom Jeffords who with a simple act of kindness started a peace process with the Apaches led by their charismatic leader Cochise.
Howard make a treaty with the Apache, at least most of them.Broken Arrow did a lot for James Stewart, but even more for Jeff Chandler who plays Cochise.
It's those people and what they do break the peace that is the rest of Broken Arrow's story.Delmar Daves is a good director of western films and in fact did another film about the U.S. government trying to make peace with another Indian tribe, the Modocs in Oregon, in the film Drumbeat.
Although the story is entertaining and the performances of James Stewart, Jeff Chandler and Debra Paget outstanding, what makes Broken Arrow a landmark film is its portrayal of the Apache Indians as something more than savage killers.
Here they are seen as people who want what the "white men" wanted: to live in freedom with their families on their own land and to live their lives in their own way.Jeff Chandler is terrific as Apache leader Cochise, who he would play twice more in other films.
Stewart is looked on as a traitor by his friends and things are complicated further by his relationship with the young Apache girl played by Debra Paget.I cannot think of another western in which indians have been portrayed as real people with emotions who hurt, who love.
Delmer Daves offers an important major role to an Indian character, treating him with quality and esteem as human being...Stewart plays a scout who seeks to heal the divisions between the Apaches and white men
But while "Broken Arrow" is a perfectly acceptable depiction of frontier struggles, it does not display Stewart to the best advantages
Delmer Daves was competent enough, but he lacked the ultimate virility and intensity of Anthony Mann
"Broken Arrow" examines, rather intensely and directly, the mistreatment and flagrant exploitation of the Indians by whites in the early West
The strength of this often lyrically photographed picture which will a1ways have an honorable place among Westerns lies particularly in the touching dignity of Stewart's love and marriage to an Indian girl (Debra Paget).
Indian haters, of course, stir up the usual sort of trouble and Stewart's bride becomes a victim with all the consequent poignancy for which the film is best remembered
The over-wise Chandler counsels him that he must learn to live with his whiteness just as his new friends must contend with their own place in the cosmic scheme of things
Cochise has words of stark consolation for Stewart: "As I bear the murder of my people, so you will bear the murder of your wife." The most interesting aspect of " Broken Arrow" is not the interracial romance between Stewart and Paget, but Stewart's relationship with Chandler's Cochise
There is intra-character complexity here, as Chandler struggles to overcome his disturb of all whites, and Stewart attempts to comprehend the different philosophy and cultural of the Indians
Jeff Chandler was quite apt and professional
He was so believable in the role of the Apache chief Cochise that he was to essay it again in George Sherman's "The Battle at Apache Pass" in 1952
Chandler's facial bone structure lent itself to noble, incisive Indian profiles, and unlike other Caucasian actors he did not look out of place
He was even nominated for Best Supporting Actor at that year's Oscars.
It's the start of a friendship that may just bring and end to the war and peace across the west.Tho not the first "social" Western film made, Broken Arrow, it can be argued, is maybe one of the most important and telling genre films of the 50s.
Showing humanist portrayals of the Apache and dealing out level headed tellings of the relationships between whites and the Native Americans, Delmer Daves' film is as relevant today as it was back on release.
Firstly by convincing Cochise (Jeff Chandler bang on form) to allow the mail run thru the pass, something that brings suspicion and calls of Indian lover from Jeffords' own kind, and then to finally set up a peace pact at a time when violence and hatred was rife in the west.As the friendship between the two men grows, Jeffords and an Apache girl fall in love (beautiful Debra Paget as Sonseeahray), thus giving the story a further jolt of momentum.
...but this was a very fine Western, and I don't even like the Western genre particularly well.James Stewart plays Tom Jeffords, an ex-army soldier, scout, and now someone who is panning for gold in Apache country.
He decides to learn their ways and language from an Apache in town, and sets out on the dangerous mission to meet Cochise, leader of the Apaches, and to try to slowly build peace between the Apache and the Americans, who are trying to settle Arizona after the Civil War - that is if he survives his first encounter with an Apache scouting party, who just might kill him for the sake of the Apache and Americans being at war.I don't know how accurate this film is historically, but there is some fine acting, action, suspense, and even a touching Anglo-Apache romance.
The movie is in the past conditional,because we know the real end of the story and Delmer Daves who had been studying the Indians ways for a long time did not try to fool the audience:"broken arrow" is not a nice "peace and love" movie:there are plenty of death,violence and hatred here ,more than in the average western.As Cochise says,living in peace is more difficult than waging war.But Jeffords and him become legendary figures whom we can still meet today everywhere in the world,peace on earth and good will to men .Thus his story becomes universal.There's a wistful,not to say very sad side:Delmer Daves is like John Lennon singing "imagine" or Neil Young singing "Pocahontas" (I wish I was a trapper/I would give a thousand pelts/To sleep with Pocahontas/And find out how she felt/In the morning in the fields of green/in the home land we've never seen):he does know that all these promises are illusive ,the two protagonists trust each other,but who else can they trust?The dice are loaded from the start.That's why the love scenes are so important and among the most visually astounding we can see in a western.Thanks partly to Debra Paget's breathtaking beauty,the scenes between Jeffords and Sonseearhay climax the movie.They give the audience a taste of a lost paradise "the homeland we've never seen":Jefford's dream only really comes true in these sequences where the lovers are under the "big sky" in communion with nature.Some will complain because everybody speaks English,but Tom's voice-over warns us from the very start.Kevin Costner,who makes his Oscar-winning "dance with wolves" in the early nineties ,owes a good deal to Delmer Daves..
Instead of American-Indians being one-dimensional and bad or stupid, here they are real people and the complexities of the relationship between them and the rest of America is actually considered--a rarity in 1950s Hollywood.The movie begins with Jimmy Stewart playing an ex-scout out West during the latter portion of the 19th century.
James Stewart (Tom Jeffords) is the ex-scout who gets to know Cochise (Jeff Chandler better than in any other film he made).
James Stewart is very effective as a brave former Scout for the Union who used to kill Indians but who now wants the slaughters to stop; he learns their tongue, sends up a smoke signal, and is soon in conference with Cochise himself to allow the U.S. mail-riders safely through Apache terrain...he also finds love with Indian princess Debra Paget, a romance his racist white brothers obviously resent (and at least one Apache soldier as well).
Released in 1950 and directed by Delmer Daves, "Broken Arrow" stars Jimmy Stewart as a former soldier, Tom Jeffords, who saves an Apache teen after ten years of war between settlers and Natives in 1870, Arizona.
Jeff Chandler is stunning as the Apache leader, Cochise, but Debra Paget, only 16 years-old during filming, looks too whitebread to be believable.
The film shows the initiative of Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) to make the peace with the Apaches, it looks to me very innocent the way this problem was treated, and how easy it was to 'convince' an already convinced Cochise of the need of peace.
Decent historical drama, just a bit patronising.The true story of Tom Jeffords (played by James Stewart), who, in the early-1870s, negotiated a peace treaty between the Apache tribe, lead by Coshise (played by Jeff Chandler) and the US government.Interesting from an historical perspective, and also from a purely dramatical perspective.
The novel ' Blood Brother ' is the basic for the film " Broken Arrow." Losesly based on the real life efforts of Tom Jeffords who tried to negotiate peace between White Settlers and Cochise (Jeff Chandler) the Apache.
In addition, While at the Apache camp, Jeffords falls in love with a native girl called Sonseeahray (Debra Paget) and must convince Gen. Oliver Howard (Basil Ruysdael) and Indian hater Ben Slade (Will Geer) to honor the peace.
The two main characters are both real historical individuals, the Apache chief Cochise and Tom Jeffords, a white man who befriended him and played a major role in negotiating the treaty.In the film's opening scene, Jeffords comes upon a wounded Apache boy who has been shot in the back by white settlers.
The second is that the two major Indian characters are played by white actors, Cochise by Jeff Chandler and Sonseeahray, the Apache girl who becomes Jeffords' love interest, by Debra Paget.
Paget, a red-headed WASP, also played Indian characters in other films, such as "White Feather", and in the latter part of her career seemed to specialise in playing exotic roles.Jeff Chandler may not have been an Indian himself, but his own Jewish heritage seems to have made him sympathetic towards another people which, like his own, had often been the target of prejudice and discrimination, and gives a great performance as Cochise.
Okay, you might argue that there was a small pool of good Native Americans to pull from, but even if that's true, why do they pick unconvincing actors to play the main Indian leads, and make them talk in broken sentences?Anyway, there are tough things in many Westerns.
Based on the real-life efforts of Tom Jeffords, this film dramatizes his efforts to make peace with Apache chief Cochise.
After helping a young Indian boy, Cochise sets Jeffords free leading him to think that there may be a way to make peace in the war that has now lasted nearly 10 years.
(James Stewart) is outstanding in his role as former Union captain, Tom Jeffords, to restore peace between white frontiersmen and Cochise's Chiricahua Apaches.
Excellent Delmer Daves western loosely based on the real-life story of Tom Jeffords, whose friendship with Cochise helped end the Indian wars in the Arizona territory.
This kind of realism was fine as long as it did well at the box office, but a few years later, when Elia Kazan approached Zanuck with the idea of making On The Waterfront, DFZ was instead obsessed with CinemaScope and wanted stories with width, not depth, so he turned it down.But in that period from 1945 to 1953, Zanuck made some great movies, and although they may come across as middlebrow today and not daring enough, at the time they made an impact, and Broken Arrow was one of the best..
I have seen this movie many times and many years ago; I can't think of a western that does not try to tell what it was like to love and hate, as well as what relationships were like between natives and others who may have found it hard to understand their ways of life.As for me, being part Apache(Black Indian), I even named my little girl after this movie lady of MorningStar, I call her Sunserae.
The premise of James Stewarts character the war weary Tom Jeffords brokering peace between the settlers and the Apache Indians by befriending their leader Cochise is in many ways the natural predecessor to 'Dances With Wolves' First of all no one has ever and may never better James Stewart when it comes to all round wholesome goodness and he bring it to bear magnificently in this movie.
James Stewart gives another utterly fantastic and enthusiastic performance as Tom Jeffords, a former Army scout who attempted to bring peace between the white settlers and the Apaches, then under the command of a man named Cochise.
Every scene between these two is a little jewel that brightens up our mood when some the movie's uglier elements start to sadden us.Although I do regret that the filmmakers did not, with a few exceptions, cast real-life Native Americans in the roles of the Apaches, I found "Broken Arrow" to be a most commendable Western.
The great James Stewart plays Tom Jeffords who tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches.He becomes a friend with Cochise(Jeff Chandler) and falls in love with an Apache girl Sonseeahray (Debra Paget).Broken Arrow from 1950 is a different western.It's not against Indians like many other western movies.I like that.Jimmy Stewart was the right man for the role of Tom Jeffords.He was such a great actor.Watch Broken Arrow if you want to see a different western with Jimmy Stewart..
James Stewart is better than your average Western hero, Debra Paget is smoking hot; hotter than most of those broken down bar girls featured in most Westerns, and Jeff Chandler has the role of his career as Cochise (a role he was so good at; they featured him TWICE in TWO films about Cochise).
As he makes clear he's been involved in battles with the Apache in the past, but somehow he comes to realize that there has to be a better way, and he sets out to arrange a small gesture that would show that peace was possible - he meets the great Apache chief Cochise (played by Jeff Chandler) and he convinces Cochise not to end the war, but just to let the US Mail through.
In the midst of it all, Jeffords meets a young Apache woman names Sonseeahray (Debra Paget) and falls in love with her, eventually marrying her - an inter-racial marriage that would have been difficult in 1870 when the movie was set, and probably would have still caused angst among some in 1950 when it was made!Stewart and Chandler were both very good in their roles.
The Acting Headlined by James Stewart, Jeff Chandler (Oscar nominated), and Debra Paget is Fine all around with many a Supporters lending Gravitas to the Proceedings (look for Jay Silverheels in a Pre-Tonto role).Almost Perfect Picture with Minor Problems and Inconsistencies and is rightly Considered one of the Best Westerns of All Time..
Note: watch for the "prequel", "The Battle of Apache Pass", filmed two years later with Chandler and Silverheels reprising their roles as Cochise and Geronimo.Here's what I liked:This kicked off a decade of great James Stewart Westerns.
Starring my personal favorite actor Mr. James Stewart and featuring superlative performances from Jeff Chandler & Debra Paget, "Broken Arrow" is a fine Western that transcends the conventional attitude of Native Americans being nothing more than mere savages.
The story is about one brave white American named Tom Jeffords (Stewart), who risks his life by riding into the Apache stronghold led by the natives' champion of truth and honor, Cochise (brilliantly portrayed by Chandler).
It also has a great Technicolor picture, wonderful locations, good performances, a nice romance and well done action scenes.A former soldier Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) decides to become involved in the conflict with the Apache because he has seen enough bloodshed.
Later Jeffords at great personal risk sets up a meeting with the Apache leader Cochise (Jeff Chandler) to see whether steps can me made towards peace.
First of all, this is a groundbreaking film from the early fifties about racial tolerance and peace disguised as a beautifully scenic Technicolor western starring James Stewart, Jeff Chandler and Debra Paget.
It was a dramatization of a true incident in American history when in 1872 Tom Jeffords (played by James Stewart) helped negotiate a peace treaty with Cochise (Jeff Chandler) the Chief of the Chiricahua Apaches.
So striking was he that he played Cochise in two more films.To further the theme of brotherhood, Tom falls in love with and marries a young Apache girl, Sonseeahray, played by a 16 year old Debra Paget, with perfect skin, undeveloped body, and white teeth that blind you when she smiles.
In fact, Jeff Chandler, who played Cochise, is a white sergeant in another film named "Pillars of the Sky" in which he rescues the Indians from the cruelty of his associates.As in "Pillars of the Sky," "Broken Arrow" depicts that the Whites were always the people seeking to negotiate a peace treaty with the Native Americans.
A little bit of quick research reveals that Cochise was fifty five in 1870 when the story took place, making him somewhat older than the real Tom Jeffords, who would have been thirty eight, approximating Jimmy Stewart's age at the time of filming.What's fairly accurate is the role Jeffords played in bringing about a negotiated peace between the U.S. Government and the Chiricahua Apaches in 1872, at least for three short years before the treaty was broken, leading to a decade long hostility that ended with Geronimo's surrender in 1886.
James Stewart gives one of his best performances as Tom Jeffords, the white man who is willing to, and comes to, understand the Apache's way of life.
"Broken Arrow" is also a great romance, with the beautiful Debra Paget as the Native American girl falling in love with Stewart, and vice versa. |
tt0107091 | Heart and Souls | In San Francisco, 1959, four people embark on the same bus. A single mother named Penny Washington leaves her three children at home to work in her night shift as a telephone operator. A singer named Harrison Winslow is afraid of the stage and quits his audition. A waitress named Julia regrets turning down her boyfriend John's marriage proposal and leaves her job to seek him out. A small-time thief named Milo Peck fails to retrieve a collection of vintage stamps that he had conned out of a young boy. The bus driver, Hal, has a serious accident, killing himself and everyone on board.
Meanwhile, Frank Reilly is driving his pregnant wife Eva to the hospital. Frank successfully swerves to escape the bus, just before it drives off an overpass, but Eva delivers their baby in the car. Hal ascends into the next life, but the souls of the four passengers become the guardian angels of the boy, Thomas Reilly, and can be seen only by him. Seven years later, the boy's parents and teachers begin to worry about his obsession with these "imaginary friends" and discuss submitting him to psychological exams. After realizing their presence is harming Thomas, the quartet decides to become invisible also to him. Unknown to Thomas, they remain by his side.
Twenty-seven years later, in 1993, Hal returns with his bus and prepares to finally take them to the next life. The quartet learns from Hal that they've been with Thomas all these years because he serves as their corporeal form; they were supposed to ask him for help in resolving the problems they left behind. If he ever refused, one of them should have inhabited his body and made him cooperate. After convincing Hal to buy some more time for them to rectify their unfinished lives, they reappear to Thomas, who is now a ruthless businessman and indecisive in his relationship with girlfriend Anne.
Thomas reluctantly agrees and, through a series of hilarious mishaps, the lost souls are freed: Milo by returning the stolen stamps, Harrison by facing his fears and singing to a live audience, Penny by discovering the fates of her children and Julia by encouraging Thomas to repair his relationship with Anne, as she was never able to do the same with John. In the end, Thomas becomes a better man and he dances with Anne as four stars twinkle in the night sky, symbolizing that Penny, Julia, Harrison, and Milo are finally at peace. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0478073 | Final Days of Planet Earth | Three years ago, a team of astronaut miners completed a daring space expedition. They embarked on their journey home, but by the time the craft returned to Earth, their commander had gone mad—taking a terrible secret with him to a heavily guarded state asylum for the insane. Today, archeologist Lloyd Walker and entomologist Marianne Winters are among a select group of people who are questioning a possible link between the tragic space mission, the mystery of the commander’s madness, and a series of bizarre disappearances and strange accidents in San Francisco. The answer arrives when they stumble upon an underground colony of insect-like creatures harvesting human bodies for survival.
Liz Quinlan, now an employee of the mayor’s office, knows all too well the secret of the aliens. She is their Earth Queen. The city's highest representatives are her consorts. With police and government officials taken over by aliens masquerading as humans, Lloyd and Marianne realize they can trust no one, except William Phillips, the one man who knows the ultimate goal of the aliens. He also holds the mysterious key to their defeat—it's in his blood. He is the commander himself—the sole mission survivor being held as prisoner. Lloyd and Marianne must find him before he becomes a victim of an unearthly experiment. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0040661 | Old Rockin' Chair Tom | Mammy Two Shoes is standing on a chair, which Jerry is shaking. She calls for Tom, who chases Jerry away from Mammy, but Jerry trips him. Jerry goes back to Mammy and rocks the stool up and down until Tom chases him again. Jerry opens a door and the ironing board, followed by the iron, fall on Tom's head. Tom catches Jerry trying to cut down the stool, and Jerry gives him the axe. Mammy urges Tom to hit Jerry, but misses and eventually he chops down the stool. Tom supports Mammy on his head, until he loses his balance. Jerry opens the door of the basement stairway. Tom goes through the doorway, with Mammy still on him, and crashes down into the basement.
Mammy retires Tom and calls in Lightning, a ginger orange cat who kicks Jerry out of the house and into the dumpster. Lightning kisses Mammy's hand and she praises his etiquette and efficiency. Jerry tries to sneak back into the house, but Lightning kicks him out again. Lightning twists Tom around, and dresses him up with a fake beard and a walking stick, leaving Lightning in charge. The cat shows his true nature by raiding the fridge, until he drops a bottle of milk, which wakes up Mammy. Lightning frames Tom by dumping the fridge contents at Tom's feet, stuffing leftovers into his hands and cramming Tom inside a watermelon. When Mammy enters, Lightning nods Tom's head when she asks if he had been in the fridge. Lightning kicks Tom into the dumpster, where he sees Jerry and they plot to remove Lightning from the house.
Tom and Jerry, armed with a magnet and iron, sneak into the house, and place the iron by a sleeping Lightning's mouth, and the magnet behind his rear. This causes Lightning to swallow the iron, waking him up. As Lightning chases after Jerry, Tom uses the magnet to attract the iron, and therefore pull Lightning back into his fist. Tom then tosses the magnet to Jerry, but Jerry is too light and is dragged along with Lightning until he runs into the iron and latches onto the magnet. Lightning grabs onto a piano leg and Tom, Jerry and Lightning begin a tug-of-war. The duo wins and Lightning is sent through the piano and into a wall.
Mammy hears the chaos and enters the room, but soon Jerry starts to terrorize her again by shaking the stool she is standing on. She calls for Lightning, but Lightning is unable to come to the rescue, as Tom is controlling his movements behind the kitchen wall. Eventually, Mammy calls for Tom, who grabs Jerry and pretends to beat him up. Tom helpfully kicks Lightning out of the house, but, forgetting the iron, he ends up breaking his foot.
Tom, with his foot wrapped in bandages, is given a nice pie from Mammy. Tom takes most of the pie, but leaves the remainder of it for Jerry who, using the magnet, brings the dish of pie to his mousehole and happily tucks into the pie. | revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0340477 | Helen of Troy | The film retells the story of the Trojan War in In 1100 B.C., albeit with some major changes from the Iliad's storyline: Paris of Troy (Jacques Sernas) sails to Sparta to secure a peace treaty between the two powerful city-states. His ship is forced to return to Troy in a storm after he has been swept overboard on the shore of Sparta. Paris is found by Helen, Queen of Sparta (Rossana Podestà), with whom he falls in love. He goes to the palace where he finds Helen's husband, King Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis), Agamemnon (Robert Douglas), Odysseus (Torin Thatcher), Achilles (Stanley Baker) and many other Greek kings debating whether to go to war with Troy. Menelaus, who is denied by Helen, sees that his wife and Paris are in love and, pretending friendship, plots Paris' death.
Warned by Helen, Paris flees and, after they are both nearly caught by the Spartans, takes Helen with him to Troy. Under the pretense of helping Menelaus regain his honor, the Greeks unite, and the siege of Troy begins. Much blood is shed in the long ordeal, with the Trojans blaming their plight on Paris and Helen until it turns out that the Greeks are solely after Troy's riches, not Helen. The siege culminates in Greek victory through the ruse of the legendary Trojan Horse. While trying to flee, Helen and Paris are cornered by Menelaus. Paris faces the Spartan king in single combat, but just as he wins the upper hand he is stabbed from behind, denying him a fair trial by arms. Helen is forced to return with Menelaus, but she is serene in the knowledge that in death she will be reunited with Paris in Elysium. | revenge, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0193364 | The Order | The film's premise is that there is another way to heaven than adherence to the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. A secular Sin Eater can remove all taint of sin, no matter how foul, from the soul just before death. The purified soul can then ascend into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church, according to the film, considers this heresy.
Heath Ledger plays an unhappy and disillusioned priest, Alex Bernier, a member of a fictitious religious order The Carolingians which specializes in fighting demons and other hell spawn. Father Dominic, the head of the Carolingians, has died in Rome under suspicious circumstances and Alex leaves the United States to investigate. In Rome, Alex visits the morgue and sees strange markings on Dominic's corpse. After some investigation, he comes across a book that explains the markings as being the sign of a Sin Eater's work. He heads to the Vatican, where an official tells him that Sin Eaters don't exist and that Dominic may not be buried on sacred ground because he had been excommunicated for his beliefs. Alex, moving ever farther from his vocation, defies his superiors and secretly reads a holy service over the body and buries Dominic in the Carolingian cemetery (the service takes place off screen but is referred to later).
Thomas Garrett, another Carolingian (there seem to have only been a total of three including Dominic), arrives in Rome to help investigate Dominic's death.
Early in the film we meet Mara Williams, an artist Alex once exorcised, who has escaped from a mental hospital and come to Alex at his church in the USA because she has a feeling that something terrible is going to happen to him. The police come looking for her, but Alex lies and denies that he's seen her and through this exchange we learn that Mara was in the hospital because she had tried to kill Alex during the exorcism. Mara goes to Rome with Alex after promising that she won't try to kill him again.
Cardinal Driscoll (Peter Weller), who is introduced at the beginning of the film and who is tipped to be the next Pope, arrives in Rome from the USA and gives Alex a special dagger. According to a fragment of parchment Alex and Thomas find among Dominic's books, the dagger is to be plunged into the Sin Eater while reciting a text in Aramaic. Alex and Thomas take these instructions to mean that the dagger and incantation will kill the Sin Eater and they begin hunting for the Sin Eater and the remainder of the parchment instructions.
Thomas leads Alex to a nightclub where they are taken to the underground base of operations of a masked man called Chirac, the 'Black Pope.' The Black Pope owes a favor to Thomas and Alex asks where to find the Sin Eater. The Black Pope then hangs three people and tells Alex to ask his question of the dying men who can see what the living cannot. One of the dying tells Alex a riddle that leads to a rendezvous with the Sin Eater.
On the way out of the Black Pope's headquarters, demons attack and injure Thomas, but Alex saves him and gets him to a hospital.
Alex leaves Thomas in the hospital and meets the Sin Eater, William Eden, at St. Peter's Cathedral who explains that he has been a Sin Eater for centuries, taking over for an earlier Sin Eater (a Carolingian priest) who ate the sins of Eden's brother. Eden is very charismatic and talks with Alex about the priest's desires, and Alex admits he wants Mara. He then goes and presumably tells Mara this, and they make love. Afterward, Alex leaves Mara asleep and goes to Eden, who tells Alex that he is tired and ready to die and asks Alex to take his place. Alex has the dagger with him, but is curious and so doesn't use it to kill Eden. Instead, he assists Eden with a sin eating ritual. But in the end, Alex refuses Eden's offer because he has decided to leave the priesthood to be with Mara.
Later Alex returns to their lodgings and finds Mara near death, an apparent suicide. In actuality, Eden slit her wrists and left her for Alex to find. Mara is beyond medical help and Alex quickly performs the sin eating ritual so that she can go to heaven. After absorbing Mara's sins, though, Alex sees that there is no sin of suicide on Mara's conscience and realizes Eden's deception. Alex goes after Eden to kill him.
The rationale that leads Alex to perform the sin eating ritual instead of giving Mara Roman Catholic Last Rites is that Alex has already made the decision to leave the priesthood to be with Mara and he has broken his vows of obedience and of sexual abstinence. He therefore considers himself ineligible to offer Mara Last Rites.
Meanwhile, the injured Thomas is out of the hospital and goes to see the Black Pope who reveals himself to be Cardinal Driscoll. Driscoll shows Thomas the second half of the parchment which instead of being instructions on how to kill a Sin Eater is actually instructions on how to become a Sin Eater. The entirety of Alex's and Mara's lives have been a plot among Dominic, Eden and Driscoll to entrap Alex. Eden wants to die, Driscoll wants to be Pope and Dominic wanted the financial resources to pursue arcane knowledge.
Driscoll prevents Thomas from leaving to warn Alex.
Alex cannot find Eden and returns to the Black Pope to learn where Eden is. The Black Pope (face hidden) tells Alex again to ask the dying. Alex recognizes that Thomas is the man being hanged, and frees him using a pistol. However, Thomas's throat is too injured by the noose to tell Alex the truth of the parchment.
Alex finds Eden and stabs him with the dagger while reciting the incantation. He quickly realizes what is actually happening but it is too late, Eden's powers are transferred to Alex, and Eden, happy to be free of his burden of the sins of others, dies. In the mean time, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome crumbles around them.
Thomas, who arrives at the scene too late to prevent the transfer, vows he will find a way to save Alex, even if it means killing him.
Alex informs the church about Driscoll's activities and Driscoll is ruined. Driscoll then decides to kill himself and calls on the Sin Eater, now Alex, to remove his sins. Driscoll slits his wrists and when he is near death, Alex tells him that he knows that Eden and Driscoll caused Mara's death. Alex does not eat Driscoll's sins but forces them down Driscoll's throat. Driscoll dies a painful death and presumably goes straight to hell.
The Sin Eater William Eden used his power to accumulate wealth. The Sin Eater Alex Bernier decides to act as a power for good, saving only those who deserve it and allowing evildoers to die in sin. | violence | train | wikipedia | The action was great as well, and there were plenty of fight scenes to keep us van damme fans satisfied.
The main low-point of this film is the music, which is awful as best and extremely annoying at worst.Fight scenes are few, but good, and it seems that Van Damme has tried to get more Jackie Chan looking feeling to this film than he is used too.
This is very nice, since the co-stars - Charlton Heston and Sofia Milos - gets a chance to shine, which is rare in these kind of films.This is also perhaps one of the more down-to-earth movies Van Damme made lately, and it has a really good setting and use of locations.
And as I said, this is perhaps his best movie since Universal Soldier, and I actually place it as the number 3 movie of all Van Damme's work.I truly hope that a sequel comes out of this one, since they really put it that way in the ending!
Van Damme is particularly good, and though it's not his best acting (that would be MAXIMUM RISK), it's better than some of his earlier ones.The film makes good use of its Israeli locations, sexy newcomer Sofia Milos makes a feisty heroine, and co-stars Ben Cross and Brian Thompson offer good support in roles that are smaller than they should be.
There's even some funny bloopers that run before the end credits, though only a few; some more would have been nice.All-in-all, one of van Damme's better movies storywise, and though I'm not sure if I would actually buy the DVD, I would probably make it an occasional rental.
In addition, if you're not able to take a Van Damme underrated, good action flick from Sheldon Lettich, ignore this review, as well.
This was a good action film a very underrated Van Damme film In my opinion The Order is so much better movie than Knock Off. At least I know about what is this movie about at all.
I still don't know what was in Knock Off. This movie is Van Damme's last very fun/old school action film that is very underrated indeed!
I also have pre order it Cyborg (1989) another Underrated Van Damme film.Pino Donaggio the same music composer did made a music and edit it for The Howling and Carrie, so that's pretty cool.
Id love to see him go back to the happy-go-lucky Van Damme from the old days.It is a good movie to watch.
I really have enjoyed watching this movie, I still think it is very underrated Jean-Claude Van Damme film!
They both later worked together on The Hard Corps 5.years later, another direct to video action movie that I like.For direct to video this is far entertaining, tons of action it has Jean-Claude Van Damme the last time, that you will see him acting like he a human been!
Does not deserve to be hated.The Order is a 2001 American action film directed by Sheldon Lettich, and written by Jean-Claude Van Damme, who also starred in the film.
The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on March 12, 2002.8/10 Grade: A Studio: TriStar Pictures Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sofia Milos, Brian Thompson, Vernon Dobtcheff, Ben Cross, Sasson Gabai Director: Sheldon Lettich Producer: Avi Lerner Screenplay: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Les Weldon Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 29 Mins.
I just finished watching this movie and I have to agree with one of the other user comments: Van Damme's acting is definately getting better.
As with all Van Damme movies, don't go watch it with high expectations, just sit back and enjoy it for what it is: brainless action.
I am a huge action fan, and have loved every movie Van Damme has made, even though there has obviously been the weaker ones (namely Universal Soldier 2, Knock Off) but this time the man is back bigger than ever.
Later On, Jean-Claude Van Damme reunites with his father(Vernon Dobtcheff) and learns about the lost chapter of ¨The Fazar¨, it happens to be the holy scripture of an obscure Middle-Eastern sect called ¨The Order¨ (ruled actually by Brian Thompson).
There is received by an old professor (Charlton Heston) and happen several adventures, dangers and risks.This movie exhibited in some countries direct to video packs violent action, suspense, shoot-outs, and martial arts fighting and results to be quite amusing.
Tough Van Damme plays finely a sympathetic thief, splendid Sofia Milos as enjoyable police who finally falls in love with him and Charlton Heston plays convincingly a veteran archaeologist in a brief appearance .The movie is pointlessly energetic, occasionally fun and entertaining and for that reason will appeal to true devotee Van Damme.
It's produced with middling budget by Milennium with its usual producers Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short and Danny, Avi Lerner , furthermore by Van Damme's 777 Films Corp .The movie is professionally directed by Sheldon Lettich.
When I heard Replicant was coming out I had great reservations, but ended up not only liking it but putting it as one of my favorite Van Damme films.
It wasnt as good as his previous efforts, most action scenes seemed to look badly edited compared to his newer films like Double Team and Replicant...the main fight scene in the city of Isreal was good, with Van Damme doing some nice Jumps and Flips, shame the end fight wasnt done better, but overall a watchable action flick....
Terrible movie has Van Damme in Israel as a cross between Indiana Jones and a Universal Soldier to save his father from the hands of a cult, set out to destroy about every religion on this planet.
Van Damme should stay far away from movies like this who actually have a story in them (well, I'm sure that was the purpose anyway), for the simple fact that...
This film clearly shows that Van Damme is still one of the best action movie stars out there today.
I love half second shots of their faces during the car chase scene, van Damme kicking EVERYONE in the movie(and i mean EVERYONE!
not a single human being in this movie is spared from van Damme's kung fu FURY!!!), van Damme using his martial arts to get whatever he wants, the fight scene in the shallow fountain, the shot of the gun landing in the produce, Charelton Heston, the sexy cop who always ran around with her long lucious hair down and her shirt 3 buttons open (yum!), Rudy (van Damme's character) always giving his dad a "high five!", the music (oh God, the music)...
"The Order" just happens to be another great film from Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Mention Jean Claude Van Damme to any action movie aficionado and you'll see their eyes beam remembering films such as Bloodsport, Kickboxer, TimeCop and perhaps even Hard Target.So what happened to JCVD?
Well his style of violent action movies has been dead in the water for many years and plus his films, although interesting, always end up being another 80s styled movie - lots of cheese, OTT action and stupid story lines.VD has been relegated to Direct-to-Video, and having seen the mess that is "The Order" - I have to wonder what happened to VD and his movie career.Its refereshing to see an action movie set in the middle east, but did they have to resort to so may sterotypes, cliches and just pointless chases.
Those times are long gone.Charlton Heston makes a brief cameo - and ironically gets shot in the stomach - well I thought it was ironic considering his stance on guns.Also in there is the worst bad guy I've ever seen - Brian Thompson, his sneering smile reminded me of Gustav Graves in Die another Day - yet Thompson gives no real venom or character to VD's enemy - he's just a heavy who got lucky and now wants to start WW3.Meanwhile JCVD takes on the entire Isralei police force in karate fights - at last, I thought, a chance to see how JCVD would fare against the hand-to-hand combat skills of the Isralei police/army force - but it turns out its more of a flashy leg kicking match - another opportunity missed.If I could resolve this story line in one sentence its this: A die hard in the middle east meets Indiana Jones.
But then again, IT IS a Van Damme movie and you don't go and see them for their acting or their plots.This one has some good fight scenes, but JCVD never really had an opponent who was in the same league.
For Van Damme it's a return to his fighting roots with plenty of martial arts and action with less emphasis on acting (which is a good thing).The plot is a bit lofty, but moves very quickly with some genuinely good fight sequences.
However, Rudy's reputation as a thief hinders him and gets him into trouble with the local police, setting him on the run from them while at the same time trying to find his father.Given that I am a young man with an average IQ and a desire to relax and "switch off" at the end of a working day, I will always tend to give Jean-Claude Van Damme films a stab because they often are just dumb action and that is often all I really want.
The direction is nothing special; Lettich edits it like crazy, stopping an action flow and the effects he is given to work with are far from special.Overall this is a poor film but then I didn't really expect anything better.
The Order directed by Sheldon Lettich feel like a classic Van Damme flick from his golden age and that says a lot.A crazy cult tried to start world war 3 so Jean Claude Van Damme need to stop them at any cost is all you need to know.Van Damme legs truly put to work this time cause there a ton of action scene to make sure you never feel bored and that fine for me.Not one of his best but entertain enough to be owned by any action movie fan.
The Order finds martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme cast as the rogue son of respected archaeologist Vernon Dobtcheff answering a call for help when dad summons him.
Van Damme is a smuggler of artifacts and seller of same and Dobtcheff is worried about some ancient parchment that the members of an underground religious cult want very badly.Later on dad gets summoned to Israel and then is kidnapped by The Order and Jean-Claude is on the hunt.Charlton Heston is in this film in a small role as an archaeologist colleague of Dobtcheff.
The powers that be wiped it out like the Albigensians, or so they thought.Of course when he gets to Jerusalem, Van Damme is involved in a car chase that in the end results in Heston's death and him being accused of it by over zealous Jerusalem homicide cop Ben Cross.
But I also think Heston knew he wasn't in anything like the great epics he was famous for.Lot's of martial arts and chase action as per a Jean-Claude Van Damme film with some specious theology thrown in as well.
Ham on Rye. Action-oriented artifact smuggler Jean-Claude Van Damme (as Rudy Cafmeyer) kicks his heels in the Middle East, where he goes to unload a priceless "Faberge Egg".
Good location and story idea, poor execution and use of resources.*** The Order (12/13/01) Sheldon Lettich ~ Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sofia Milos, Brian Thompson.
Jean-Claude Van Damme, although he can look convincing in action sequences, is never the most expressive of actors, although things could have been worse.
Wanted by the local police, Rudy discovers that members of the sect, known as the Army of God, plan to unleash World War 3 by bombing a Muslim shrine.I wasn't expecting much when I sat down to watch this third collaboration between Jean-Claude Van Damme & director Sheldon Lettich.
Soon it is revealed that his father has found that lost chapter, but then disappears, and Van Damme finds himself in the classic situation where his father has been kidnapped, but not only will the police not help him, they suspect him of the recent murder of a prominent professor, who was played by Charlton Heston, who's talent is conspicuously wasted in the movie.
THE QUEST was bad....but this is a totally misfired, under-achiever of an action flick and the worst thing Sheldon Lettich has ever lent his name too.Having said all that though and acknowledging how sad in some ways it is to see Charlton Heston (77 when he made this) prostituting his art here, It was still good to see him working...however reluctantly.
The warrior composed a code of ethics for his disciples to follow, of which the last chapter goes missing.Fast forward to the present time where Rudy (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a common-day thief.
With the help of his martial-arts expertise, Rudy finally succeeds in locating his old man but discovers that the kidnapping was actually held to drag Rudy to the city.Van Damme's action is the only salvation in thethe movie where the pace is fast.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsVan Damme teams up with Sheldon Lettich again.And what a promising little flick this looked.Aside from the initial pairing,the cast includes Ben Cross,Charlton Heston and Brian Thompson.On this front,Van Damme is on high-kicking form,but Cross is here miscast in the bad guy role,Heston is a little wasted and Thompson's character is too inconsistent to care about as the main bad guy.There is some good action and scenery in parts,but the movie is sunk by a wavey plot and rather trite dialogue.Plus,in this and some of his more recent movies,Van Damme seems to be modelling himself on Jackie Chan by including comedy scenes in his movies.This is kind of welcome,and kind of unwelcome,but it certainly helps rather than hinders things here (there's even some out-takes at the end.)A bit of a wasted opportunity then,but not all bad.**.
Van Dammes fighting is ok but neither good nor spectacular (though I'm in no way competent to judge martial arts, just what I find exciting), and the plot isn't very good, and thats with the expectations you'd put on a film like this.
I'd first like to say that going into this film you already know that since Jean-Claude Van Damme is the star (and co-writer) that what you can expect is a formula action movie.
Going into this film with that assumption you will be rewarded with your average "good guy beats his enemies, saves the day, gets the girl" film.Jean-Claude Van Damme is Rudy, a talented thief who's father ( a distinguished Professor) has gone to Israel in search of great treasures, and is soon kidnapped by others who would rather the treasure be found by them.
At the early nineties, Van Damme was a big star with some nice hit (Universal Soldier, Time Cop) and now he puts all his science to play in turnips (bad film, french expression).His last movies are "direct to video", I'm a fan, and today I'm sad because I think that the end of his career is soon.The only solution to save van Damme is that Quentin Tarantino saves him like he saves the careers of Travolta and Willis with Pulp Fiction...is it possible?
The Order had some good things going for it, but in the end, like the secret Order itself, it failed to deliver on its promise.The lines mouthed by some of the actors in this film are corny and are often predictable, saved somewhat by fairly good acting performances, especially Van Damme's.
I know he can do it - consider Time Cop - so why not expect the same here?After the very interesting intro, in which we learn of the origins of The Order, the film quickly loses focus, and embarks on a LONG sub-plot about Van Damme's character being a thief.
Watching this film was the result of a lack of choice at the video library, as well as nostalgia for my younger days as an action movie junkie (I saw everything Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and Dolph Lundgren ever put out).
I like movies featuring Van Damme, but this was his worst performance that I've seen.
Jean Claude Van Damme is back in Action!!!!
The Order is Jean Claude Van Damme's second good movie since "The Replicant".
Each time "Sheldon Lettich" works on a Jean Claude Van Damme movie, Jean Claude Van Damme does some of the most amazing action scenes, and he shows off his acting skills.
Jean Claude Van Damme fight Israel police who are chasing him.
Not much martial arts involved, but it has Jean Claude Van Damme fighting with a sword.Thats all of it so I found this movie good and I would suggest people should see it..
Jean Claude Van Damme in a movie that seems like a Jackie Chan vehicle..
Hell it's just worth it to see a car chase involving Jean Claude Van Damme and Charlton Heston..
"The Order" is an action film about Rudy Cafmeyer (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who goes looking for his father, Prof.
Yes, it has all the stupidity we've come to know and love from Nu-Image, but the Israel locations add a lot and the movie has a good pace.Van Damme gives a pretty upbeat performance as Rudy, whose claim to fame is that he's a black market Faberge egg dealer.
Another disappointing actioner from once-reliable superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme, now reduced to making movies for the straight-to-video market that only his most die-hard fans will bother checking out.
The action is plentiful but rarely exciting, consisting of poorly-edited punch-ups, some cool-but-not-THAT-impressive car and motorbike chases; the villains here intend to deport Van Damme rather than to kill him like in previous movies, which makes things that bit less exciting. |
tt0091538 | Mona Lisa | George (Hoskins), a low-level working-class gangster recently released from prison, is given a job in London by his former boss, Denny Mortwell (Caine), as the driver and bodyguard for a high-priced prostitute named Simone (Tyson). Mortwell also wants George to gather information on one of Simone's wealthy customers for blackmail purposes. Simone, who has worked hard to develop high-class manners and an elite clientele, initially dislikes the uncouth and outspoken George, and he regards her as putting on airs. But as George and Simone find out more about each other, they form a friendship, and George begins to fall in love with her. George agrees to risk his own life to help Simone find her teenage friend Cathy (Hardie), who has disappeared, and whom Simone fears is being abused by her violent former pimp, Anderson (Peters).
George increasingly finds himself torn between his feelings for Simone, his obligations to his boss Mortwell, and his relationship with his teenage daughter Jeannie, a sweet normal girl who has matured while he was in prison and wants to have her father in her life.
After Anderson attacks George, Simone flees to Brighton. George finally finds Cathy and takes her to Brighton to reunite her with Simone, where he lends Simone his gun. He discovers that Simone and Cathy are lovers, and that Simone doesn't care about him and only used him to find Cathy. Mortwell and Anderson then arrive to take back control of Simone and Cathy, and an enraged Simone shoots them both dead and then threatens to shoot George. He punches her, takes the gun and leaves - upset at her ingratitude. Freed of his underworld obligations, George returns to a more normal life, working in his friend's garage and spending time with Jeannie. | romantic, neo noir | train | wikipedia | Neil Jordan's 'Mona Lisa' is a great film that was sadly forgotten over time, even though Hoskins got an Oscar nomination for the film.
'Mona Lisa' follows a basically good guy whose made some bad choices George (Bob Hoskins) and his return from prison.
Shunned from his wife and some of his old buddies, George feels kind of unwanted but gets a job from his old boss (Michael Caine) chauffeuring a call girl (Cathy Tyson) around at night.
Caine soon gets George back on the payroll, as an exclusive chauffeur for high class call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson).
"Mona Lisa" is a moving and memorable combination of the British crime film and the character study, produced by George Harrison's company Handmade Films, and serves as a showcase for some very impressive performances.
Top billed Bob Hoskins, in particular, in his Best Actor Academy Award nominated performance, is the person we follow through a convincing depiction of the seamy underbelly of London, a land populated by pimps, prostitutes, and mobsters such as the nasty Mortwell, played by Michael Caine.
He's given the initially thankless task of acting as chauffeur for high class prostitute Simone, played by the lovely and amazing Cathy Tyson.
Thomas likes to create art using plastic spaghetti (!), and there is a nice light touch brought to all scenes with Hoskins and Coltrane, which prevents this story from ever being too much of a downer, although for the most part "Mona Lisa" is grim and gritty stuff, with fairy tale and film noir elements emphasized.
The film deals with an ex-con named George, played by Bob Hoskins who gives a fantastic performance, who is given a job by his old boss, Mortwell, as played by Michael Cain (another fantastic performance).
It's a powerful film, showing the gritty side of the London underworld and it cannot go wrong with two of the best ever performances from the masters - Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine.
with incredible, top-of-the-line performances from Bob Hoskins, Michael Caine (playing a scary bad guy) and Cathy Tyson.
You can tell you're watching a good movie when you can describe it as "atmospheric" without the film trying overtly to reach for that effect.Bob Hoskins stars as George, and as we first see him, he is lulling along a dismal London apartment neighborhood with a plastic bag and a fistful of flowers.
Indeed his good intentions at seeing his wife and daughter are mired by the wife's stubborn, yet understandable reaction of slamming the door in her ex-convict husband's face.Soon George is hired by the callous gangster Mortwell (Michael Caine) as a chauffeur for the high-class call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson).
This is why it comes as even more of a shock to George when he accidentally discovers a porn video featuring Simone at the provocation of things which her innocent demeanor had previously rendered him incapable of imagining.Much of "Mona Lisa" is built around human desperation, and indeed one can sense that George, like Travis Bickle or Jimmy Stewart in "Vertigo", is attempting to erroneously place the puzzled-together image of the perfect woman into the jagged emotional contours of his love interest.
The title is based on the Nat King Cole song "Mona Lisa", which he sings about the famous Da Vinci painting and the mystery that surrounds it - and film revokes around that same painful mystery of a what a certain woman wants, and what she has experienced.The film opens with that song, with the male lead character, George walking to his daughter's house after his release from prison.
Cathy Tyson was also perfect as the Mona Lisa - like Simone, and Michael Caine appears as the ruthless king pin Mortwell.Adding to the mix is the great music, the theme song by Genesis and the dark atmospheric look of London's night spots.
George is hired by his former boss Mortwell (Michael Caine) to work as the driver and bodyguard of the high-class call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson).
George (Bob Hoskins) newly out after a stint in prison, agrees to chauffeur Simone (Cathy Tyson) "a tall, black, tart".
Bob Hoskins most likely should have won the Oscar for Mona Lisa, a crime love story if such a thing exists.
Like a lot of my favorite films, the premise is simple; George (Hoskins) is fresh out of prison and gets a job as a driver for Simone (Cathy Tyson), a high-class call girl.
I wish Neil Jordan would operate more in this genre, because with this and the phenomenal Crying Game, which came out six years later, he has proved twice over his massive capability for making crime thrillers that are unique and wickedly intense.As George is driven down this dark path into the new underworld, a place darker and more twisted than it was when he went away, Jordan paces everything with a slow burn that gets downright diabolical in it's final act.
Hoskins portrays George as an intimidating man with a rage inside of him, but when he's on screen with Caine he looks like a chubby boy being picked on at the playground.The relationship between George and Simone is built in a refreshingly honest way, played with genuine sincerity by Hoskins and Tyson, and all of this leads to a practically flawless crime thriller.
Some complain about the slow pace; others about the fake happy ending, but the truth is the powerfulness of the movie lies within these boundaries, not despite.Bob Hoskins gives the performance of his career as George, just released from prison who finds work as a chauffeur for a high class call girl (played by Cathy Tyson).
Eventually George gets involved in looking for a girl Simone used to walk the streets with, and is, as she is afraid, the slave of a dangerous pimp.Michael Caine, giving the third major performance of the movie, shines in a brief, but memorable role as a very creepy, very corrupt mob boss.Bob Hoskins deserved the Best Actor Oscar for his performance here, and Cathy Tyson and Michael Caine deserved nominations.
What George doesn't count on is that the contempt he feels for her will turn into affection.Like The Crying Game before it, Mona Lisa is a down and dirty, gritty movie and this styling does the film no end of favours when it comes to portraying the plot.
This movie reminded me a lot of Taxi Driver with its characters and plot.Bob Hoskins gives an outstanding performance as a lonely loser who is employed as a chauffeur to a call girl(Cathy Tyson).
The film has some great moments - at times you feel some genuine sympathy for Bob Hoskyns' unpredictable nitwit of a character and for Cathy Tyson's stunning up-market whore who has worked her way up from the gutter variety.
The only job he can get is to drive high-priced call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson) for local gangster Denny Mortwell (Michael Caine).
Bob Hoskins' performance in Mona Lisa is usually highly praised and spoken in the same breath as his portrayal of hood boss Harold Shand in The Long Good Friday (1980).
With time, their differences become their bond, and Simone asks George to help her find her old friend, a young girl named Cathy (Kate Hardie), who is still in the hands of a sadistic pimp (played by The Wire's Clarke Peters).
However, the film is by no means grim, with an excellent script by director Neil Jordan and David Leland providing many amusing moments, particularly in the exchanges between George and his detective story-loving friend Thomas (Robbie Coltrane).The performances are excellent all round.
Hoskins plays a chauffeur who finds himself caught up in a dark and violent world of prostitution and gangsters.MONA LISA is a film which subverts expectations and offers no happy endings.
Mona Lisa is a bleak at times noir fuelled by two central characters that never seem to enjoy the world and work they're involved with but try to put on a face for each other, initially out of the fact they don't want to seem the weaker of the two, but later to just survive.The two in question are George (Hoskins) and Simone (Tyson).
From here, it is possible to translate the Taxi Driver text into Mona Lisa and state that London (within this film and in the real world) has developed a level of seediness and prostitution in the years since George has been inside since his reaction of disgust is also one of surprise was it there pre-Thatcher, before he went to prison?Director Neil Jordan is a very accomplished filmmaker and Mona Lisa could be seen as a swipe at the Thatcher government at the time, a government that took control of Britain and updated it with the post-modern and modernity as a whole and yet let society and the actual world around us slip into a decay of prostitution, constructed peep shows and other such content excellently highlighted by George's descent through the district in montage format that does not rely on dialogue but emphasises its point by means of the visual as a Genesis track aptly entitled 'In Too Deep' plays over it.Yet on top of all this content we might be able to read into, Mona Lisa is study of relationships between people.
"Mona Lisa" with Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, and Michael Caine, is aninteresting, funny and sad love story that takes us to the depths of the sleazy London flesh trade in the 1980's.
Hoskins is George, an ex-con who gets hired to drive a high class hooker named Simone around London for crime bossMichael Caine.
Viewed from a distance, Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa seems even more like a seminal British film of the 1980s than it did at the time.
As their relationship progresses, however, the two become friends, and George even begins to fall in love with Simone- so much so that when she asks him for help in finding her friend Cathy, who has disappeared, George readily agrees, even though he may be putting himself in danger by doing so.The title does not refer directly to Leonardo's famous painting, which is never seen or referred to, but rather to the Nat King Cole song, which serves as the film's theme tune.
These divisions are even reflected in the world of prostitution; there is a sharp contrast between the superficially glamorous world of high-class call-girls like Simone, wined and dined by the wealthy elite in luxury hotels, and the seedy world of streetwalkers like Cathy and the pathetic Irish teenager May, brutalised both by their clients and their pimps.The film reunites Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins, who had previously acted together in "The Honorary Consul".
When I first saw "Mona Lisa" in the cinema in 1986 I found it no more than a run-of-the-mill neo-noir crime drama, but over the years my respect for it has increased, and today its gripping story, fine acting and cold-eyed look at the Britain of the period make it one of the key films in this eighties revival.
Facing limited employment prospects after a long stint in jail, a British gangster accepts a job as chauffeur to a high class call girl and eventually agrees to help the young woman search for a teen prostitute friend in this human drama from Neil Jordan.
Despite his high billing, Michael Caine appears in just a handful of scenes and only makes a limited impression, but in addition to Hoskins, Cathy Tyson (as the call girl) and Robbie Coltrane (as the closest Hoskins has to a real friend) offer fine performances too..
As a portrait of low, high and middle ground vice in London's famous Soho district it is bang on the money, but sadly it has ambitions above its station and tries to be a thriller and chase movie as well.Hoskins is excellent as our guide and driver (George) and Kathy Tyson (Simone) is his match as the class tart with a heart.
Hoskins is ably supported by his fellow cast , Cathy Tyson who unfortunately ended up being typecast after this film , Robbie Coltrane before he became famous for CRACKER , and Michael Caine who makes a rare but very good cameo appearance.
Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa is a gangster film, but it's a love story, but it's not romantic, but it's sentimental.
As Bob and Cathy become friends, he gets involved in her seedy world and dangerous problems.Mona Lisa is a pretty upsetting movie, even though you might not be able to tell from the beginning.
In "Mona Lisa", Hoskins plays an excon who takes a job as a chauffeur for a call girl (Tyson) and becomes involved with seedy underworld people as he attempts to help her find a young woman also in the sex trade.
What kicks off MONA LISA is the unlikely relationship between ex-con chauffeur (Bob Hoskins) and high-end call girl (Cathy Tyson).
A crime drama showing the seamy (often very seamy) side of London's underworld,MONA LISA is a sometimes flawed but mainly absorbing mid-80's British pic with an outstanding performance at it's centre from Bob Hoskins.A newly released con,George (Hoskins) has taken the rap for his former boss,Denny Mortwell (Michael Caine) by doing seven years inside.An attempted reunion with his wife fails miserably, though he keeps in contact with his teenage daughter, and Mortwell gets him work as a driver for a high-class prostitute Simone (Cathy Tyson) whom George soon falls in love with.Simone's response is more measured,and she asks him if he can find and trace a younger prostitute whom she befriended,Cathy (Kate Hardie),with the unpleasant intentions of Mortwell and her sadistic pimp (Clarke Peters) always a continuing threat.MONA LISA has some decidedly sordid aspects in it's plot and content, with Mortwell having no scruples in procuring clearly underage girls (usually drug-addicted) to wealthy and perverted elderly clients, requesting George gets photos of Simone's clients in compromising positions (for obvious blackmailing purposes), and hanging around the seediest bars and sleaziest strip joints.This material quite easily could have tipped over the top and into sensationalism,but Neil Jordan's admirably understated and atmospheric direction thankfully prevents it from doing so,with apposite cinematography in murky,desaturated tones effectively lensed by Roger Pratt,capturing the sense of gloom and melancholy perfectly.The film's main flaw are scenes involving George and his mechanic friend Thomas (Robbie Coltrane) who he lodges with.Presumably intended as light relief and further explanations of the plot, they merely come across as irrelevant and superfluous and cause lapses in the skillful mood and atmosphere Jordan creates in the crux of the film around the red light district of King's Cross and Soho,and swankier hotels in contrast.This was the mid-80's era of expanding free market ethics and Yuppiedom,but there's little indication of this in MONA LISA,perhaps emphasising an essential soulessness to the period's outlook, with a predictably miserable image of a dank,chilly English seaside in Brighton.There's a basic unlikability to all the characters on view,yet Hoskins makes his character wholly sympathetic,as we travel with him into a world he is increasingly horrified and repelled by,and seemingly attempts to prise away those caught in such a labyrinth of unending nastiness and seediness.His love for Ms Tyson is genuinely touching,adding complex layers to a character that is on the face of it bullish and intimidating,yet deep down very caring,protective if even compassionate,with a heartbreaking revelation that the love is not requited.Much of the film resembles TAXI DRIVER in this sense,though Hoskins' George is a rather more mentally stable hero than Robert De Niro's anti-heroic Travis,with MONA LISA's violent climax not of his making.There's fine support from Caine as the evil Mortwell,and a often touching portrayal by Cathy Tyson who struggles to keep her senses in the midst of the violence and perversity she is tragically subject to.But this is Hoskins' film all the way,with his memorable performance than even has tinges of humour helping to take the edge of the often questionable material and subject matter at hand,and with the help of Jordan's careful direction (barring the unnecessary scenes with Coltrane),making MONA LISA one of the better British films of the mid-80's.RATING:7 1/2 out of 10..
Unable to find work his friend Thomas (Robbie Coltrane) explains the realities and changes in the neighbourhood, then his former boss, local kingpin Mortwell (Sir Michael Caine), hires him to work as a driver, and driving his returned Jaguar he drives and is bodyguard to high-class call girl Simone (BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Cathy Tyson).
Hoskins gives a fantastic aggressive performance as well as some more tender moments, Tyson is good as the emotionally damaged hooker, and Caine is good with his time on screen being quite sinister, it is a simple story of a man falling in love with a woman, but there are twists along the way as she and situations becomes much more complicated, there is a fair amount of violence and thuggery, and it is both thrilling and moving in the right places, it's a terrific crime drama.
Released in 1986, the film stars Bob Hoskins as George, an ex-convict who is hired to ferry a call girl, Simone (Cathy Tyson), around London.
It is from the latter relationship that George is given a job driving high-class prostitute Simone and it is here, with the exception of a few twists and turns, where the crux of the story is developed.At its core, Mona Lisa is a romance.
Bob Hoskins' Oscar-nominated portrayal of George makes him a very sympathetic character primarily because he's fundamentally good-natured but also because of how bewildered he is by so much of what transpires.Cathy Tyson is utterly convincing as the elegant Simone, Robbie Coltrane is great as the likeable Thomas who has a liking for bizarre thriller plots and Michael Caine is excellent as Denny Mortwell, a diabolical villain who's ruthless, repulsive and completely devoid of any redeeming qualities.As the movie's director and co-writer, Neil Jordan certainly did a great job of creating a genuinely offbeat, skillfully directed story that's incredibly atmospheric and featured numerous recognizable London locations to give the movie its strong sense of time and place.. |
tt0081480 | Seems Like Old Times | Nick Gardenia (Chevy Chase), an out-of-luck writer, has the use of a friend's oceanside cabin in Big Sur, California. He is interrupted by a pair of bank robbers, Warren 'Dex' Dexter (Judd Omen) and B.G. Ramone (Marc Alaimo), who use Nick to rob a bank in Carmel. Their modus operandi is to take an innocent person and force them at gunpoint to rob banks, take the money and toss their captive out of their moving car. Unfortunately for Nick (as in one of Chase's signature pratfalls), he trips in the bank, is helped up and looks directly into a security camera.
The bank's picture of Nick comes to the attention of Los Angeles district attorney Ira Parks (Charles Grodin) when his assistant, Fred (Robert Guillaume), recognizes it to be Parks' wife's ex-husband. Because of his desire to become State Attorney General, Ira is frustrated and upset, thinking this could harm his campaign.
Ira's wife, Glenda (Goldie Hawn), is a lawyer herself. A public defender, Glenda often tries to rehabilitate her clients by giving them odd jobs around their house, as with her chauffeur/butler Chester (T. K. Carter). After a long day in court, Glenda comes home to mixed news—joy for Ira running for Attorney General and surprise when Ira gives her the news about Nick. She wants to defend Nick because of her disbelief that he would ever do such a thing.
The robbers ditch Nick and he desperately makes his way to Glenda and Ira's Brentwood, Los Angeles house. During a party, Glenda, while searching for one of her dogs, finds Nick hiding in her garage. He begs for help and she tries to get him some food, despite most of the leaders of law enforcement being in her house. Nick explains what happened, but Glenda refuses to help unless he turns himself in. Glenda finally agrees to let him sleep in a guest room over the garage.
The next day Nick decides he wants to personally go after the guys who did this to him. After some comically close run-ins with the police, with Ira and with a feisty maid, Aurora De La Hoya (Yvonne Wilder), she manages to keep anyone from knowing Nick was there. He later robs her of her car but then reappears over her garage, and another confrontation ensues between Ira and Glenda.
Ira soon discovers Nick was telling the truth about the two men who forced him to rob the bank. About to have the Governor of California coming to the house for dinner, Glenda must deal with court cases, with her maid having foot surgery (which could ruin the party without the governor's favorite dish, Aurora's chicken pepperoni), and with Chester getting drunk in the kitchen. The party takes a hilarious turn when Nick, coming back to turn himself in, ends up serving dinner to the governor, Ira, Glenda, and Fred. The dinner ultimately ends in a fistfight between a jealous Ira and Nick, during which Fred is knocked out.
Nick, Glenda, Ira, Aurora, the dogs and the robbers ultimately end up in the courtroom of Glenda's favorite Judge John Channing (Harold Gould). While the judge is overwhelmed by the happenings in the Parks household, the police bring in the bank robbers. They admit Nick's innocence in exchange for a reduced sentence after getting caught by Aurora and the dogs when they attempted to force her to rob a bank, just like they did Nick.
After all is said and done, Nick is free, but he and Glenda still have unresolved feelings. She decides to stay with Ira and kisses Nick good-bye. Some time later, Ira and Glenda decide to take a car trip to forget recent events. They end up in an accident trying to avoid a cow on the road. Ira breaks his leg, so Glenda has to go for help. She ends up at the only place around: a cabin with all the lights on. Glenda pounds on the door begging for help. The door opens and she discovers the cabin is Nick's. | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0101198 | Silk Stalkings | === Chris and Rita ===
From 1991–95, the lead characters were played by Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture, as detectives Christopher Lorenzo and Rita Lee Lance, respectively. Early in the series, Ben Vereen played Rita's boss Captain Hutchinson ("Hutch"). Vereen was compelled to retire from the show during the second season due to an off-screen accident, but he returned for a few guest appearances. His successor was Lt. Hudson, played by Robert Gossett, who stayed on until the third season. Chris and Rita's new boss, who would stay with the show for its duration, was Charlie Brill as Captain Harry Lipschitz. Brill would go on to appear in the most episodes of any actor, 129, ahead of Kapture's 101 and Estes' 100. He was promoted to the opening credits starting with season six.
Brill's real-life wife Mitzi McCall played Lipschitz's free-spirited wife Frannie on the series, and the two provided some occasional comic relief amid the dramatic tension of the storylines. They also appeared in the second season playing completely different characters. Working prominently with Lorenzo and Lance was assistant district attorney George Donovan (William Anton). Various recurring characters came and went, notably Dennis Paladino as mob boss Donnie "Dogs" DiBarto (DiBelco in his first appearance); John Byner as Cotton Dunn, a cunning but likable con artist; Scott Atkins as Officer Perry, a rookie cop; Kim Morgan Greene as Melissa Cassidy, a late night radio talk show host, sex therapist, and old flame of Chris's; Danny Gans as Roger, a coroner who frequently (and unsuccessfully) tried to get Rita to go out with him; Marie Marshall as Solange, a local photographer with a faux French accent who crossed paths with Chris and Rita in the second season; and Lucy Lin, who played forensic expert Dr. Noriko Weinstein. Actress Freda Foh Shen took over Lin's role in later episodes. In the first season, it was shown that Rita suffered from occasionally intense headaches, which were caused by a blood bubble in her brain. Rita opted not to have surgery to fix this because it was deemed too high-risk. However, as the series went on, this condition was gradually phased out of the plot and was never mentioned again.
Estes and Kapture were equal co-stars. The opening credits would alternate, one week showing Estes first and then Kapture, the following week showing Kapture first and then Estes. The opening montage of quick cuts were "teasers" that suggested the sexy and violent subject matter of the show, but were not taken from any of the show's actual episodes. According to Stephen Cannell, in a DVD extra, they were developed initially as a promo, filmed and assembled by Ralph Hemecker in a single day of filming, and featuring a leggy blonde actress/model whom Cannell said was named Avalon Jones. In the first two episodes of the series, Kapture was shown first, and then Estes; they alternated after that, except for Kapture's final episode, in which she (and not Estes) appeared in the opening montage, followed by the two new co-stars.
Two off-screen events in the summer of 1995 were pivotal to the show and were worked into the storyline. Both actors were ready to leave the series, Estes to pursue other acting opportunities and Kapture to take time off for her first child.
Estes had first flirted with departure at the end of the third season (spring of 1994). The season ended in a cliffhanger episode, "Dark Heart", with Chris being shot by an obsessed woman, played by Crystal Chappell. Chris was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance as the closing credits rolled. After negotiations, Estes decided to renew his contract, and the fourth season (fall 1994) began with Chris' recovery from his near-fatal wounds in a two-part episode, "Natural Selection", that was later released on VHS as a two-hour film.
In the fifth season (fall 1995), Chris and Rita's mutual attraction finally moved from friendship to love in a two-part episode in November, called "Partners". Nick Kokotakis, as detective Michael Price, was introduced during that episode. Rita, who was promoted to Lieutenant, was soon confirmed to be pregnant (as was Kapture in real life), and Chris and Rita were married in an early December episode titled "Till Death Do Us Part". The next week's episode, "The Last Kiss Goodnight", ended with Chris being shot and killed in the line of duty.
Kapture appeared in one more episode, "Dead Asleep". This episode's credits featured Kapture, but not Estes, (for the only time in the series) as well as Kokotakis and Tyler Layton, who was introduced in the previous episode as Chris' new partner, detective Holly Rawlins. Most of the episode, which began with Rita, Harry and Frannie Lipschitz, Price, Rawlins and Donovan at Chris' burial, was spent focusing on Michael and Holly's first case. At the end of the show, the grief-stricken Rita spends one final scene talking to Chris at his gravesite, says goodbye to Lipschitz, and leaves the force for parts unknown.
=== Tom and Cassy ===
With Estes and Kapture gone from the show, Kokotakis and Layton took over the lead roles. Fans of the show did not embrace the new characters, and they were replaced after that half-season by Chris Potter and Janet Gunn. Gunn, who starred in the Primetime after Crimetime series Dark Justice as Kelly Cochrane in 1992 and '93, previously played a secretary arrested for murder in season 3.
Unlike the transition that was played out between Chris and Rita and Michael and Holly, no on-screen explanation was given for Michael and Holly's departure, and fans of the series sometimes refer to them as the "lost cast". ADA George Donovan was also written out of the series at the end of season five, leaving Harry and Frannie Lipschitz as the lone holdovers from the Lance and Lorenzo episodes.
The detectives moved into an upgraded precinct in season seven.
The romantic chemistry between Potter and Gunn's characters, Tom Ryan and Cassandra St. John respectively (who, according to the story line, had been married to and divorced from one another before their arrival on the series), revived interest in the show and it rebounded in the ratings. After three additional seasons, USA canceled the series in 1999. The final episode of the final season, in spring 1999, placing Tom's career and relationship with Cassy on the rocks, was a cliffhanger with no resolution. | violence, neo noir, murder | train | wikipedia | Rob & Mitzi: More Chemistry than duPont!.
Silk Stalkings will go down in TV history as the little cable show that really scored in the ratings.
Rob Estes and MitziKapture had more genuine, honest and passionate on-screen chemistry than any TV characters I've ever seen before or since.
The show also featured great supporting players like Charlie Brill and William Anton.
But all good things eventually come to an end.
When Rob & Mitzi left in the middle of the 5th season the new team was totally unable to continue on in any way even close their predecessors.
Asthe 6th season started Executive Producer David Peckinpah left the series.
Season 6 gave us new producers, directors, writers, supporting players, and a new team of detectives.
We were supposed tobelieve that a divorced couple were now the number one detective team in Palm Beach.
had ever even known Chris and Rita.
Rob & Mitzi had more chemistry and heat sitting at their desks than Potter and Gunn could ever hope to muster.
It was just impossible to replace the magic that graced the screen with Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture.
We still miss their characters but luckily have tapes to enjoy for years to come..
It is a sexy and overt grabber sequence that rivals that of "Hawaii Five-O", "Miami Vice", and even "Mission Impossible".It is usually followed by Rita's narrative of what is yet to come.So...
A formula that remains in use.Chris and Rita, the two main cop partner characters continue to have a professional but close relationship which adds some spark to the show.
The show still went on to much disappointment (at least by me).
Please don't dismiss the first few years.Silk Stalkings presented a very new and different scene for a police detective environment which borrows from "Miami Vice" and then takes it over the top.
When you get sick of commercials, just pop a Silk in the DVD player and enjoy.
The outrageous police department decor and the dress of the main characters helped keep me interested.Ignore the predictability, "Silk Stalkings" is a one of a kind, and worth a few enjoyable hours..
Two young, glamorous cops investigate and solve murders committed by snooty Palm Beach socialites, and do so without messing up their hairstyles or expensive wardrobes.
Most of the women wore form-fitting spandex, packed obvious silicone implants, and look like hookers masquerading as royalty.
To put it mildly, it's hardly typical of Palm Beach society women.
Indeed, the film seems to say that all rich people are scum and it's fun to watch their downfall.
Much of the credit goes to Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture.
As detectives Christopher Lorenzo and Rita Lance, they give a genuinely convincing portrayal of dedicated detectives and supportive partners.
New characters were introduced, and the show sank to the level of "Ken and Barbie play cops." Still, the series ground on for four more years, which says much about the quality of the USA Network's programming.Would I watch it again?
I'm not very original, but the classic silk episodes were the best.
Everybody who saw the classic episodes should confirm that.I was so upset when Rob and Mitzi left the show.
I admit, the scripts of silk stalkings weren't always great and the cases weren't always realistic, but the actors made up for all that.Rob and Mitzi were great together.
The chemistry between the two of them was great and you could see they had a lot of fun in front of the cameras.I miss watching the reruns late at night, but I've got a lot of episodes on tape (I won't be bored).
Thumbs up for Rob, Mitzi K (Sam and Sam), Charlie, Mitzi M, William and all the other actors who made my life a lot better every day!
Mitzy and Rob have great chemistry as Rita and Chris.
Great, hip, and sexy show about bored rich people who commit crimes.
silk stalkings one of the best.
i loved this show when it was on CBS and when he moved to USA Network.i think they should have given Chris and Rita a different ending.Rob and Mitzi have great chemistry.the two partner parings ofter them didn't have that spark.i watched the show both on Crimetime after Primetime along with Forever Knight they were some of my favorites.i think the USA Network should bring this show back.i think the producers of the show should have gone the same way the show Dallas did with the whole dream sequence when Pam thought Bobby was dead.i loved both Ben Vereen and Charlie Brill as the captains.the two actors who played Michael and Holly their was no spark.the last to actors were OK,but we already knew what happened to their relationship..
Chris and Rita Did it for Me....
Chris and Rita's personality and chemistry did it for lots of viewers of the late night show.
They clicked, and you knew that they would eventually become more than just partners and friends....that was part of the lure that kept people coming back to view the show.
It was the give and take, the support and the pride, that made Rob and Mitzi really work on the screen in their roles.
My wife and I would make a popcorn evening of watching the two back-to-back episodes of SS when it was on USA Network.
I remember staying up and watching this show mostly due to the almost sofcore stories and air brushed cast but as i grew older i started watching the show more for the unnecessary comedy than anything else.Just noticing the typical casting done for the extras and supporting cast, every cop in that station was a model or made of plastic.
The acting wasn't exactly bad persay just that the cast didn't have much to work with or just became compliant to getting a pay check.Watch it for fluff and turn your brain off, and you'll get some pleasure from watching this bad TV..
I started watching Silk Stalkings when it aired on the CBS Crimetime after Primetime schedule in 1991 and was glad to see it picked up on the USA network instead of being cancelled like my other favorite show Dark Justice in which Janet Gunn also starred.
When the show first aired you could see the great chemistry with Rob and Mitzi.
It was sad when they killed of Rob's character and Mitzi left shortly afterwards.
When they brought in Nick and Tyler to replace Rob and Mitzi it just didnt work.
The best thing that happened was bringing in Janet and Chris to replace them.
Janet and Chris also had great chemistry.
Bringing in these two allowed a great show to go on for four more seasons.
Support, especially for Chris and Rita.
Silk Stalkings is; for what it is and it doesn't pretend to be anything else; great viewing, especially the episodes with Chris and Rita, the other pair just don't have the same screen effect..
The few episodes that I have watched I found boring.
What captivated me about Silk Stalkings is the way the writers treated relationships (Buffy has this same genius).
Great action and adventure coupled with incredible long term story and character development makes for irresistible entertainment.I can't wait for the series to come out on DVD (I won't have to wait long since it is due out Sept.
My hobby is silk stalkings.
Silk Stalkings is a great show.
Rob and Mitzi stole the show, but the new ones are still ok.
I'll never forget the life that Chris and Rita had.
but it is obvious to be a real good serie.
While the actors are probably good and the women certainly beautiful, I get bored.
Even I know it has to come off for interesting things to happen.
Also, I've noticed several actresses starring in different roles on this show as different characters, who usually end up dead.
I'm the latter.In general, this show is disappointing.
Cannell fails to create a Palm Beach, FL scenario using his San Diego filming location.
As a result, upon watching the episodes, some may be convinced (at least visually) that the story (ie plot) is based in San Diego, not Palm Beach, FL.Honestly speaking, San Diego is a very beautiful place that has a lot of unique characteristics.
By NO means can it be "transformed" into a Palm Beach scenario.
(And it's also a bit ridiculous to see a pair of male-female cops fooling around, doing "dirty" things, having talks on "inappropriate" subjects, etc.)If I were to choose only ONE police drama, then Miami Vice would definitely be the one to go (for) 'cause that's the one which is filmed in the real location and almost every episode is packed with the same level of intensity (and "heat")..
I have watched almost all the episodes and have most on tape.
I especially enjoy Classic Silk with Rob and Mitzi(my favorite actress) but also like the new stuff now and then.
If you ever get a chance to watch SS but don't know if it is worth your time...
The new Silk team has made this show worth watching.
Commenting as a New Silk fan (Tom and Cassy), I have to say that I have enjoyed the years with this team.
The unnecessary T&A scenes have been toned down (thankfully) and we're left with an enjoyable series with two very likable leads.
Tom (Chris Potter) and Cassy (Janet Gunn) were partners, lovers, married and divorced and now back to partners.
Tom is the kind of guy that any women would want...kind, sweet, talented not to mention very attractive and his friendship with Cassy, despite their differences, makes the show a great treat..
A well remembered guilty pleasure of mine a treat to view some very sexy eye candy!.
I remember growing up in the 90's as a young man I was glued to this series which was properly and rightfully called "Silk Stalkings".
It first started on a late night trial run on "CBS" then it would quickly move over as a regular series at the "USA Network" and would run strong all thru the 90's.
The key players would change hands a few times yet the first and best cop team was that of Sgt. Rita Lance(Mitzi Kapture)and Sgt. Chris Lorenzo(Rob Estes)and later I remember the attractive Janet Gunn as a cop.
The series centered around the team of cops investigating murders, blackmail, scandal, white collar crime, drugs, and sex crimes involving high class escorts all of this happening with the ultra and very premium rich and well to do of Palm Beach, Florida(yet the series was mostly filmed in San Diego, California and Arizona).The thing that stuck with me the most from this series was the hot sexy scenes of eye candy with hot sexy high society socialite women wearing very sexy colored bras and underwear!
Need I say more the series had it all it had drama and suspense with crimes of passion with the very rich and it was spiced up and treated with very sexy scenes that were eye candy treats and most episodes had plot twist.
To bad that series this excellent aren't made anymore as "Silk Stalkings" was clearly a seduction and guilty pleasure for a viewer to watch..
Excellent Crime Drama Series.
From the beginning Chris (Rob Estes) and Rita (Mitzi Kapture) have great chemistry.
By episode eight in season five, the emotions and relationship mature and Silk Stalkings turns into a true romance series.The next six episodes are pure genius.
Anyone who enjoys a good love story will be glued to the tube.
The crimes take a back seat and the character development of Chris and Rita take center stage.
Call me a romantic, but at times you forget that this is a crime drama.When it is all said and done, you will feel deprived to not know and only dream where Chris and Rita's lives could have gone next..
Silk was the highest rated original series on USA when it ran for 8 seasons...because it really was a great show.
The stars made the show what it was, of course, because in spite of the creators trying to lay the T&A (aka nudity) on thick, the real attraction was the awesome chemistry between actors Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture for the first 4.5 seasons.
Chris and Rita were the subject of many a "ship" till they finally fell into each others arms.
However it wasn't just about romance with this pair, they were the best of friends and the special relationship they had always became part and parcel of the roles and the plot and enhanced the story lines perfectly.
There were also some very intriguing characters (Guest stars) who lent support to the leads as well as the comic twists and turns that made the show very likable and entertaining.
I own all 4 seasons on DVD mainly because of Chris and Rita (Rob and Mitzi) but every time I watch I am reminded there was always more to love in this show...nudity aside..
Erotic crime drama series.
Cannell created one my most favorite TV series SILK STALKINGS.
Stalking ran from 1991 to 1999 on CBS and then USA.
Mitzi Kapture as Detective Rita Lance and Rob Estes as Detective Chris Lorenzo made the show what it was.
Two detectives solving sexually-based crimes in Palm Beach, Florida(although the show was filmed in Sand Diego, California).
The close working relationship between Estes and Kapture at times pseudo erotic is so smooth and easy to watch.The series became very mediocre when the original duo left for other projects.
First being replaced by Nick Kokatkis and Tyler Layton; who would be replaced with Chris Potter and Janet Gunn.
Catch SILK STALKINGS on DVD at BlockBuster.
I'm a fan of both vintage Silk (Chris and Rita--played by Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture) and New Silk (Tom and Cassy played by Chris Potter and Janet Gunn).
The writing quality was--respectable, I guess and the on screen chemistry between the characters of Chris and Rita was superb.
They had the dream sequence kiss that was such a tremendous relief and fun to watch and then the stark news that Chris had died (I think in surgery).
The closing shot of the ep was of Rita looking through the hospital window, absolutely spiritually destroyed.
They were beautiful physical specimens, of course, but neither of them could act very well--(though, by the by, I did see Tyler Layton guest-star on Charmed that one time and she succeeded rather well, so maybe she improved her technique in the ensuing 2-3 years after she left this show).
Tom and Cassy were nowhere near as engaging as the original pair and the writing dropped off seriously at the end, but it was still an enjoyable hour of television.
Die-hard Chris and Rita fans claim the loss of his influence killed the show.
And I've also watched Peckinpah drive other successful series into the ground (like Sliders).
When the series starts with an incredibly clumsy attempt at double entendre about golf and promiscuity, I feel like I am 15 years old again.
But my favorite episode so far was a van and car chase which STARTED with the car already dented up, before the van hit it.
Silk Stalkings is the best show I have ever seen, it's been my favorite for 5 years now.
It's about a platonic relationship between Sgt. Christopher Lorenzo(Rob Estes, now Melrose Place) and his partner Sgt.
(later on Lt.) Rita Lee Lance(Mitzi Kapture, now Baywatch), that work in the Palm Beach Police Department, they work on the high society crimes of passion (Silk Stalkings).
Rita that wants to guarantee a safe life for her baby lives Palm Beach.
I think the show is so special because it was mainly about a great friendship built between Chris and Rita.
In the end they did end up together, but I loved the fact that they were best friends for so long, so they had something to build the relationship on.
Rob and Mitzi have such a great Chemistry and I hope they'll work together again in the future.
One Of The Best TV series of the decade!!!!!!!.
Silk Stalkings is considerably the best cop show on television today.
The homicide cases were interesting and tends to get even better week after week!!!Most importantly, the thing that keeps viewers watching is the relationship between the lead cast...
For the first 5 years, Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture were cast as Chris and Rita and have certainly earned the respect of fans of the show.
For the next 3 years, Chris Potter and Janet Gunn took over as Tom Ryan and Cassy St.John, this cast was in my opinion better than the first 2.
However, both teams have EXCELLENT CHEMISTRY and portrayed their roles extremely well.
SPOILERS AHEADThe only downside of this show is the endings.The first "silk" cast had a sad ending.
Rob's character Chris Lorenzo died somewhere in the middle of the 5th season leaving his wife Rita Lance pregnant with his child.
The newer "silk" cast didn't really got an ending at all.They just left cliffhangers (unresolved questions) everywhere as to what is the outcome of Tom and Harry??????
It had lasted for 8 years but judging from the ratings it got, it should never have got cancelled.....Perhaps people could write in to usanetwork and ask for a movie to be made....tie up loose ends from the 8th season..
Silk Stalkings is nothing without Chris & Rita.
I would like to see it continue with Chris & Rita.
I stayed up until 22:15 just to watch Salk Stalkings with Chris and Rita.
Bobby died and when the next series started he was standing in the shower.
Please do something like that and bring Silk Stalkings back but with Chirs (Rob Estes) and Rita (Mitzi Kaptuse).
If you do that I will stay up still later but if not I will not even bodder to watch Silk Stalkings further. |
tt0395699 | The Pacifier | U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Shane Wolfe is assigned to rescue Howard Plummer, a man working on a top-secret government project, from a group of Serbian rebels. Shane and his team get Plummer off an enemy boat, though while boarding the escape helicopter, the team is under attack by enemy fire. Plummer is killed in the attack, and Shane spends two months in the hospital. Wolfe's commanding officer, Captain Bill Fawcett, is assigned to escort Plummer's widow, Julie, to Zürich, where Plummer's safety deposit box has been discovered. Shane is assigned to stay at the Plummer residence, in Bethesda, Maryland, to search for the secret project called GHOST and look after the family's five children: Zoe, Seth, Lulu, Peter, and Baby Tyler. The kids prove to be difficult to handle, even with the help of nanny Helga, who quits when one of Zoe and Seth's pranks intended for Shane goes wrong.
Later, the school's vice principal, Duane Murney, informs Shane that Seth has cut and bleached his hair, has a Nazi armband in his locker, and has skipped every wrestling practice for a month. At home, Seth tells Shane he only joined the wrestling team because of his father. After Seth sneaks out of the house, Shane leaves Zoe in charge and follows him to the town theater, where he learns that Seth has secretly joined an amateur production of The Sound of Music. The director quits when he believes the show will be a failure. Shane volunteers to take his place, and juggles this task with taking care of the house, giving Zoe driving lessons, and teaching Lulu and the Firefly Scouts martial arts to defend themselves against the rival boy scout troop.
Seth quits the wrestling team, and Shane challenges Murney to a wrestling match in front of the entire school. He easily wins despite Murney's show of bluster. The training Shane gives the Firefly Scouts becomes useful when they once again have a conflict with the thuggish scouts. Zoe and Shane share stories of their fathers, both of whom died in similar circumstances. They are interrupted by a phone call from Julie, who has figured out the password, retrieved a key from a box, and is on her way home. The kids immediately plan a "Welcome Home" party. That evening, Shane discovers a secret vault underneath the garage, which requires a key to open. When Bill and Julie arrive home, Bill and Shane go to the garage, where Wolfe says he is rethinking his career. Two ninjas arrive armed and pull off their masks, revealing themselves as the Plummers' North Korean neighbors, the Chuns. Bill suddenly knocks out Shane, revealing himself to be a double agent. Mr. Chun restrains and guards the children while Bill and Mrs. Chun take Julie down to the vault. They open the door, but a dangerous security system prevents them from going further.
The children escape and awaken Shane, who sends the kids to get the police while he goes to the vault to help Julie. Mr. Chun follows them in his car; with Zoe at the wheel, the kids force him to crash. Shane gets past the security system using a dance Howard had used to make Peter go to sleep each night. Julie knocks out Mrs. Chun, and Shane's voice activates the final vault, knocking out Bill with the door. By then, the children have lured a large crowd of police to the house. Mr. Chun arrives and holds all of them at gunpoint. Shane notices school principal and love interest Claire Fletcher right behind him, having followed the chase when she saw it pass by the school. Shane distracts Mr. Chun with the aide of Gary the duck, and Claire knocks him unconscious.
With the mission accomplished and Bill and the Chuns arrested, Shane and the Plummers say their goodbyes, and Shane and Claire kiss. At Seth's performance, it is revealed that Shane has retired from the Navy and joined the school staff as the new wrestling coach. Murney also performs in the play, singing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" off-key while dressed in a nun's habit. | murder, prank | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1212436 | The Back-up Plan | Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has given up on finding the man of her dreams and decides to become a single mother and undergoes artificial insemination. The same day she meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) when they both try to hail the same taxi. They run into each other twice more at a farmers market and a pet store. Stan convinces Zoe to go on a no-obligations date. Zoe is still uncertain whether she is pregnant or not and if she should tell Stan. The night she takes the test, Stan takes her for a romantic dinner in a garden. Things don't turn out as well as planned when he spills the wine and a fire occurs. At the end of the night Stan asks her to come to his farm during the weekend and Zoe finds out that she is pregnant.
She goes to the farm determined to tell him that she is pregnant. They have sex and afterwards Stan is confused and angry that she didn't tell him before and Zoe leaves the next morning believing that things are over between them. However, Stan decides he still wants to be with her and they reconcile. They go to the doctor and find out that Zoe is actually carrying twins. Overwhelmed, Stan goes to a children's playing area to figure out what it means to be a father, but is suspected to be a pervert; this is soon cleared up. He finds a friend there that he can talk to about the pregnancy throughout the movie, while Zoe gets little support from her Single Mothers and Proud group when the group members discover she is no longer single. Stan takes the next step to becoming a father and orders a stroller for the twins. After many misunderstandings and comedic revelations, Zoe and Stan are walking into the Market when they run into Stan's ex-girlfriend. Due to Stan's remark that the twins are not his, Zoe believes that he is not ready to become a father to them, and breaks off the relationship.
Later, the stroller that Stan ordered arrives and Zoe figures out that Stan was never planning to leave. At her grandmother's wedding, Zoe's water breaks and on the way to the hospital they make a pit stop at the Market. Zoe apologizes to Stan and they begin to work things out. He pulls out the penny that she turned over when they first met and Zoe promises to trust him more. Zoe gives birth to twin girls, one of whom they name Penny. In the end, Stan opens a store/restaurant next to Zoe's pet shop and after the Grand Opening speech Stan asks Zoe to marry him and she says yes. On their way home, she spontaneously throws up into a rubbish bin and realizes that she may be yet again pregnant. | romantic, entertaining | train | wikipedia | It was indeed predictable most of the time but come on, there were many moment of laughter.I saw this movie with an ex girlfriend and we were seeing many moments we had on our first dates and we enjoyed to see it was inspired from real facts.
Many of the comical situations do happen in real life and it really gets to you when you see it from outside.The main plot may be a little exaggerated, how everything comes together but it's a classic date movie and you cannot have such high expectations from it.The cast is OK, even though Jennifer Lopez is a little overpowered by her role, but she manages in the end to pull it of.
Alex O'Loughlin is the perfect "I don't know if I want to be a father but I love this woman" guy and makes every moment a real delight.Everyone gives it a 4 or 5, I give it an 8 because you can have a blast if you watch it with your girlfriend or ex..
A large amount of over acting and such a clicheic story full of scenes that we saw over and over and over again in so many movies about girl meeting boy or boy meeting girl.The movie looks just like any other romantic movie out there, the dialogue is so childish full of pointless advices, lame flirting and the character development really sucks.
People have rightfully criticized stuff like Valentine's Day for giving the genre a bad name, but Back Up Plan makes even V-Day seem almost good by comparison.
(Synopsis) Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has decided that she has waited long enough looking for Mr. Right to come along before she becomes a mother.
As the pregnancy comes nearer to the birth, both of them are unsure about the future and their relationship.(My Comment) "The Back-up Plan" is a light-hearted romantic comedy that shows what can happen in life when you start a family in the reverse order.
This movie is funny, a bit touching, and a family tale about trusting the partner you love and accepting the things he or she does.
Jennifer Lopez and Alex O'Loughlin had very good "couple chemistry" as the relationship developed.
This is a movie that would be best seen when it comes out in DVD; however, if you want to see Jennifer and Alex on the big screen, go ahead.
She still looks good, she might have a great voice and a killer body, but first her label drops her, and then she stars in a movie that's so terrible, it could simply not exist.Let's start off with the plot, which is, I'll be first to admit it, not that bad.
Other than that, the movie touches an interesting issue - when you're single, and you want a baby but there's nobody to make it with you, how do you make your love life and your dreams co-exist?
You'd think that after so many attempts to act, Lopez would finally learn a trick or two, maybe even become an actress; instead, her movie dog is better at acting than she is, or, I think it's safe to say, will ever be.But the thing that bothered me the most is - aren't we all tired of silly romantic comedies packed with unrealistic situations that never happen?
Both actors did great, leading man Alex (Hawaii Five-0) is gorgeous beyond words, loved the scene when she was driving to his farm and crashes because she cant take her eyes off him.
There's a lot of bad reviews on here about this movie but I'm wondering what some people were actually expecting, its a real chick flick and def worth a watch (with female friends, leave the boyfriend and his pack to watch Saw/ Drag me to hell ) Yes the ending was a little predictable but whats wrong with that ?
So awful I felt embarrassed for J-Lo. I was so looking forward to this movie but it was absolutely so disappointing, not at all Jennifer Lopez's standard.
Normally her movies are quite good and will stand the test of time but this one was so disappointing that I felt embarrassed for her, definitely worth a Razzie, but hey the year is still young, look at Sandra Bullock....Jennifer still has time to win an Oscar!!
This movie was so bad I made a point of looking up who directed it, because if this movie actually turns a profit, it just shows you with proper advertising and a celebrity you truly can make money out of garbage.The plot was so bad that in any aspects if you question the realism the movie would fail miserably.Example Jay-Lo get artificially inseminated and that same day she meets a dude, within the first date she is questioning her insemination (great mother put a lot of thought into this $10,000 procedure) and Within date #2!
Well It's my turn on the next pick and this time she's going to get it I hear "Martyrs" is a great movie, she's going to think twice before she pulls me into another flick remotely as bad as this.PS this would have been a "1" if not for the slight glimpse of Jay-Lo in a g-String, and yes I know that was probably a body double..
I think a lot of women will like this movie because it's about the crazy times, the hard times, and all the moments in between while being pregnant.
You don't have to have kids to like this movie, or even be an adult to enjoy it.Jennifer Lopez shines in this role as does her co-star- Alex O'Loughlin.
But I do feel as if the idea of the group was a filler which may have gotten out of control - no real back-up plan perhaps.The film overall is entertaining and although the idea of "insemination" is not as fully explored as it could have been because of where and how the film begins, I feel it does what it says on the tin and ends very well indeed.So I liked it, and whilst it is not a must see movie it is certainly worth watching.
besides almost every new American romantic comedy has this sort of reviews, at least in IMDb. Don't know why everyone is so critic about this kind of movies.
Jennifer Lopez is back at her game in The Back-up Plan, it's her kind of movies and if you're a fan of her other romantic flicks, you would definitely like this one.
I tend to like most romantic comedies so it worked for me.I think it was a good choice for Jennifer Lopez.
Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) doesn't ever think she will find 'the one' so decides to have a baby through artificial insemination, then she meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin)...I really enjoy watching romantic comedies, there is nothing like a nice romantic story with a few giggles and a guaranteed happy ending to make a girl smile!
When I heard that Jennifer Lopez was coming back to the big screen with The Back Up Plan I was so excited to see this movie and I wasn't disappointed.I went to see this with a friend of mine who is due to give birth in 3 weeks time with her first baby and she was laughing the entire way through the movie.
My friend tells me the experiences that Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) went through in the movie during her pregnancy were spot on and she could really relate to all the pregnancy ups and downs!
Alex O'Loughlin did an amazing job as the leading man and Jennifer Lopez was looking as gorgeous as ever!
It is the story of Zoe (Jennifer Lopez), a pet store owner, who being single and afraid that she will pass the age of having children, decides to get artificially inseminated.
Jennifer Lopez is hot as always, and this is perhaps her best acting yet, but even her best still isn't enough to make a good movie.
Overall, The Back-Up Plan is not a good movie and I would personally not recommend it, but hey, somebody out there might actually like it..
Yuck!All in all, another bad romantic comedy with Jenn and I'm kinda sorry for watching it so in short, don't bother or if you really want to see a bad bad movie, this is the one.I was sorry for the poor little doggy she doesn't even care about and I really don't understand the purpose of putting him into the movie.
She soon meets the man of her dreams and her love life gets complicated."The Back-up Plan" is a sweet romantic comedy!
Oh dear this is a funny film at the beginning and can be safely classified as a romantic comedy, there is no bad language (unlike She is Out of my League) and (Hangover) and the storyline is basically good.
No fault either with Jenny Lopez or with the Alex guy in the lead roles, it is just, as others have said, that there is no real chemistry between them and the storyline and intrigues drifts away once we are accustomed to the idea that Lopez wants to get artificially semminated and becomes pregnant.
The only thing good about this movie is anyone other than J Lo. This film is so bad that I couldn't even watch it for free on TV.J Lo's "acting" when seemingly "cute" is, however, a nice little act.
The movie isn't actually very funny, or very romantic.The Back-Up Plan is about Zoe (Jennifer Lopez), a New Yorker who gets artificially inseminated after years of failed relationships.
The movie isn't actually very funny, or very romantic.The Back-Up Plan is about Zoe (Jennifer Lopez), a New Yorker who gets artificially inseminated after years of failed relationships.
Jennifer Lopez is as attractive as always, and this is perhaps her best acting yet, but even her best still isn't enough to make a good movie.
Overall, The Back-Up Plan is not a good movie and I would personally not recommend it, but hey, somebody out there might like it..
There's also an embarrassingly unfunny discussion about her famous derrière which is supposed to be a knowing self-mocking in-joke, but falls flatter than a steamrollered pancake.We actually switched the thing off at a scene where Lopez's self-help club of single parents attempts to help a fellow member give birth in a baby-bath to the sound of chanting and wailing...honest I'm not making this up.Without doubt the worst film I have ever seen and one fears for La Lopez, I mean, after "Gigli" (which I haven't seen), how many absolute clunkers can her fragile movie career take?.
Now, I liked Alex O'Loughlin as Stan, but he didn't have much chemistry with Zoe,played by Lopez.
Seriously this film is utterly worthless, it isn't funny, it isn't romantic, and it has no deep underlying message or theme of any kind, it is the perfect example of a poorly executed Hollywood formula movie.Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) is a single woman who wants a baby.
The Back-up PlanSince they won't care about its existence, teen dads would be the ideal choice for females desperate to conceive.Nevertheless, the baby crazy, single lady in this rom-com is opting for artificial insemination in lieu of classic copulation.Independent and unattached, Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) reaches the point where she must enact plan B, if she hopes to be a mother.
But when he shows signs of unease, Zoe questions his commitment.Though a paradigm of modern families, instead of birthing a comedic compendium for odd couples, The Back-up Plan's parturition is nauseating, narcissistic and naïve: the leads are uneven and the plot is implausible.I mean, come on, artificial insemination?
Jennifer Lopez as Zoe is a beautiful and talented woman who slummed in this movie.
This theme is vocalized by the playground dad (Anthony Anderson) who tells Stan (Alex O'Laughlin) that raising kids is "Awful, awful, awful, awful, then momentarily incredible, followed by awful, awful, awful." Zoe (Lopez) goes to a single mother's support group where later she and Stan witness a live birth in a plastic pool of water.
I think romantic comedies do not promote the idea of marriage or family life.What they sell is simply the idea of romance, concluded by a great wedding or declaration of eternal love, with which they tacitly admit that it is better to end the story when the main characters are still happy, before they land in the cruel realities of the married life.On the same way, the movies focused on pregnancy do not promote the breeding of a child, but the idealized tenderness a baby represents.The Back-up Plan is an irritating and absolutely atrocious hybrid of those styles.One of the biggest problems from The Back-up Plan is its offensive simplification of the subjects about the romance, babies and marriage, which leads to levels of absolute stupidity.Needless to say that that clearly reflects the opinion big Hollywood studios have on the spectators, and they suppose it will not care if they insult our intelligence, as long as they put some sticky song, a few "slapstick" scenes and an attractive main couple that personifies the particular romantic fantasies from many people.Big mistake.I do not expect every movie about babies to be academic studies on the evolution of maternal roles in 21st century; but as the Baby Boom and She's Having a Baby show, it is perfectly possible to make a funny and very entertaining comedy about the subject, which does not sacrifice its intelligence or is afraid of talking to the audience with a bit more of sophistication.Another big problem from The Back-up Plan are that it is terribly unfunny and the screenplay is truly deplorable.Jennifer Lopez and Alex O'Loughlin lack of any chemistry; O'Loughlin is one more in the list of generic and uncharismatic gallants, and I would not be surprised if this "actor"'s previous work is as a male model in romantic questionnaires from the Cosmopolitan magazine.My recommendation is for you to avoid this execrable movie as a plague.I have definitely abandoned any hope for Lopez to recover the credibility as an actress she acquired in the 90's with Out of Sight, U-Turn and Blood and Wine.My good will definitely expired (specially with The Back-up Plan)..
I really like rom-coms, it's relaxing, funny and sometimes really good movie, NOT THIS ONE!
Another trailer way better that the movie, almost everything in "The Back-up Plan" is not good, starting with storyline, acting in whole and in detail, portraying NY as a small town, costumes, over irony of single mothers support group and most of all the simplicity and predictability of dialogues, Is like watching a bad, bad 1950's era B movie.
Anthony Anderson has a welcome cameo as a playground dad, and Alex O'Loughlin as Zoe (Jennifer Lopez)'s love interest, Stan is good, but what can they really do with this forced, unfunny material?
If you like romantic comedies (like me) you sure 'll love this movie.
Yup,my title says it all.This movie for me is extremely under-rated.I mean,come on people!People have commented that situations like these don't exist anymore in romantic comedies or in real life,with cute guys bumping into you by getting into the same cab and blah blah blah..I say,this is a romantic comedy and its a freaking MOVIE!Romantic comedies are just supposed to be nice romantic movies,with comedy of course,and a nice sweet happy ending.This movie has all those things..I'll say it again,for me this was a good movie and i absolutely couldn't care less about what other people think about it and have commented about on this movie.I keep saying it over and over again,people please just watch movies to enjoy them and NOT as critics..The main problem is with audiences and not movies.Movies are good ONLY if audiences watch them and want them to be good.If audiences watch movies just to criticize them and not enjoy them then what the heck is the point of watching the movies!.
A story about Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) who decides to have a baby by in-vitro fertilization, as she thinks that her biology clock is ticking away and not wanting to not be able to conceive later in life.She went to the hospital to get 'it' done, as soon enough she found out that she is pregnant.As luck would have like it, she met with Stan (Alex O'Loughlin) when they met in the same taxi.However, she kept her pregnancy secret from her 'boyfriend', not wanting him to go scrambling away if he finds out about it.I'll keep the remaining storyline as a mystery, as I wouldn't want to spoil the 'thrill' (if there is any) for the viewers.In my opinion, I find the film to be too cheesy, it borders ludicrous.
This Jennifer Lopez vehicle packs in a bunch of no-name performers and some of the worst dialogue in recent memory to tell a tale that insults single mothers everywhere and generally carries on the rom-com necessity that today's modern woman needs a man to define her and complete her.The Back-up Plan continues the trend of condescending, idiotic female- oriented movies written by women.
The Back up Plan is a pretty run of the mill, generic romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez.
This usually isn't my genre, but for a romantic comedy, I thought this movie was pretty good.
Jennifer Lopez stars as Zoe. She wants to have a baby so badly that she has herself artificially inseminated.
I can't believe that when I saw a poster for this movie years ago, I actually prayed for its success at the box office because I like JLo and love Alex O'Loughlin.
If nothing else it would seem that The Back Up Plan is anything but predictable given the subject and the events surrounding the main characters but even with this bonus to the story and the tried and true recipe of romantic comedies the film feels like you know what is going to happen around every turn. |
tt0805960 | Speed Grapher | Speed Grapher follows the exploits of former war photographer Tatsumi Saiga, who investigates a secret fetish club for the ultra-wealthy called the Roppongi Club. He tries to photograph the club's "goddess", a 15-year-old, exploited girl named Kagura, but is discovered. As he is about to be killed, Kagura kisses him, granting him the ability to destroy anything he photographs. Saiga soon discovers that Kagura's body fluids, like her saliva, in combination with a certain "virus", can give people bizarre abilities relating to their secret desires, fetishes, and obsessions. Club members strive for the honor of becoming "gifted" via Kagura's power. Saiga soon becomes entangled in this secret underground society and the powerful and corrupt Tennōzu Group mega-corporation that operates it. He attempts to free Kagura, a move that puts the two of them on the run from the Tennōzu Group and blood-thirsty members of the club with bizarre and often horrifying special powers.
Saiga and Suitengu engage in a game of cat and mouse; Saiga and Kagura manage to evade capture several times before Suitengu himself attacks Saiga, severely injuring him, and takes Kagura captive. To take over Tennōzu Group, Suitengu murders its president, Shinsen Tennōzu, who also is Kagura's mother. Kagura inherits the group, so Suitengu marries her and takes legal control of it. Saiga, having recovered from his wounds, interrupts the wedding and rescues Kagura. Together, they attempt to leave Japan but are enticed back by the prospect of defeating Suitengu once and for all. The plan, however, ends up being a trap set up by Prime Minister Kamiya, Seiji Ochiai and other Cabinet members as a way to control Suitengu and take control over the club. But, Suitengu knew of their betrayal and after trapping all the Cabinet members, the police superintendent and other members of government inside the club, he went to Kamiya's mansion to exact his revenge against him. He then took away Kagura from Saiga by promising not to kill Saiga if Kagura comes with him willingly. Saiga and his policewoman friend Hibari Ginza make one final attack on Suitengu's stronghold - the main building of Tennōzu Group. In addition, a group of politicians from around the world fire missiles at Tokyo to kill Suitengu. Saiga and Suitengu battle, but Saiga is unable to defeat Suitengu before going blind from overusing his power. Suitengu spares Saiga's life, and, in a final act of defiance, destroys all the money he gathered before being killed by the missiles. The world collapses into a financial crisis, but Saiga and Kagura finally reunite, no longer under threat of attack. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt2404583 | Ironclad: Battle for Blood | Five years after the events of Ironclad, the de Vesci family struggles with Pict raiders along the English-Scottish border. In one of these raids, the patriarch of the family loses his arm to the chieftain's son, who is killed by the family manservant and hung on the wall. While resting in bed, the father commands his son Hubert to seek out his cousin to assist in defending the castle from the Picts. Hubert leaves in silence the next night.
Hubert discovers Guy in Kingstown at an underground brawl with his friend Berenger. Guy tells Hubert that he will help if he is paid. While they leave, they barter with the executioner, Pierrepoint, to let a prisoner, Mary, live. Even though he insists on her death because of her brutal murdering spree, he relents and eventually joins the group. Upon their return, they see that the castle is once more under siege, so they enter through the sallyport. Guy, Berenger, Mary, and Pierrepoint demonstrate their fighting capability as the successfully repel the assault. | violence, action | train | wikipedia | The besieged cousin seeks the help of his kin.The plot is very weak, even for a revenge Movie.
There is no "feeling" for the characters which I Think is one of the worst "enemies" of any Movie, if you can't create emotion for the hero, or any character for that matter, the Movie falls flat.A Movie like this, i.e. relying much on action, a bit of "gore" (for example Braveheart) and a good villain, needs just that to create some degree of interest.
It is here Ironclad: battle for blood fails, not in lack of plot or dialog, nor bad acting.The positives about this Movie, although not strong, is the setting/surroundings, there are some good hack and slash scenes but not much more.
"sword and blood Movies"), Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Centurion are much much better, it is somewhat worse than Season of the Witch, but equal to Warrior Queen.The Movie is not good, but Worth 4 out of 10..
British movies have up to now not been plagued by the Hollywood disease of bad directors, bad dialogue, bad acting, and use of the shaky camera for action scenes.
The sets are a joke and the massive overuse of the shaky cam for action scenes would actually make you dizzy.
In fact in some scenes the shaky cam continues even when the action has stopped.
This might (at this moment at least) have the same cover/picture as the previous "Ironclad" movie, but apart from the setting (middle ages) of course.
Maybe that makes it sound better than the movie is for some, but it really isn't.
Not really worth your time, there are way better movies out there..
Ironclad: Battle for Blood is a tedious sequel.
Despite its doubtful historical veracity and not being highly memorable, I found Ironclad an entertaining medieval action film.
The sequel, Ironclad: Battle for Blood, tried to repeat the formula, but the result is a poor movie, because of its weak screenplay, bad performances and insipid direction.
There are various bloody battle sequences in this film, but the abuse of the hand-held camera ends up ruining them and becoming them a parade of incomprehensible images with cuts every half a second which avoid the spectator to follow the flow of the action.
On the positive side, the landscapes and castles in which Ironclad: Battle for Blood was shot are truly impressive.
Generic "storm the castle" movie that is nowhere near as good as its predecessor.
While the first IRONCLAD was a solid medieval action movie, this sequel is essentially the same movie and, even more to it's detriment, is horribly shot and edited.
The only connection between the two is a minor character, Guy, who is the main character in this sequel (but played by a different actor).
Other than that, the plot plays out, beat for beat, almost exactly like its predecessor.
The acting isn't as good as the first one and there aren't any big-name actors to elevate the material, but no one stuck out as being particularly horrible.
Additionally, the violence and gore aren't completely practical this time, instead opting for CGI blood spatter and poor dummy work for the more graphic shots (e.g., beheading).
However, the worst aspect of this film is the camera-work, which is mostly "shaky-cam." Hand-held camera during the dialogue scenes didn't really bother me, but the vigorous shaking of the camera during the action sequences was nauseating and made them extremely hard to follow.
And even though the action scenes are rather poorly filmed, there are some good kills.
Some dates mentioned were not accurate & many of the CGI scenes poor (as to be expected as number 2 did not have the budget number 1 had, hence it not being at the cinema, but going straight to DVD/Blu-ray), but overall not too bad as modern day medieval movies go.
Nothing terrible but like most sequels it seems to diminish what was likable about the original..
"There's always men whose honor can be bought." When a man looking for revenge for the death of his son during the siege of Rochester Castle begins to plot his attack Hubert (Harries) sets out to find his cousin Guy (Austen) for help.
When Guy returns to the castle old feeling begin to come back and he must control his emotions as well as fight off the attacking Celts.
I did like the first Ironclad though (mainly because I love Paul Giamitti) but was still a little leery about watching this one.
This one, like most sequels, isn't as good as the first one.
The movie starts off very violent and graphic, then becomes a revenge movie and finally a story about a man trying to reconnect with himself and his past life.
Action fans will like this because there is a lot of fighting and blood (sometimes over the top though) but if you are looking for a complete movie with plot and a story to keep you interested then look elsewhere.
Overall, nothing terrible but like most sequels it seems to diminish what was likable about the original.
A good portrayal of medieval times.
This is not a Hollywood movie, and if you are looking for pretty cgi, this is not for you.While the first movie was slightly better, this movie is actually a very good attempt to portray what medieval times would have been like.It does not try to be an action movie.
Instead the deeper underlying message is one about the futility of war and the fragility of life.I would only recommend this movie if you are into the whole medieval theme, but considering the budget they did a good job at trying to tell a story that is not just about sword-fights.
Its about men trying to live by honor and create a better future in times when civilization was but a vague concept.If you can look past the low budget, this movie is a little gem.
It just tells events and how it affects the people involved in them.You simply cannot compare this to large Hollywood productions, but it does a good job at portraying medieval times..
Then a vengeful Clan Chief leads his bunch of be-woded warriors to wreak revenge and do a lot of gurning.The plot is that the young master – Hubert – has to go and get help from an estranged cousin who is a bit handy, as it were.
For starters there is shaky cam during the action scenes and this is Richter scale 8 shaking, so a bit disappointing.
Most of the acting is good though and they actually manage to engender pathos in parts and I enjoyed 80% of it, but this is one that many will not want to bother with because of the aforementioned issues and a bit more beside – I won't bother if they make a turd – I mean a third one in this series..
The first Ironclad was not to be taken too seriously, historically speaking, but still had interesting details, and the no-nonsense characteristics of the fights made the film overall quite well-made.This sequel is far from being as good as the first one, regarding the cast, the dialogues, the cinematography (shaky camera shots tend to be overused)...
If You Like The Shaky Camera Movement In Films Today....
If you like the shaky camera movement in film today then you might like the cinematography of "Ironclad II", if it makes you nauseated to watch then pass on this film - the movie is full of shaky camera movement.
I do NOT like the "let's shake the camera" cinematography.Now, if the camera was still then I could have enjoyed this film a lot more.
Acting is alright while the costumes & sets are really nice but that's about it with this film.This is NOTHING like the original film as far as quality.
I know they were on a budget but why ruin the film with a shaky camera?
This is why I'm NOT fond of today's films - nauseating camera movements.I'm disappointed in this film - and I was looking forward to watching it but not with this shaky camera.
Film makers: "Please stop with all the crappy shaky cameras - it's annoying!
The original Ironclad is one of the most underrated movies of 2011, and arguably one of the more unappreciated action films of all time.
The sequel--Ironclad 2: Battle for Blood--tries to replicate the formula of its predecessor but fails in almost every regard.
The plot still centers around an English castle under siege, but this time the attackers are a raiding party of Scottish rebels.
Guy, along with a few other malcontents apparently chosen at random--including an obnoxious executioner and the female serial killer he was about to behead--follow the nobleman's son back to the castle, and the fighting begins in earnest.
It's a shame the final product isn't a better film, because there's nothing wrong with the basic plot (not much is more fun than a medieval siege!) and the cast is actually pretty impressive.
Tom Austen is well cast as Guy, and plays the part with the requisite intensity, and fans of Game of Thrones will appreciate a solid (if limited) performance from Michelle Fairley as the lady of the castle.
And that gets to one of the film's major flaws: almost none of the protagonists are the least bit sympathetic, as the best of them are extremely self-centered and the worst actually psychopathic.
There appears to be a change of heart on the part of one of the main players near the end of the film, but the narrated epilogue which wraps up the picture seems to undercut this so that any imagined character growth is apparently short-lived.
Characters make decisions for which there is no plausible motivation whatsoever, and the plot develops rather haphazardly from beginning to end.
The film is extremely violent, and the many action scenes are the movie's saving grace, and the film is never boring, but even in terms of action the film sometimes disappoints.
Many of the action scenes are badly directed, and their potential impact diluted by the infamous "shaky cam" technique.
Finally, the film's low budget is a real problem.
The original Ironclad only had a modest budget, but the sequel must have had a fraction of that.
The opposing forces are absurdly motley, and the attacking Scots never seem like a credible threat to take the castle.
There are some good atmospheric shots of wild, beautiful mountain tops and dark forests, but the director never manages to make the battle scenes come alive against this backdrop.
Overall, this simply isn't a worthy follow-up to the original Ironclad.
There are a few good performances and the battle scenes keep the plot moving and intermittently entertaining, but ultimately the film is undone by a low budget, an implausible script, and weak characterization.
You could do worse if you are in the mood for a little medieval action, but you could do a lot better, too...particularly by merely watching the first Ironclad again..
I really like the first Ironclad movie and even when I herd that Ironclad 2 wasn't a patch on the original I thought I'd give it a try.
It seems that Jonathan English has taken out all the things that made the first Ironclad movie work so well and kept but amplified all the things that are really not worth remembering about the first film.
He also manages to rip off other medieval films but without any of they're style this includes strangely the first Ironclad.
The one thing that still impresses are the action sequences which are well choir graphed but these are mostly ruined by the constant shaky camera work.
The cgi effects are OK but some times they look like they've been lifted from the video game medieval total war.
Jonathan English is a talented director but he seems to have really dropped the ball with this film.
He seems to have forgotten what made the first ironclad movie work.
Ironclad never needed a sequel.
I watched half the film then I had to switch it off.
I was looking foreword to watching this movie yet by the time I switched off I was very very disappointed.
I enjoyed the first Ironclad even though there was some things I thought were not as they should be eg If I was having my hands and feet chopped off I think I would be screaming a lot longer and not just minimally moaning..
and with number 2 I don't know what film some of the other reviewers were watching but I found the fight scenes very stilted and unbelievable..
Rubbish Story, Rubbish acting, Rubbish hero and villain, Rubbish fight scenes..
I only remember that I liked the prequel, the previous film, back in 2011, except the ending for silly audiences.
OK, it is full of bloody action, brutal sequences, for which I won't say they are gratuitous as far as the director claimed that he wanted a very realistic medieval film in the line of THE VIKINGS, WAR LORD, etc...But bloodbaths don't make everything.
Besides that, the plot is more than familiar, no surprise at all, unlike WAR LORD, where for instance Charlton Heston's character was ambivalent at the most, and the poor peasant - he stole the wife from because the wedding and the lord's right of f...the bride - very interesting as the "bad guy" of the film...Yes, Franklin Schaffner's masterpiece was far far better than this one.
Castle Combat and a good, basic entertainment movie.
-- I am no professional reviewer by any definition, but I don't understand the low ratings this movie is getting.
Of course this movie is no modern epic with a $100 million dollar budget, however for what it did cost I think they did a VERY good job.
-- They did an excellent job of recreating a medieval village with the castle behind it to retreat into when attacked by Picts, Celts, Woads, or Brigands.
They created a most believable little pocket of medieval times and I don't know about these other reviewers but I was able to thoroughly be fooled and fall into the story.
I read some review that discredited the language used but this wasn't a history channel special, it's an escapist window into another world for entertainment and I think this movie does this very well.
-- I think the movie allows us to suspend reality for a little while and go back into a more violent time and that is exactly what it is supposed to do.
The only thing I saw in this movie that wasn't totally realistic to the mind is some portions of the story where they had to perhaps not show in great detail for the sake of time.
I was just a bit surprised by the hit power being attributed to the weapon in the movie and why it was not directed at the Castle gate.
-- As a whole I find that I liked this movie and I was disappointed by those who have given it such a low rating.
I think this was a very good basic entertainment movie, being well worth the cost of rental, though had I watched it at theater prices I might not have been so impressed.
I might even watch this movie again time permitting.
I hope they make another sequel and get enough of a budget to do a complete and higher quality job.
-- I gave the movie a rating of 8 just to off set these ridiculously low rating by what I can only imagine are overly picky reviewers or people who paid theater prices to see it.
Looks like there is also another minor character from game of thrones too.
Also i like medieval movies so why not give it a shot?
holy cow does it ruin the fight scenes so bad.
Then when it comes to story, i really didn't like the character development they tried to do with some.
But the main focus of the movie is clearly fight scenes and with the shaky cam problems they are not enjoyable the least.
Actually you kinda welcome the acting and story parts because of it.Then the ending make no sense.
First the Scottish guys seem like they are an endless hordes, when they looked mostly like a couple dozens at first when the movie start.
Its not even like it was established that that guy, the second in command, was against the decisions of his leader.Oh and did i mention the castle had no arrows???
With bow and arrows they would had kill most of the attackers very quickly.Anyway, i was a bit entertain by the movie at times, so its not a total failure, but the shaky cam is unforgivable, STOP USING SHAKY CAM DEAR DIRECTORS, nobody like it !!!I feel like I'm VERY generous with a 5 out of 10.
Fool on me.The film follows the typical savage Scots attacking the English lords in their keep.
So begins an extensive siege that claims all but 4 lives in the end.The acting wasn't bad.
The fortress castle and the landscape were good and the script wasn't bad either ...
Unfortunately for more than 100 minutes of time you get little reward from this film, seemingly made with the idea of 'lets get some actors from other things like Game of Thrones and have them play in this'.
It's a film you look at and think "they must have made this over 2-3 evenings for a quick cash cow" because thats what it is.
You know it's like most films like this where 2-5 people survive but you don't care who.If you want to know if this is worth a watch then it depends how valuable your time is.
If you like taking walks or head butting a wall then your time is better spent on those things - they're more fulfilling! |
tt2392447 | Ungli | 4 friends Kalim (Angad Bedi), Gautam (Neil Bhoopalam), Maya (Kangana Ranaut) and Abhay (Randeep Hooda) delve into what seems to be their "first case" , having started a gang called the "Ungli" gang which fights against corruption. Their job is to bug corrupt people and teach them moral lessons quite unconventionally. They target a corrupt minister and become the most wanted people in Mumbai, but also earn the respect, affection and admiration of the general public in the large metroplitan town.
Meanwhile, ACP Ashok Kaale (Sanjay Dutt) meets his superior, DCP Shivraman (Shiv Kumar Subramaniam) who introduces him to Police Commisioner Arvind Kaul (Raza Murad) with the task of deciphering the "Ungli" gang. Later, Kaale travels to another police station where he meets an amusingly frustrated officer who is disgusted with the act of "crime" his recruit Nikhil Abhyankar (Emraan Hashmi) has done. Eventually, it goes so: a college was attended to by the bomb squad when there was news that a bomb was planted there. Nikhil took advantage of the situation and met his girlfriend (Rachel White) with whom he shared a kiss, but soon they were caught by the dogs of the Bomb Squad. Later, it surfaced up that the call was made from the officer's desk, and Nikhil did it. Kaale finds it funny at first, but when the officer reprimands Nikhil, Kaale visits Nikhil's mother (Reema Lagoo) where she tells him that Nikhil had the qualities of his father, Kaale's colleague Arvind, and that Nikhil was raised by Kaale like his own son. Nikhil, it is shown, attends a disco bar, where Kaale calls him up to discuss matters concerning the "Ungli" gang.
Nikhil begins searching for altruistic opportunities to earn the "Ungli" gang great fame, once by blowing up the roads in front of a minister's house and accusing politicians and PWD workers of torturing the people, another instance by putting up a label of dishonesty on the auto-rickshaw drivers. Finding him adamant, Maya suggests that Nikhil too has wishes to join the gang, and on certain terms and conditions, the four friends admit Nikhil, and narrate the story behind the gang's formation.
Maya's brother Ricky (Arunoday Singh) was a great fitness freak and struck a rapport with the four friends quite a time. However, one day, while trying to prevent a scuffle between an old man (Avijit Dutt) and a bratty youngster Anshuman, Ricky tried to defend the old man, but Anshuman struck him hard, landing him straight into coma. The old man later decided to complain to the police, but was advised against it by the police itself, when a hunchback of Police Supremo B.R. Dayal ([[Mahesh Manjrekar]), Anshuman's father, spoke so. The old man was firm, but when his granddaughter, while waiting at a bus stop, was threatened with an acid attack, the old man was forced to swerve from his stand to protect her. This plunged Maya into grief, but Abhay was angry at one of Maya's comments and this paved the way for the "Ungli" gang. Nikhil poses as a law student to illusion the four.
While preparing for a raid, Nikhil sprained his knee, but later caleed up Kaale when the four left. However, feeling remorseful, he later attacked Kaale to defend his new "friends", but when his identity was discovered, the four friends slameed him with Abhay hitting him hard, and Kaale further hitting him, but Nikhil later chides Kaale for believing the "Ungli" gang as a criminal force. However, when faced with a loss of duty, finding that DCP Shivraman is trying to bribe him into getting a posting of choice to save ends, Kaale agrees with Nikhil, and seeks out the gang to expose Dayal. Meanwhile, Abhay confesses to his co-worker, Tiesta Sen (Neha Dhupia) his love for her as well as his identity of the "Ungli" gang.
Exposing a dirty racquet of money makers in the widely distributed Mumbai police force with a simple chemical trick involving sulphur sprayed over printed notes that would leave a lasting black impressions on the officer's tongue via saliva, Kaale regains duty and is promoted to the post of Commisioner, getting Dayal and Anshuman arrested. Later, Kaale reassures the gand that the city won't need another as long as everything is under control. | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0073756 | Gekitotsu! Satsujin ken | The film begins as Takuma (Terry) Tsurugi meets the condemned murderer Tateki (Junjo) Shikenbaru while disguised as a Buddhist monk. Tsuguri applies his "oxygen coma punch" to Junjo, causing him to collapse just before he can be executed. As Junjo is rushed to a hospital, Tsurugi and his sidekick Rakuda (Ratnose) ambush the ambulance and free him. As Tsurugi and Ratnose watch the incident on the news, Junjo's brother Gijun and sister Nachi arrive and plead for more time to pay for Tsurugi's help. Outraged, Tsurugi refuses and attacks the siblings. Gijun accidentally kills himself when Tsurugi dodges his flying kick, causing him to go out of a window, and Nachi is sold into sexual slavery through Renzo Mutaguchi.
Mutaguchi and his associates attempt to hire Tsurugi to kidnap Sarai, the daughter of a recently deceased oil tycoon. Tsurugi refuses after discovering that the gangsters are Yakuza. He escapes, but the Yakuza gangsters resolve to kill Tsurugi as well as kidnap Sarai. Tsurugi immediately seeks out Sarai, who is being protected at the Nippon Seibukan dojo by her uncle, Kendō Masaoka, a Karate master. Tsurugi captures Sarai and challenges the entire dojo to a fight. He brutalizes the rank-and-file students before Masaoka fights him to a standstill--then recognizes him as the half-Chinese son of a karate master he knew long ago. Ultimately, Tsurugi offers to protect Sarai, and Masaoka agrees, against Sarai's protests. Meanwhile, the Yakuza's allies in Hong Kong, led by Kowloon boss Dinsau, recruit Junjo Shikenbaru to avenge his siblings by killing Tsurugi.
The gangsters make several attempts to kill Tsurugi before they successfully kidnap Sarai. Tsurugi manages to rescue her, but gets captured himself. Ratnose gives up Sarai's location to save Tsurugi, causing Tsurugi to forsake him. When Tsurugi faces a blind swordsman working for the Hong Kong gangsters, Ratnose dies in a reckless attempt at redemption. Tsurugi finally tracks the gangsters down to a shipyard and fights his way through their guards. In the end, Dinsau permits Tsurugi to duel Junjo. Nachi sacrifices herself to give her brother a free shot with a sai, but Tsurugi survives and rips out Junjo's vocal cords. Critically wounded, Tsurugi is helped to his feet by Sarai and Dinsau in the final shot of the film. | revenge, cult, violence, flashback | train | wikipedia | Remember during the height of the martial arts movie boom (roughly 1973-1976) the reputation that chopsocky films had for being replete with misery, violence, gore and degradation of the human spirit?
THE STREETFIGHTER, however, set the standard for onscreen insanity, was originally rated X for violence, and has yet to be equalled (well...maybe THE STORY OF RIKI) for sheer, nasty entertainment value.Sonny Chiba stars as Terry Tsurugi, an utterly amoral b**tard who is absolutely the last guy you would ever want to face in combat.
Mean, violent and downright reprehensible, THE STREETFIGHTER is a unique milestone in the martial arts movie genre.
Sonny Chiba is one of the very few martial-arts stars that has escaped Bruce Lee's shadow and this film shows you why.
Though he wears dark clothes and is shirtless, (just like Lee), during some of the fight scenes, he still comes across as an original.He's got screen presence to spare and his deadpan approach to the exaggerated violence and fight scenes makes this funny and a totally awesome guy movie with lots of blood, gore and fighting.
Loved it.How can you go wrong when the star of the films utters lines like, "Maybe some day we can hold a death match." and, after punching a guy in the back, "You'll be unconscious through lack of oxygen; it's an ancient technique."And I really dig the roly-poly karate master who goes on to teach Chiba's character a few new things about fighting.
The character of Ratnose does get overbearing after a while, but it's a small price to pay to watch Chiba play one of the coolest anti-heroes of all time.
Sonny Chiba is the ultimate martial arts star.
Synopsis: Terry Tsurugi (the great Sonny Chiba) is a martial arts master who uses his abundant talents as a mercenary gun-for-hire.
What a momentous mistake on their part.Thoughts: Sonny Chiba's "The Street Fighter" is considered a classic in the martial arts genre.
You see, it's not really fair considering that Lee is dead, they both hail from separate nationalities, represent different martial arts ideals (Lee founded Jeet Kune Do, Chiba was a mean karate machine), and Chiba has demonstrated he can more than hold his own against the disposable bad guys sent in his direction.
Like Christian Slater's character described in "True Romance" (1993) regarding Chiba's "The Street Fighter" (1974), "he's just a bad motherf**ker, he gets paid by people to f**k guys up." Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa, Sonny Chiba's Terry Tsurugi is that lethal, that ruthless, that dirty a fighter.
The action in "The Street Fighter" is fairly gruesome, allowing it to become the first film to be rated "X" for violence in the United States.
It's a great martial arts film, Sonny Chiba does better then anyone else could in trying to fill Buce Lee's shoes.
This is probably one of the best non Bruce Lee martial arts films ever.
Sonny Chiba sets himself up as an eternal movie bad-ass.
This movie originally had an X rating in the United States because of a scene where Chiba castrates a man with his bare hand.
Playing the most morally ambiguous hero ever, Sonny Chiba is Terry Tsuguri the rough and dirty mercenary called 'The Street Fighter'.
Chiba plays Takuma Tsurugi (called Terry in the English dubbing), a martial arts master who has to come to the rescue of a kidnapped heiress.
Instead he beats up the convicts brother and sells the sister into prostitution, and this is the hero of the movie.What lies ahead of this are a number of increasingly violent action scenes culminating in an excellent fight on board a giant tanker fighting the main villains henchman until he comes face to face once again with the convict that he freed at the beginning of the film.Direction in the movie is basic, other than a use of an x-ray shot that shows broken bones, which was utilised to better effect years later in the Jet Li movie "Romeo Must Die".
he even warns the heiress' family that he may be worse than the people he's going to protect her from.The film is action packed pretty much from the beginning to the end, with a small army of goons apparently willing to throw themselves on Chiba's lack of mercy - which he rewards with a whole lot of bone cracking, eye gouging and body part ripping violence.
Shame on me: I've been reviewing cult Japanese movies for years now but this is the first Sonny Chiba film I've tackled.
And I call myself a martial arts fan...Sonny is, of course, a legend of Japanese action cinema, and The Street Fighter is his undisputed masterpiece, an incredibly violent showcase for the star's remarkable Karate skills (and his reasonable impression of Bruce Lee).
As seemingly indestructible mercenary anti-hero Terry Tsurugi, Sonny kicks, punches and tears through a veritable army of opponents, leaving them either dead, or writhing on the floor in agony, blood pouring from one or more orifices.
The brutality reaches a climax in a stunning finale set aboard a rain-lashed oil tanker which must rank as one of the most intense fight scenes ever committed to film.But it's not just about the violence: the stylish execution also makes this a cut above many martial arts movies of the day, with great cinematography, innovative direction from Shigehiro Ozawa (including the legendary 'X-Ray' punch shot mimicked in Jet Li's Romeo Must Die), great editing and a funky 70s soundtrack.
Takuma Tsurugi (Sonny Chiba) is a martial artist for hire, and at the start of the film, helps the soon-to-be-executed Taketi (Masashi Ishibashi) escape by giving him his 'oxygen coma punch' to the back of his head.
Soon he and Sarai are being hunted by the Yakuza, who have also hired Taketi to murder Tsurugi.Recently this film and its two sequels were given a new lease of life by Tony Scott's True Romance, where the two leads are watching a Sonny Chiba marathon in the cinema (scriptwriter Tarantino being clearly a fan).
Tsurugi's repulsiveness is refreshing, and Chiba is so fascinating to watch in the role that you can't help cheering for him, even when he's beating up a group of innocent karate apprentices.The plot itself is as convoluted and confusing as a lot of the Japanse Yazuka/martial arts films are, and near to the end I'd forgotten who half the characters were and what their purpose was.
The martial arts was outstanding throughout the entire picture and Sonny Chiba put his entire heart and soul into this great 1974 film.
It's one of the titles that made Sonny Chiba famous and features really impressive high-level karate.But the film isn't light-hearted, nor is it made humorous by its dub (as is the case with the contemporary Shaw Bros.
The way the events transpire and the plot develops is actually pretty solid for a "B" movie, and here Street Fighter stands far above its sequels or genre contemporaries.Terry as a character is complex and depressing.
The premise of the movie is to create a situation for Sonny Chiba to kill a bunch of violent criminals while on commission.
Lines like "Tell that **** who sent you how sorry I am I can no longer be her friend" heard while looking into the face of the most convincing hard man in film history.Terry Tsurugi is the man, Sonny Chiba can say more with his contorted face than any one else I've seen in films.
But it's not just the look on his face that makes him convincing, there's something very nasty and practical about the way he deals with his enemies and the long cuts make the whole thing more real.There is also immense complexity in the character, a man who lives by the code taught to him by his farther moments before he was executed, a fine speech punctuated by the line "Become the Number One Man!" Not you're typical hero or your typical anti hero, a man who killed an innocent man before selling his grieving sister into slavery and yet somehow you're still routing for him all the way.If you do have the chance to see this film, try not to dismiss it before you give Terry a chance..
The movie is slightly humorous with the sound effects given by Sonny Chiba during his fights scenes.
Sonny Chiba plays the "In it for the cash anti-hero with a strict personal code of conduct" to the hilt, and while his actual acting talent is somewhat lacking, this isn't the kind of movie where it matters.
It's not the best martial arts film ever made, (that title, in my opinion, belongs to Enter The Dragon) but it definitely holds its own, especially when you compare it to the millions of crappy, overdubbed Kung Fu movies out there.
He is, after all, "a number one man!" I know this bad anti-hero thing has been done to death, but Sonny Chiba is the best at what he does: whuppin' ass & lookin' cool.The thing I didn't care too much for was Tsurugi's seeming ability to teleport wherever he needed to go.
That's just the start of how The Street Fighter differs from every other martial arts film.
Chiba fights everyone, an entire dojo of martial arts students, trained bodyguards, and hired assassins, he even takes on the Yakuza.
Chiba would play the Street Fighter three more times but this is him at his best.
If you enjoy watching damage being done to human beings that can best be described as "pornographic", run right out & rent this.Otherwise, go to the video store, find the martial arts section, and grab ANYTHING that doesn't have Sonny Chiba in it..
I give you Sonny Chiba!When you think of Kung-Fu movies there's the protagonist and the antagonist thrown against each other in a good vs.
You just can't decide whether to cheer for him or just feel repulsed by the brutal actions against his instant enemies, from really evil characters to your ordinary good guy from a straight movie.The jail-house sequence at the beginning (the framing, the cheesy dubbing, the fight in slow motion with exaggerated sound effects to the abrupt movie title) is just brilliant.
Ultra-Violent and Seminal Sonny Chiba Film
A Cult Classic.
Notoriously Famous, or Infamous, Sonny Chiba Movie, along with Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" (1973), Solidified the Kung-Fu Craze in America.
Bad-Ass, as He and the Movie are often Called, is an Accurate Description.Chiba made a lot of Films, this one is part of a Trilogy, but "Street Fighter" Stands Alone in its Audacious Violence, Non-Stop Action, and Unrestrained Bloody Battles.
And Gory it is with Buckets of Blood and a Few Scenes that are Legendary that won't be Spoiled here.If You are merely Curious, this Film Alone will Prove why All the Fuss about Sonny Chiba.
Sonny Chiba stars as the "hero" of the movie, Terry Sugury, a mercenary with a moral code as strict as Amsterdam.
I recommend the film, but the guy in no way could be called the successor to Bruce Lee..
Shigehiro Ozawa directed this Sonny Chiba classic The Street Fighter (Japan, 1974) which was the film that introduced Chiba to the US audiences.
Chiba (really bad) plays Terry, a martial arts sensation, who gets dirty jobs done with the help of his martial arts, and after he becomes double crossed and begins to have more and more enemies, he starts his own war towards the mafia and the Japanese yakuza, and neither of those can give something that would beat Terry, the most dangerous and incredible iron fist alongside the Hong Kong Ricky, of course!Street Fighter is 90 minutes of pure Karate terror and action without any efforts to hide the results of the violence.
That detail is pretty stylish and used also in Story of Ricky, another over-the-top martial arts mayhem film from Hong Kong.The brutal fights are very graphic and exploitative as people are stabbed, sliced, diced, punched, kicked, torn, ripped and so on, and what differs Street Fighter from the other martial art films of that time, is its high level bloodletting.
Street Fighter boasts some of the best martial arts action.
STREET FIGHTER boasts some of the best martial arts action since Bruce Lee's ENTER THE DRAGON.
STREET FIGHTER boasts a formula mixing martial arts movies, Sam Spade style detective stories and hitman genre tough guy pictures.
The film series revolves around Chiba who has the ability to take care of himself and wade into a corrupt martial arts school and beat up a 100 man force.
It stars Sonny Chiba as a kung-fu assassin so ugly that am surprised his looks did not do the killing instead of his tepid martial-arts.He looks like a monkey as he gathers his "chi" before attacking.
If you saw him in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill", you'd be surprised to learn that it was the same man who starred in these awful, awful films.He plays Terry Tsuguri, the "hero" of the picture, whose only loyalty is to himself.
I do not know anybody who's a martial-arts fan that would actually enjoy "The Street Fighter.
Martial arts legend Shin'ichi "Sonny" Chiba ratchets up the intensity in this classic of the genre, playing tough as nails mercenary Terry Tsurugi.
They decide to try to kill him to keep the plan a secret, and he switches sides, taking on all comers as he does his best to keep the young lady from harm.Chiba is great fun to watch in this vivid and fast paced actioner.
Sonny Chiba shows up early giving the last rights to a guy on death row the 'last Okinawa karate master' actually.
This is the first film in the US to get a X or violence, so expect to seem lots of blood.There are a lot of interesting characters, and lots of fighting, and lots of ...well, I guess you can expect that from a street fighter..
Plot Summary: Sonny Chiba takes it upon himself to protect the heiress of an oil company, resulting in him beating up a load of guys and spilling much blood.'Streetfighter', aka The One Christian Slater Is Watching In True Romance, is without a doubt one of the greatest, most enjoyable martial arts films ever made.
Thankfully, Sonny has bucket loads of it but as this is a martial arts film it wouldn't really matter if he didn't.
It's not that movie based on the video game but a series of grindhouse action films by Sonny Chiba.
In The Street Fighter Sonny Chiba plays a mercenary named "Terry" for the yakuza.After doing a favor for the yakuza by saving a death row prisoner.
This stylish and truly brutal flick is positively one of the most ultra-violent martial-arts films ever brought to screen, and it's easily one of the coolest, too.Sonny Chiba shines as the ferocious antihero Tamuka Tsurugi, a hired assassin capable of taking out entire armies with his fists of death.
Ball-tearing action from Shigehiro Ozawa and Sonny Chiba that features a great scene in which a man's testicles are, literally and graphically, ripped gleefully from his body and shown to him.
The film that made Sonny Chiba an international martial arts star, with its legendary distinction of having received the first ever X certificate for violence in American cinematic history.
However at one stage he admonishes his assistant that he only hopes to make money from the girl too, just in case we were thinking the leopard had changed his spots!PS - Did Sonny Chiba really appear in 4 The Street fighter and 2 The Executioner movies in the space of a single year?
Japan's answer to the Bruce Lee craze is revealed in this one-of-a-kind movie; the guy they called Sonny Chiba.
Chiba's reputation as an invincible tough guy in the west rests solely on this ultra-violent movie which is remembered by all those fortunate to have seen it for the sheer violence alone.
His character may not be likable, but he commands our respect at the sheer efficiency in killing all the bad guys this movie has to offer.The plot is slightly convoluted and contrived, but no more so than most martial arts films.
Basically, "Takuma 'Terry' Tsurugi" (Sonny Chiba) is a mercenary who is willing to do just about anything for money.
Anyway, like all martial arts movies this film has plenty of fast-paced action.
I guess I am not the only one to rank THE STREET FIGHTER with the best action movies ever.
However, for the genre, it is an exceptional film as way too many of these martial arts films of the 1970s were so cheaply made and featured the dumbest gimmicks and the most ridiculous fighting that STREET FIGHTER is a welcome relief--even being better than most of the Bruce Lee movies.Originally, this was an X-rated film due to its graphic violence, though today it probably would be rated PG-13 or R--I guess this says a lot about our culture and the type films we are making these days!
This is some of the most brutal and skilled martial arts I have seen and it is very realistic due to the blood and because he remembers to kill just about all those who attack him--making Chiba a rare thing in martial arts films--a very smart and pragmatic leading man!!!
While not quite as fast as Bruce Lee or artistic as Jackie Chan, Chiba's brutal combination of styles of martial arts is very impressive and hard to dismiss.
Sonny Chiba is the ultimate ferocious martial arts animal!.
Compared to the extremely primal and lethal untamed martial arts animal that is Sonny Chiba, Bruce Lee seems like a very sweet, harmless and mild-mannered creampuff..
Sonny Chiba is a legend in his own right I guess, but for some reason, to this day I had not seen any of his movies.
Oh yes.I will always extend more leniency to martial arts movies as far as my ratings go, so I will give this five stars, even though it makes absolutely no sense. |
tt0134983 | Supernova | Supernova chronicles the search-and-rescue patrol of a medical ship in deep space in the early 22nd century and its six-member crew, which includes captain and pilot A.J. Marley (Robert Forster), co-pilot Nick Vanzant (James Spader), medical officer Kaela Evers (Angela Bassett), medical technician Yerzy Penalosa (Lou Diamond Phillips), search and rescue paramedic Danika Lund (Robin Tunney) and computer technician Benjamin Sotomejor (Wilson Cruz). Aboard their vessel, the Nightingale 229, they receive an emergency distress signal coming from an ice mining operation on the moon Titan 37, more than 3,000 light-years away.
The crew answers the call and dimension-jumps — during which Captain Marley suffers fatal injuries due to a malfunction of the ship's equipment — arriving in the path of Titan 37's debris cloud, some of which damages the ship and causes the loss of 82 percent of its maneuvering fuel. Worse still, Titan 37 orbits a blue giant, and its high gravity field will pull the ship to the point where it will be incinerated in 17 hours, 12 minutes — which happens to be almost the same amount of time that the Nightingale 229 will need to recharge its jump drive, their only possible hope for escape. With only an 11-minute window for escape, the surviving crew soon find themselves in danger from the disturbing young man (Peter Facinelli) they rescue, and the mysterious alien artifact he has smuggled aboard. This artifact is analyzed by the ship's computer and is said to contain nine-dimensional matter.
It is ultimately discovered that the young man who called for rescue is actually Karl Larson, an old former lover of Kaela (it is implied they had an abusive relationship). Karl came into contact with the nine-dimensional matter after recovering the artifact. It somehow enabled him to acquire super-strength and supernatural healing abilities, and made him younger (such that Kaela did not recognize him). Karl murders most of the crew except Kaela and strands Nick on the mining platform. Karl unsuccessfully attempts to romantically reconcile with Kaela. Nick finds his way back to the medical ship through a rescue pod left on the mining platform, and a battle ensues between Nick and Karl. Karl is ultimately killed by Kaela using explosives placed near the alien artifact which Karl was obsessed with retrieving. The explosion ejects the artifact into space, hurtling it towards the blue giant.
With moments left before the dimension jump activates, Kaela and Nick place themselves into the only remaining dimensional stabilization chamber (Karl had destroyed all but one), which is the only thing that enables human beings to survive the ship's dimensional jump drive. The pods are meant to hold only one person; however, two subjects might be genetically mixed during the dimensional jump. Before Nick and Kaela enter the only remaining pod, the computer warns them that the nine-dimensional matter is reacting with the gravity of the blue giant sun and will cause a nine-dimensional reaction that will spread in all directions, such that the reaction's resulting supernova will reach Earth within 51 years. The computer hypothesizes that the reaction will either destroy life on Earth or "enable humankind to achieve a new level of existence". Just before the blue giant supernovas, the ship engages in a dimensional jump which brings Nick and Kaela back to Earth. As a result of their being in the same pod, the two of them each have one eye of the other person's original eye color. The ship's computer also reveals that Kaela is pregnant, which may be the result of them being in the pod together during the jump, or the result of their copulation hours earlier. | violence, murder, prank | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0109813 | The Flintstones | In Bedrock, Slate and Co. executive vice-president Cliff Vandercave and secretary Miss Sharon Stone discuss their plan to swindle the company of its vast fortune and flee, and that they need one of their employees to be responsible for it. Fred Flintstone loans his best friend and neighbor Barney Rubble money so that he and his wife Betty can adopt a child named Bamm-Bamm, who can only pronounce his own name. Although the child is initially difficult to control due to being raised by mastodons, as well as having super strength, he eventually warms up to his new family. Barney vows to repay his friend. Despite his mother-in-law Pearl Slaghoople's objections, Fred's wife Wilma remains supportive of his decision.
Cliff holds an aptitude test, where the worker with the highest mark will become the new vice president of the company. Barney gets the highest score but he switches his paper with Fred, who he knows will fail. Fred receives the promotion, but his first order is to dismiss Barney, since Barney now effectively has the lowest score. Fred accepts, but does his best to help Barney support his family, even inviting the Rubbles to live with them so that they can rent out their home. However, Fred's job and newfound wealth put a strain on his relationships with Wilma and the Rubbles. Cliff eventually tricks Fred into dismissing the workers, over the objections of his office Dictabird. Later, Barney confronts Fred after seeing worker riots on the news revealing that he switched tests with Fred and the Rubbles move out, despite having nowhere to live. Wilma and Pebbles also move out to her mother's house, leaving Fred behind.
Fred goes to the quarry and realizes his mistake and Cliff's plan, but also finds out that Cliff has manipulated events to make it look as if Fred stole the money, and has reported it to the police. A manhunt for Fred ensues by the police and the workers. Wilma and Betty see this on the news, and break into Slate and Co. to get the Dictabird, the only witness who can clear Fred's name, unaware that Cliff saw them from his office window. As Fred attempts to enter a cave where the workers are seeking refuge, they see through his disguise and attempt to hang him. Barney is almost hanged as well after he admits his part. Fred and Barney reconcile, but before they can be hanged, Wilma and Betty arrive with the Dictabird, who tells them the true story. The workers release Fred and Barney after realizing that Cliff was the one who fired them.
Cliff kidnaps Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm and demands the Dictabird in exchange for the children's safe return. Fred and Barney confront Cliff at the quarry, where Cliff has tied Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm to a huge machine. Though they hand him the Dictabird, Cliff activates the machine to stall them. Barney rescues the children while Fred destroys the machine. The Dictabird escapes from Cliff and lures him back to the quarry, where Miss Stone knocks him out, having had a change of heart after learning that Cliff was planning to betray her. The police arrive and Cliff attempts to flee, but he is petrified by a substance falling from the machine.
With the Dictabird's help, all charges against Fred are dropped, while Miss Stone is arrested as Cliff's accomplice, though Fred is confident she will be granted leniency for helping them stop Cliff. Impressed with the substance that Fred inadvertently created by destroying the machine, Mr. Slate dubs the substance "concrete" and makes plans to produce it with Fred as the president of its division, thus ending the Stone Age. Having realized the negatives of his wealth and status as a vice president, Fred declines and asks that the workers be rehired and given the job benefits he initially set out to achieve, which is granted. As the Flintstones and Rubbles have finally made amends, Fred and Barney get into a humorous quarrel when Fred once again asks Barney for a small amount of money for breakfast. | good versus evil, comedy, fantasy, alternate history, storytelling | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0087188 | E la nave va | The film opens depicting a scene in July 1914 immediately prior to the cruise ship Gloria N. setting sail from Naples Harbor. The opening sequence is in sepia tones, as if it were a film shot in that era, with no sound other than the whirring of the projector. Gradually the sepia fades into full colour and we can hear the characters’ dialogue.
Orlando, an Italian journalist, supplies commentary by directly addressing the camera, explaining to the viewer that the cruise is a funeral voyage to disperse the ashes of opera singer Edmea Tetua near the island of Erimo, her birthplace. Considered the greatest singer of all time, Tetua is celebrated for her goddess-like voice.
The bumbling but lovable journalist also provides highly subjective anecdotes and gossip on the wide array of cartoon characters that evoke the golden age of the "funny papers" (Little Nemo, Bringing Up Father, The Katzenjammer Kids) but with a perverse Felliniesque twist. These include more opera singers, voice teachers, orchestra directors, theatre producers, actors, prime ministers, counts, princesses, Grand Dukes, and panic-stricken fans of the deceased diva.
A jealous and bitter soprano named Ildebranda desperately tries to penetrate the secret behind Edmea Tetua’s unforgettable voice. A bristle-haired Russian basso is shown around the ship’s vast mess hall where, using only his voice, he hypnotizes a chicken. A curly-cued actor travels with his mother in order to seduce sailors. Sir Reginald Dongby, a voyeuristic English aristocrat, relishes spying on Lady Violet, his nymphomaniac wife. The Grand Duke of Harzock, a Prussian, is an obese bubble of a young man whose blind sister (choreographer Pina Bausch) schemes with her lover, the prime minister, to disinherit her brother. The brooding Count of Bassano closets himself in his cabin transformed into a temple dedicated to the diva’s memory.
An awful stench rises from the ship’s hold and soon it’s revealed that a love-sick rhinoceros has been neglected by the ship’s crew. The beast is pulled up, washed on deck, and returned to the hold with fresh water and hay.
On the third day of the voyage, the passengers discover a crowd of shipwrecked Serbians camped on the deck of the ship. Fleeing in rafts towards Italy after the assassination at Sarajevo, the refugees were brought on board the previous night by the captain. The Grand Duke and his men, however, are convinced the Serbians are terrorists and order the captain to isolate the group to a corner of the ship. The upshot is Fellini’s barely disguised take on the Marx Brothers's A Night at the Opera in a heady mix of cultures, both ethnic and artistic, where aristocrats and snobs joyfully share the stage (the ship’s deck) with peasants and vibrant Serbian folklore.
But the revels end when the menacing flagship of the Austro-Hungarian fleet sails into view, demanding the return of the Serbian refugees. The captain agrees on condition that Edmea Tetua’s ashes be dispersed at Erimo beforehand. After the ceremony, the refugees are loaded into a lifeboat for delivery to the Austrians but a young Serbian hurls a bomb at the flagship, causing pandemonium. The Austrians respond by cannon fire. The Gloria N. sinks while Albertini wields his baton, aristocrats march to the lifeboats, a grand piano slides across the floor smashing mirrors, and butterflies twitter serenely above the melee of suitcases in flooded corridors.
In a reverse tracking shot, Fellini reveals the stupendous behind-the-scenes of his floating opera of a movie - giant hydraulic jacks (constructed by Oscar-winning set designer, Dante Ferretti) that created the ship’s rolling sea movements, along with acres of plastic ocean, an army of technicians burning naphthalene for the smoke of disaster effect, and, finally, an enigmatic figure that may be Orlando or Fellini intentionally hiding behind his own camera filming the main camera filming himself.
The main camera then tracks forward to a final shot of Orlando in a lifeboat with the rhinoceros happily munching on hay. "Did you know," confides Orlando, "that a rhinoceros gives very good milk?" Laughing, he once again mans the oars to disappear on a vast plastic ocean. | whimsical, psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Conventional knowledge has it that the only film of Fellini's worth a damn after 8½ is Amarcord.
I present to you And the Ship Sails On..., a film that is not only to be ranked alongside Fellini's permanent, almost unquestionable masterpieces, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8½, and Amarcord, but one to be ranked among the best works in cinema.
This is all in an attempt to have the audience identify the characters - or, more precisely, caricatures (before he made movies, Fellini worked as a caricaturist on the streets of Rome) - in a stereotypical way.
Take the Duke from And the Ship Sails On - could you imagine a teenage, Teutonic duke any other way than Fellini presents him?
And the Ship Sails On is also very colorful, but the palette is more specified here - a beautiful canvas of blue-grays and whites.The narrative styles of the two films differ quite a bit, but still are similar.
I don't believe that Fellini meant the film as any kind of biting satire.
It's all done in fun, although the juxtaposition of the rich with the Serbian refugees, whom the ship's crew finds afloat on sinking rafts one night, does ring with a certain painful and ironic truth about how the rich see the poor.
The music in that scene, in fact, the music throughout the entire film, made me want to clap and dance.
I also have to add that Fellini never made a funnier film, at least of the ones I've seen, which are a majority of them (Toby Dammit of the omnibus film Spirits of the Dead comes very close).Most of this film's greatness lies in individual scenes, and thus, as you might guess, the sum is not exactly equal to the parts - at least as far as I saw, there's no real point - the substance is thin.
Each individual scene ranks among the best ever put to film - the wine glass concert, the scene where sunlight brightens one half of the ship and moonlight the other, the boiler room scene where the great opera singers compete vocally in order to impress the sailors below, the interview with the duke, and the opera singer's funeral.
Each scene is so exquisitely created by Fellini and every other artist involved that it is entirely forgiveable if the audience remembers those individual images rather than an overall effect.
A glittering gem of a movie that I feel deserves more attention in Fellini's canon.
Although Fellini's most challenging and provocative work preceded And the ship sails on, I can't say any are more poetic than it.
This film is also worth seeing if only for the stunning visuals, and the glorious music!.
Like Ken Russell, Fellini can always be depended on to go way over the top and never do anything by halves.The story of a group of rich aristocrats, opera singers, hangers on and just plain rich accompanying the body of a great opera singer to her cremation on the island of her birth in 1914, is shown in Fellini's stylised fashion as an allegory on the decline of Europe in WWI.
Antonioni has called this one of his favorite Fellini films and after seeing it myself, I knew he didn't make that judgment rashly.
"And the Ship Sails On" is a thoroughly 'modern' film and one of the maestro's best--certainly as good as "Amarcord," and probably better.
The fact that both films happen to take place on the deck of a ship is their only similarity and the 'message' of Titanic has absolutely nothing do with what Fellini was trying to say.
Fellini doesn't make 'allegories' of society; at his best, he makes 'allegories' of 'allegories.' His sense of humor goes deep enough to include ridicule of people who take allegories too seriously within his allegories, hence his true artistry.
And those kinds of people, obviously, sense that the joke is on them, and don't particulary like this film.
In fact, you could write a whole book analyzing "And the Ship Sails On" solely on its deep artistic value and another on all the great things in this film that certain 'cultured' people don't get because of their particular brand of 'high-brow' conditioning.
"And the Ship Sails On" is a PURE film, folks, one of the few amidst an ocean of endless mediocrity; and that is the hardest thing to achieve when trying to integrate as many elements as Fellini tries for (he himself has failed many times precisely because he was seeking purity within excess and got lost).
Each time I see "E la nave va", I'm deeply moved about the ending, masterly contrasting bold opera music and the vanishing of a certain Europe..
For some reason I hadn't seen one of his pictures for a while, and while his astounding images remained inviolable in my mind's private cinema, the gradual, repeated decline of his critical status made me tread fearfully into this nautical drama.It is clearly his worst film.
It is clearly the work of a jaded Maestro.And yet it contains more life, wit and magic than most films this year, and, needless to say, it is less silly than Titanic.
The story (a group of mourners carrying the body of a celebrated opera singer on a huge liner as World War I breaks out) is open to many allegorical interpretations (ship as nation, empire, class, art, life etc.), none of which quite fit.
There is much play on images of moon (Claire de lune tinkles throughout), tides and sunsets - possibly as motifs of decline, but also of the ever-continuing circle that is its opposite, life?The film's tone is ambivalent, nostalgic for an elegant age of art and beauty, yet coldly aware of its inhuman faults.
This is epitomised by the trademark Fellini altar ego, a journalist/film narrator, who watches the mixture of tragedy and farce with an amused eye, yet desperately wants to belong, and share in its faded grandeur.There are wonderful set-pieces, and graceful, Kubrickian camera movements.
This film is strange and beautiful- some of the scenes remain with me though I haven't seen it for 12 years.
Most of all I recall the scene where the ship takes on a group of refugees somehow this funeral ship with its cargo of grieving operatic elite and exhausted stateless and utterly impoverished people becomes an image of great compassion and humanity and optimism even.
I don't "understand" Fellini's films but I "felt" this one very passionately..
Fellini accomplishes more in the first 15 minutes than many directors accomplish in a film.
i guess the purpose of using black and white and silent cinema techniques before the ship scenes was to underline the fact that the important factor in the film was the ship itself.
Fellini had created so many symbols including the rhinoceros and the ship itself.
Fellini has reminded me that the cinema is an art which underlines the importance of visual structure..
As a film experience, it is much like "Duck Soup," where the fakery and frippery is exposed and unremarked on: in the thing itself; in the ridiculous pomp of "royalty;" in the strutting of the artists, all conflated.I would have been tempted to give this the honor of being one of the two Fellini films I set as fours.
Everyone seemed to expect something special from Fellini later in life, as if all that had gone before was just preparation for a master oeuvre that would make us fall to our knees.
This is what Fellini did – like it or not - the simple observation of harmless caricatures, which is actually engaging, enjoyable, even a little intriguing.
Nobody is intrinsically good or bad; everyone is a set of circumstances, more or less fortunate or unfortunate; nobody harbours grudges – even here – especially here, on the eve of World War I, the end of a golden era of genteel innocence.The first time I watched this I took against Freddie Jones' MC character.
At the end, the camera pulls back to display the set and the crew – a simple indication that we are all part of some grander machination, that we are all a bunch of fools on a sinking ship, and if we all took life a little less seriously, we might enjoy it a good deal more.
This film combines whole elements that summarize the meaning of greatness.A moving masterpiece that explores every aesthetic possibility given by Cinema.
At 1st view, I thought our sound didn't work on the DVD player, then so typical of Fellini, knowing this, he slowly adds little sound bites, then there is music and singing, then there is voice.
Everyone on the ship is requested to be there by the dead opera singer's will to witness her ashes being blown at sea at her desired place 3 days sailing out.
The movie ends but you know everyone else's story doesn't.
"And the Ship Sails On" is perhaps the only post-"Amarcord" Fellini film truly worthy of extravagant praise.
The film is Fellini through and through.
Always engaging, completely unique, and rather special, this film is probably among my favorite Fellini efforts.
It's not perfect (Fellini is such an auteur that he has a sense of humor that few others can fully appreciate all the time, and sometimes it's a little trying), but it's an excellent movie.8/10.
Great Rare Fellini Film on DVD!.
I felt like I returned to 1914 while watching this film.
It is very rare that a time in the past comes calmly alive feeling like present time in a film.
Fellini as usual fills this film with bizarre imagery, cinematography like a painting, and carnival-house faces.
From the one of the most originals beginnings in the film history to some pure perfection moments, this movie does not disappoint.
One of Fellini's better later films.
However along with Ginger and Fred(my personal favourite of that particular part of Fellini's career), When the Ship Sails On it is one of Fellini's better later films after Amarcord.
While Fellini's direction is more restrained than usual, there is still the distinctive style that made his films so wonderful.
Overall, a fine film and while not one of my favourites of the later Fellinis it does stand out as one of the better ones.
After the first metalinguistic appearance of the journalist Orlando and a short singing by the passengers, they go aboard, the ships leaves port, and the movie actually begins.The music is splendid, and the scenery and the costumes do not fall short of it.
(And if you're sitting there saying, "I drink coffee but not excessive amounts of it", you're deluding yourself.) Fellini is for people who would like to make the world a better place, but they don't know how, so they just avoid it and concern themselves with the absurdity of life.
And drink more coffee.When watching Fellini films I am infected with a violent desire to throw popcorn at the screen and quote Bruno Kirby from _When Harry Met Sally_ in the scene where he's frustrated at Sally's inability to convey her ideas while playing a game of Pictionary: "Draw SOMETHING resembling ANYTHING!!!".
Fellini says in few minutes what directors and writers wanted (do they really want?...) to say in many ignorant movies, like Spielberg's or Cameron's movies.
Fellini is an artist, he makes real art, not just for making businesses or a great stupid show to people be delighted with the illusion of the happy endings..
Federico Fellini might be the most talented genius when it comes to how to end a film; almost every single work of his I have seen finishes with an emotional conclusion accompanied by a great picture.
And the Ship Sails On is no exception: the splendid ending sequence shows a separation, a romance, a catastrophe accompanied by overly expressive operatic music, an inserted picture of the studio where the film was made, and a humor in the closing shot.
Despite the great ending, however, overall the film looks dated--more precisely, it might have already appeared to be dated in 1983, when it was released.
Towards the twilight of his film-making career, Fellini might have reached an area of his own too unique aesthetics; consequently, his works might not have been synchronized with the era (though I admit this statement may be biased with my knowledge in the American 80s)..
Maybe, just maybe, a surrealist cosmogony as well.Already in Fellini's time, cinema was long ago validated as art.
Because here Fellini the wizard went beyond ambitions and achieved this partGoyesque part satirical take on a world long ago abolished and drowned; and some of those who know at least some of the important Italian cinema of the '70s and '80s (things like the Ottaviani brothers, the Avatti, and the master Fellini himself) will not fail to recognize rather promptly this blend and also this special flavor of temerity and decadence.Now of course most do not even need this; yet I would insist of taking by the hand the unconvinced few and dip them a little in thiswhat shall we call itin this primordial soup, in this _cosmographic sketch.
I bet you do not know many other musical sequences in the cinema as good as the glasses session in the ship's kitchen.
Or the countless jokes issued by the master's inventivenessbeginning of course with the silent scene right at the beginning, before the color shift.The final Fellini was somehow the mellower; understandable.
In keeping with the style and tone of his later-period films, like Fellini-Roma, Amarcord and Casanova, ...And The Ship Sails On is a purposely elaborate and overly-stylised romp through the decadent and the grotesque, as a congregation of mourning opera singers find themselves stuck on a drifting ocean liner, whilst, unbeknownst to them, the first World War is breaking out across Europe.
Like all of Fellini's work following 8 ½ (or maybe even going as far back as Nights of Cabiria), the films seems loose and directionless, propelled along by a series of darkly-comic set-pieces, colourful characters and grand cinematic gestures.
It's less sprawling than a film like La Dolce Vita and less abstract and thematically repulsive as Satyricon, with the film falling somewhere in between, probably ending up closer to the fantastical stylisation and nostalgic fabrication of Amarcord than anything else.It's certainly more focused than many of his films from the same era, with Fellini managing to present a loose story that we can actually buy into, whilst the use of humour here is much broader and more central than some of his other films, with the references to Chaplin and the silent age helping to undercut the overt-stylisation (a thousand acres of plastic seas, a huge light bulb sun, etc) and the lack of an obvious central character (or any real character, for that matter).
Once again, Fellini deals in caricatures, choosing actors more for their physical appearance than any kind of acting ability, then directs them to mug to the camera with movements and expressions as grand as the film's design.The photography here is exquisite (like all Fellini), with the director creating a number of beautiful images and compositions that look like paintings from the early part of the last century.
Deceptively, but also as to illustrate his cinematic references, Fellini begins the film with no sound and in a dull, brown sepia.
As the film progresses, and the camera follows the mourners and the actions of the ship's crew, the sound of the ship-yard begins to slowly fade in...
There are a number of other stand out cinematic moments, in which Fellini gracefully orchestrates the actors and his camera so that their movements are integrated, almost like a musical, whilst the use of fast-motion to over-exaggerate the period feel and to create a sense of farce that works well with the material, and Fellini's style of direction.Some might argue that the film is quite trivial and never really ascends to the level of greatness set by the likes of La Strada, 8 ½ and Amarcord, and I suppose that's true, but for me, the film creates such an atmosphere and such a wholly intoxicating world of stylisation, arcane historical references and the trademark Fellini absurdities, that the whole film becomes a joy to sit through.
On top of all the grand visual flourishes, outlandish characterisations and general Fellini-isms, there's also the various symbolic references and narrative interpretations, which give the film a further layer of entertainment.The use of World War One as a pivot for the latter half of the story is an essential one and is important in as much as it allows Fellini (after so much time spent on spectacle and cinematic buffoonery) to create a notion much more meaningful and memorable.
So, what begins as a typically Fellini-esquire romp, gradually becomes something much more meaningful, and remains, in my opinion, his last true masterpiece.Admittedly, it's nowhere near as essential as his earlier films, pre-8 ½, in which his work generally had a much greater degree of narrative and cohesion, though from his later, more grandiose films, ...And The Ship Sails on remains an absolute treat...
This is one weird film--and Fellini intended it to be.
Sometimes, the people move in a rhythmic fashion, while at others they break into VERY elaborate operatic numbers and the sets are NOT the least bit realistic at times but look more like art nouveau pieces of art.
I liked the film very much, but would certainly NOT want a steady diet of this type of movie.
About the only thing I really hated was at the very end when the cameras panned back and showed the actual film crew and set.
This completely took me out of the weird moment and seemed unnecessary--I wanted to remain stuck in this strange world a little longer and hated to be reminded it was all a movie. |
tt0075848 | Ciao maschio | Dark surreal view of a New York that is mostly empty of humans and populated only by rats and a few eccentrics. Lafayette is a young French electrician living on his own in a basement who works for the odd owner of a waxwork museum and also for a feminist theatre group. When the women decide to improvise a piece about rape, the attractive Angelica volunteers to rape Lafayette. Beside the sea, Lafayette finds an abandoned baby chimpanzee which he adopts. Angelica, who enjoyed the rape, moves into his sordid flat and shares in the care of the infant. However, when Lafayette does not respond to the news that she is pregnant, she moves out. Alone again, he returns one day to find his baby ape eaten by rats. In total despair and needing human contact, he breaks into the waxwork museum but is met with hostility by the owner. The two fight and a fire, presumably caused by faulty wiring, consumes them both. Later, we see Angelica on the shore playing happily with her child. | absurd, psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Gerard Depardieu And A Monkey.
Marco Ferreri directed some of the most unusual films of the 1970s - from the castration love story "La Derniere Femme", to the gluttony fuelled orgy of "La Grande Bouffe".
Bye Bye Monkey might not match those films for quality or shock value, but it most definitely surpasses them in the weirdness stakes.Bye Bye Monkey is a rare exercise in cinematic existentialism that does not drown in its own pretence.
In fact, the film's greatest achievement is that it somehow manages to be entertaining despite having a plot which basically involves Gerard Depardieu walking around with a monkey.
There are, of course, detours from this central premise and they are just as perplexing.
Ferreri offers a Roman wax museum subplot, feminist dancers interested in experiencing rape, a massive gorilla corpse/sculpture and a love scene between a young Depardieu and a then 65 year old Geraldine Fitzgerald.
Did I mention that Gerard Depardieu incessantly blows a whistle throughout the film?
I'm really not sure what the film's deeper meaning is intended to be, assuming that it has one at all.
Bye Bye Monkey contains so many ideas and passes comment on so many issues that I gave up trying to interpret them all.
However, Ferreri's favourite theme of emasculation is unmissable in everything from the dancer rapists, to Luigi's sexual frustration and the birth registrar's comments on dressing Cornelius in girl's clothing.
The film is never weighed down by its philosophy and there is just as much enjoyment to be had from the surreal imagery as from the film's ambiguous subtext.Gerard Depardieu was doing his best work in the 1970s and he turns in another muscular performance as Lafayette.
I can not imagine another major actor who would accept this role in the first place, let alone approach it with the conviction that Gerard does.
Marcello Mastroianni is also great as Luigi, as is Geraldine Fitzgerald in her most controversial role.
However, it is James Coco who almost manages to steal the show with his outrageously over the top performance as Mr Flaxman.
As good as the actors are, this remains Ferreri's show and his direction is as stylish as ever.Bye Bye Monkey is a real oddity of the 1970s.
Ferreri was a truly unique director and this may be his most individual, if not most convincing, work..
Interesting and silly at the same time.
Strange, and it has some interesting bits, but it's dull and nonsensically plotted.
Gerard Depardieu and Marcello Mastroinanni make asses of themselves, and Gail Lawrence, better known under her porn name, Abigail Clayton, is naked for about 50% of the film.
Depardieu plays a boy toy in New York City.
One day his friend, played by Mastroianni, is walking along the beach when he discovers the corpse of King Kong, whose orphaned baby he gets Depardieu to adopt.
The themes involve the ever-changing gender roles, and this could have been very interesting.
Unfortunately, it has no real plot to speak of, and it just meanders from weird scene to weird scene.
Sometimes, the visuals are quite haunting, especially when the characters are on the beach with the New York cityscape towering over them and the giant ape corpse dominating the bottom of the frame.
Curious Imagery keeps this film entertaining..
Is it another world, or our world gone mad?
Ferreri has quite an imagination, especially his use of juxtaposition: a rotting carcass of King Kong, a wax museum where James Coco reenacts parts of history, and an underground society where rats prevail.
Depardieu, who's lines are badly dubbed, manages to get through this yarn uncomfortably gripping a chimp where he found beside the dead Kong.
Mastroianni is always at his best, altho this time presenting a more cartoonish characterization.
However, despite the exotic idiosyncrasies, this film can be rather dull at moments.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed a large percentage of this movie, ad hominem the ambiguous finale which may help clarifies the film's bizarre symbolism.
Watch this one on a rainy day..
Disturbing apocalyptic vision.
This is not a real movie in terms of a story but rather a collection of impressions about the life of a lonely guy living somewhere in a future New York slum during an apocalyptic virus wave that caused the death of thousands of people.
He's surviving by taking bizarre jobs for a living, and finally he's finding a small monkey as a buddy.The whole atmosphere is disturbing and sinister, but the "story" is a bit lame sometimes.
The photography is stunning and occasionally reminds of the famous apocalyptic paintings of Hieronimus Bosch to the shadowy impressions of Enrico de Chirico.
A really disturbing, surreal French movie featuring a young Gerard Depardieu..
Bye Bye Monkey.
an oddly desolate New York overrun by rats, Gerard Depardieu works at a Roman history wax museum, gets "raped" by a feminist performance art troupe, pals around with a sexually frustrated Marcello Mastroianni ("I have some kind of monster between my legs!"), seduces the elderly hostess of a dinner party in front of the guests, and discovers the corpse of King Kong on the beach, who is clutching an infant monkey that he then adopts.
A stencil on Depardieu's wall asks "Why?!" and that's a good question.
Although composed of several interesting elements (some of which recall Ferreri's earlier THE SEED OF MAN) it doesn't gel into any cohesive whole.
The best I can do at putting it together is to say it's an absurdist treatise on the decline of civilization, but not all the pieces seem to fit.
It's an exercise in non-sequitur, and that's not a form I enjoy very much unless it's done very light-heartedly.
There are amusing moments but the overall tempo is too sluggish.
Also, the performances aren't very good except for Depardieu and Mastroianni, and even they don't appear to understand what they're doing.
Sometimes Ferreri's idiosyncrasies add up to something really exciting, but here it's a near miss..
Creepy and outdated?.
I watched this film last week, through Netflix.
I ended up doing a lot of fast-forwarding after the first few minutes.
I usually like experimental films that take risks, but this does not hang together for me at all.
It was bad!After viewing it, I checked out one of the Leonard Maltin books--they rate it as BOMB.
--OK--There are some Maltin "Bombs" that I've actually liked, but this one doesn't hang together.
The acting is OK I guess--but the dialog and characters are so silly and unconvincing in their actions and motivations that it all just put me off.
First objection--one of the exceedingly creepy feminist dancers hits Depardieu on the head with a Coke bottle and it breaks into pieces as it knocks him out--COKE BOTTLES DO NOT SHATTER!
These bottles are thick and heavy--and they certainly were when this film was made, in 1978.
Depardieu's character would have had a fractured skull in any version of "real" life.
Right away the viewer thinks that this is a fakey movie.And then the most sympathetic of the feminist dancers suddenly strips off her clothes and has sex with Gerard in front of everyone else, while he is allegedly unconscious.
And then they become lovers and start living together, except that the other dancers start wearing pregnancy costumes under their leotards and then the "girlfriend" becomes pregnant.Talk about (out)dated!--The feminist dancers are like someone's weird understanding of the "women's lib" literature of years earlier--circa 1968-1970, and the actresses in this movie are years too old to portray the characters they are supposed to be.
The ending of this film--what happens to the "monkey" is so bad and amateurish on every level that I'll skip it here--I've seen more convincing special effects in grade school film projects.--Is this a horror movie or a Roger Corman Drive-In flick?
The nuttiness of this film reminds me of another "Bomb" of several years earlier--MYRA BRECKENRIDGE-- wherein stodgy, clueless Hollywood people tried to make a "hip" movie for a younger generation.Not sure who or why this Monkey film was made--but it never hits the target.
Mastrioni and Depardieu are really wasted here, and James Coco's artificial exaggerated style of Broadway acting is always hard to take on film unless there is a convincing reason for it.
If you want to watch strange movies, you'd probably do better to check out the "Psychotronic Guide" or something similar. |
tt0055438 | The Shadow of the Cat | Late at night in early 1900's England, wealthy and elderly Ella Venable (Catherine Lacey) is killed in the attic of her manor house by Andrew the butler (Andrew Crawford). The butler is joined by Ella's husband, Walter Venable (André Morell), and Clara the maid (Freda Jackson). Together they bury Ella's body on the grounds of the estate.
The only witness to the murder and burial is Ella's tabby cat, Tabitha. The cat understands what happened. The murderers realize the cat's comprehension and resolve to kill it.
Days later, Inspector Rowles (Alan Wheatley) and newspaper man Michael Latimer (Conrad Phillips) are called to the house to investigate what Walter maintains is Ella's "disappearance." Michael and the inspector are suspicious; they know that Walter married Ella for her money. Meanwhile, Walter, Andrew and Clara continue to agonize over the whereabouts of Tabitha.
Before he had her killed, Walter forced Ella to sign a will that left everything to him. However, her original will, which left Walter nothing, remains hidden in the attic. Walter needs to find and destroy this original to ensure the security of his inheritance. He looks for it that night.
The attic is structurally unsound and Walter falls through a rotten floorboard. Though not hurt, he stops his search and goes downstairs. There, he and Andrew see Tabitha and pursue her into the basement. The cat injures Andrew and gives Walter a heart attack.
Walter invites Ella's favorite niece, Elizabeth "Beth" Venable (Barbara Shelley), to stay at the house. He worries that she might question the illegitimate will and wants to "deal with her" in person.
Elizabeth runs into Michael upon her arrival; they are old friends from when she used to live in the area. She is untroubled by the news that her aunt's will left her nothing.
Bedridden by the cat-induced heart attack, Walter is unable to continue his search for the original will so he invites his criminal nephew, Jacob Venable (William Lucas), Jacob's father, Edgar Venable (Richard Warner), and Jacob's wife, Louise Venable (Vanda Godsell) to stay at the house. Walter promises them a share of Ella's money if they find her original will and kill Tabitha. The cat witnesses their conspiracy.
There are several episodes of mutual fear and hatred between Tabitha and the murderers/conspirators. Elizabeth can't understand it as she's always known Tabitha as a sweet cat that everyone loves. Michael believes it's because the cat knows why Ella disappeared.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Tabitha is finally caught. Andrew takes the cat to the swamp to drown it but Tabitha escapes and Andrew drowns instead. When Andrew doesn't return, the conspirators worry. Muddy paw prints presage the cat's return and terrify Clara. The maid encounters the cat on the upstairs landing, Tabitha leaps at her and Clara falls down the stairs and dies.
Jacob continues searching the attic for Ella's will. Elizabeth knows someone is up there but doesn't know who or why.
Jacob distrusts his uncle and fears "too much depends on Walter." While Walter sleeps, Jacob lets Tabitha into Walter's room. When Walter wakes and sees the cat he has a fatal heart attack. His will leaves everything to Edgar.
The police recover Andrew's body from the swamp.
Elizabeth, Michael and Inspector Rowles accuse Edgar, Jacob and Louise of conspiracy but without the original will they have no proof and Edgar orders them out of the house. As they're leaving, Jacob sees the cat and pursues it onto the roof of the house with everyone watching. Edgar takes advantage of the distraction to go to the attic and continue the search for the will. Jacob slips on the roof and falls to his death. Edgar finds the original will hidden in the wall behind a painting of Tabitha. The cat itself then appears and, in his frantic efforts to kill it, Edgar wrecks the attic and is struck and killed by a falling beam.
Tabitha leads the police to Ella's body.
Ella's original will leaves everything to Elizabeth but she tells Michael that she never wants to see the house again and asks him to take her away.
The house is sold and Tabitha watches from the courtyard as a new family -- husband, wife, daughter and grandfather -- move in. The grandfather complains that he'll probably die of boredom living there, while the husband and wife talk of convincing the old man to change his will. | revenge, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0105958 | Boy Meets World | === Series overview ===
=== Season 1: Middle school ===
The first season begins with Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his best friend Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong), two average sixth-graders. They do not care about schoolwork, despite the efforts of their longtime teacher George Feeny (William Daniels). Initially, their main interest is sports, though later Shawn and then Cory begin to express an interest in girls. This season focuses specifically on Cory's relationships with the other characters in the show. He begins to understand his parents more and respect them for all that they do. His relationship with his elder brother Eric (Will Friedle) becomes confusing as Eric's constant obsession with girls is foreign to Cory, and he becomes more protective of his younger sister Morgan (Lily Nicksay from this season through the end of the second season). Cory begins to show interest in Topanga (Danielle Fishel), a smart outsider in his class, though he often hides this by insulting and berating her. Cory and Topanga have known each other since they were kids, making romance in their relationship even more predictable. Cory and Shawn's friendship is tested for the first time, and Cory must often choose between doing what Shawn wants him to do and doing what is best for their friendship.
=== Seasons 2–5: High school ===
During the second season, Cory, Topanga, and Shawn start high school and meet Jonathan Turner (Anthony Tyler Quinn), an unconventional English teacher. Although they initially view Mr. Turner as cool, they soon realize that he is a teacher first—hence why Cory calls him "Feeny with an earring". Throughout the second season, Cory and Shawn try a variety of ways to become popular with their classmates. In doing so, they nearly get into fights with school bullies and trouble with Mr. Feeny (now their high school principal). Eventually, Shawn becomes cool and popular at school, but still keeps his friendship with the less popular Cory. Shawn’s mother Virna deserts her son and husband Chet (Blake Clark), which upsets Shawn greatly. Chet then leaves to find Virna. After this occurs, Shawn lives briefly with Cory and his parents, but soon figures out that it's just not the right fit for him, and later moves in with Mr. Turner. Cory tries at some points to begin a relationship with Topanga, but this is mostly because he does not want to be left out of the dating game. Sensing this, Topanga is wary of his advances, and despite the mutual attraction, the two do not date during this season.
During the third season, Cory finally admits that he wants to ask out Topanga but cannot work up the courage to do it. Consequently, his best friend Shawn asks her out. Although Cory was hurt, he soon realized Shawn set the whole thing up so he could unite Cory and Topanga and make Cory confess his feelings for her. He tells her how he feels, and they become a couple. Later in the third season, Cory and Topanga are worried that their relationship has hit a rut, and decide it would be best to break up while they are still able to keep the friendship. They get back together a few months later, when Cory follows her to Disney World to win her back. Eric spends this season desperately trying to make up for his first three years of slacking off in high school. He makes progress, but it is not enough; he is not accepted to any universities as of his high school graduation. He decides then to take a year off and figure things out, beginning with a summer road trip. After finding out in the season finale that Cory feels estranged from him, Eric invites Cory along for the ride. Shawn nearly makes several life-changing blunders this season, but Cory and then Mr. Turner help him to make the right choices. Cory endures several tests of character this season—everything from being credited for a great deed (which he did not deserve), to being insistently pursued by another girl while he is with Topanga. Sometimes Cory makes the right decision, and sometimes the wrong one, but he learns from each.
The fourth season opens with Cory and Eric's return from their road trip. In this season, Eric finds himself confronted with life after high school. After having a couple of jobs and meeting people that teach him some interesting lessons, Eric decides to retake the SAT and give college another try. The Matthews' patriarch Alan (William Russ) decides to quit his job and open a sporting goods store with Eric as his partner. Topanga’s mother is transferred at her job to Pittsburgh, which is over 300 miles (480 km) from Philadelphia. The news devastates Cory, but Topanga runs away from her new house and returns to Philadelphia. Topanga’s parents decide that she can live with Aunt Prudence (Olivia Hussey) in Philadelphia until she graduates. Shawn's mother returns for a brief period, but then leaves again under unknown circumstances at some point between season 4 and season 6.
Later that school year, Mr. Turner gets into a severe motorcycle accident in which he almost dies. The next year Eric moves out of his parents’ house and begins college at the fictional Pennbrook University (a pastiche of local Philadelphia schools including Saint Joseph's University and the University of Pennsylvania). He moves into an apartment with Jack (Matthew Lawrence), who turns out to be Shawn’s half-brother. Shawn clearly shows his hatred toward Jack and refuses to live with him because he was upset that Jack never called or checked to see if Shawn and his dad were doing okay (Shawn eventually discovers that Jack never received any of Shawn's letters, or he would have come to see him immediately). However, after being convinced by his father and others around him, Shawn moves in with them, but finds he has nothing in common with Jack, which causes a lot of tension. A new student, Angela (Trina McGee), moves to Philadelphia and begins to date Shawn. Over winter break, the students go skiing on a school trip. Cory sprains his ankle and Lauren (Linda Cardellini), a ski-lodge employee, takes care of him. The two kiss, but Cory lies to Topanga. When Topanga finds out that he lied, they break up. Cory, upset about the break-up, gets drunk and is arrested, along with Shawn. The two agree never to drink again, but Shawn breaks the promise and shows up at school drunk. With the help of Angela and Jack, Shawn realizes that alcoholism runs in his family and that he needs to stop drinking.
Topanga forgives Cory after encountering her own kiss with an old friend from grade school. She realizes no kiss means more than the ones she shares with Cory. Cory and Topanga reunite and attend the prom together, where they are named King and Queen. On prom night, Cory's mother Amy (Betsy Randle) announces that she is pregnant. Mr. Feeny decides to retire at the end of the school year and move to Wyoming; however, he soon returns from retirement and goes back to teaching. Topanga is accepted to Yale, but Cory does not want her to leave him. At graduation, Topanga tells Cory that she decided not to go to Yale because she wants to be with him; then she proposes. The couple's parents are upset that they got engaged so young, but Cory and Topanga decide to elope. However, at the last minute, they decide that they want to get married "the right way," in front of family and friends.
=== Seasons 6–7: College ===
Shawn, Cory, Topanga, and Angela join Jack and Eric at Pennbrook. Rachel McGuire (Maitland Ward), a new student from Texas, moves in with Eric and Jack, causing tension as both boys have crushes on her. Angela and Shawn break up due to his claim that they should meet new people and, despite Cory’s efforts, decide to stay just friends. They eventually are brought back together by way of Angela's father during his visit to the college, recruiting students for his R.O.T.C. program of basic training in the army. Mr. Feeny returns to take some classes, but then is offered a teaching job at the university. During their freshman year, Stuart (played by Ben Savage's older brother Fred Savage), one of their professors, makes inappropriate—and unwelcome—sexual advances towards Topanga, causing Cory to shove him through a glass door at the Student Union. Cory is suspended but for only one day; the Dean (Bonnie Bartlett) believes that Stuart had crossed the line. Mr. Feeny and the Dean eventually gain feelings for one another and begin dating.
Cory and Topanga face a major obstacle in their marriage plans when Topanga’s parents go through a divorce, and she decides to call off the wedding. She breaks up with Cory completely and tells him that she doesn’t believe in love. Topanga is convinced that she is doing what is best for herself and Cory until her mother comes to explain everything and tell her that love is worth the risk.
Chet dies of a heart attack, and Jack reacts by admitting feelings for Rachel. They start dating, which causes problems for Jack and Eric. Crushed, Eric decides to move out of the apartment so that he doesn't get in the way of Jack and Rachel and later sleeps in Mr. Feeny’s car. Shawn goes on a road trip to deal with his father's death, saying he won't come back. He does return however when the new Matthews baby, Joshua, is born prematurely and has a small chance of survival. Shawn receives a letter from his mother, confessing she is not his biological parent. Shawn unsuccessfully searches for his biological mother. Alan offers to adopt Shawn, but he decides that it was not necessary because Shawn knows that he is already part of the family.
Shawn and Cory have challenges in their relationship throughout the season, including on the day of Cory’s wedding. Shawn admits that he is no longer Cory’s best friend and gives him away to Topanga. Despite this, their friendship remains intact, but Topanga sometimes feels left out. Cory and Topanga get married and move into a shabby apartment for married couples on campus. They struggle for a while, wondering why Alan and Amy refuse to help them, but Alan later admits that he didn't want to deprive of them of the joy and bonding that comes with building a life together when you're new to marriage. They eventually make it a wonderful home, and realize that they are capable of doing things on their own as a married couple. The group is growing up—they have to start thinking about what to do with their lives. In one episode, the newer friends get involved in a prank war with the originals (Jack, Rachel, and Angela vs. Cory, Shawn, and Topanga) which ultimately results in an ill-considered prank that exposes a very private secret of Rachel's. The friends are almost completely torn apart by all of this, until Eric and Mr. Feeny intervene by reminding them of the importance of their relationships and, as a result, everyone makes up.
In the series finale, Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Eric all head to New York City, where Topanga has been offered a dream internship at a law firm. Angela decides to move overseas with her father, and Jack and Rachel join the Peace Corps in Guatemala. The final scene has Cory, Topanga, and Shawn having a final meeting with Mr. Feeny in their old sixth grade classroom, along with Eric, with each one telling him how important he is in their life and to cherish each other forever. | humor | train | wikipedia | I grew up watching Boy Meets World.
I don't know why, but for some reason, Disney is getting rid of their best shows and putting in new ones that are pointless to watch (ie: "Brandy and Mr. Whiskers").
The show deals with a lot of the things that teenagers go through, while making it still entertaining to watch.I love this show, and personally don't tire of it.
The younger shows have more humor and are better for younger children, while the older ones contain more drama and are great for teens to watch.
Boy Meets World is a show that reminds me a lot of NBC's 'Friends,' except for teens and younger children.
BMW ended 5 years ago, but it is still one of the most watched shows on TV on the Disney Channel and ABC Family.It's just so much fun to watch this show, and watch the characters develop so well.
Like in the last episode even Shawn says "You haven't talked to another student in 7 years!" Great line, because it was so true.
As a 43 year-old, English teacher, I must admit "Boy Meets World" has some of the most intricate scripts I have ever seen in teenage shows.
"Boy Meets World" and "Sabrina The Teenage Witch" were the best TGIF shows.
My friends and I used to get together every Friday night to watch these shows and they always gave us good laughs."Boy Meets World" told the story of Cory Matthews, his friends, and family.
It is hilarious but still covers real issues like bullying, relationships, and other things that children and teenagers may face.For those who haven't seen the show, these are some of the best/main characters: Cory- whinny and annoying, but a good guy with a great life; Sean- Cory's best friend, rough around the edges, but a great friend; Topanga- Cory's girlfriend, Smart, weird (in the beginning); Eric- Cory's brother, extremely funny, kind of like Joey from friends; Matt- Sean's half brother, good looking, rich, smart; Mr. Feeny- Cory, Sean, and Topanga's teacher from the first season throughout high school to the last season, gives great advice; Angela- Sean's girlfriend in high school and college.With this much of a variety in personalities, this show has a character everyone in the family can enjoy..
The Show has endearing Characters, Great acting,lots of comedy drama and real life situations you can relate to or went through throughout The characters age throughout the show ( pre-teen to adulthood ).
There is also enough variety throughout the season to keep you hooked until the very end, which will leave you wanting to keep on watching even after the final episode.
Girl Meets world is a Sequel to this series and worth watching as of now ( 7 episodes so far) if you do love Boy Meets World..
I think the reason this series is so great is because not only is it about comedy it is also about love, family, drama, and hope.
For those of you who have never seen it, this "kids" show may come across as cheesy unimaginative rubbish and i am not denying that it has had it's moments on all counts but on the whole, Boy Meets World is a funny, well-acted sitcom that can be enjoyed by all.I, myself, am 23 and i still watch it as i have done since the beginning.
We have seen these kids develop into adults and have had to face difficult challenges in their life for example death of a parent, first love, divorce of parents, pregnancy scares etc which has all been dealt with in a very mature way.My favourite character Shawn Hunter has had it particularly rough and the way Rider Strong portrays the character is incredible - he should go far in the movie business.
However all the other actors are capable, i mean i am not afraid to say that i cried when Topanga and Cory got married, i laughed at Eric's ridiculous stupidity and admired the closeness of the group that has brought the whole show together.
Unfortunately they are no longer making Boy Meets World, but with all the re-runs i am sure that we will be able to re-live the moments of Cory, Shawn, Topanga and Eric for many years to come..
Two thumbs up to the casting directors!"Boy meets World" is a great show with lots of valuble, positive life lessons to learn.
"Boy Meets World" was one of my favorite shows when it was on the air, and I still catch an episode or two on Disney when I can.
Arguably, "Boy Meets World" was the last Good show from the TGIF years.
It took the first few seasons for the chemistry to work together, but after a few years, the writing, directing and Acting on this series made it one of the most entertaining family shows of recent years; Powered by well-written and genuinely funny characters as well as an excellent cast, "Boy Meets World" certainly tops my list of best sit-coms..
I think that Boy Meets World is a funny and entertaining show.
I also watched Boy Meets World while i was growing up and for the most part it was entertaining, heart warming and fun.Cory was funny when he was younger but he seemed to lose the fun as he got older, i know he went to uni and had commitments etc.
but it's a kids show and he grew up just a little 'too' much, on the verge of fuddy duddy, whilst Shawn was all over the place, amazing their friendship even survived such differences.Topanga was more interesting at the beginning too; she was kooky and eccentric but by the end all she cared about was marriage and babies (it seems that's what they think all girls think about when they hit 18)Eric meanwhile grew considerably dumber and the parents were awful with their sugar coated advice and mr.
Feeny's life lessons were just stomach turning.Cory and Topanga ended up not going a second without professing their love for each other and saying things like 'we've loved each other since we were three years old' Yeah right, he never seemed that fond of her at age 11 when it began, it ended up so sickly sweet and the drama often so depressing that it was hard to even call it a kid's comedy anymore.Good early on, Eric one of the best back then, and really liked Minkis but the later series were hard to watch for fear of bringing up your breakfast..
i love this series i think it was really great because it helped a lot of people i know get through a lot of hard times and it gave some people i know the will to try new things and it helped answer a lot of questions people had you get to watch a boy from his elementary years until he is grown and he moves away and you feel like you know him you watch his friends grow up with him and they learn together and get through hard times together you watch his whole life his teachers, mentors, family, and friends and i know a lot of people who can relate to this show and what happens in it i happen to be one of them bottom line I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!.
Boy Meets World (BMW) Is one of the better shows.
But when he grows older, "Boy Meets World" gets better.
You see how Cory (the main character) and his best friend Shawn live their lives, how they deal with problems typical for their age, how they behave, their relation with their teacher Mr. Feeny.
Shawn, of course, had by far the hardest life of any of the characters, and Rider Strong is just..a really, really good actor, especially when he has to act serious or upset.
I've watched Boy Meets World ever since I was little almost everyday.
If you want to watch a show which the whole family would love you should watch Boy Meets World.If you can't tell I very much so liked this show.
Boy Meets World is not only a wonderful show but it became apart of my life.
I never had such a passion for fiction but Boy Meets World made me laugh,cry and throughout the show we see every character maturing.
When we are introduced to the show Cory is an eleven year old boy who is perplexed by the world around him but as he grows up he realizes what is important to him like his friends, family and Topanga.
Boy Meets World is a fabulous show and it has taught me how to deal with certain obstacles and gave it's audience some good laughs!!!.
And For the girls out there, Eric and the Shawn are very easy on the eyes.Thank you Boy Meets World; Love a faithful fan..
I gotta admit some episodes are gross because Cory gets into.......naughty things with Topanga but other than that this show is the best.
boy meets world is a heart-felt comedy that everyone can enjoy.
boy meets world is a show that has SINCERE comedy with Excellent acting.
then there are shows with bad acting, bad plots, and overdone stories (Lizzie McGuire, brandy and whiskers, Raven) there are shows that you can only see the same episodes once or two times before it gets boring (kim possible, full house) but boy meets world, i can watch over and over again without getting the least bit bored.
Boy Meets World Is my all time favorite show!!!!.
Boy Meets World was one of those great shows the whole family can watch.
One of my favorite episodes is the one where Cory and Shawn drop Mr. Feeneys anniversary watch down the sink, find out how important it was, and went into the sewage tank and got it out for Feeney.
Boy Meets World is the best TV show that I have ever seen.I love the Cory/Topanga relationship and the Cory/Shawn relationship.
Every week Topanga became more bitter and mean, Cory more passive and stupid, Shawn had turned back into his "oh woah is me there's no hope for me" personality, when before, the only person who got him to stop was Johnathan Turner, (Tony Quinn) They married Cory and Topanga, and the show just got worse.But there was a time when this was a really sweet and fun show to watch.If it's before season 4, it's okay.
I think that Boy Meets World is the best T.V show ever!
The actors and actresses do an excellent job bringing to life their characters and making the things they say and do believable, funny, and heart-moving.
Their relationship portrays that of two young people having been through many good and bad times together and that still come out loving each other and being together.
From the time I was 9 till I was 16, every Friday night I would look forward to seeing Cory and Shawn's newest schemes, Eric's hilarious humor, Mr. Feeny's wise words of wisdom and the all around good family atmosphere and moral values this show brought into my home for so long.
Cory, Topanga, Shawn, Eric, Amy, Morgan, Mr. Feeny, Rachel, Angela, Jack, Alan; and going back in time, Minkus, Mr. Turner, Mr. Williams, Harley and the others, you will be greatly missed..
Boy meets world is simply one of the best shows.
Boy Meets World is a good show dedicated to teenagers and their problems.
"Boy Meets World" is a good show with some hilarious as well as touching moments.
The funniest character is Eric, somehow he manages to be funny by doing nothing more than acting like an idiot.
Finally, each episode has a moral, though it's not written in a preachy way.Ben Savage (Cory) is a good solid actor, though his character can be a bit much sometimes.
I think Boy Meets World is a funny show.
Boy meets World was a Fantastic show.It shows the good and bad sides of life.I think they should do a reunion.It would be a hit.
I have two seasons DVD and would like to purchase them all and one day show my kid quality TV i would describe Boy Meets World as clean, funny, witty, entertaining if you never seen it go buy it on DVD or find it online somewhere!.
The shows these days are so dumb and unbelievable, but I don't know one person who could not relate to Boy Meets World.
When I see Boy Meets World now it reminds me of all the silly things I did as I kid and even looking back I can still learn things now!
It makes me wonder why a bad series like Boy Meets World managed to stay on the air for so long?
I grew up watching Boy Meets World on ABC's TGIF knowing that someday I would understand what that title means, and I do realize what those words mean.
His older brother Eric (Will Friedel) is a pain of the butt in which throughout episodes he will act like a goof ball or a cool brother who understands what Cory is going through; his best friend Shawn Hunter (Rider Strong) is a troublemaker in whom he gets Cory into his little mischief plans; his girlfriend's name is Topanga Lawrence (Danielle Fisher) who is into getting grades and staying out of trouble and what is worse than a brother, a mischief friend or a girlfriend who doesn't butt out of people's business: having the principal of your school living next door to you.
I liked the show's first couple of seasons, but after that I was disturbed when as the kids got older, the show became more like "Saved by the Bell" where the main characters when to the same high school and the same college where even Feeny taught at both education systems.
I think the show is great, great actors, good plot lines, and funny, and another thing, shows aren't meant to be realistic, sheesh, realistic shows are STUPID!!Rider Strong who plays Shawn Hunter, plays his character well, how you people said he changed a lot between the first season and last, well duh, he grew up.
Him and Angela's relationship did get a bit stupid because they kept breaking up and getting back together again like Cory's and Topanga's.Ben Savage who plays Cory Matthews, is OK at playing the character, but he changes into a guy that doesn't like change at all and wants everything his way.
In an era where every show has to have an angle, Boy Meets World stands out as a story about flawed characters just trying to navigate life.
Boy Meets World was a great show because of the parents.
Full of good values, lessons, and funny plots, Boy Meets World is the show that I keep coming back to.
I love Cory and Topanga together and I love Shawn and Eric and all of the characters.
Not like that usually happens, but we accepted it because the show was so easy to take.Ben also met the love of his life which has continued in Girl Meets World, Topanga played by Danielle Fischl.
What I like about Boy Meets World is most episodes have a life lesson, a moral value.
I am a 25 year old male who grew up watching Boy Meets World on reruns on the Disney Channel in middle school.
During the formative years of my life, no show had a greater impact on me in teaching me the values and morals than this show.The greatest part about BMW is that it wasn't seeking for rating with a quick laugh; like Mr. Feeney, it really wanted to grow you as a human being through following the narrative of a young boy into adulthood.
But even into the later years, it never failed to deliver with deep dialogue about the pain and joy that we are brought in this life.Boy Meets World helped shape who I was.
I still can't believe it's been ten years since Boy Meets World retired!
A comedy?It started out as a cute show, like a "Wonder Years" type show minus the 60s nostalgia following the life of a young boy (Ben Savage) growing up in Philadelphia.
You had the innocent looking main character (Corey), the close knit parents, the annoying older brother (Eric), the rarely seen sister (Morgan), the weird best friend (Shawn), the girl next door (Topanga).
The episodes aren't funny, but they have good histories and the characters are terrible.The show has good histories, but I laughed very few times watching this show.
Boy Meets World All 7 Seasons On DVD!.
I can remember every Friday night I would be so excited to watch Boy Meets World on abc's TGIF.
It's very 90s, very safe, and nothing but good fun!"Boy Meets World" is one show that can't be missed!!!!!10/10.
People tell him how shows like the OC and Laguna Beach are great but it only tackles like 10% of America a bunch of whinny rich kids who bitch about how good they have it doesn't relate to Boy Meets World if you ask me..
if you like boy meets world you might also want to check out watching growing pains, step by step, who's the boss, or full house.
all are very funny shows and each are similar to boy meets world.
Unfortunately, the best points of the show die down almost as soon as the characters reach their senior year of high school, and while even then it's funny enough to watch, their college episodes are unbearable.
The show started out as a typical coming of age sitcom, but by the end it was like watching a romantic comedy series.
I just want to say that Boy Meets World is my favorite television show ever!
They help to keep great shows like Boy Meets World alive.
At the very least we can watch my Boy Meets World tapes together, and they can see how good Television used to be!!! |
tt0060880 | The Quiller Memorandum | In the dead of the night a man walks down a deserted Berlin street. He enters a phone booth, but as he dials a number, he is shot dead.
Jones was the second British operative to be murdered in Berlin by a secret neo-Nazi organisation, Phoenix. The British send Quiller (George Segal) to Berlin where, at the Nazis' 1936 Olympia Stadium, his controller Pol (Alec Guinness) quietly explains that "a new generation of Nazis has grown up, difficult to recognise because they don't wear uniforms anymore", and orders him to find the Phoenix HQ. Pol's superiors in London, Gibbs (George Sanders) and Rushington (Robert Flemyng), are occasionally seen directing the operation from their gentlemen's club.
Back in Berlin, Quiller shakes off someone following him, then confronts the tail in a pub, only to discover that the man is his minder, Hengel (Peter Carsten). Hengel gives him a bowling alley ticket, a swimming-pool ticket and a news cutting, all found on Jones's body. Quiller asks after Jones at the bowling alley without success; the swimming pool manager Hassler (Günter Meisner) also sends him packing. Pretending to be a reporter, Quiller visits the school featured in the cutting, where a teacher has recently been unmasked as a Nazi war criminal. The headmistress introduces him to teacher Inge Lindt (Senta Berger), who is fluent in English and whom he interviews about her colleagues, before then driving her back to her home and briefly stopping at her flat for a drink.
On leaving, Quiller confronts a man who seems to be following him. Having earlier told Hengel that he understands no German, Quiller is revealed to be able to speak it fluently. The man strenuously denies following him and other men intervene in the discussion, before Quiller returns to his hotel. Outside the hotel, a porter bumps into his leg with a heavy suitcase. Quiller drives off, managing to shake his minder Hengel, but other cars appear to still be following him. Soon he becomes drowsy, and then semi-conscious while stopped at some traffic lights; a car stops alongside him and a man pushes Quiller from the driving seat and drives on.
Quiller wakes in a chair in a palatial room, surrounded by many of the previous incidental characters, who are all Phoenix members led by a German aristocrat, Oktober (Max von Sydow). Quiller refuses to answer Oktober's questions about the SIS operation and how much they know about Phoenix, and makes a dash to escape from the room but is easily overpowered. A doctor injects him with a truth serum but, although in his delirium he utters a few clues, Quiller is just able to deflect Oktober's questions. Oktober orders him to be killed.
Quiller comes round lying somewhere in the city beside the river. He hails a cab and steals it, evading a pursuing Mercedes before booking himself into a dingy hotel. He telephones Inge from the hall and they arrange to meet the following evening. Pol also arranges another meeting with Quiller, where his handler explains that each side is trying to discover and annihilate the other's base; Quiller alone is in a position to know both.
After sleeping with Quiller, Inge admits that she has a friend who might know the location of Phoenix's HQ. Inge takes Quiller to the swimming pool manager, Hassler, who is now much more friendly. He drives Quiller, Inge and Inge's headmistress to a dilapidated old building. Quiller wants to investigate the house on his own; Inge says she will wait for him, and the pool manager and headteacher leave the car for Quiller to drive Inge home. When they are finally alone together in the car Inge tells him she loves him.
The street is the same one on which Quiller's predecessor was murdered at the start of the film. Quiller enters the house, which appears deserted, until he notices Oktober's henchmen standing all around him. They take Quiller into the same room where he was held captive and later take him down to the cellar via elevator, where removal men are organising the move to the organisation's new HQ. Quiller is horrified to see that Inge has been brought there too. Oktober offers Quiller an ultimatum: either he reveals where the SIS base is by dawn, or both of them will be killed. Quiller is released back onto the dark streets to walk and ponder, surrounded by Oktober's armed men, who – while they keep their silent distance – make it impossible for him to evade them, or use any public telephone to call his controller.
As dawn breaks, he returns to his hotel, while Oktober's men stand guard outside in the street. The hall phone has already been destroyed to prevent him using it, but he escapes into a courtyard of lock-up garages. Noticing a piece of wire on the ground, he finds that the car has been booby-trapped in case he attempts this method of escape. He leaves the engine running to explode the bomb, and Oktober's men assume that he has been killed in the explosion. Quiller reports to the SIS office with the location of Phoenix's centre of operations. Pol appears calmly indifferent as he arranges to round up the gang; they are all arrested, yet Inge turns out not to be among them. Pol asks Quiller to make a full report (submit a memorandum) for the record.
Later, Quiller walks into Inge's classroom. Inge explains that she "was lucky they let me go", but Quiller appears to have concluded that she is not who she seems, saying 'we got them all... well, maybe not quite all', the implication being that Inge is one of them. He says that if ever he comes to Berlin again he will call her. He then walks away from the school building, as Inge watches him depart before returning to her schoolchildren. | murder | train | wikipedia | It's a bit strange to see such exquisitely Pinter-esque dialogue (the laconic, seemingly innocuous sentences; the profound silences; the syntax that isn't quite how real people actually talk) in a spy movie, but it really works.Quiller isn't your average spy.
He's played by George Segal with a cool superficiality that works very nicely; he doesn't go charging in with guns blazing -- he doesn't even carry a gun -- and the one time he does try to fight his way out of a sticky spot, he gets pounded.
The other standouts in the cast are Alec Guinness as Quiller's controller, and Max von Sydow as the leader of the neo-Nazi cell that Quiller is attempting to crack.At first glance, the movie is deeply frustrating, and the script appears full of holes, but in fact, it's so smart that it assumes the audience is bright enough to pick up on the breadcrumb trail of clues that it's actually leaving.
THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (3 outta 5 stars)The 1960s saw a plethora of two kinds of spy movies: the outrageous semi-serious James Bond ripoffs (like the Flint and Matt Helm movies) and the very dry, methodical ones that were more talk than action (mostly John Le Carre and Alistair MacLean adaptations).
George Segal plays the hero, an undercover spy who goes to West Berlin to find out who killed his predecessor...
The cast is full of familiar faces: Alec Guinness, who doesn't have much of a role, George Sanders, who has even less of one, Max von Sydow in what was to become a very familiar part for him, Robert Helpmann, Robert Flemyng, and the beautiful, enigmatic Senta Berger.This is a very good spy movie.
What a difference to the ludicrous James Helm/Matt Bond (or is it the other way round?) movies.The Cold War atmosphere in Germany at the time was perfectly captured.
And, the final scene (with her and Segal) is done extremely well (won't spoil it for those who still wish to see it...it fully sums up the film, the tension filled times and cold war-era Germany).
Segal is an unusual actor to be cast as a spy, but his quirky approach and his talent for repartee do assist him in retaining interest (even if its at the expense of the character as originally conceived in the source novels.) Guinness appears as Segal's superior and offers a great deal of presence and class.
The Chief of the Secret Service Pol (Alec Guinness) summons the efficient agent Quiller (George Segal) to investigate the location of organization's headquarter.
Oktober also wants to know the location of the British base in Germany and uses drugs in Quiller to get the information but the skilled agent resists.
The cast is exceptional, with George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, George Sanders and one of the most beautiful and talented actresses ever, Senta Berger.
A much better example of a spy novel-to-film adaptation would be Our Man in Havana, also starring Alec Guinness..
The only redeeming features of The Quiller Memorandum are the scenes of Berlin with its old U-Bahn train and wonderful Mercedes automobiles, and the presence of two beautiful German women, Senta Berger and Edith Schneider; those two females epitomize Teutonic womanhood for me.
(What with wanting to go to sleep and wanting to scream at the same time, this film does pose certain conflict problems.) On the other hand, the female lead is played by the charming Senta Berger, then aged 25, who does very well, and manages to be enigmatic, and gets just the right tone for the story.
People tend to like it because "it's not like the Bond movies"; well, it's not - it's like "The Ipcress File", except that "The Ipcress File" was a genuinely smart and atmospheric movie, while "The Quiller Memorandum" is a clumsy, dated spy thriller full of pseudo-hip dialogue and plot holes.
George Segal is a fine and always engaging actor, but the way his character is written here, he doesn't really come across as "a spy who gets along by his brains and not by his brawn"; he seems interested almost exclusively in the girl he meets, not in the case he's investigating, and (at least until the end) he seems to survive as a result of a combination of his good luck and the stupidity of the villains.
These include another superior soundtrack by John Barry, if perhaps a little too much son-of "The Ipcress File", some fine real-life (West) Berlin exteriors, particularly of the Olympic Stadium with its evocation of 1936 and all that and Harold Pinter's typically rhythmic, if at times inscrutable screenplay.
Max Van Sydow is better as the neo-Nazi leader, veiled by the veneer of respectability as he cracks his knuckles and swings a golf club all the time he's injecting Segal with massive doses of truth serum, while Senta Berger is pleasant, but slight, as the pretty young teacher who apparently leads our man initially to the "other side", but whose escape at the end from capture and certain death at the hands of the "baddies" might lead one to suspect her true proclivities.
This exciting movie belongs to spy sub-genre being developed during the cold war , it turns out to be a stirring thriller plenty of mystery , tension , high level of suspense , and a little bit of violence .
An American secret agent called Quiller (George Segal) working for MI6 (whose chief is George Sanders) travels to Berlin to uncover a deadly Neo-Nazi band .
Defiant undercover spy Quiller carries out a nervy , stealthy , prowling around Berlin in which he becomes involved into a risked cat and mouse game , being chased and hunted , by a strange and sinister leader , known only as Oktober (Max Von Sidow) .
This nail-biting movie is a thought -provoking thriller filled with razor sharp writings from the novel by Adam Hall -who is a pseudonym for author Trevor Dudley Smith- titled The Berlin Memorándum¨ , resulting to be refreshingly different from others spy stories of its era .
The sixties took place a lot of two kinds of spy-thrillers : the adventurous and filled-gadgets James Bond's imitations such as ¨Oss 117 Agent¨ , ¨Flint¨ , ¨Matt Helm¨ , ¨Hugh Drummond¨ series and the methodical , cerebral ones in which to show the squalid , dirty side of spying as opposed to the luxury world of 007 , outstanding more talk than action , whose maxim representations are John Le Carre's novels adapted to cinema in various films such as : ¨The spy who came in from the cold¨ (1965, by Martin Ritt with Richard Burton), ¨Deadly Affair¨(Sidney Lumet with Maximilian Schell) and subsequently : TV series "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" by John Irvin , in which George Smiley was played by Alec Guinnes and ¨Russia House¨ (Fred Schepisi with Sean Connery) , this ¨Quiller Memorándum¨ belongs to this second class .
Exceptional main cast gives good acting , as George Segal as the dogged as well as humorous special agent and Senta Berger had one of his best parts as his sweetheart .
I quite enjoyed the love story, it was very cold, I suppose it doesn't quite constitute a typical romance.The direction and photography are very nicely done.The screenplay was the problem, the film lost it in the middle but still, a good picture, worth watching.As always, view in wide-screen..
George Segal is Quiller an American/British spy who is recruited to track down some Neo-Nazis in Berlin.
But the central performance by GEORGE SEGAL is played with the sort of humor and charm that would have worked better in a different kind of story--not an espionage film.Segal's job is to find the identity of a Nazi group in post-war Berlin.
ALEC GUINESS manages to be intriguing in a small role but GEORGE SANDERS is completely wasted.SENTA BERGER is lovely as the German schoolteacher who gets involved with Segal, largely due to physical attraction.
Nor, as I mentioned previously, is John Barry's score more than ordinary--surprisingly so, since he was capable of wonderful music for the James Bond films.All told, a fairly routine spy story given nothing special in the way of treatment with the overall effect being one of quiet disappointment..
Neither Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, Robert Helpmann, George Sanders or even the stupidity of George Segal or the expressionless indifference of Senta Berger can save this long and dull film from being anything than a very poor and cold turkey.
And though she plays a basically one-dimensional role contrasted to the fast-paced Segal, she brings a balance and mystique to the film which renders it even more viewable.Max von Sydow is, as always, totally captivating in his performance, and holds his character in great, compelling form.There is enough espionage-spy-thriller factor to render the film suspenseful, though it does not move as fast as some such films of this genre.
At least that is no mystery: Daimler Benz paid for the film and in exchange got all the publicity plus some.I found Segal unexpectedly good, Senta Bergen a beauty; and Guinness and von Sydow top drawer, as ever.
Slow-moving Cold War era thriller in the mode of "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," "The Quiller Memorandum" lacks thrills and fails to match the quality of that Richard Burton classic.
After a pair of their agents are murdered in West Berlin, the British Secret Service for some unknown reason send in an American to investigate and find the location of a neo-Nazi group's headquarters.
Unfortunately, the film is weighed down, not only by a ponderous script, but also by a miscast lead; instead of a heavy weight actor in the mold of a William Holden, George Segal was cast as Quiller.
Although the situations are often deadly serious, Segal seems to take them lightly; perhaps in the decade that spawned James Bond, he was confused and thought he was in a spy spoof.Harold Pinter's screenplay, adapted from a novel by Trevor Dudley Smith, is "oh so serious" and perhaps too cerebral to be entertaining, at least without a charismatic star to carry the film.
However, Sanders, Helpmann, and Alec Guinness as Pol, Quiller's contact in Berlin, appear too briefly to save the film.
Quiller's lead in finding the neo-Nazi headquarters, Berger is the film's intended love interest, but her cool blank expressions fail to ignite any sparks between her and Segal, and the romance only exists as empty words in the script.Michael Anderson's direction is pedestrian, and the few car chases are perfunctory at best.
"The Quiller Memorandum" is a film with a HUGE strike against it at the outset....they inexplicably cast George Segal as a British spy!
This is actually awfully surprising considering the film is about an agent, Quiller, infiltrating a gang of neo-Nazis in post-war Berlin.
It helps that the film has Alec Guinness and Max Von Sydow in supporting roles.
West spy film, but instead has the spy (Quiller) investigating a neo-Nazi movement operating out of West Berlin.
If you want to see good films about neo-Nazis, try "The O.D.E.S.S.A File" or "Berlin Express".
"Cliché ridden story" from Alec Guinness's diary after watching his own performance in "The Quiller Memorandum" on TV in 1980.This is the film that trashed the possibility of turning the Quiller series of books into a film franchise.It ended Ivan Foxwell's career as a film producer.On Harold Pinter's script: "The worst type of hack writing" Joanne Klein (who is a Pinter expert)."Did nothing to further Alec's career" Piers Paul Read in the authorised biography for Alec Guinness."George Segal portrays an unattractive, stupid, sarcastic lout with aplomb." Movie OrphanBrian.
The plan works well initially as Quiller finds himself captured by the leader, Oktober, and tortured, the first step in a deadly game for both groups seeking an advantage on the other.Although it moves with the fluidity of porridge at times, this spy film is still rather interesting and enjoyable.
Guinness is a nice presence but his performance is a bit obvious and he only has one really good scene (the aforementioned plot summary).Overall this is an OK spy film.
But George Segal just doesn't cut it as a British secret agent in The Quiller Memorandum.The film is not a bad one for a spy yarn and I do like the fact that Segal relies on his own wits as opposed to a bunch of James Bond like gadgets to do his job and extricate himself from tight spots.
What I did enjoy so much about this film is almost everything else: the shots of Berlin in the 60's, the deliberate pacing, the haunting musical score, all of the other performances, especially Alec Guinness, Max Von Sydow, and a stunning Senta Berger.
This "Quiller Memorandum" features many actors who are very dear to me and also very good actors: the beautiful Senta Berger, Max von Sydow, Alec Guinness, George Sanders and George Segal.
It stars George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow and Senta Berger.
Music is by John Barry and cinematography by Erwin Hillier.There's no frills and graces about The Quiller Memorandum, it follows a straight spy drama narrative that pitches Segal (excellently cool) into Berlin to unearth the location of some Neo-Nazis.
So we had titles such as THE IPCRESS FILE and FUNERAL IN BERLIN based on novels by Len Deighton; THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and THE DEADLY AFFAIR based on works by John le Carre; and THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM, based on a book by Trevor Dudley-Smith (under the pseudonym Adam Hall).
George Segal,(Quiller),"Heights",'04 plays a secret agent who is placed in a very serious position in Germany after many of his fellow agents have been killed trying to find out locations of a Nazi party.
But my interest in what happened to her did keep me watching what I found to be an otherwise dreary movie that threatened to put me to sleep on a number of occasions with a mind-numbing script and generally dull story.Quiller (who, as far as I could see, neither wrote nor was the subject of any memorandum - making me wonder what the title was about) was an American (an agent I guess?) who for some inexplicable reason was recruited by the British (represented mostly by Alec Guinness) to discover the location of the headquarters of a group of neo-Nazis in 1960's Berlin.
Were they really so much of a threat that the cost of lives was justified?The story meanders along with very little drama - Quiller gets followed a lot and there's a mildly interesting scene of Quiller being kidnapped and interrogated by Oktober and his men - and then the sort of romance between Quiller and Inge leads to her being vulnerable, and so you keep watching - even while you keep looking at the clock, counting down the time to when this will mercifully end - because she's beautiful and you want her to be OK.
His most famous works that were made into movies were "The Flight of the Phoenix" and "Dunkirk."George Segal has the starring role as Quiller, but his performance is downright pathetic.
A leisurely spy thriller both in terms of plot, dialogue and character development, this movie still adds up to greater than the sum of its parts.Chief among the parts are the two opposing chiefs of Max von Sydow as Oktober (charming neo-Nazi bad guy) and Alec Guiness as Pol (cold-hearted English good guy).
(I highly recommend Bye Bye Braverman, a black comedy, to see his subtle work.) I think he does a fine job here as Quiller, The Spy Who Seems Too Obvious, and the script, perhaps slightly underwritten, at least gives Segal room to play with this character.
A satisfyingly cynical spy thriller with George Segal, Alec Guinness and Max Von Sydow; and a script by Harold Pinter.
With a screenplay by Harold Pinter and careful direction by Michael Anderson, the movie is more a violent-edged tale of probable, cynical betrayal by everyone we meet, with the main character, Quiller (George Segal), squeezed by those he works for, those he works against and even by the delectable German teacher, Inge Lendt (Senta Berger) he meets.
Also, why would Segal go to check the Nazi nest by himself: if this is a serious spy film then why is he playing James Bond?
I don't know what it is exactly but I have a sweet spot for late 1960's cold war films and The Quiller Memorandum is a particularly good tale of this type.
Quiller is an American spy seconded to the British secret service in order to find out information about a burgeoning neo nazi group in East Berlin.
When the Berlin wall came down in 1989, one of my favourite movie genres came down with it – the Cold War spy thriller.
Quiller, a secret service agent played by George Segal is sent to replace an agent who has been killed hunting a post World War 2 group of Nazis in West Berlin.
The casting was perfect from Quiller's British controllers played by Alec Guiness, George Sanders and Robert Flemyng to Senta Berger as the enigmatic Inge.
In fact, the movie connects with "The Third Man" on a number of levels especially in the dramatic use of real locations and the ambiguous relationship between Quiller and Inge.The idea of a powerful neo-Nazis organisation 20 years after the war may have seemed far-fetched in 1966.
Not all Cold War thrillers were as good as "The Quiller Memorandum".
****SPOILERS**** George Segal is Quiller an American working for the British super secret spy agency "Phoenix" who's given the job to crack a Neo-Nazi ring working in West Berlin who are planning-when the time comes-to take over the entire-East & West- German nation.
There are going to be some spoilers, so readers beware...Quite a decent spy movie, with a unique atmosphere, a superb John Barry score and riveting performances by Alec Guinness and Max von Sydow, both of whom run circles around the other cast members. |
tt0406956 | Macbeth | === Act I ===
The play opens amidst thunder and lightning, and the Three Witches decide that their next meeting shall be with Macbeth. In the following scene, a wounded sergeant reports to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals—Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis, and Banquo—have just defeated the allied forces of Norway and Ireland, who were led by the traitorous Macdonwald, the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth, the King's kinsman, is praised for his bravery and fighting prowess.
In the following scene, Macbeth and Banquo discuss the weather and their victory. As they wander onto a heath, the Three Witches enter and greet them with prophecies. Though Banquo challenges them first, they address Macbeth, hailing him as "Thane of Glamis," "Thane of Cawdor," and that he shall "be King hereafter." Macbeth appears to be stunned to silence. When Banquo asks of his own fortunes, the witches respond paradoxically, saying that he will be less than Macbeth, yet happier, less successful, yet more. He will father a line of kings though he himself will not be one. While the two men wonder at these pronouncements, the witches vanish, and another thane, Ross, arrives and informs Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor. The first prophecy is thus fulfilled, and Macbeth, previously skeptical, immediately begins to harbour ambitions of becoming king.
King Duncan welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, and declares that he will spend the night at Macbeth's castle at Inverness; he also names his son Malcolm as his heir. Macbeth sends a message ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her about the witches' prophecies. Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband's uncertainty and wishes him to murder Duncan in order to obtain kingship. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husband's objections by challenging his manhood and successfully persuades him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan's two chamberlains drunk so that they will black out; the next morning they will blame the chamberlains for the murder. They will be defenseless as they will remember nothing.
=== Act II ===
While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a hallucination of a bloody dagger. He is so shaken that Lady Macbeth has to take charge. In accordance with her plan, she frames Duncan's sleeping servants for the murder by placing bloody daggers on them. Early the next morning, Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, and Macduff, the loyal Thane of Fife, arrive. A porter opens the gate and Macbeth leads them to the king's chamber, where Macduff discovers Duncan's body. Macbeth murders the guards to prevent them from professing their innocence, but claims he did so in a fit of anger over their misdeeds. Duncan's sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland, respectively, fearing that whoever killed Duncan desires their demise as well. The rightful heirs' flight makes them suspects and Macbeth assumes the throne as the new King of Scotland as a kinsman of the dead king. Banquo reveals this to the audience, and while sceptical of the new King Macbeth, he remembers the witches' prophecy about how his own descendants would inherit the throne; this makes him suspicious of Macbeth.
=== Act III ===
Despite his success, Macbeth, also aware of this part of the prophecy, remains uneasy. Macbeth invites Banquo to a royal banquet, where he discovers that Banquo and his young son, Fleance, will be riding out that night. Fearing Banquo's suspicions, Macbeth arranges to have him murdered, by hiring two men to kill them, later sending a Third Murderer. The assassins succeed in killing Banquo, but Fleance escapes. Macbeth becomes furious: he fears that his power remains insecure as long as an heir of Banquo remains alive.
At a banquet, Macbeth invites his lords and Lady Macbeth to a night of drinking and merriment. Banquo's ghost enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, as the ghost is only visible to himself. The others panic at the sight of Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady Macbeth tells them that her husband is merely afflicted with a familiar and harmless malady. The ghost departs and returns once more, causing the same riotous anger and fear in Macbeth. This time, Lady Macbeth tells the lords to leave, and they do so.
=== Act IV ===
Macbeth, disturbed, visits the three witches once more and asks them to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him. To answer his questions, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers predictions and further prophecies to put Macbeth's fears at rest. First, they conjure an armoured head, which tells him to beware of Macduff (IV.i.72). Second, a bloody child tells him that no one born of a woman shall be able to harm him. Thirdly, a crowned child holding a tree states that Macbeth will be safe until Great Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth is relieved and feels secure because he knows that all men are born of women and forests cannot move. Macbeth also asks if Banquo's sons will ever reign in Scotland: the witches conjure a procession of eight crowned kings, all similar in appearance to Banquo, and the last carrying a mirror that reflects even more kings. Macbeth realises that these are all Banquo's descendants having acquired kingship in numerous countries. After the witches perform a mad dance and leave, Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth orders Macduff's castle be seized, and, most cruelly, sends murderers to slaughter Macduff, as well as Macduff's wife and children. Although Macduff is no longer in the castle, everyone in Macduff's castle is put to death, including Lady Macduff and their young son.
=== Act V ===
Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth becomes wracked with guilt from the crimes she and her husband have committed. At night, in the king's palace at Dunsinane, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth's strange habit of sleepwalking. Suddenly, Lady Macbeth enters in a trance with a candle in her hand. Bemoaning the murders of Duncan, Lady Macduff, and Banquo, she tries to wash off imaginary bloodstains from her hands, all the while speaking of the terrible things she knows she pressed her husband to do. She leaves, and the doctor and gentlewoman marvel at her descent into madness. Her belief that nothing can wash away the blood on her hands is an ironic reversal of her earlier claim to Macbeth that "[a] little water clears us of this deed" (II.ii.66).
In England, Macduff is informed by Ross that his "castle is surprised; [his] wife and babes / Savagely slaughter'd" (IV.iii.204–5). When this news of his family's execution reaches him, Macduff is stricken with grief and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncan's son, has succeeded in raising an army in England, and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge Macbeth's forces. The invasion has the support of the Scottish nobles, who are appalled and frightened by Macbeth's tyrannical and murderous behaviour. Malcolm leads an army, along with Macduff and Englishmen Siward (the Elder), the Earl of Northumberland, against Dunsinane Castle. While encamped in Birnam Wood, the soldiers are ordered to cut down and carry tree limbs to camouflage their numbers.
Before Macbeth's opponents arrive, he receives news that Lady Macbeth has killed herself, causing him to sink into a deep and pessimistic despair and deliver his "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy (V.v.17–28). Though he reflects on the brevity and meaninglessness of life, he nevertheless awaits the English and fortifies Dunsinane. He is certain that the witches' prophecies guarantee his invincibility, but is struck with fear when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood, in apparent fulfillment of one of the prophecies.
A battle culminates in Macduff's confrontation with Macbeth, who kills Young Siward in combat. The English forces overwhelm his army and castle. Macbeth boasts that he has no reason to fear Macduff, for he cannot be killed by any man born of woman. Macduff declares that he was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (V.8.15–16), (i.e., born by Caesarean section) and is not "of woman born" (an example of a literary quibble), fulfilling the second prophecy. Macbeth realises too late that he has misinterpreted the witches' words. Though he realises that he is doomed, he continues to fight. Macduff kills and beheads him, thus fulfilling the remaining prophecy.
Macduff carries Macbeth's head onstage and Malcolm discusses how order has been restored. His last reference to Lady Macbeth, however, reveals "'tis thought, by self and violent hands / Took off her life" (V.ix.71–72), but the method of her suicide is undisclosed. Malcolm, now the King of Scotland, declares his benevolent intentions for the country and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.
Although Malcolm, and not Fleance, is placed on the throne, the witches' prophecy concerning Banquo ("Thou shalt get kings") was known to the audience of Shakespeare's time to be true: James VI of Scotland (later also James I of England) was supposedly a descendant of Banquo. | tragedy, avant garde, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0031074 | Balalaika | In 1914 Tsarist Russia, Prince Peter Karagin (Nelson Eddy) is a captain of the Cossack Guards, riding home from manoeuvres to an evening of wine, women and song at St. Petersburg's Cafe Balalaika. The Balalaika's new star, Lydia Pavlovna Marakova (Ilona Massey), is blackmailed into attending the officers' party and is expected to choose a "favoured one." She intrigues Karagin when she makes good her escape instead.
Masquerading as a poor music student, Karagin insinuating himself into Lydia's family and circle of musician friends, unaware that they are dedicated revolutionaries. He discovers his larcenous orderly, Nikki Poppov (Charles Ruggles), courting the Marakovs' maid, Masha (Joyce Compton). Karagin then bullies Ivan Danchenoff (Frank Morgan), Director of the Imperial Opera, into giving Lydia an audition; Danchenoff is pleasantly surprised to find that (unlike the 60 other women foisted on him by other aristocrats) she has real talent. Later, Karagin orders his usual arrangements for seduction, but falls in love instead and tries to cancel them. She understands both his former and current motives, and admits she loves him too.
Their happiness ends when Lydia's brother Dimitri (Dalies Frantz) is killed after giving a seditious speech on the street by Cossacks led by Peter, whom Lydia recognizes. When she learns that her opera debut will be used as an opportunity to assassinate Peter and his father the general (C. Aubrey Smith), she makes Peter promise not to come or let his father come to the performance, pretending she would be too nervous with them watching. The two men attend anyway. Fortunately, General Karagin receives a message that Germany has declared war on Russia and announces it to the crowd. Professor Makarov (Lionel Atwill), Lydia's father, decides not to shoot because the general will be needed to defend Mother Russia. However, Leo Proplinski (Abner Biberman) feels otherwise, grabs the pistol and shoots the general, though not fatally. Peter finally learns of Lydia's political beliefs when she is arrested. Later, he has her released.
Peter goes to fight as an officer in the trenches. When the Russian Revolution overthrows the old regime, he winds up in 1920s Paris employed by his former orderly as a cabaret entertainer at the new "Balalaika". To celebrate the Russian Orthodox New Year, White Russians, wearing court dress and paste jewels, gather as Poppov's guests. When Poppov makes Peter stand before a mirror, candle in hand, to make the traditional New Year's wish to see his "true love," Lydia appears behind him. | avant garde | train | wikipedia | A well-made underrated musical with some good songs and some fine sequences..
I am generally a soft touch for movies that have fictional characters in a well-known historical setting, and this one is no exception.
Based on a 1936 underrated musical that opened in London, and set on the eve of both World War I and the Russian revolution, it involves a Russian Prince, Nelson Eddy, and a singer and revolutionary, Ilona Massey, who deceive each other as to who they really are, and fall in love.
But even after they discover their true identities, they remain in love until separated by the war and then the revolution.The sets and costumes are first-rate and director Reinhold Schunzel keeps the film moving at a nice pace and handles the crowd scenes extremely well.
Mild comedy is provided by Charlie Ruggles and Frank Morgan.
Although I'm not much of a fan of Nelson Eddy - he's somewhat bland in his acting - he does have a good voice, so I did enjoy lots of his singing.
The stirring "Ride, Cossack, Ride" while the Cossacks are on horseback riding towards the camera, which keeps moving back to avoid a collision, is beautifully photographed.
His rendition of "Silent Night" in German, while in the trenches during WW I, answering the Austrian enemy soldiers singing of that song, was a wonderful tender sequence.
Eddy also sings the Toreador song from Bizet's "Carmen" which will surely will be liked by opera fans.But I loved best the last 15 minutes or so, when the Russian emigrés who have gathered in Paris after the war, meet at the Paris version of the Balalaika Cafe to celebrate the Russian New Year.
Instead of the joy you would expect on such an occasion, you see the sadness in everyone's eyes at having had to leave their homeland.
Frank Morgan sings about his "Land of Dreams," and it moved me to tears..
Nelson Eddy proves he can carry a film.
Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey Make a handsome couple in a gorgeous setting.
Ilona portrays an anarchist in pre WW1 Russia who falls in love with a Russian prince, played with strength and humor by Nelson Eddy.
Their duets are pleasing, and Nelson sings magnificently in Russian, German, French and English.
The black and white photography captures the period and costumes well, and the two stars are so strikingly similar in looks, they could easily be siblings.
Nelson demonstrates once again, what a loss he was to opera, but how fortunate to have him on film and hear that magnificent baritone..
The Cossack and The Bolshevik.
This movie asks the question, can a Cossack boy and a Bolshevik girl find true happiness either in old mother Russia or the new Soviet Union?In this movie the answer is no.
Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey are attracted to each other, but background and politics strive to keep them apart.While he was at MGM, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald did very few films with other leads and in this one Nelson gets to act with the women who he did the second amount of co-starring with.
Ilona Massey cuts a fine figure as a revolutionary with her father, Lionel Atwill who is a music teacher by day and a Bolshevik by night.Nelson Eddy apparently liked Russian themes.
He did two other films with Russian elements in them, The Chocolate Soldier and Northwest Passage.
His singing in Russian of The Volga Boatman is the high point of Balalaika.My favorite performer in this however is Charlie Ruggles.
He plays Nelson Eddy's orderly and he plays the fool quite well.
He steers clear of politics, but ultimately winds up the only real winner in this movie.Not the best or the worst of Nelson Eddy's screen efforts, but enjoyable..
Massey was a star.
Why this wasn't more successful is a mystery.
It had good tunes great sets, marvellous supporting cast so what was the problem.
Nelson Eddy was in fine voice and wore the Russian costumes well, so we come to Illona Massey .It beggars belief that Massey didn't become a bigger star.
It shows what glut of talent there was at Metro at the time.Also she wasn't Jeanete Macdonald the public wanted her and Eddy together his liasons with Massey seemed like adultery to the fans.
However lets examine here case ,she was lot sexier that Macdonald- Hollywood has never been good at handling real sexiness ,it was falsified and made safe by Lana turner etc, Massey was womanly in its best sense she also looked like a man-eater and that alienated women and frightened men .To describe her as an opulent blonde is an understatement.
Not only was she stunning to look at but could sing as well as Macdonald and was streets ahead of the over sweet shrillness of Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell.
MGM kept Massey on long leash in case Macdonald became troublesome.
Massey resurfaced gloriously in holiday in Mexico making Walter Pidgeon smoulder in way he he never did with Greer.Massey finally achieved some sort of immortality in Love Happy as the uber voluptuous madam Engelich delivering the first recorded whammy to an overwhelmed Harpo Marx .Something she was also delivering to the men in the audience who wisely didn't let their wives find out.Massey was as delicious as a box of glacé fruits shame on Hollywood for being stingy with such a mouth watering treat.
Uneven, uninspired musical with Eddy at least singing magnificently....
MGM gave NELSON EDDY a chance to co-star with someone other than JEANETTE MacDONALD, but they gave him a lumbering musical about a Russian prince who disguises himself as a commoner in order to woo a princess.
It's the kind of story done countless times before and the only distinction here is the music.Nelson sings some rousing Russian numbers and is joined in song by the beautiful ILONA MASSEY, who looks like a younger, blonder edition of Marlene Dietrich, sunken cheekbones and all.
Given the complete glamor treatment with glossy MGM close-ups complimenting her vivacious good looks, Massey has what seems a contralto singing voice and not quite the soprano the songs want her to be.
Neverthelss, she makes a striking picture opposite the robust baritone who is in excellent voice here.As usual, there are comedy moments to lighten the rather dark story set against the Russian revolution, and these are handled rather indifferently by Frank Morgan, Charlie Ruggles and George Tobias.
Sharp-eyed movie fans can catch a glimpse of actor Phillip Terry who is kept mostly in the background during the cabaret sequences.Overall, it's a cumbersome story, with a predictable outcome, that takes too many long stretches between songs to tell a rather tedious story of lovers separated by their politics..
One of Nelson Eddy's weakest, but still a nice decent film generally.
Balalaika is not the worst of Nelson Eddy's films, that's I Married an Angel and even that for this viewer was not that bad.
But it's not even close to the likes of Maytime, New Moon and The Chocolate Soldier.
Balalaika is a decent and quite nice film but did come across as very problematic.
Eddy has never been the best of actors(his best performances have been in Chocolate Soldier, Maytime and Let Freedom Ring), and Balalaika doesn't really change that perception.
He is at least better than he was in The Phantom of the Opera and I Married An Angel and at least he is more convincing as a Russian than he was as an Austrian in Bittersweet.
But he is very stiff and wooden here, he has charming moments but he never looks comfortable.
The story is also very predictable, cumbersome and even silly(at times), and the pacing can be rather dull.
The script fares little better, often awkward sounding and lifeless- the film was strongly censored at the risk of offending so that could be why- while the humour is mild and unfortunately not very funny.
Charles Ruggles fares the best in the supporting cast, but excepting the last fifteen minutes where he's affecting Frank Morgan's comic talents are not really put to good use and his performance is somewhat indifferent.
The costumes and sets are beautiful, and the crisp black and white photography is especially striking in the Ride Cossack Ride and Stille Nacht (Silent Night) sequences, ones that is stirring for the former and poignant for the latter.
The score and songs are a treat to listen to, At the Balalika, Ride Cossack Ride, Song of the Volga Boatmen and Toreador Song are particularly great.
Frank Morgan's song in the last fifteen minutes is also very moving, as is the ending itself.
Even if his acting is not up to snuff, Eddy still produces some magnificent singing in Balalaika(the best thing about the film), always robust and beautiful and at its best in Ride Cossack Ride and Song of the Volga Boatmen.
And extra credit for singing in four languages in one film, you don't hear that very often.
Ilona Massey looks absolutely stunning- even that doesn't do justice to her beauty actually- and a worthy leading lady for Eddy.
They work well together and blend nicely(if not quite as much as Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald).
In conclusion, a nice decent film but a long way from one of Nelson Eddy's finest hours.
6/10 Bethany Cox. not great, not awful.
In "Balalaika," Nelson Eddy plays Prince Peter Karagin, an officer in the Cossack army.
One night he sees the beautiful Lydia Marakova, who sings in a St. Petersburg café.
Lydia is truly of the people, not one to like royalty, so he poses as a voice student in order to meet her.
He wins her over.
In fact, Lydia, her father, and her brother are part of a revolutionary movement.
When Peter and his Cossacks break up a rally and her brother is killed, both learn the truth about one another.
However, Lydia is still in love with him.
When she learned that the rebels were going to assassinate Peter and his uncle at the opera house on her opening night, she tells him not to come, that she will be too nervous with him and his uncle there.On stage, just as she feels she can relax because they're not there, they show up in their opera box.
In the middle of the opera, war with Germany is announced.Not much of a movie - Massey is lovely, kind of a cross between the young, stunning Zsa Zsa Gabor and Scarlett Johansson -- but in order to play opposite the wooden and unexciting Eddy, you need Jeannette McDonald's fire and sparkle.
What Eddy had going for him, besides good looks, was one of the greatest voices in film, and he sings here like an absolute dream.
Massey had a pretty voice, but her top was screechy, and in the first number she sings, she's flat.The rest of the cast is good - Lionel Atwill, Frank Morgan, Charles Ruggles, and C.
Aubrey Smith, all top pros.Mildly entertaining, notable for Eddy's vocals..
OK Minor MGM Musical.
"Balalaika" is strictly for fans of Hollywood's Golden Age. If you are one, it's got a great cast of character actors you will recognize pretty quickly and you will appreciate the singing of Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey.
If you appreciate good acting, Eddy is passable and Massey, not so.
He is his usual limited self but she comes across as cold and humorless, which is the polar opposite of Jeanette MacDonald.The storyline is thin and unconvincing, sort of like "The Student Prince"; he is royalty, she is not, so he passes himself off as a peasant to win her hand.
An interesting aspect of the picture is that it treats the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and the dissolution of the upper class.
Here, many of Russian royalty end up in Paris after WWI in menial jobs, much to their sadness and chagrin.
Can't recall the subject having been broached on film before.In short, the plot is forgettable, the cast is interesting and the music carries the day.
Not for younger audiences but for those of us who appreciate Hollywood's past..
An enjoyable historical romance musical.
I found this film enjoyable for a number of reasons.
First, the black and white cinematography, which contributes to the moods of the scenes.
A romanticized version of Soviet Russia is presented and the lighting, scenery and music all play their parts in this portrayal.The film was released in 1939 (the golden year of cinema) and at that time, the U.S. was debating its role in the world conflict that was developing.
There was a general ignorance of the Stalin atrocities and an ambivalence about Russia as ally or enemy.
Portraying Russia as a victim of WWI was not unrealistic and contributed to the sympathetic depiction of the nation and its peoples.As other writers have written, Nelson Eddy acts rather stiffly.
But I found his singing very enjoyable.
The object of his affections, played by Ilona Massey, is rather charming and talented.
THe other players were amusing and talented.
The Wizard of Oz was released the same year.
If anyone happened to see Balalaika and TWOZ back to back, they must have done a double take when they saw Frank Morgan in his mustache and his busby playing nearly identical roles.
In Balalaika, the applicable scene is near the end of the film.
In TWOZ, he played the guard to the city of Oz (among other roles).
In a few (long) years--after WWII--America's view of Soviet Russia would change dramatically.
Here is a view of Russia before the American public came to see Russians as enemies..
A superb Eddy and Massey song fest.
A balalaika is a three-string instrument played like a guitar.
It's one of the principal instruments in Russian folk music.
In this film, Balalaika also is the name of a restaurant or nightclub in St. Petersburg during the last years of imperial Russia.
Some of the early scenes take place in the restaurant that offers up a good menu of singing and Russian music."Balalaika" is a very good musical romance with a tinge of drama and look at a period in history.
The music, performers and the costumes make this film.
Ilona Massey appeared two years earlier in "Rosalie" that starred Nelson Eddy and Eleanor Powell.
This film was the only pairing of Eddy and Massey as leads.
Massey is excellent in her role as Lydia Marakova.
She has a beautiful voice and appearance, and she can act.
Others have commented on her fine voice and relatively short Hollywood career.
She had only a few more minor singing roles in later films, along with roles in several films of other genres.
Massey sings five songs solo or with chorus backing, and she sings several other numbers with Eddy and others.
She gives a wonderful rendition of the Russian favorite, "Otchi Chornia" (Dark Eyes).
Nelson Eddy plays a double role as Prince Peter Karagin and as Peter Teranda.
He has six solo or chorus backed songs.
Among these is his marvelous "Song of the Volga Boatmen" (El Ukhnem), which he sings in Russian.
Another standout number is from a scene where the Russians are entrenched against the Austrians during the First World War. It's Christmas, and the Russians first hear the Austrians singing "Silent Night" in Russian.
Eddy, a prince and general of the Russian army, responds and sings "Stille Nacht" in German to the Austrians.
A fine supporting cast contributes mostly to the music and light comedy of the film.
Charles Ruggles is superb as Nicki Popoff.
Frank Morgan is Ivan Danchenoff, Lionel Atwill is Prof.
Aubrey Smith plays Gen. Karagin, the prince's father.
The musical romance of the film overlays a drama with historical aspects.
The latter are very awkward.
The plot runs from the end days of czarist Russia to the start of World War I.
It then jumps past World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution to Paris of the early 1920s.
No doubt, Hollywood's attempts in 1939 not to rankle the feathers of the Soviet Union have something to do with the weak historical aspects.
The historical is interesting, but that part of the story is very choppy.
The film ends in Paris in the early 1920s, with the displaced Russian royalty.
This movie is based on a 1933 musical play, "The Great Hussar," that opened in London in October 1933.
It was quite successful, enjoying a run of 569 performances through the end of 1936.
The movie was well received by critics.
In the year that produced the highest number of great films, "Balalaika" topped made a little more than its budget at the box office.
The music, performances, sets and costumes contribute to a very good and enjoyable film.
"Balalaika" is especially a look at a fine female singer whom many would like to have enjoyed in more musicals.Here are some favorite lines from this film.
For more humorous dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie.Peter Teranda, "Don't they put numbers on these houses?" Policeman, "The new numbers are on brass plates.
The janitors sell the brass plates for vodka.
That's Russia."Ivan Danchenoff, after the opera cast applauds following Lydia's audition, "Silence!
I don't hire you to applaud but to be applauded."Lydia, to Peter while they are racing in a horse-drawn carriage, "Oh, careful.
You're going too fast." Peter Teranda, "Who?
Me or the horses?"A soldier in the trenches, "Calvary stew." Another soldier, "We used to ride 'em and now we eat 'em."Jeanette Sibirsky, "What exquisite jewelry." Madam Danchenoff, "I'm afraid they're just copies, my child." Ivan Danchenoff, "Yes, yes.
indirectly."Michael Sibirsky, speaking of his wife, "Once I commanded the czar's own guard.
Now she commands me."The elderly Princess Natalya Petrovna asks Nicki Popoff to dance with her in Nicki's Parisian cafe.
Nicki, "Oh, your highness.
Well, and to think it took a revolution to bring us together." |
tt0363480 | Bloodrayne | The game begins in 1933, in a place where it appears that the people believe in vampires, as all the doors and windows show crosses. It shows a man and woman running down a street. The woman trips, and the man pauses long enough to help her up, only to be dragged into a dark alleyway by a chain. His head is thrown from an alley at the woman's feet, with Rayne (voiced by Laura Bailey) walking calmly up to the woman. The woman seemingly breaks down crying, but in fact only hides her face to reveal she is in fact a vampire. After a brief fight, Rayne decapitates her and then takes off before a small army of vampires tries to catch her off guard. She drops a grenade on their position as she leaves.
On top of the buildings, two mysterious men, who were watching the events unfold the whole time, are discussing their reason for being here. One reveals they are here to recruit Rayne, who is trying to find where her father is. The other member does not want a Dhampir with the Brimstone society, regardless of the fact that she is only half-vampire and has fewer weaknesses, as the Society is trying to rid the world of Vampires (and presumably people with Vampire blood in them). Eventually they agree to recruit Rayne, and leave a necklace with their symbol on it (as seen on the game cover).
=== Story ===
The game consists of three acts:
Mortton, Louisiana: the game starts in Mortton, Louisiana, as Rayne's first mission with the Brimstone Society, along with Mynce, her mentor. They are sent there to investigate an outbreak of an unidentified disease in the area.
Argentina: after the events in Mortton, the story skips several years ahead. Rayne is sent to infiltrate a Nazi base in Argentina, prevent the G.G.G. from obtaining the mystic artifact known as "the skull of Beliar" and eliminate the organization's head members.
Germany: Rayne finds an anonymous letter informing her that a G.G.G. officer in Germany has list of the remaining G.G.G. officers. After obtaining the list, she pursues her targets to Castle Gaustadt, to eradicate the G.G.G., and eventually, Jurgen Wulf himself.
=== Characters ===
Rayne is a dhampir looking for her father, and kills any vampire that crosses her path. She is working for the Brimstone Society.
Mynce is Rayne's friend and mentor. She helps her with her first assignment, during which she is seemingly killed.
Juergen Wulf is the leader of Gegengeist Gruppe (Counter-Ghost Group, abbreviated G.G.G.), a group that aims to bring Hitler into power through use of occult artifacts, including obtaining and reassembling the remains of Beliar.
Beliar was the original devil, usurped by Mephisto who tore him apart scattering his body parts around the world. These "relics" retain some of his power, granting their owners supernatural abilities. | violence, gothic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0086079 | Papy fait de la résistance | Héléna Bourdelle, a.k.a. "La Bourdelle," is a great singer and wife of maestro André Bourdelle. Joining the Resistance, he is killed by the accidental explosion of a grenade. Following the defeat, the family's mansion is taken over by German forces, leaving the family occupying a few back rooms, and complaining to the Kommandantur about his excesses and those of his men. Madame Bourdelle, her daughters and their tenant help by chance the escape an English airman, and are then forced to hide him in their cellar. The family, whose former caretaker Ramirez has become a Gestapo agent, is favoured by the General Spontz who has a soft spot for Bernadette Bourdelle. He is willing to ignore the fact that Guy-Hubert, son of the family, a seemingly cowardly and effeminate hairdresser, is actually the elusive vigilante known as "Super-Resistant".
Michel Taupin, who is a tenant in the family house, woos without success Bernadette Bourdelle, after initially having views on Colette. His insistent desire to join the Resistance leads to many adventures. Imprisoned after an episode at the Kommandantur, he meets a resistant, Felix / Frémontel, who confides in him, thinking he is about to be shot by the Germans. When they are freed by Super-Resistant, Felix finds himself unable to get rid of Michel. Although she had vowed not to sing while there were Germans in France, Madame Bourdelle is forced by General Spontz to attend a reception in honour of Hitler's half-brother, Marshal Ludwig von Apfelstrudel, held in a castle near Paris. With the help of Michel Taupin, the Resistance detonate a bomb in the dining room.
The story seems to end, but proves to be a "film within the film," and gives way to a contemporary television debate, designed to address the period of occupation, and to report on the reality of the depicted events in the film. The show brings together Bernadette Bourdelle and General Spontz (now happily married), Guy Hubert, Adolfo Ramirez Jr. (son of Ramirez, who came from Bolivia to defend his father's memory), and Michel Taupin (now Cabinet Minister of Veterans Affairs). Soon, the discussion turns to disaster: Ramirez Jr. insults and defames the other protagonists of the story, who start to beat him up on the TV set, forcing the host to cut the transmission. | cult, satire | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0031708 | Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase | The elderly Turnbull sisters want to donate their mansion for a children's hospital. However, their father's will states that at least one of them has to stay in the house every night for twenty years before they can inherit the estate; there are two weeks left to go.
Then some strange things start occurring. A stranger forces his way past Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) and brazenly searches the Drew house for related affidavits her lawyer father Carson (John Litel) has obtained. Then, the Turnbulls' chauffeur Phillips (Don Rowan) dies, though it is uncertain if it was a murder or a suicide. The frightened old ladies consider leaving their home. When Nancy recognizes the dead man as the trespasser, she begins investigating, dragging her boyfriend Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas) into one predicament after another, eventually getting him fired and jailed.
When police Captain Tweedy (Frank Orth) arrests the two sisters for Phillips' murder, their ownership is endangered. Just in time, Nancy and Ted discover a secret passageway in the basement linking it to the neighboring house, owned by Daniel Talbert (William Gould). Talbert would make a lot of money if a racetrack were to be built on the two properties, but the Turnbulls had turned down an offer to buy their place. | murder | train | wikipedia | Fourth, final, delightful entry in the terrific "Nancy Drew' Series.
produced four entries in its "Nancy Drew" series.
Perky, blonde, vivacious Bonita Granville is perfection as the feisty teenaged sleuth.
And the underrated Frankie Thomas outshines them all with his droll, engaging, All-American-Boy niceness as Nancy's would-be boyfriend Ted, whom Nancy drags reluctantly into each of her outlandish crime-solving schemes.
This final entry packs more fun, suspense, and twisty plot turns into a mere 60 minutes than most of today's bloated bombs manage to squeeze into two hours.
The Drew's home, nestled on a cozy small-town American street, complete with picket fences and old-fashioned street lights, could be a block away from the Hardy family's domain.
Although done on a B-budget, the production values of the entire Nancy Drew series are first-rate (craftily utilizing the sets of Warners' big-budget films of the era).
Watch "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase" (and spend the night in a "haunted" house, shivering along with Nancy and Ted) and I guarantee you'll be hooked--and searching TCM's listings for showings of the other three entries in the series.
Mystery, wry comedy, spine-chilling suspense, first-rate writing, crisp direction, and endearing performances by actors with charisma to spare--movies of any generation don't get any better than this!
The Drew series quartet is a fascinating forerunner of the teenagers-in-jeopardy genre revived in 1978 by "Halloween" (and a thousand imitators) for a more blood-thirsty generation.
There's not one single drop of blood to be seen in the entire Nancy Drew series, but the suspense and chills are no less palpable.
Bonita Granville was especially well cast as Drew, and cohort Frankie Thomas shared a good onscreen chemistry with her.
NANCY DREW LIVES ON FOREVER.
It always was a great joy to read Nancy Drew books and being able to see "The Hidden Staircase" was a wonderful thing Hollywood was able to give to the public in the 1940's.
Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas and John Litel gave excellent performances and made the Drew characters come to life.
Overly energetic Nancy still heads a solid, fun film.
Long before Harry Potter arrived to slake the thirst of voracious young readers, the factory minted Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mystery series were getting regular readers.While straight forward and relatively uncomplicated in their mystery plotting, they were basically solid "B" level templates, and at the height of the 30's Hollywood mystery vogue, Warner Brothers jumped on the bandwagon with a creditable four film series of Nancy Drew's - this final effort arguably the best (and the only one to share a title and a couple plot elements with an actual Nancy Drew book).Bonita Granville makes a borderline silly Nancy, with a mad energy level approaching Betty Hutton levels and (plot-wise) causing as many problems as she solves, but once accepted, her chemistry with John Litel's warm Carson Drew (the father figure) and Frankie Thomas' guileless comic foil/boyfriend Ted Nickerson is outstanding.
Had the series tried for more, these solid supporting performances might well have kept it around for a longer run, but Granville's frequently charming caricature and Frank Orth's even sillier Police Captain Tweedy (who never listens to ANYONE once he hears half a clue) firmly place it in limited audience "B" territory - above the cartoonish "Dick Tracy" series, but several steps below the longer running "adult" Charlie Chan's, Mr. Moto's, Sherlock Holmes', Thin Man's or even the solid Saint's, Falcon's or Lone Wolf's.The best thing about the series 70 years after it was first shown (and which should still hold the attention of the serious film lover) is its beautifully observed picture of life in small town America just before World War II, when icemen actually did deliver blocks of ice to the actual ice boxes which adorned most kitchens (and the standard system for calling for delivery) both of which form interesting plot points.We're not talking great art here.
Consider the drop in quality of the still decent 3rd and 4th Harry Potter films - as the books got better, "movie-movie" directors made the films less faithful and less effective.
At least the Nancy Drew series ended on a high note as they edged closer to the source material..
Nancy Drew Captured.
captured the spirit of the Nancy Drew novels, and presented them in great style.
The give and take between Nancy and her father is actually better than the books, and Ted Nickerson, as played by Frankie Thomas, makes the character stand out far more than in the books, where he was just a straight man for Nancy.
And Bonita Granville as Nancy gives a phenomenal film portrayal of the heroine of millions, without going over the top, and she is especially likable and memorable.
We have to remember this is a film portrayal of a book, it is not the book, nor was it meant to be, and it captures exactly the feeling of Nancy Drew mysteries.
I gave it a 10 not because it was the best movie ever made, but because it was a great interpretation of the book that lost nothing in the translation to screen, and gained in the character given by superb actors..
Wills like this one are usually only found in mystery novels.
Two spinster sisters were left property by their father on the condition that at least one of them remain there every night for twenty years at which time they can sell out.
That certainly must have cramped their social life, no wonder they remained spinsters.But when the family chauffeur is murdered and other strange things happen our teenage heroine goes to work.
As usual Bonita is helped by Frankie who it seems she can talk into just about anything in these films including having all American football player Thomas lose his clothes and have to get into drag which was an offense back in the day.In three of the four films law enforcement is represented by Frank Orth as the local police captain.
Seeing Orth in what was his career role as the bumbling Captain Tweedy, no wonder they need Granville's help whenever a serious crime occurs.There would be no more Nancy Drew films after this as Granville left Warner Brothers.
Bonita Granville has the title role in "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase," the final entry into the Nancy Drew series.
It also stars Frankie Thomas and John Litel.
This particular film is based on one of the actual books, but how closely it sticks to the story - well, I haven't read Nancy Drew in nearly 50 years, so I can't remember.
Since in the books, Nancy had two girlfriends, missing in the series, it probably doesn't stick all that closely.In this one, Nancy is determined to make sure that two elderly sisters keep to their father's will so that the house can be donated to a hospital.
That won't happen unless at least one of them is in the house every night for twenty years.
With only two weeks to go, and their chauffeur shot dead in the house, the ladies want out - fast.Nancy manages to drag Ted Nickerson, her quasi-boyfriend, into all kinds of trouble, and that's where the fun happens.
Nancy always got into deep water in the books, but I remember her as more serious and perfect.
That wouldn't have worked for the films, so Nancy is kind of a Lucy and Ted is Ethel, an unwilling participant in her schemes.Bonita Granville was a fine movie Nancy, very lively, wacky, and likable.
It's a shame there are only four "Nancy Drew" films.
Fourth and final entry in the wonderful Nancy Drew series starring the ever-adorable Bonita Granville.
This time out Nancy's trying to help a couple of elderly sisters.
They want to donate their mansion for a children's hospital but their father's will stipulates the ladies must live in the house every night for twenty years before it's theirs.
With two weeks to go before the twenty year deadline, someone is trying to scare the old ladies out of the house.
So Nancy investigates, dragging best friend Ted (Frankie Thomas) into trouble along the way.
As in the other films in the all-too-short series, pretty Bonita Granville is extremely likable.
John Litel as her dad and Frankie Thomas as her sidekick are also great.
The culprit behind the mystery is pretty obvious but it's still fun.
Seems odd nobody suggested someone stay with the two old ladies to keep them safe, but I guess we wouldn't have had much of a movie then.
Exciting finish, as the Drew series was usually good at providing.
The old-fashioned charm of the Keene novels is missing....
filmed several of these Nancy Drew stories in the late 1930s with Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas and John Litel top-billed and this one is probably the best--and the only one actually based on one of the early Carolyn Keene novels.But the script is a hapless, far-fetched one and really stretches credibility and patience when viewed today.
Bonita Granville as Nancy does an excellent job, as does Frankie Thomas as her All-American boyfriend Ted, and John Litel as her lawyer father.
Not my daughter's Nancy Drew.
This is the first of these Nancy Drew movies I have seen, having just watched it on TCM.
When my daughter was growing up, I read to her every night, and often read a Nancy Drew mystery.
Most of the characters are just silly compared to those in the books, especially Nancy, "Ted" (what's wrong with "Ned"?), and the police chief.
Nancy's Fourth & Final(?) Case..
William Clemens directed this fourth and final cinematic outing starring Bonita Granville as Nancy Drew, John Litel as her father Carson Drew, and Frankie Thomas as her boyfriend Ted Nickerson.
Here, two elderly ladies call upon Carson to help them after their chauffeur is murdered.
The two ladies have been living in an old mansion for twenty years, and must stay another two weeks before they can sell it to be used as a children's hospital, but someone wants to stop them, and Nancy and Ted defy authorities to investigate.
The best of the series, which uses more imagination in its story, though it still feels half-baked and too abrupt, coming up short, though the three leads(especially Granville) are fine, and could have made a fifth case, sadly not to be.
This plot was used on the later(and unrelated) "Nancy Drew Mysteries" with Pamela Sue Martin called 'The Mystery Of The Whispering Walls'(Much better handled too.).
Final in the Series.
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Fourth and final film in Warner's detective series has Bonita Granville returning as Nancy Drew.
In this film, two old women are about to turn over their property to charity but someone is trying to haunt them out of it.
You see, the women must stay there day and night for two weeks or the will is no good and the property is turned over to the city.
Granville is good in her role as usual but the supporting characters are weak this time out..
This is the fourth of four Nancy Drew films by Warner Brothers starring Bonita Granville.
It was based on the Drew story "The Hidden Staircase", though I've never read the book and have no idea how close it is to the original tale.
But, knowing Hollywood, many liberties were taken with the story.The story begins by learning that two elderly sisters, the Turnbulls, stand to inherit the home they've been living in many years.
Naturally, the pushy Nancy Drew has decided to make the case her business and naturally the cops investigating are all idiots!This film is one of about 600,000 B-mysteries made by Hollywood...and they were churned out like mad by both the big studios and the tiny ones.
When I was growing up I loved kid's adventure books but passed on Nancy Drew,she was for girls only.
series wisely trimmed the fat,eliminating Nancy's girlfriends who helped her in cases,making Ted,not Ned,more prominent.
It's highly unlikely the series could have continued,both leads were maturing out of the teen-age stage,Bonita left Warner bros.
Interestingly,the series involved murders,not missing treasure or stuff like that.
Bonita plays Nancy like a real girl,not perky and perfect with every step,she messes things up even with her enthusiasm..
Bonita Granville makes a perfect Nancy Drew, but the plot was far-fetched..
Whoever heard of anyone willing two spinster sisters an estate with the provision that unless at least one of them occupy the house every night for the next twenty years it will revert to the city.
That's the ridiculous premise of this Nancy Drew murder mystery.
But once I got over that, I rather enjoyed watching the antics of the young Bonita Granville as she tries to solve the case with her friend, Frankie Thomas.
Frank Orth has some good comedy as the inept police captain.
Unfortunately, the badly-named title is itself a "spoiler," since through most of the movie everyone wonders how the murderer got into the house.For those interested in credits, Dick Elliott (billed last) never shows up, nor is his character ever mentioned..
Fairly enjoyable but lesser Nancy Drew movie.
Out of the three Nancy Drew films starring Bonita Granville that I've seen so far (this one, "Reporter", and "Trouble-Shooter"), "The Hidden Staircase" is my least favorite.
It's still enjoyable to watch, but the mystery is one of the least interesting (even though the identity of the bad guy is a surprise), the climax (Nancy and Ted are trapped in an underground tunnel) is underwhelming compared to the wild plane ride of "Trouble-Shooter", and even Nancy herself, for the first time, occasionally comes dangerously close to crossing the line from adorable to obnoxious, especially when she not only gets Ted into trouble with the law, but takes off and leaves him behind (after the "shooting" incident).
I wouldn't recommend starting to watch the series with "The Hidden Staircase".
.. In the last of the Nancy Drew film series, another volume is adapted for the big screen, but mostly in title and character only.
Again depicted as giddy, the film takes plot elements from the book of the same title, and adds much comic relief, and much nonsense, plus darkens the entire plot with murder.
In the novel, Nancy helps the acquaintances of a person involved in her first case in investigating their "haunted" mansion.
Her father turns up missing, and Nancy must investigate thoroughly before she discovers the two cases are connected, by illegally entering another home and discovering a secret passageway, connected to the haunted house by several flights of a "Hidden Staircase." In the 1930 novel, Nancy carries a revolver in addition to her trusty electric torch.The film keeps a passageway between two homes, under a city street, no less, and involves much mayhem as Nancy tries to find out who killed a servant in the home of the Turnball sisters.
Nancy is involved as she arranged for the ladies to donate the house to River Heights following completion of the terms of a will, requiring one of the sisters to occupy the home daily for twenty years.
The series stoops to ridiculous comic levels, with Ted losing his pants once in public and then having his clothes stolen while he sleeps, leaving him with the choice of another public underwear appearance, or wearing "drag," turn of the century gowns, complete with a bonnet.The story resolves with silly conclusions, and not much of a staircase, and, despite drawing on the novel, is far worse than the two films not drawing on texts.
The entries is this series are pretty much alike.
Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville), a teen-aged girl, finds some mystery in Riverside Heights and pursues it, despite the warnings of her father and friends, to its happy end.
Everything is shot on the cheap on the Warner's back lot.The startling feature of this film, and the others, is Bonita Granville.
Except when whispering -- "There's a hidden door somewhere." And even that deserves an exclamation point which I refuse to give it.Her friend, confidant, and unwitting fool, is Ted Nickerson, a gawky adolescent boy, who was only featured in one film, "Ted Nickerson Discovers His Fist." Nancy Drew inveigles him into so many questionable enterprises, after most of which he winds up humiliated, and she shows so little interest in him, that at some point he must ask himself, "What have you done for me lately?" Oh, Ted. You poor schmuck.
Another few years and you'd be wearing a brown uniform in a brown milieu while Nancy was back home forgetting all about you..
Nancy Drew, with the invaluable assistance of her friend Ted Nickerson, comes to the aid of two old spinsters about to lose their home.
As part of their father's will, the old women must live in the house for 20 years or its ownership will change to the city.
It's up to Nancy and Ted to find out what's going on and, in the process, unmask a killer.Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is probably my least favorite of the series.
While I realize that none of the four movies in the series is set in what I consider the real world, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase takes it a bit too far.
For example, while Nancy is quite often misleading about what evidence she may have found while investigating a case, she crosses the line in this movie when she fabricates a suicide note and/or fails to tell the police about a bullet casing she's discovered.
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is still a lot of fun.
Bonita Granville and Frankie Thomas are as enjoyable as ever.
While there's no real mystery as to the killer's identity, watching Nancy and Ted discover the how's and why's is a lot of fun.
Finally, I'm a sucker for a movie set in an old house with moving walls and secret passages. |
tt0152836 | Taal | Manav (Akshaye Khanna) comes to visit India with his wealthy father Jagmohan Mehta (Amrish Puri), his aunt and uncle, and his father's employees. In Chamba he meets Mansi (Aishwarya Rai), the beautiful daughter of a spiritual singer named Tara Babu (Alok Nath); Jagmohan Mehta owns the Mehta & Mehta group and is into investing in Chamba; their families meet, and Jagmohan and Tara Babu become acquainted and friendly toward each other.
Manav and Mansi fall in love, but when Jagmohan learns of this he packs the family up and moves them to their house in Mumbai, with the excuse that Mansi and her father are of low social status. However, he is nice to Tara Babu's face and invites him to come and stay with him in Mumbai if he, Tara Babu, ever happens to be visiting there. Mansi is distressed by Manav's departure but he assures her that he will not abandon her and that everything will be fine. She gives Manav his scarf which she modified, making it say "Manavsi", a juxtaposition of their names.
When Tara Babu learns of Manav and Mansi's affair he is at first angry but soon agrees to travel to Mumbai to visit his cousin Prabha, who is a news reporter, and to meet Manav's family. They are insulted by Jagmohan's sister-in-law, brother, and the employees and endure hostile treatment. They are forced to wait outside for 9 hours before being invited into the house. When Jagmohan finally arrives at the scene, he too insults Tara Babu, which results in Tara Babu slapping him across the face. Manav also arrives, and he rudely reprimands Tara Babu as well. Meanwhile Mansi, after witnessing Manav shout at her father, makes it clear to Manav that she wants nothing to do with him any more. She and her father then leave the Mehta household deeply hurt.
Mansi soon meets Vikrant Kapoor (Anil Kapoor), a successful and famous music producer/director, who happens to be a fan of Tara Babu's work. With the encouragement of Prabha, she signs a three-year contract with Vikrant, and Mansi performs dance numbers and remixes of Tara Babu's songs as well as some of Vikrant's productions. She wins awards and becomes a sensation in India. In the meantime Vikrant starts to fall in love with Mansi.
Matters are further complicated when Manav arrives to apologise to Mansi for what he and his family did, and she rejects him out of grief for how he treated her father. However, he tells her that he knows she still loves him, and that he will wait for her. Vikrant learns of what happened between Manav and Mansi, but he chooses to ignore it. He has a few encounters with Manav but takes them lightly.
Vikrant proposes to Mansi soon afterwards, and her father and aunt encourage her to accept it, with the hope that it will help her forget Manav. She accepts the proposal even though she is not in love with Vikrant. After winning an International MTV Award in Canada, she comes back to India to prepare for the marriage. In the meantime Jagmohan and Tara Babu patch things up after Jagmohan realises his mistake.
On the day of the marriage, Manav arrives and tells Mansi that by marrying Vikrant when she loves Manav she is deceiving both him and herself, and that marriage is not a contract but a union of two souls; he reminds her that he loves her and will never stop waiting for her. Jagmohan also comes to the wedding with Manav and Tara Babu. Vikrant soon realises, after seeing Mansi's reaction on seeing Manav, that she loves Manav. He assures her that the three of them can still be friends, and urges her to run to Manav. Jagmohan and Tara Babu give their blessings, and Manav and Mansi embrace.
One of the last scenes shows everyone taking a family picture at the Mehta household after the wedding. | romantic | train | wikipedia | a fresh feel, a fresh look, a fresh conceptTaal is a great movie.
The star of the show is Ashwaria, whose portrayal of a simple village girl coming to terms with love, hurt and pressures of modern life is excellent.
Akshaye was great in his role as Manav, a determined, strong headed, love bitten guy.
Alok Nath & Amrish Puri gave good performances and really do support the movie.
Manav sees Mansi and is smitten by her and slowly she develops feelings for him (through some fab songs like Taal and Ishq Bina) and then he goes back to the big city.
The plot of this film is the usual bollywood fare, poor girl, rich boy, disapproving family.
The overwhelming beauty of this film together with the fantastic rendering of songs makes you want to get up and dance.
This is one of my the most favorite Hindi movies and I had seen this masterpiece over 10-15 times.The main cause of that, even before the movie itself is,Aishwarya Rai.Before the movie released I saw Aish in couple of movies like-Aa Ab Laut Chalen and Aur Pyar Ho Gaya...but I have to admit,i was disappointed with her acting and the roles she played.To my opinion that time she was all beauty no talent.But all of my opinions and likes/dislikes about her changes upside down after I saw this movie-I was stunned!She gave a groundbreaking performance which easily topped over last few years' almost every performance.She looked SO Beautiful and Wonderful and Glamorous and....I have no words for that!She blend her character Mansi so well that I had hard times to remind me that this is only a movie character,not a real person.Her acting was simply natural,as though she had acted like this for years.I was very sad when she didn't get the filmfare award for Taal the next year(though she got the award for another film 'Hum De Chuke Sanam' that year from two nominations).This film was a total turnaround for her career.Besides Aishwarya,Anil Kapoor was also simply brilliant with his arrogant and egoistic character and delivered a knockout performance(he won the best supporting actor filmfare award for this film).
Akshaye Khanna also gave a good performance,though I think he is been batter in his later movies like Humraaz,Deewangee,Dil ChahtaHai ...I wish he worked out his hairstyle in this film,his hair looked horrible.About the direction,the cinematography,the music,the choreography,the editing all are simply perfect...too perfect.The director is none other than Subhash Ghai,that name speaks all.The best thing about this movie(besides the acting)is it's award winning cinematography.The parts in village (including the rain song and wedding song)are fabulous!The music direction was given by the maestro A.R. Rahman and the lyrics were written by the living legend Javed Akhter(both won filmfare in their categories),together they made some unforgettable tune and songs that will lasted forever.Oh, and also about the choreography...which name would you think can only match with these two?Saroj Khan.So,this is in my opinion, one of the most romantic movies of the decade and it is perfect from all angles...technical or acting.I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a truly beautiful emotional romantic movie.
I remember watching taal when i was kid , And Aishwarya Rai was everywhere owin to her two hit Movies - Hum dil de chuke sanam and Taal .Taal Is all in all a Pure musical !!
Its a journey of a girl With Music Playin a Important role in the backdrop hence the name Taal.The movie starts with AISHWARYA Rai (Mansi) a beautiful small town girl with great voice who meets AKSHAYE KHANA (Manav) a Rich down to earth guy .
Mansi Is approached to be a lead singer by A Leading music Composer ANIL KAPOOR (Vikrant) who also owns a Music company .
Will She Marry Vikrant and Kill her love for MANAV OR Will she Get back to Manav is the basic plot of the movie ?
This movie has been made amazingly well it is possibly Subash Ghai's Best Work .
The music by A.R REHMAN is the best part of the Movie .
Aishwarya Steals the show completely its her movie all the way , Akshay khanna is great Too , Anil kapoor is funny and goofy and plays his part exceedingly well.Taal is a simple story which looks so pure on the screen and even the cinematography Is not over the top grand its just about perfect .A must watch for People who think Bollywood is all about stupid Dance - Around - The - Three Flick ..
One of the better films i have seen.And definitely one of the better by Subaash Ghai.Though having seen Saudagar and Pardes surely Ghai has a lot of better efforts .Truly not as good as Pardes.Story is same old and the screenplay is utterly predictable.Story is just the typical old triangle boy meets girl falls in love and sons dump of girl falls in love with another guy and guy 1 returns.Climax brings every thing.The movie is not that excellent but still a well made movieThis movie is enjoyable mainly because of the songs.Songs are excellent.The best songs are Kahin Aag Laage and Ramta Jogi.And the performances are excellent.Aishwarya shines in the role of Mansi and is so easy on the eyes in the emotional and dramatic scenes unlike ones like Sushmitha.Who also happens to be a fine actress.Her dancing is amazing.Akshaye was also good.Though this is the only performance that i liked of his.Anil Kapoor superbly stands out and gives a knock out performance.Overall a simple and yet a very entertaining film.
Akshaye Khanna was good in his role, perhaps lacking a bit of conviction, but a more than decent performance.So the plot?
I am not a great fan of love at first sight, but in this case simplicity of characters and naturalism of dialogues/thoughts will force you to digest that.
Apart from being wonderfully musical it seems to me the most romantic movie of the decade, rich in family values, close to reality in many aspects.
If the movie had finished 40 minutes earlier, I would give a rating of 9 for its stunning music & lyrics, original presentation and the brilliant performance of Anil Kapoor.
The script writers are doomed for wasting great talents of veteran actors and the shinning beauty in the eyes of Aishwarya Rai.Rating 2 of 10, 1 for the music and 1 for Anil Kapoor..
You haven't lived till you've seen Taal :-) This one is a top classical no nonsense hindi movie.
For all fans of Aishwarya this is a must but also for people who like a good movie w/o the usual tragic/poverty scenes.I really like the movie and the music is awesome!.
Early in the film, Akshaye Khanna is shown basically stalking Aishwaria Rai and secretly taking photos of her while she's bathing and undressing, and then hangs all the photos on his wall and sits there and looks at them.
But then my wife explained to me that in Indian movies, the standard way of developing a romantic story is to show the man stalking the woman and obsessing over her in a fashion which might, in other cultures, be considered criminal behavior.
The music of A.R. Rahman, who appears to carry the burden of creating the music for every one of the 400 movies to come out of Bombay every year, is catchy and the stars look good..
The music of A.R. Rahman with lyrics by legendary Anand Bakshi is the best I have heard in the last 5 years.The acting is clearly lacking.
Amrish Puri again plays his usual stern self.Overall, the cinematography, music and lyrics overshadow the acting and it delights the senses.
With slightly above average music in the generic mould of A R Rahman.Subhash Ghai's extensive use of Coke jars throughout the movie, and the hotchpotch of scenes and plotlines stolen from other Hindi movies makes for jarring viewing.Some very strange things go on in the movie, starting with the casting.
Though of course the alternative would mean audiences would have little to whistle at, so perhaps it is best to let that pass.Akshaye Khanna's acting seems to consist of making weird faces - an absolute ham, if there ever was one.
Subhash Ghai's guest appearance jars more than an ST bus on the road to Pune.The only saving grace is Anil Kapoor's acting.
Akshaye Kumar would do well to take lessons from him - just the right amount of hamming for the most part (although the sentimental drivel being pushed across as acting by the others seems to affect him too in the end).To summarize: this movie should never have been made.
Not that the result would be any better.Also, the concept of using the Coke bottle for indirect kisses is lifted from Salman Rushdie's book, 'The Moor's Last Sigh.'The problem is, audiences in India have become so used to worse films that rotten pig-kidneys like this movie become hits and the standards stay low all the time..
Taal movie was a 1999 Bollywood musical romantic movie directed by Subhash Ghai.The film stars Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai, Amrish Puri and Alok Nath.This movie shows the effects of true love.
Some sets are just amazing.end part of the movie creates suspense according to the views.Moreover, the song 'hum dil de chuke sanam' is fantastic song.
R. Rahman with lyrics written by Anand Bakshi.Finally i rated this movie with 5 stars..
The specialities of movies made by Subash Ghai remain the camera work and music though the stories he takes are quite familiar.
"Taal" is simply a love story with a wafer thin plot, but the flow and the beauty with which the film proceeds is pretty attractive.
There are certain flaws, but the film is still refreshing for the music of AR Rehman, brilliant sets, and a beautiful cinematography.
Perhaps in her earlier roles, Aishwarya Rai looks beautiful and acts well.
Akshaye Khanna and Anil Kapoor look quite familiar.
Anyway, this might not be the best film from Subash Ghai; but it indeed is a good effort from him, which should get a special mention.Rating: 2 stars out of 4.
Taal is one Boring movie and is given the nick name Lucky Hit. The songs were a Great Hit, which is why the movie had a head start.
Subash Ghai has given us many great Hits, but he has disappointed this time.
Anil Kapoor is responsible for fabulous movies in the past.
Aishwarya Rai is overrated as it is, gives a boring and stupid character once again.
the best bollywood movie i have ever watched.
its been a long time since i saw this movie , you can say i was a kid then and so far i have seen this movie so many times which i haven't even counted , every time i watch this movie i just say "wow" ..every aspect of the movie is great though there are some minor drawbacks which are always there in bollywood movies but i won't count any of them in this case .
music of the movie is just great as its been almost 10 years but i still like them and ..
one thing i noted in the choreography was that , it would have been better if ghai would have hired some professional orchestra people to train anil kapoor as it feels odd at times if you disagree to what i have said then care to name a better musical love story then this one @ kashif99048@msn.comhope you people like my tiny review.
This film is lush in its use of colour, music, location and good acting.
The story is predictable but welcome and the musical segments hold your attention like a vice.
Good movie with memorable music..
I am a big fan of the work of Mr Subhash Ghai,a very talented director who makes meaningful films with wonderful music time after time.
Akshaye's role wasn't for him; someone like Salman Khan or SRK could've made it a great movie.
Anil Kapoor is superb; his performance is great.
The unique selling points of this movie are: the music, screenplay, cinematography and acting by Ash and Anil.
Speaking of music, the music of this film is great; the lyrics by Anand Bakshi are really good.Verdict: you don't want to miss this one.
Akshay Khanna was there to spoil the fun but Aishwarya Rai made me watch the whole movie.
Anil Kapoor did some good acting but then again Akshay showed up in the end to spoil the fun..
AR Rahaman, as usual has composed a set of brilliant songs, which was the primary reason I watched the movie.
But beside the music, the movie left me shocked--it was a long, boring, and never ending childish play with horrible acting--while watching the movie I was wondering who buys such crap?
I created an IMDb account just to comment on the movie and warn people not to waste their time watching this crap.
Taal felt like a movie written by an 8 years old girl who is going through a pre-puberty hormonal ups and downs--who is overly vulnerable and is riding an "emotional roller coaster" and believes that she will be living rest of her live with her school crush.
I have loved Subhash Ghai's movies since I was a young child, Saudagar and Ram Lakhan being my favourites from him.
Yaadein was his worst but in my opinion his work was starting to get strained way before then,Pardes I found average at best but Taal is a bore and very overrated.
The story is very unoriginal, boy and girl fall in love, then he jilts her and she finds someone else but then in a strange twist of fate they meet again.
I have a feeling that the only reason Taal is so highly regarded is because of the songs but take the songs out and what you're left with a mediocre movie..
This is a long film with a very clichéd plot (rich boy loves poor girl but snooty parents object).
The only reason to see this film is some decent acting by Amrish Puri and Akshaye Khanna, as well as some sweet songs, scored by AR Rehman.
The lovely Aishwarya Rai is beautifully choreographed dancing to melodious tracks.
Anil Kapoor overacts his way as the third lead, a hyperactive music producer who's obsessed with money and success.
The wild thing about TAAL is that the first half hour or so is like an Indian OKLAHOMA, where girl meets rich boy in a mountain village.But then the girl gets a recording contract and suddenly the movie is lycra, dance rehearsals, and MTV parties.The montage sequence in the center is worth the price alone, it's like a Bollywood FLASHDANCE-- the stunning Aish Rai proceeds through a montage sequence of the aforementioned rehearsals, an AMAZING combo of elegant gowns and modern choreography slashed with what we anglos think of as, what, Indian arm ballet?
This movie is certainly what is claims to be, a good musical, and is definitely worth watching, even if it lacks a sound and substantive story-line, as some people claim.As far as the distinction between purely art-films and purely commercial-films goes, there can be hopelessly bad art movies and critically acclaimed commercial ones.
Anil Kapoor (Vikrant) was great and his role is more sympathetic that of Manav.
If the movie ended with Mansi (Aishwaria Rai) walking off it would have been closer to Hollywood's standard and then a Sequel could have been done with Mansi confused as she develops a love for Vikrant who defended her virtue by not acceding to Manav's uncle to besmirch Mansi by trying to bribe Vikrant to have her model a bikini for half a million dollars or so.
A pretty good movie.
This movie is pretty good but I don't think it lived upto it's expectations.
There was a really big hype about this movie so I expected it to be better especially considering that it's a Subhash Ghai movie.
But as usual, Aishwarya did an excellent job of acting and she looked glamorous in the movie.
Akshaye Khanna did an OK job but the character I liked most was Anil Kapoor's one.
The story's about Manav (Akshaye) who's been brought up in England, who comes to Himachel Pradesh with his dad (Amrish Puri) who's a millionaire to look at some land.
There, Manav meets and falls in love with Mansi(Aishwarya Rai) who's the daughter of a local folk singer.
They then meet Vikrant (Anil) who's a remix director who thinks Mansi has the potential to be a big star.
It's a movie worth watching.
Subhash Ghai has done a pretty decent job with this movie.
As typical Bollywood movies, the film contains Part 1 (growing love and broken promises) and Part 2 (revenge, faith and redemption), each about the length of a regular movie.In other words, Taal is your typical big budget Bollywood movie, along with Om Shanti Om and the likes.
In this sense, it is Bollywood at its best since the big budget allows for truly over-the-top dance sequences and fantastic music.Quite frankly, if you are not a fan of kitsch nor Pride and Prejudice, this movie is not for you.
Great Music Video, so-so movie.
But it's the music, singing, and dancing that makes this movie work.
Certainly you could see a lot of money on the screen in sets, costumes, and stage effects; that was impressive.I watch these films for the music, dancing, and beautiful women, and this film has these in abundance.
Aishwarya Rai is stunning as a mountain girl!
It just seemed like Khanna's character felt that Rai's character was only worth fighting for after she became a big and successful star!
Also, what man in their right sense of mind would give up Aishwarya Rai?
Especially one as big-headed as Anil Kapoor's character was in the film?
This film was saved strictly by the songs and Aishwarya, and that's the only reason why you should see it! |
tt0088187 | Strangers in Paradise | The story primarily concerns the difficult relationship between two women, Helen Francine Peters (referred to as Francine throughout the series) and Katina Marie ("Katchoo") Choovanski, and their friend David Qin. Francine considers Katchoo her best friend; Katchoo is in love with Francine. David is in love with Katchoo (a relationship which Katchoo herself is deeply conflicted over).
The love triangle (which later expands into a love rectangle with the introduction of Casey Bullock, who marries Francine's ex-boyfriend Freddie Femmur and later divorces him, in order to pursue both David and Katchoo) alternates with the mystery and intrigue regarding Katchoo's past as an underage lesbian hooker and the Parker Crime Syndicate. Run by David's lesbian sister Darcy, the "Parker Girls" work for the shadowy 'Big Six' organization, an international crime syndicate with influence over the world of politics. "Parker Girls" are highly trained women used by organized crime to control, manipulate, spy upon, and ultimately kill men and women in positions of power and authority, for the Big Six.
SiP, as it is commonly known, began as a three-issue mini-series published by Antarctic Press in 1993, which focused entirely on the relationship between the three main characters and Francine's unfaithful boyfriend. This is now known as "Volume 1". Thirteen issues were published under Moore's own "Abstract Studio" imprint, and these make up "Volume 2". This is where the "thriller" plot was introduced. The series moved to Image Comics' Homage imprint for the start of "Volume 3", but after eight issues moved back to Abstract Studio, where it continued with the same numbering. Volume 3 concluded at issue #90, released June 6, 2007. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0114614 | Tank Girl | In 2022, a comet strikes Earth causing an 11-year drought. By 2033, most of the little remaining water is held in reserve by Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell) and his Water & Power (W&P) corporation, which uses the water to control the population. Rebecca Buck – "Tank Girl" (Lori Petty) – is a member of a commune in the Australian outback that operates the last water well not controlled by the corporation. In an attack on the commune, W&P troops kill Tank Girl's boyfriend, Richard (Brian Wimmer), and capture Tank Girl and her young friend Sam (Stacy Linn Ramsower). Rather than killing her, Kesslee tortures and enslaves the defiant Tank Girl. Jet Girl (Naomi Watts), a talented but introverted jet mechanic who has given up trying to escape W&P, urges Tank Girl to make less trouble for their captors, though Tank Girl refuses. Among other forms of torture, W&P personnel push her down into a long pipe to induce claustrophobia.
The mysterious Rippers slaughter guards at the W&P compound, then escape undetected. Kesslee uses Tank Girl to lure the Rippers into the open, but they gravely wound Kesslee and let Tank Girl and Jet Girl escape. Jet Girl steals a fighter jet from W&P and Tank Girl steals a tank, which she modifies heavily. The girls learn from the eccentric Sub Girl (Ann Cusack) that Sam is working at a sex club called Liquid Silver. They infiltrate the club, rescue Sam from a pedophile, Rat Face (Iggy Pop), and then humiliate the club's owner, "The Madame" (Ann Magnuson), by making her sing Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" at gunpoint. W&P troops break up the performance and re-capture Sam. Tank Girl and Jet Girl wander the desert and find the Rippers' hideout. They learn that the Rippers are supersoldiers created from human and kangaroo DNA by a man called Johnny Prophet. Tank Girl befriends a Ripper named Booga (Jeff Kober), while a Ripper named Donner (Scott Coffey) shows romantic interest in Jet Girl. Despite the objections of the Ripper T-Saint (Ice-T), who is suspicious of the girls, the Rippers' leader Deetee (Reg E. Cathey) sends the pair out to capture a shipment of weapons. The girls bring the weapon crates back, though most of them are empty. After finding Johnny Prophet dead in one of the containers, the girls and the Rippers realize that W&P has tricked them.
The girls and the Rippers sneak into W&P, where they are ambushed. Kesslee, whose body had been reconstructed by the cybernetic surgeon Che'tsai (James Hong), reveals that Tank Girl has unknowingly been bugged. Deetee is killed. While the Rippers turn the tide of the battle, Jet Girl kills Sergeant Small (Don Harvey), who had earlier sexually harassed her. Kesslee reveals that Sam is in the pipe, her life endangered by rising water. Tank Girl uses her tank to kill Kesslee, then pulls Sam out of the pipe. The film ends with an animated sequence showing water starting to flow freely. Tank Girl drives down rapids, pulling Booga behind on water-skis, then takes them over a waterfall, shouting for joy. | cult, humor, violence, stupid | train | wikipedia | In addition, I thought the acting was excellent, and that Lori Petty (who played "Kit" in "A League of Our Own) Malcolm McDowell (practically legendary) and Naomi Watts were excellent choices for their characters, as were the rest of the supporting cast.
However, well-designed and imaginative props and sets give a good feeling of "authenticity" to the scenes, and the visual and special effects are excellent.Don't bother critiquing little details and spurious claptrap like that with this movie - it sets out to be a comic-book-style fun action-adventure and accomplishes that goal magnificently.
(The funniest thing is that the plot precept of a mega-corporation in control of the world's water supply is becoming more and more of a plausible idea and leads one to think of a possible metaphoric reference to the world oil situation) This movie might have been rated "R" at the time for adult situations & violence (and a little nudity), but I didn't notice a whole lot of "foul language", and I didn't really see much in the movie that wouldn't be put on broadcast TV today.This movie has everything - good acting, evil villains, cute heroines, mutants, cool vehicles, explosions, big sets, a huge supporting cast, hilarious humor, great stunts, and even a classic musical number with a full chorus line!
You could clearly see that everyone involved in this project was having a good time.Tank Girl is a campy comic-book splashed up on your screen.
One of the best films ever based on a comic, Tank Girl should not be taken seriously, but it's enormous fun, and a badly needed send-up of all those testosterone-pumped action movies.
And by chance I happened to watch this movie the same day I saw "Mulholland Dr." and I still have a very difficult time recognizing that Naomi Watts is the same person in both films.
they're so good that one of the best parts of Tank Girl is just watching and listening to them.This isn't a movie to go into with high expectations.
Director Rachel Talalay deserves credit for keeping this all together.The acting is great--McDowell goes over the top (enjoyably), Naomi Watts is fun as Jet Girl and Petty is just beyond belief as Tank Girl.
Although this may not be a movie for the average type of person, if you have a sense of humor and adventure you can admire Tank Girl for the work it is and admire Lori Petty's performance in the role she was born for..
It is a movie to watch with friends and enjoy the music(Bjork, Portishead, etc) and glib retorts of tank girl herself.
(every movie should start with a cute dude getting nekkid!) whatever it was, tank girl is fun despite its frustratingly low quality - the way barbarella or xena warrior princess are fun..
I highly recommend that everyone watch this film because every movie you watch from here on out you can say at least it's better than Tank Girl..
But I'm a thirty-something-year old guy, so I thought it was a worthless piece of trash that made me want to smash nearby inanimate objects without regard for their monetary or spiritual value.Tank Girl is an early exponent of the "Charlie's Angels - The Movie" school of film-making, a close cousin of the "Austin Powers" style: a series of short, horrible scenes, each of which begins with loud, bad-ass rock music that quickly fades out to some vomit-inducing dialog and ends with a painfully un-funny one-liner.
And that is the why I forced myself to sit through the whole thing despite the signs being bad initially, falling to awful, then 'oh my god' and somehow still managing to sink further by the end.This is the first time I've ever written a review of a movie for IMDB but was compelled to do so to try to save others from the suffering I endured as a result of this movie.To name but a few of the very worst elements (and I really am skipping a *lot* of other bad things): i) Continuous "cool" "attitude" from the "sexy" heroine.
Ten years ago if someone had given you $25 Million dollars and challenged you make the worst flick possible with the money (stipulating that ALL the money had to actually be spent making the movie), it is unlikely that you could have deliberately matched Rachel Talaly's "Tank Girl".
I blundered into a showing of "Tank Girl" during its short-lived (and basically disastrous) release and found it memorable for its comic page scene transitions (borrowed from television's "Wonder Woman") and its spoof of the action/adventure movie genre.
Conversely it is impossible for Watts to not be sexy, no matter how hard they try to detune, grime-up, and disguise her."Tank Girl" poses the question, why do so many people dislike it, both now and at the time of its release ten years ago?
This does not pose the post-production problems it does in other movies because Talaly seems committed to insuring that no element of "suspense" is present to distract you from Petty's irritating performance.The Tank Girl comic strip embodied a freewheeling anti-authoritarian anarchism, with some feminist and even lesbian themes.
It's the year 2033 and Kesslee, the leader of Water & Power holds the World in his clutches as he controls all H20 after the meteor hit creating vast desert wastelands, though tank girl and Jet girl team up with some scientific kangaroo creations called Rippers who want to bring down Water and Power.What you get is a very colourful over-the-top and in-your-face film on a British cult comic strip.
I have never read any of these comic books, so I don't know how true the film is- but from what I mostly heard and read, it's not- but who cares it looked like it would be a fun viewing.After watching this mess I don't know why?
Though the film makes up for it with its upbeat soundtrack that was coordinated by Courtney Love and featuring the likes of Bjork, Hole, Iggy Pop, Bush and Veruca Salt, while it's vibrantly rich and bizarre comic backdrop is quite eye-catching, even though the sets do look kind of cheap.
The added comic cartoon interludes throughout the film I found to be more satisfying at times than the actual live scenes, making you think it would have probably been better if they stuck to a cartoon version.The performances I had mix feelings about.
Lori Petty as Tank Girl was fair and brings a chirpy attitude- but the humour at times was a bit stale, especially some of her cringe-worthy one-liners and from what I grasp about the character she was playing she totally looked the part but was no where near what she acts like in the comic series.
Where as other films like "A Clockwork Orange" had an Anti-Hero as a protagonist, I couldn't bring myself to dislike him even when doing these cruel sickening things, I can't even remember Tank Girl's name.
There are many bad comic book adaptations out there, but TANK GIRL ranks as one of the very worst.
Into this world comes Tank Girl as played by Lori Petty, a loud, bratty, and entirely overbearing young heroine who proceeds to kick plenty of backside as she takes the fight to the bad guys.I remember thinking that Stallone's much-maligned JUDGE DREDD, which came out in the same year, was actually quite a fun film and TANK GIRL serves to prove that opinion; it makes JUDGE DREDD look masterful by comparison.
This film doesn't know what it wants to be: is it making fun of action movies in general?
Her screechy voice, strange mannerisms, and poor comic timing dot this film from start to finish, until you just want to put your head in a vise and end the pain.Do yourself a favor and avoid this movie at all costs.
It's like they didn't have the money to shoot the cool stuff and so resorted to drawings, however cool they might be (an uncensored animated feature would be way better for Tank Girl now that I think about it).
I suppose Tank Girl, played by Lori Petty, looks the trashy punkette part but beyond her "attitude" and sometimes barely amusing retorts, is more two-dimensional and superficial than the worst comic book characters.
The thing that really drives me crazy in this movie, is the characters, they are painfully irritating, especially Rebecca played by Lori Petty, she's really annoying (I'll believe she is the most annoying creature I've ever seen).
It has some nice visuals though.However a lot of people love this film, most of them are women, and that's not weird at all, because this movie is all about girl power..
Tank Girl this is a real chick flick, and the best example of an hate/love film..
it's fun,it's a party!when you watch it you also want to be as self confident and cool like the tank girl!..........i love it!the kangaroos are also quite cool!they got something that reminds to a motorcycle rider!if they were real men they would be quite sexy.....;-)WATCH IT!YOU'LL HAVE FUN!SURE!.
I have not seen the comic book but if you like your movies a little off kilter then, this one is great!
If you are familiar with the Tank Girl books or like movies you can watch and learn more from on each showing then yes this one it is worth it.
Tank Girl is one of my all time favorite movies, it's tacky and kinda silly.
But for some reason both I and everyone I show it too falls in love with her in-your face attitude and power.Tank Girl is one of those movies you have to watch with an open mind, because the characters, plots and well almost everything else is very unbelievable and if you criticize it too much you'll hate every second of it.It's an upbeat movie, that at the end with make you want to be just like her :) (I'm starting to read the comics and they're good too!) A cult classic, will a kick ass attitude.
In Rebecca Buck (aka Tank Girl), as played by Lori Petty, we have what is probably the single most irritating live-action comic-book character ever to make it to the silver screen.
Meanwhile, Malcolm MacDowell and Ice-T chalk up another bomb on their respective filmographies and make-up legend Stan Winston tries but fails to make human kangaroos not look as stupid as they sound.A cool alternative soundtrack adds some much needed oomph to proceedings, there are some surprisingly slick scenes of animation (that suggest that the whole thing would have worked far better as a feature length animated movie) and Naomi Watts is likable as Rebecca's nerdy side-kick Jet Girl (the actress looking great with dark hair), but it's nowhere near enough to prevent this film from being a tedious, virtually unwatchable mess..
Which finally brings me to Tank Girl, the 1995 would-be blockbuster that is better known today as being the film that lost $21 million dollars at the box-office, the film that should have made a Lori Petty a star but didn't, the film that Naomi Watts co-starred in before she became the "it girl" from Mulholland Dr., the film that now resides in the throes of two golden words: cult classic.
Based on the British cult comic-strip, our tank-riding anti-heroine (Lori Petty) fights a mega-corporation, which controls the world's water supply.This film is a very unusual adaptation, comparable to "Super Mario Bros" in how bizarre it turned out to be.
Tank Girl is a fun, silly movie thats witty, and has a lot to offer.
Tank girl is just a fun, enjoyable movie, the story isn't the best there is, but the characters make up for it..
This movie did not feature any deep thinking, or any original ideas, and was simply meant to entertain us with snappy and sometimes "Off The Wall" one liners from the Tank Girl throughout, which gets old after a while.
I felt like "Rebecca" was a really fun character for Lori Petty, but I thought she was kind of stupid, mumbling weird things all throughout the movie.
unwatchable trash,garbage,rubbish,dumps,horrible,terrible,clueless, pointless,boring,meaningless,purposeless,senseless,nonsensical,and inane.Malcolm Macdowell worst role.Ice-T's worst role.Lori Petty's worst role of all time.Lori Petty is very sexy, but Tank Girl is pointless.if i can do anything,then i banned this movie for the whole world.actually i'm Ice-T's biggest fan,but this role is brainless and pointless.director made very bad work.
"Tank Girl" a bad movie?!.
Though playing a rather irritating character, Lori Petty doesn't give a terrible performance as Rebecca, aka Tank Girl.
Malcolm McDowell, Naomi Watts and music performer Ice-T also do the best that can be expected, and they are all clearly having fun with this big goof of a movie.One thing that the picture could be praised for, in terms of filmic value, is that it turns so many tired genres on their heads.
The gratuitous violence and gaping plot holes akin to action movies (where the bad guys can never aim), the underlying voyeurism that seems to always come with Hollywood films that have any female characters, these things are all brought right out to the front and put in your face, a long overdue wake up call to film-makers who rely on such transparent cinema devices.Apart from this, Tank Girl is really just a big silly joke.
It's a movie you have to smile at, feel like both the kid in you and the dirty bastard or girly girl loves to chomp on like some stupid comic book that has all the meat and gravy of a full-throttle action story mixed in with lots of irreverent humor.
It's a lot like if a Sci-fi channel of the week movie actually worked well; the production design isn't too tacky and eye-catching on a fairly low budget, the actors are all having a ball playing odds and ends of good guys or kangaroos or villainous water mongers.
Starring Lori Petty as the WEIRD Tank Girl and ICE-T as her human-kangaroo hybrid boyfriend (I particularly appreciated that one), this movie is one of the most weird and stupid movies I have ever seen.
I noticed before sitting down to watch Tank Girl that it has got a bad reputation for being a Hollywoodised bastardisation of the cult comic.
As someone who has a lot of fondness for the comic and as an admirer of Malcolm McDowell, I found Tank Girl neither a good or terrible movie.
Consequently the black, sassy humour could have benefited the satire and the comedy, but seeing as they were missing the humour to me seemed flat, and the more action-like parts looked clunky.Overall, I was willing to judge it on its own terms and to form my own opinion, but while I don't think Tank Girl is as bad as people say and I have seen far worse movies there wasn't really anything especially outstanding about it.
So what if it doesn't have loads of special effect to compensate for the lame storyboard you people put it down?So let me just tell you, that movie respected the spirit of the book, the wackiness of the characters and therefore it deserve more than just a lousy 4.6, I don't ask for the moon, give a 5 or a 6 if you want, I just think it's a better than average movie, it's worth watching and enjoying it, and if you are not sure, check the comic first.There is one down side in that movie, the rippers which are much more beardy in the comics, they are looking a wee bit too goofy...Anyway this post is just a cry for injustice.
Based on the British comic strip of the same name, it follows our heroine, Tank Girl, and her band of ragtag friends as they battle the evil Water & Power in a post-apocalyptic world with no rain.
It has a great soundtrack that fits the film very well, lots of action, and a great sci-fi/fantasy plot with a little comedy thrown in, not to mention Lori Petty as Tank Girl makes the movie what it is, very enjoyable.
I hadn't seen "Tank Girl" since its theatrical release, then it showed up on Netflix and gave me a chance to remember what a fun ride it is.The movie isn't and doesn't try to be a great film.
That voice, that grin, that swagger; Lori Petty/Becky (aka: Tank Girl) is enjoying a good-time death wish.
If I told you this movie was about a punk girl who primarily uses a tank trying to take down an evil corporation that owns all water in a post apocalyptic world along with saving a little girl with the help of a nerdy girl who flies a jet and mutant kangaroos, you'd say "That sounds like crap" and...
The movie is based on the comic "Tank Girl".
Lori Petty was the perfect pick for the part of Tank Girl, her sense of timing is great and the one liners keep coming.
Lori Petty and Naomi Watts team up as kickass action heroines in Rachel Talalay's adaptation of the comic book 'Tank Girl'.
If you like comic books, you'll love "Tank Girl" the movie.
It's Fun. A silly movie about a tough girl and her tank taking on the world in a post apocalyptic future.
It feels like years since I saw Tank Girl for the first time.
This is a powerful, in-you-face, media sensation that makes you laugh and say, "Chicks RULE!"I loved how the movie's soundtrack was very prominent (great songs!) and how they mixed other media into the film.I didn't read any of the Tank Girl comics, so I don't know if this is "on track" with it's origins, but I still loved it..
The movie doesn't let any fans of the classic 'Tank Girl' comic down!
This movie has everything:it shows scenes from the comic book,real action,and the best part is Tank Girl blowing up stuff and kicking other guys butts! |
tt3103340 | Secrets & Lies | The film tells the story of Hortense Cumberbatch, a successful black middle class optometrist in London, who is adopted and has chosen to trace her family history after the death of her adoptive mother. After being warned by public officials about the troubles she could face by tracking her birth mother down, she continues her investigation and is baffled to learn that her birth mother is white but does not resent her and wants to know more about her past. Her birth mother, Cynthia Purley, is working class and downwardly mobile. Hortense meets her and later meets Cynthia's brother, Maurice Purley, a photographer, his wife Monica, and Cynthia's daughter Roxanne, a street cleaner.
At the Purleys', it is evident that severe tensions exist between Roxanne and her mother. Both are frustrated with one another and getting on one another's nerves. Maurice and Monica also experience domestic tensions. Monica comes across as abrupt, but later scenes reveal that she suffers from severe menstrual cramps and Monica makes concerted efforts to placate matters and be contrite. Things are also not well between Maurice and his sister, they are a bit awkward with one another but both look forward to celebrating Roxanne's birthday. Cynthia refers to Maurice affectionately as her little brother and asks him as she always does when he is going to shave. It is clear that Cynthia somehow can survive by the money she receives from Maurice.
Hortense rings Cynthia and asks for a 'Cynthia Rose Purley', and starts talking about a baby "Elizabeth Purley", born in 1968. Cynthia realises that Hortense is her daughter whom she gave up for adoption and hangs up the phone. Hortense is still determined to find out more about her background. She rings Cynthia again and manages to convince her to meet with her. When they finally do, Cynthia feels that a grave mistake has been made. Hortense convinces Cynthia to have a cup of tea. Hortense asks Cynthia to look at a document; she then begins to cry and then states that she is ashamed. Hortense then wants to know who her father is, to which Cynthia refuses to answer.
After a while Hortense and Cynthia have struck up a friendship, which is somewhat noticed by Roxanne after seeing her mother going places but not knowing where, since Cynthia is rather secretive about it. Cynthia mentions the birthday party for Roxanne and also gives Hortense a gift. Cynthia asks Maurice if she can bring a "mate from work" to Roxanne's party. Cynthia relays this information to Hortense who replies that she would feel a bit awkward. Despite these feelings, she agrees to attend and pose as a colleague from work. The day of the barbecue arrives and Monica makes an effort for everyone to feel welcome. Cynthia makes incisive remarks in passing, but making sure that Monica hears them, about the seemingly high expenses that she makes in her house instead of concentrating on giving Maurice a child. Maurice tells Roxanne that she has a good brain and should be in college. Roxanne does not take this suggestion seriously. Everyone gathers for the barbecue and Maurice prepares the food. During the meal Hortense answers many questions which are naturally put to her by the other guests. Hortense says that she is pursuing medical research and endeavours to be evasive. Also present at the barbecue are Maurice's assistant Jane and Roxanne's boyfriend Paul.
When Roxanne blows out her birthday candles Cynthia begins to act in an exceptionally nervous manner. She states that Hortense is her daughter. Everyone dismisses this claim and states that she has had too much to drink. However, when Monica inadvertently confirms this as true, Roxanne is horrified and storms out of the house. Maurice attempts to placate matters by confronting Roxanne at a nearby bus stop. He attempts to convince Roxanne to speak to her mother again and Cynthia apologises to her profusely. Cynthia then explains that she got pregnant at fifteen and her father sent her away due to feeling shame over her pregnancy and after the adoption she never expected Hortense to come back. Cynthia then accuses Monica of being selfish. Maurice reveals that Monica is physically incapable of having children. Maurice then loses his temper and states that he has spent his whole life trying to make people happy and that he cannot take it any more because the ones he loves most "hate each other's guts". After witnessing all this Hortense tries to leave but Maurice stops her, admiring her courage for trying to find her own past, although he will not reveal who her father was either. Cynthia then explains that Roxanne's father was an American medical student vacationing in Benidorm. One morning in Benidorm, Cynthia awoke and he had gone.
After a while things have calmed down and Hortense is free to visit Cynthia and Roxanne at their home. Hortense reveals that she always wanted a sister. Roxanne reveals that she would be happy to introduce Hortense as her half-sister notwithstanding the long explanations that it would entail. They gather for a visit at Cynthia's, and have tea. | murder | train | wikipedia | Down Under isn't all Fun and Games.
Set in a suburban Australian neighborhood, this one-off series follows the story of family man Ben Gundelach, a painter (as in 'paint the basement') whose life spirals into a s**t-storm of suspicion, lies and vigilantism after finding the body of a young, neighborhood boy in the woods on his morning jog.At its core a real whodunit-type story, the plot development serves us a platter of red-herrings in Ben's quest to prove his innocence by discovering the truth, all the while having to deal with characters such as the Suspicious Detective, the Annoying Wife, the Bitchy Teen Daughter, the Womanizing Best-Mate, the vulnerable Victim's Mother across-the-street, and a host of possible-suspect neighbors.
The story does a good job of keeping viewers intrigued, with frequent plot twists, layered characters and will- he-snap, won't-he-snap moments.The cast of C-list actors all fulfill their roles (some better than others), and as the story progresses we catch glimpses of who they all really are.
A few small inconsistencies can be noticed by the keen-eyed viewer, but can be overlooked as most most details fall into place with the concluding episode.So, if you like whodunits, don't mind Aussie accents, can overlook some fairly stock-characters, and have some free time on your hands, by all means give this series a watch.
It's shortcomings are made up for by an interesting story that keeps you guessing, enough tense moments to punctuate the talky-scenes, and a final twist that, while some may find unsatisfactory, certainly comes as a surprise.
As a whodunit, it ticks almost all the boxes.Lets hope its American counterpart, soon to be released, will keep some of the same atmosphere!NR.
Thought it was a great show!.
I, myself found this show to be quite interesting!
The plot is good.
Few complaints would be, felt like they gave away who the murderer was too soon.
They may have done that and canceled the show, but I would have rathered it stay on longer and find out who the real killer is later on, but you will find out on the last episode.
It really is an emotional show.
I cried a few times for the main actor, he really made you feel his pain.
Martin Henderson is great for this role.
He really puts you in his shoes.
Not sure why the show is not continuing and why US has picked it up, just hope the new Secrets and Lies will be as good as the Australian version!
It is definitely worth something to watch, just don't hope for second season cause there won't be any!
the wrong man.
"Secrets & Lies" is an Australian miniseries starring Martin Henderson, Anthony Hayes, Anthony Hayes, and Diana Glenn.Henderson plays Ben Gundelach, a house painter who has two daughters and is in the process of breaking up with his wife (Glenn).
One day while jogging he finds the body of the little boy who lives across the street.
He becomes the main suspect.
And when he submits to a DNA sample, he's in for a big surprise.Ben tries to solve the murder himself as he watches his life disintegrate before him.
Everything he shows the police detective (Hayes) is dismissed.
With an expression that never changes, the chief investigator quietly drives Ben to near insanity.
Very tense story with a twist ending.
Henderson is a hunk with a capital H and does well as a laid back person dumbfounded and confused by what is happening to him as his life spins into more and more chaos.Some of the characters are stereotypes, but for the most part, this is a good, well-acted story that sadly reflects the modern world we live in..
Tried to watch it, too slow.
Watched almost to the end of the first episode, then quit on it.
The main problem I had with this TV show was that every effort was made to make the lead(looks like Kurt Russell when young)look guilty(too guilty)for the murder of the young boy.
Whenever that happens in a TV show these days it is always a red herring, and I am sure he will be proved not to be the killer.
Formula, formula, formula.
And, what I saw of this show was simple and unsophisticated, and not very smart.
Could never align with the lead, as he was so passive as to be almost resigned to whatever happened to him.
Maybe it will get better, but may do so without me watching.I just did not like the way this show was written and presented.
Nice Aussie scenery though.
Cannot invest the required many hours into a slow program like this one waiting for the crime solution that seems a long slog though deep muck..
Great suspense!.
I'm usually good at figuring out "who done it" but this show had me guessing until the very end!!.
surprising twist at the end.
I enjoyed the show with my wife and we didn't know the killer right until the last episode, every episode we were suspecting one person or another and the one person we didn't even think about did it.Well acted by all, love more six part dramas like this and agree about there being slim to none chance for a second series as what would it be about?
But if there was I for one would certainly watch.There was some filler in the first few episodes but you get to expect that with a lot of shows.The police sergeant was very rough and to added a lot more realism to the show as you could see he was disgusted with the character who played Ben all throughout the series and when at the end he realised he hadn't done it he didn't even apologise..
Well crafted show that fell apart in the end.
No payoff..
*NO SPOILERS YET* I will keep the first part of this spoiler free, and will provide fair warning before I divulge any spoilers.
This was a pretty well crafted series.
Cinematography, acting, writing, and directing were all very good.
New bombshells and twists presented themselves around every corner, always keeping the audience guessing.
The finale was incredibly intense.
However, the final twist I just didn't buy, and for me it caused the entire series to fall apart.
In the end, I felt there was no payoff for this series, with an awful ending and a final twist I just didn't feel worked.
Now I am going to start getting into spoilers.
I personally wish I had read spoilers previously, as I probably wouldn't have wasted six hours on this show.
*SPOILERS BEGIN* So the final twist for those who don't know and decided to proceed, is that Ben's youngest daughter Eva is the killer.
Now Eva looked to have been somewhere between 8 and 10 years old.
I know that children kill.
It is hard to believe, and it is a rarity, but it has happened.
Eva was just not developed in the show to be a psychopath though, and the motive given is that she believed killing Tom would cause Jess to leave town (thus saving her parent's marriage).
I guess it's debatable as to whether the ending was plausible.
I just didn't buy it.
And so what are we left with?
A series that showed Ben frantically trying to figure out who killed Tom for six episodes, while his family fell apart and his wife left him, taking the kids.
And in the end he seems to be back together with his wife, but now his youngest daughter is facing prosecution for murder.
What an awful ending.
I just didn't buy it, and felt there was no payoff.
Overall the series is well done, though, hence the three stars given.
I wish I hadn't wasted my time though..
A taut drama about the investigation into the death of a child with a previously unseen villain at the end..
My husband and I watched all six episodes of Secret and Lies (Australian version) and were engaged pretty much through out the whole series.
We did think there was a bit too much histrionics on the part of almost all of the characters.
It seems that they all had turn at being hysterical and screaming and crying with faces all scrunched up.
We knew the main suspect in Thom's death was not going to be the final killer.
But we did not see the ending coming until it was upon us.
It was a sort of after the fact ending, producing a killer who had no attention on him/her at all previously during the series.
The story the killer told in confession was believable enough.....But then he/she had to add one other statement that showed just how dark the killer's heart really was!
This was definitely not a feel-good show!.
Possible spoiler in second paragraph.
Well-acted.
Very good drama.
Good mystery.
Well-cast, but...And this may be a spoiler: The ending ruined the whole season for me.
I was so put off by "who-dun-it", I wish I hadn't wasted my time on the first episode.
Most of the story is centered around a man accused of murdering a young boy.
He faces distrust from the police and even most of his own family.
Time and again he stumbles upon a clue that might vindicate him, only to be knocked down.
With all this struggle and suspense, I just knew there would be a satisfying pay-off in the end.
But I would have preferred general dissatisfaction to the wretched wrap-up of this story.I'm guessing the writer of this story has a very bleak picture of humanity.
My advice is to stay away from "Secrets and Lies". |
tt0088720 | And the Children Shall Lead | Intercepting a distress call, the USS Enterprise arrives at the planet Triacus. Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and First Officer Spock beam down to investigate just in time to witness the death of Professor Starnes, the leader of a scientific expedition. The other members of the expedition, apart from their five seemingly unconcerned children, seem to have died at their own hands.
The crew bring the children back to the Enterprise, where McCoy evaluates them and determines that they are suffering lacunar amnesia, unaware of what happened to their parents and unable to grieve. However, when left unattended in one of the ship's rooms, the children chant an invocation and summon a glowing humanoid apparition named Gorgan, who advises them to take control of the crew and spurs them on by saying, "As you believe, so shall you do, so shall you do." At Gorgan's direction, the eldest child, Tommy, uses mental powers to trick the crew into steering the ship towards Marcus XII while presenting illusions that make them think they are still in orbit above Triacus.
Upon reviewing troublesome expedition film recorded by Starnes, Spock, McCoy, and Kirk return to the bridge to find the children and Gorgan fully in control of the crew. Unable to break their hold on the crew, Spock observes that the children are merely possessed by Gorgan, who must be the evil embodiment of an ancient group of space-warring marauders released by Starnes's archaeological survey.
Believing they can break the hold Gorgan has on the children, Spock plays back footage showing the children happy with their parents, who are then shown to be dead. As the children realize what has happened, they break down emotionally and Gorgan's appearance begins to deteriorate. With the children's powers gone, the crew regains control and Kirk orders a course for Starbase 4 while they take care to comfort the children. | cult | train | wikipedia | I remember this movie with great fondness. I remember seeing this movie on HBO as a kid in the 80's. I can't really say the acting was great but I do remember wishing I could have live through that time to experience civil rights. The movie is told through the eyes of children, black and white who all got along, played together but also knew their place. When outsiders come to there town to register black voters friendships are tested and inevitable change is to come.I was happy to find this movie on DVD and plan to show this to my class of 4th graders who I hope will enjoy this movie as much as I did when I was that age.. Great story line/Great morals. I was introduced to this movie by my late brother-in-law, "Kevin." We laughed hysterically at how badly his acting was (particularly his last scene. Rest in Peace.The movie itself sends a great message. Set in the time of segregation, there is a group of kids who are blind to racism within their own group until they are affected by the adults around them. "And the children Shall Lead" shows us how the colorblind love of children could teach the adults a lesson or two. The children are so genuine, it gives hope to the future of segregated America, and made me feel truly happy to be born much later. |
tt0060884 | The Rare Breed | English women Martha Price (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) come to the US via boat with Hereford stock pursuing the dream of Martha's husband, who accidentally died on board, to bring Hereford to the West. They're now left with Hilary's bull, a result of years of European breeding, named Vindicator. Vindicator exhibits all the gentility of breeding, including an odd willingness to follow Hilary merely at the whistle of "God Save the Queen".
At auction, he results in a bidding war and is ultimately won by Charles Ellsworth (David Brian), who has come to purchase stock for the wealthy Texas rancher Alexander Bowen (Brian Keith). Sam Burnett (James Stewart), a local wrangler known for being able to take down bulls just by looking at them, is hired to transport the bull to Bowen's ranch. Ellsworth has bought the bull primarily to woo Martha, and when she is confronted by him when trying to claim her payment for the bull she decides to ensure Vindicator's delivery by accompanying him en route.
Martha Price is told by daughter Hilary about a conversation she overheard between Burnett and two men working for competing rancher John Taylor (Alan Caillou). Burnett has made a deal with Taylor to steal the bull. Hilary doesn't yet know that Burnett has made the deal mostly to ensure another wrangler doublecrossed by Taylor would receive some money to take care of himself after an injury. One of Taylor's men, Deke Simons (Jack Elam), gets into a fight with Burnett in the saloon over terms. Price, witnessing the brawl, comes to trust Burnett. Despite Burnett's objections, he accepts responsibility for the Price women through the train ride to the west and the following wagon trail.
One night while Price and Burnett are brewing coffee over the campfire, a shot knocks over the coffee pot. Burnett knows this is a signal from Taylor's men. Just before dawn, Hilary catches Burnett as he is about to hand over the bull. He denies her accusations, waking her mother to prove he was innocent. Once again, Price gives Burnett the benefit of the doubt.
Taylor's men find a fence which has been hacked through to make way for Price's wagon. They conclude that Burnett must have double-crossed them. Simons, determined to catch up with Burnett, shoots a companion and rides on after the wagon.
In a canyon, Burnett runs into Jamie Bowen (Don Galloway), Alexander's son, who has stolen a herd of his father's longhorn cattle and is running away to start his own ranch. Simons catches up and shoots a cowhand, setting off a stampede. Jamie tries to escape but falls in the path of the charging cattle.
Battered and unconscious, Jamie is carried by Burnett back to the wagon. Simons is there holding Price and her daughter hostage. Simons demands the money that Burnett was paid by Taylor for the bull. Simons also demands Price's money, but while distracted, Burnett is able to take his rifle. Simons mounts and gallops away. Burnett follows. As horses collide, Simons falls onto a sharp rock and is killed instantly.
Burnett returns with the money, but Price berates him for his dishonesty and the trouble he has caused. After a few days of travelling with Bowen's son in tow, they reach their destination, his father's ranch.
At the ranch they're introduced to Jamie's father, Bowen, a Scottish soldier turned cattle rancher at a fort also populated by local families of Mexican heritage. While Hilary nurses Jamie back to health, Martha begins teaching the local children in school. Though Bowen and Burnett insist the Price women should leave for the East again before they're snowed in, they refuse until Jamie is well and they've taught the men to properly care for Vindicator.
Bowen continues to insist that Hereford cattle can't make it through the tough conditions on the range and thus make them a bad match. Martha and Hilary insist, and slowly, Burnett is coming over to their side. Martha, upon witnessing the wildness of the longhorn cattle, realizes that until Vindicator proves himself, they'll never have the men on their side. Hilary races back to the fort, and releases Vindicator into the wild.
With Vindicator now in the wild to fend for himself and Jamie on the mend, the Price women announce it is time for them to go, but Jamie insists he's in love with Hilary, who returns the proclamation and Martha, upon seeing them, realizes she needs to stay as well. This suits both Bowen, who's realized he's in love with Martha, and Burnett, who's known he loved Martha since they met.
It is a particularly brutal winter and Burnett insists on finding Vindicator and bringing him back to shelter him all winter. Through repeated outings, he can't find the bull and while he's away, Bowen cleans himself up, begins serving tea and showing Martha his gentlemanly side in an attempt to woo her.
Burnett is reported missing and the men finally find him, almost frozen. Bowen insists that he can have any calves that result from Vindicator, but surely the bull is dead. Burnett refuses to give up hope, even though Hilary and Martha have come to accept this as truth.
When the spring finally breaks, Burnett begins searching for Vindicator again, hoping for calves and begins building a new kind of farm—where the animals are treated better and Herefords can not only subsist but thrive. He finally discovers Vindicator, long dead under a snowdrift. He still insists that calves may be coming.
Martha, out of reluctance for anything else, agrees to marry Bowen, but only after there is no chance of calves from Vindicator. In one of the last scenes, Burnett finally finds a Hereford calf, brings him back to the fort, and proclaims his love for Martha. Bowen steps aside.
At the end, we're shown an entire field of Herefords, with Martha and Burnett musing that they're glad they kept a "few LongHorn, to remember the way it used to be". Hilary and Jamie approach, now married, and Hilary whistles in the hopes that one of the cattle will respond, and claims, "sometimes, I see a glimmer of him in one of them". | cult, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | Middle-aged cowboy James Stewart agrees to transport Maureen O'Hara's Hereford bull (the first in North America) to to it's new owner Brian Keith, while at the same time making an underhanded deal to deliver it to a rival cattleman.
Things get complicated when O'Hara and her daughter take it upon themselves to accompany Stewart.This light-hearted western is offbeat and original enough to provide some entertainment and Stewart is great as the reluctant champion of a new breed of bull, but the story just isn't as compelling as it should have been and sometimes pretty silly, especially Keith (under a mountain of hair!) as a backwards Scottish rancher.Jack Elam and Ben Johnson make the most of their limited roles as a vicious saddle-tramp and Stewart's aging, crippled mentor..
The Rare Breed is the second of four films James Stewart did with director Andrew V.
In this film Stewart brought a breeding bull together with his owners, Maureen O'Hara and Juliet Mills.
Of course in the film it involved some sacrifice in regard to some notions the women had, especially Juliet Mills who regards the bull Vindicator as a family pet.Stewart's character, Sam 'Bulldog' Burnett has a bit of the rogue to him, but he certainly turns out to be the decent reliable Jimmy Stewart that movie audiences for three generations loved.
In her memoirs Maureen O'Hara said that some scenes she states she stole from Jimmy Stewart got cut from the final print.
I'm sure that was what she was referring to although it's pure speculation as to the reason for the edit.But if Maureen was worried about scene stealing, the guy who stole the film completely is Brian Keith.
Maureen has a civilizing affect on him and Keith becomes a rival to Stewart for her affections.
He's quite a sight in the uniform of his former Highland regiment playing the bagpipes.The Rare Breed doesn't rank up there with most of the Anthony Mann westerns of the Fifties.
Michener not only saw it, but liked it a lot since the basic plot line about the great British bull being brought to America by an English widow and then dying in a record blizzard after leaving his stamp on a new generation of crossbreeds is used almost verbatim in "Centennial" which was published nine years after this film was released.Anyway, what I saw I enjoyed.
I can't not enjoy O'Hara, Stewart and Keith!!!.
McLaglen's "The Rare Breed" (1966) has a surprising amount of historical interest, both to students of the old west and to western genre film buffs.
It is actually a fairly accurate (if fictionalized) account of the displacement of Longhorn cattle on the Texas range by intentional interbreeding with more conventional bulls (in this case a Hereford named Vindicator).Just as interesting is the film's position as one of the early intentional parodies of the western genre.
The most obvious are Brian Keith's overplayed (almost expressionistic) Scotsman and McLaglen's juxtaposition of classic John Ford outdoor scenery with obvious sound stage shots-including matte paintings by Albert Whitlock.
And McLaglen rounds out his cast with genre favorites Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., and Jack Elam.But "The Rare Breed's" real claim to fame is as the first "chick flick" western.
It is likely to appeal more to women than men viewers as the story is told from the point of view of its heroine Hilary Price (Juliet Mills), who sets out with her parents to bring a small herd of cattle from Hertfordshire (England) to the American west.
Unfortunately her father dies on the ocean voyage so Hilary and her mother Martha (Maureen O'Hara) are faced with the daunting task of completing what had been her father's dream.
Yet Mills gets all the really good lines as Hilary injects a lot of wit and wry humor into the story.
McLaglen gives real dimension to only two of the characters, Hilary and "Bulldog" Sam Burnett (Jimmy Stewart).
Burnett is a cowhand who starts out to swindle the two women but ends up being completed by them; eventually becoming a father/husband replacement to Hilary and Martha respectively, as well as a complete believer in their mission to change the nature of the American cattle industry.But Burnett has to come a long way to make this transition as he begins by calling the symbolically named Vindicator a muley bull (because it has no horns).
The bull follows her around like a dog and is easily quieted with a verse from "God Save the Queen".
Unfortunately the scenes between Keith and O'Hara will make you think more of Disney's original "The Parent Trap" than the film you thought you were watching.Then again, what do I know?
This western has much going for it: great stars (Jimmy Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, and Brian Keith), interesting plot twists (is Stewart's character a thief, after all), and some comedic moments (Brian Keith is a hoot as Scottish cattle baron).
It was cute how Juliet Mills (sister of Hayley) got that Hereford bull to follow her by whistling "God Save the Queen".
Juliet added quite a bit to the movie, and she was a good balance to the humorous triangle of Keith, O'Hara, and Stewart.
Some reviews are harsh, yet the questions remains--How could anyone not enjoy a movie with Jimmy Stewart in it?.
Attractive and charming Western with big name cast and top-notch performance from James Stewart.
It stars the great James Stewart as an ageing cowboy hand who helps two English women , as he is still looking for a deep dream and blazing with determination .
As a ranch hand agrees to escort a Hereford bull to Texas where the widow of an English breeder , the prissy Mauren O'Hara, and daughter , Juliet Mills , plan to crossbreed the big bull with longhorn cattle .
Stewart acquires a a fanatical belief on the potential of the bull and he sets out in blizzard to prove it .Amusing Western comedy including action , stampede , thrills , shootouts , fights , human as well as warm roles and a love story .
The plot is plain and simple , as a widow insists that she and her daughter accompany Stewart on a dangerous trip which features every kind of Western calamity imaginable .
James Stewart gives an attractive acting as an obstinate cowboy who stubbornly wishes to get the crossbread when all others believe the attempt to be failed and he sets out to prove them wrong .
And charming performances from Mauren O'Hara , Juliet Mills, and a red bearded Brian Keith as an extravagant Scots-accented rancher who has a whisky bottle and a bagpipe on his hand instead of a gun , an acting that sticks in the mind long after .
Support cast is frankly good such as David Brian , Don Galloway , Perry Lopez, Harry Carey Jr , Ben Johnson , Barbara Werle, and an ominus bit part, with special mention , for usual baddie Jack Elam .Colorful and evocative cinematography by William Clothier , adding genuine wide open spaces atmosphere .
He was an expert in all kinds of genres as Wartime such as Dirty dozen next mission, Sea wolves, On wings of eagles , Wild Geese, The Devil Brigade, Breakthrough and Western such as Chisum, Shenandoah, McLintock, The Blue and the Gray , The way west , Bandolero , Undefeated , Cahill United United States Marshal and this Rare Breed.
The motion picture will appral to James Stewart and Mauren O'Hara fans ..
James Stewart and Maureen O Hara.
James Stewart made this film at Universal with a very very beautiful Maureen O Hara as his leading lady reprising their teaming for 20th's Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation.
Andrew McLaglen who was part of the James Stewart-John Wayne fraternity of action movies directs well this story of cattle breeding.
I respect both James Stewart and Maureen O Hara for keeping their careers in high gear even in the troubled 60's.
With Maureen O Hara she outpaced many of her peers who retired due to lack of work, only Susan Hayward and Lana Turner were as active as the beautiful Irish Ms. O'Hara was in her steady stream of work as leading lady to John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart stalwart's of the American screen.
Always thought Don Golloway would be a star.Is this movie great?
And Maureen O Hara one of the great Beauties of the Screen!.
Average western that has a good story but bad screenplay,script,cinematography and directing.Stewart and O'Hara deliver very well as always but the bad production just weighs their performance down.Too bad for the subject matter of the story is very interesting and historically educational with a lot of action,drama and even comedic potentials.Only for big western fans and fans of the lead actors.......
Recently widowed, Martha Price {Maureen O'Hara} and her daughter Hilary {Juliet Mills} travel from England to Texas to sell their prized Hereford Bull, Vindicator.
But as the journey starts to become perilous, Sam finds himself strongly drawn to Martha, but he's also not the only one.The Rare Breed is a fictionalised account of how British bred cattle came to be part of the American beef industry.
McLaglen, "The Rare Breed" chronicles events in St. Louis and Texas in 1884-85 when an English woman (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter (Juliet Mills) conscript a lanky cattleman (James Stewart) to try and get their hornless British bull to mate with the longhorns of Texas, but they have to deal with venal thugs (Jack Elam), a curmudgeon ranch mogul (Brian Keith) and the harshness of nature itself.The film meshes drama with lighthearted amusement in the manner of a screwball Disney family comedy, "fun" brawls reminiscent of John Wayne Westerns of that era, dead-serious sequences and romance.
I didn't feel this inconsistent tone marred the movie; after all, doesn't real life include all of these things?
Furthermore, the indoor sets substituting for outdoors are obvious and smack of old-fashioned movies & TV Western fare of the time period.About a third of the way in there's an exceptional stampede sequence that includes a heart-stopping on-set accident involving the wagon carrying Martha (O'Hara) and Hilary (Mills) ahead of the stampede.
In the same sequence a young man is forced to try to run UP the canyon wall in stark terror as the charging cattle threaten.THE FILM RUNS 97 minutes and was shot in Jamestown, Mecca, Coachella Valley, Mojave Desert and Universal Studios, California.
The movie has all the ingredients of a good western, cowboys, cattle, scenery, outsiders, bad guys, dreams, adventures, swindles, romance.
At the heart of the movie is a romance between Stewart and Maureen O'Hara as a British widow bringing a new breed of cattle to the West.
The heart of the problem is that it is hard to root for Jimmy Stewart's character--and you can't say THAT very often.
Maureen O'Hara's character drives the movie when she shows up, but she was a little hard to empathize with, too.
Fiesty Brit Maureen O'Hara and daughter Juliet Mills bring a royal bull for breeding to Old West America, where both ladies wind up with suitors.
The screenplay by Ric Hardman keeps all the characters spouting off and hopping mad, turning the movie into a western parody (culminating in a laughable blizzard sequence which McLaglen stages on a set--with the results looking far worse than the typical blue-screen effect).
O'Hara juggles the affections of both James Stewart (completely rote) and Brian Keith (hamming with abandon as a wild-eyed Scotsman).
Not only a good story but the acting was terrific in this western where a woman, played by Maureen O'Hara, comes to America with her daughter.
It was the introduction of Hereford cattle into the American West that was her husband's dream.
They enlisted help from Sam, played by James Stewart, who struggles to bring a bull to breed in Texas.
I don't think Jimmy Stewart really did himself any favours and we all know he was capable of so much more, but it wasn't his part that I found so painful but Brian Keith as Bowen the supposed Scotsman.
I enjoyed the movie "The Rare Breed" despite the fact that it was a tad silly at times.
I don't think that it was an attempt to make an extremely powerful, gut wrenching story, but rather some great actors doing a film that mixed some serious moments with a lot of fun.
Instead of knocking Mr. Stewart for doing this movie I would just as soon sit back and have a good time watching this "modern" western.
Great Western, lots of scenery.
Anything Jimmy Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, and Jack Elam is in, you can count on being a great movie.
It was a great movie, many interesting twists..
Without James Stewart, this flabby, far-too-long cattle yarn would be unwatchable.
Stewart made a few of these 'modern' westerns for Universal in the mid 60's ("Shenandoah" springs to mind) and they are consistently shallow and unrealistic.
Two English beauties, Martha and her daughter Hilary, travel out to the American West in 1884 to sell their prize hornless bull.
The film wants to be a comedy action movie, but fails in both departments.
Stewart plays Burnett, and manages to inject a bit of human interest into even this poorly-drawn character who has to utter some dreadful lines.
Martha is played by Maureen O'Hara.
The scenes in the Bowen ranch yard and the blizzard sequence are very obviously filmed in a studio.
The Rare Breed I saw this movie in the theatre when it came out in 1966 (I was 12 years old).
The closest I came to liking westerns was Cat Ballou, which may succeed more as a comic western than The Rare Breed does.
Still I liked, and still like, any-thing with James Stewart.
I think, however, that The Rare Breed succeeds as a romance.
In 1966 I might have seen the romance as `mushy stuff.' Although James Stewart did Westerns (`Classic' and `Modern') as well as Fantasy (It's A Wonderful Life) and biography (Charles Lindbergh, Glenn Miller) I think of him as a comic actor (The Philadelphia Story; Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation; Take Her, She's Mine).
For this reason, I have to view The Rare Breed as a Comedy as much as a Western.I can see the phoniness of the fist fights now and I might have seen them in 1966 as well.
McLaglen takes an original story by western writer Ric Hardman and set out to mix history with southwestern lore.
A young girl and her mother (Juliet Mills and Maureen O'Hara), travel from England to Texas with their prize Hereford Bull to Crossbreed a new species.
Along the way they meet Sam Burnett (James Stewart) who plans to deceive them.
The Bull is suppose to go to Alexander Bowen (Brian Keith) who has other plans.
The movie is set in the old west and there is plenty of spacious open range for all things western.
Such things as horses, Cowboys, fistfights, rough-an-tumble mayhem, free-for-all, wild gun play, rugged frontier life and free-range Long-horn Cattle.
A fifty year old Jimmy Stewart wrestling cattle?
James Stewart has solidified himself as one of the best actors in the history of film.
An overly long epic about cattle breeding is not what greats like Stewart should be used for.
Stewart finding a lost calf is a good moment, but that's solely his doing.
I love Maureen Ohara and I thought she did an excellent job as the mother in the movie.
I loved the Romance, and Drama in the movie.
Great movie for anyone to see even if you are a Maureen Ohara fan or not.
They should make more movies just as good as The Rare Breed to my opinion.
This is not a good movie.
Is and a man telling two women that are a mother and daughter and there cow is not good because it is a bull with no horns.
And the women that telling him that the cow is wonderful because it is a bull with no horns.
See a good western like A fist full of dollars..
McLaglen, who understood the John Ford mystique, "The Rare Breed" is a Western of consummate integrity which misses fire by not coming down firmly as either drama or comedy; it does however pass the time amiably enough
Stewart again plays a cynical, hard-bitten man who has become disillusioned with human nature
But his insight and understanding are well transmitted
The title refers to a certain breed of cattle, and not to men, rare, courageous, or other-wise
O'Hara is an Englishwoman who comes to America with her daughter, Juliet Mills, bringing a prize Hereford bull named Vindicator
Her husband has died on the way, and she is delivering the bull to a cattle baron (Brian Keith) in Dodge City
Her late husband has always declared that the Hereford could be successfully interbred with the indigenous American Longhorns
Originally Stewart had planned to kidnap the bull and hand it over to a rival dealer, but he falls under the spell of O'Hara's womanly integrity, and becomes her ally
Soon a triangle is set up between Stewart, O'Hara and Keith, with predictable results
The dramatic elements are not totally neglected in the film
The rivalry between the ranchers, the poignant situation of the young lovers, O'Hara's attempts to set right to the surroundings that she, a new widow, finds extraneous, are all set forth skillfully by McLaglen's directorial hand.
But, considering that it starred Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara, I really expected so much more!
In fact, if it hadn't been for the stars, I would have given the film a 4.Jimmy Stewart is a man who has been hired by Maureen and her daughter to help transport her prize stud bull out west to sell.
Oddly, Ms. O'Hara seems pretty willing to let Brian Keith (in a very broad portrayal) and later, Stewart to woo her. |
tt0120714 | The Interview | Dave Skylark is the host of the talk show Skylark Tonight, where he interviews celebrities about personal topics and gossip. After Skylark and his crew celebrate their 1,000th episode, the show's producer Aaron Rapaport is upset by a producer peer who criticized the show as not being a real news program. A while later Rapaport reveals his concern and urge for change, to which Skylark agrees. Skylark discovers that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a fan of Skylark Tonight, prompting Rapaport to arrange an interview. Rapaport travels to a place outside Dandong, China to receive instructions from Sook-yin Park, the North Korean chief propagandist, and Rapaport accepts the task of interviewing Kim, on behalf of Skylark.
The next day, CIA Agent Lacey shows up at Skylark and Rapaport's place, proposing that the duo assassinate Kim using a transdermal strip that will expose Kim to ricin via handshake; they reluctantly agree. Skylark carries the ricin strip hidden inside a pack of gum. Upon their arrival in the presidential palace in Pyongyang, they are introduced to security officers Koh and Yu; Koh discovers the strip and chews it, believing it to be gum. That night, Lacey airdrops them two more strips from an UAV, but in order to smuggle it back to their room, Rapaport has to evade a Siberian tiger and then hide the container in his rectum. Later, Kim shows up and introduces himself to Skylark.
Skylark spends the day with Kim by playing basketball, hanging out and partying. Kim persuades Skylark that he is misunderstood as a cruel dictator and as a failed administrator, and they become friends. At dinner, Koh has a seizure due to the ricin poisoning and accidentally kills Yu before dying. The next morning, Skylark feels guilty and discards one of the ricin strips, then thwarts Rapaport's attempt to poison Kim with the second strip. After another dinner mourning the death of Kim's bodyguards, Skylark witnesses Kim's malicious side as he threatens war with South Korea. Skylark leaves and after taking a walk, he discovered that a nearby grocery store is merely a façade. He realizes that Kim has been lying to him.
At the same time, during attempted sexual intercourse with Rapaport, who still has the ricin strip in his hand, Sook-yin reveals that she despises Kim and apologizes for defending the regime. Skylark, Rapaport, and Sook-yin form a plan to break Kim's cult of personality by causing him to cry on air. As they arm themselves for the event, Rapaport and Sook-yin have sex. Before the broadcast starts, Kim presents Skylark with a puppy to keep.
During the internationally televised interview with Kim, Skylark addresses increasingly sensitive topics and challenges Kim's need for his father's approval. Meanwhile, Sook-yin and Rapaport seize control of the broadcasting center and fend off guards trying to halt the broadcast. Despite his initial resistance, Kim eventually cries uncontrollably and soils himself after Skylark sings "Firework" by Katy Perry (having learned of Kim's fondness of Perry earlier), ruining his reputation. Feeling betrayed, Kim shoots Skylark and leaves, but Skylark reveals he has survived due to wearing a bulletproof vest. Skylark, Rapaport, and Sook-yin regroup with the puppy in tow and escape the presidential palace with the unexpected help of a guard. The trio hijack Kim's Soviet tank (which had been given to Kim Il-sung by Joseph Stalin and then passed down to Kim) to get to their pickup point. Kim boards a helicopter, and his army pursues the group. He prepares nuclear missiles, but before he can issue the command to launch, Skylark fires a shell from the tank and destroys Kim's helicopter, killing him as well as everyone on board. With the immediate threat over, Sook guides Skylark and Rapaport to an escape route, and they are rescued by three SEAL Team Six members disguised as Korean People's Army troops and are loaded onto a rescue craft. Back in the U.S., Skylark writes a book about his experience, and North Korea moves toward becoming a denuclearized democracy with Sook-yin as interim leader. | suspenseful, psychological, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0076425 | Murder in Peyton Place | Stella Chernak (Stella Stevens) arrives at the Peyton Tower Hotel in Peyton Place after an absence of numerous years. She has returned to destroy the small town, and is able to use her power through Jay Kamens (Norman Burton), the president of the Peyton Mills and her trustee. Another former citizen returning to Peyton Place is Betty Anderson (Janet Margolin). Although she is now married to David Roerick (Edward Bell), she agreed to a secret meeting with her ex-husband Rodney Harrington near Peyton Place. Her friend Denise Haley (Charlotte Stewart) offers her a roof, despite her husband Stan Haley's (Jonathan Goldsmith) objections about her presence.
Another resident dissatisfied with Betty's arrival is Constance MacKenzie (Dorothy Malone), who fears that Betty will interfere with Rodney's relationship with her daughter Allison MacKenzie. Betty sneaks out of the Haley house at night to meet with Rodney somewhere near Peyton Place, but witnesses the Winnebago crashing and exploding in which Rodney and Allison are driving. The town is in deep sorrow when it is revealed that Rodney and Allison have died. Rodney's brother Norman Harrington (Christopher Connelly), now married to Jill (Joyce Jillson), refuses to accept that Rodney and Allison have died because of drunk driving, which the police have concluded after finding alcohol in the RV.
Along with Betty and lawyer Steven Cord (David Hedison), Norman starts an investigation to find out what really happened on the night when Rodney and Allison died. He is unaware that Jill's family is somehow involved with the origins of the car accident, and her father Bo Buehler (Royal Dano) even witnessed the car crash. The research endangers both Steven and Betty's marriage; Steven's wife Carla (Linda Gray) suspects that he is somehow involved with Betty after he was out all night, and Betty's husband David does not understand why she is staying in Peyton Place. Betty's marriage is saved; Steven and Carla's fate together remains uncertain. Norman, Betty and Steven eventually conclude that the powerful company New Star Corporation is trying to take over Peyton Place by sabotaging the town's water supply.
In the hospital, Constance and her husband Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor) are brought in to identify the bodies. Elliot claims that the girl on the table is not Allison, after which doctor Tommy Crimpton (James Booth) is held responsible and gets fired by Ellen Considine (Marj Dusay). Ellen is the secretary and lover of doctor Michael Rossi (Ed Nelson), who has come to town to hide a dark secret from the past involving her teenage son Andy (Christopher S. Nelson). Andy feels attracted to Jill's younger sister Bonnie (Kimberly Beck), who in her turn is blackmailed by lovestruck teen Billie Kaiserman (David Kyle) due to her affair with Stan.
Meanwhile, Norman hires a musician named Springer (Kaz Garas) to find out who is the head of New Star Corporation. Springer breaks in its office, and while going through documents, he finds out that Stella is the boss of New Star Corporation, and that two days before their death, Rodney and Allison went through the same documents. Springer tries to warn Norman about this, but he is shot by Stella's servant Tristan (Robert Deman) before he can. Hereafter, Stella allows Elliot's request for an inquest, because she is certain that some of the medical examiners hired by her will give the court a false death cause. The examiners were able to interfere due to Crimpton blackmailing Ellen with the information that Andy has spent three years in a hospital for the criminally insane for arsoning. Stella was not aware, though, that Dr. Rossi examined the bodies himself and found out that Rodney and Allison were shot to death. Afterwards, Steven orders a warrant for Stella.
Stella is, along with Crimpton and other accomplices, in the Peyton Tower Hotel, where they are keeping Jill as a hostage. Norman receives a threat note to sabotage the inquest if he wants to see his wife ever again. Instead, he and Michael set out to the Peyton Tower Hotel, where they try to stop Stella. It results in a major fight, during which Stella falls to her death from the balcony. | flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0095626 | Messenger of Death | Children play outside a rural Colorado home. They belong to Orville Beecham (Charles Dierkop) and his three wives. Two masked men pull up in a truck and wait for the children to go inside. They proceed to kill the three mothers, who are sister wives, and then the kids. The police arrive before the father, Orville, who returns to find his family massacred.
Arriving on the scene with the chief of police, Barney Doyle (Daniel Benzali) is a Denver newspaper reporter, Garret Smith (Charles Bronson). They were having lunch with a wealthy local businessman, Homer Foxx (Laurence Luckinbill), to discuss how to get Barney elected Denver mayor when Barney was called about the murders.
Garret does a news story on the massacre. Orville is in a local jail, there "for his own protection." Orville is reluctant to talk to Garret but does reveal that his father, Willis Beecham (Jeff Corey), may have been involved. Willis lives in a compound with his followers. He is an excommunicated fundamentalist Mormon who practices polygamy, as do his son and followers. Willis is the sect's prophet.
Willis tells the reporter that he believes that it was his brother, Zenas Beecham (John Ireland), who killed Orville's family. Willis and Zenas are alienated from each other by a doctrinal dispute.
Garret, aided by a local editor named Jastra Watson (Trish Van Devere), begins to investigate if Zenas could be behind the killings. Zenas lives in a different Colorado county on a large farm that happens to sit on an artesian lake that a large corporation, The Colorado Water Company, has wanted for years. Zenas tells the reporter that Orville probably killed the family of his own son because Willis preaches blood atonement. The symbol of both brothers is an avenging angel, which is alleged to be an early Mormon symbol with a doctrinal counterpart reflecting the idea of blood atonement.
As soon as Orville is released from jail, he returns to his father's compound and plots to attack Zenas in retaliation. Garret tries to warn Zenas, but it's too late. Armed men back each man and they open fire. Garret gets them to agree to a cease fire, but a third-party shoots Zenas (not one of the followers) and the shooting begins again. Zenas and Willis both are killed.
Garret realizes what is happening -- The Colorado Water Company is behind everything. The company has hired an assassin (John Solari) and a junior partner (Gene Davis) to murder Orville's family, counting on the feud between the brothers to eliminate the rest.
Garret is approached by the junior assassin to make a deal, but the senior assassin kills his partner. It turns out the person who hired the assassin is Foxx, the businessman trying to get the police chief elected mayor.
The assassin shows up at a fundraising party for Doyle thrown by Foxx, where he attempts to kill Garret. The reporter gains the upper hand and gets the assassin to reveal that it was Foxx who was responsible for all of the murders. Foxx steals the chief's gun and kills himself. | good versus evil, revenge, suspenseful, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | "Messenger of Death" however, is an exception.Here the legendary action-hero is surrounded by the likes of Jeff Corey, Daniel Benzali, John Ireland, Charles Dierkop (Police Woman) and given likeable female support from Trish Van Devere.
The story itself is just average, but certainly not as ludicrous as the paper-thin material in movies like "Assassination" and "Death Wish 4" and "5" and you know where I'm going.British veteran director J.
Lee-Thompson (Cape Fear, The Guns of Navarone) did an impressive nine movies with Bronson, and "Messenger of Death" was their 8th teaming.
The movie then delivers a lot of beautiful scenery, a smashing action-scene with some trucks and a likeable finale where the guilty party is unmasked.Compared to most Bronson-fare at the time this is better-than-average, much thanks to the afore mentioned good supporting cast.
But don't expect mindless vigilante action, Bronson plays a reporter but he still gets to kick some ass, and he does a nice job considering he was in his late sixties at the time..
This bit of content represents the promising beginning of a compelling and highly suspenseful albeit flawed thriller starring the almighty Charles Bronson in an unconventional (at least, for him) role.
The remote Colorado filming locations, as well as the largely unfamiliar traditions of Mormon families, add up to the ominous atmosphere but still director J.
"Messenger of Death" is an interesting film, to say the least, and it deserves a bit more appreciation from Bronson fanatics as well as fans of suspense films in general..
Exciting Charles Bronson/J.Lee Thompson movie with noisy action , suspense , car pursuits and violence.
Tough 'Denver Tribune' crime reporter Garret Smith (Bronson , he was about sixty-six years of age when he appeared here) persuades him to help him in the case of the slaying of his family .
As there is an extreme feud between different Mormon sects , one being led by Willis Beecham (Jeff Corey) and the other led by his brother Zenas Beecham (John Ireland) .
The meaning and relevance of this movie's title is that it refers to a drawing featuring an avenging angel of death that is left at a crime scene at the beginning of the flick .
The title also suggests that Bronson is a 'Messenger of Death', the word messenger also being a play on words with this, as his character is a reporter , a job which involves writing news articles , they being "messages" in a sense .
In the film there is frantic action , thrilling car/trucks pursuits , shootouts , intrigue , little bit of violence and including a twisted as well as suspenseful finale .
This is one of the last films (last movie was Kinjite) Charles Bronson made for Cannon Films and it represents the ninth and final of ten teamings between producer Pancho Kohner and star actor Bronson .
And the elders of this movie's religious groups are played by three stars of old Western movies : Charles Dierkop , Jeff Corey and John Ireland .
This movie represented the eighth and penultimate of nine teaming of director 'J Lee Thompson' with star actor Charles Bronson .
This Thompson movie was theatrically released between his pictures Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1986) and Kinjite (1989) , both of them starred by Bronson .
J. Lee Thomson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Caboblanco , Evil that men do, Messenger of death, Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives).
An action movie of a different kind for Charles Bronson....
Lee Thompson used Charles Bronson more than any other actor in his eighties movies (Ten to Midnight, Cabo Blanco, Death Wish 4, Murphys Law) and this was his second to last outing with Bronson (the last being Kinjite:Forbidden Subjects).
Charles Bronson plays Garrett Smith, a reporter who is very curious as to why a family of Mormons (women and children) were all shot to death in a rural farmhouse.
For those who prefer the 'Paul Kersey/Death Wish' Charles Bronson, you might wanna look elsewhere for a movie, this is a Bronson action character of a different type.
He seems to be a very laidback individual and he doesn't really possess that knack of persistently annoying people like most reporters do, but Bronson as usual makes the character work.
Blood and Water Don't Mix. Charles Bronson plays investigative reporter Garret Smith for the Denver Tribune in this motion picture about a blood feud between two brothers, of different Mormon sects.
The feud between brothers Willis, Jeff Corey, and Zenas, John Ireland, Beecham is instigated when Willis' son's Orville's, Charles Dierkop, family is massacred.
Charles Bronson is still believable, at age 67, as the tough reporter that gets to the bottom of the story with his fists as well as his typewriter to uncover the truth about Orville's family being murdered.
Basically, Charles Bronson is an investigative reporter who investigates the slaying of a man's family, originally under the impression that the slaying was due to religious differences.
He unconvincingly plays a Denver reporter covering a case of a Mormon family living in the Colorado mountains who had nine members massacred, including five children.
J. Lee Thompson directs (as usual) and manages to serve up some pretty scenery along with a good cast including John Ireland and Jeff Corey, but this is rather weak tea.
Messenger of Death gives us a fast-paced and very efficient directed action movie (Thompson cuts the crap and always is completely to the point) with Bronson in quite a different sort of role (as a matter of fact, he kills nobody in the movie even acts as peace-keeper in some way) playing a journalist from Denver.
If your looking for lots of action, look elsewhere, however if your looking for a very good thriller, look no further as the film provides plenty of thrills and suspense!, plus the finale was great and very suspenseful.
I wasn't expecting much from this film, because a lot of people consider it to be one of Bronson's worst, however i enjoyed it very much and i highly recommend it!.
l'd watched this movie in December 1996 for first time on television,in that time l'd rated 5/10 but now on full length DVD with original audio it's seem much better...Cannon made a lot of movies during the 80' action movies and J L Thompson was really good director of this kind of movies...Messenger of Death has Charles Bronson as newspaper's reporter an unusual role to "Stone Face",the plot is totally improbable but is around two Mormons families whom are in clash after women and children massacre,but Bronson suspicious that the real reason is an Water Company.
Charles Bronson stars as Garret Smith, a crime reporter for the Denver Tribune.
But the ending is rather weak, wrapping up too quickly and producing little satisfaction.Bronsons' supporting cast is pretty damn good: Trish Van Devere, Laurence Luckinbill, Daniel Benzali, Charles Dierkop, Corey, Ireland, Gene Davis (Bronsons' nemesis in "10 to Midnight"), Jon Cedar, Tom Everett, Kimberly Beck, William Phipps.
Charles Bronson plays a Denver Tribune crime reporter named Garret Smith who is investigating the circumstances of a massacre in the isolated Mormon community between two feuding brothers, both of whom deny responsibility, though blame the other.
Smith then becomes determined to find out who, even at risk to his own life.Surprisingly different role for Charles Bronson(he does not play the title character!) and he is quite good in it too, clearly enjoying doing something different.
Messenger of Death opens with a pair of assassins murdering nine members of a Mormon family, all of them wives and children of Charles Dierkop.
This piques the interest of Charles Bronson who is an investigative reporter for the Denver Tribune.
A Mormon blood feud might not be the reason for the massacre, the motive shall we say might be more commercial.Bronson's a reporter who carries a licensed weapon.
John Ireland and Jeff Corey pay a pair of feuding Mormon brothers, these two have some real hate for each other, they make some of those Appalachin mountain people feuds like the Oxford debating society.Bronson has two leading ladies with naught a hint of romance with either, in Denver Marilyn Hassett in the boonies, fellow newspaperperson Trish Van Devere.
He and Van Devere nearly get themselves killed by some tractor trailers in a nicely staged car chase.Look for good performances from Daniel Benzali as the ambitious Denver Police Chief and Laurence Luckinbill as the big mover and shaker in Denver politics.It's a good film with a peek into a world few of the rest of us ever get to see..
Revenge of the 80's: The Cannon films of Charles Bronson..
Messenger of Death (1988) was a huge disappointment for a Cannon film starring Charles Bronson.
After making some very violent, sleazy and exploitive fare for Cannon, this movie was a big let down for fans of his eighties films.
Too bad because this film could have been a much better than what it turned out to be.Charles Bronson had a good run during the early to mid eighties.
There's a decent cast Bronson, van Devere, Benzali, Ireland, Corey and an intriguing setting, but the plot is fatally anaemic and the direction, considering it comes from an old trooper like Thompson, is surprisingly shoddy.
For instance, Orville Beecham (Charles Dierkop), a clean-living Mormon farmer, is crazy for revenge after mysterious intruders murder his wives and children and yet is full of forgiveness after the rest of his family is wiped out in a gunfight.The film opens well, with an atmospheric prologue in which two mysterious gunmen massacre the wives and children, although why the gunmen's identities are concealed is something of a mystery as they disappear for the next thirty minutes and are immediately confirmed as the killers when they re-appear.
Charles Bronson plays a Denver reporter who gets involved with the warring Mormon clans who go to war over the killings, and he's pretty bad here.
Lee Thompson manages a couple of effective scenes, and there is a good sequence in which two water tankers attempt to crush Bronson's vehicle on a winding country road, but for the most part his direction is flat and uninspired and the story simply fails to engage.Bottom line: give this one a miss..
An '80's Golan-Globus/Cannon Charles Bronson Action Flick.
Especially when one of the factions believes that by killing some of their congregation they are helping them to find enlightenment in the afterlife.This is where Bronson as hardened reporter Garret Smith comes into the story.
In fact, there are quite a few good actors in this flick including, Laurence Luckinbill, Daniel Benzali, Jeff Corey, and John Ireland.
Even though "Messenger of Death" didn't get much of a theatrical release back in the 80's (nor did it deserve one), I know a lot of folks have seen this Bronson flick on TV and on video.
The movie's story had a lot of potential to be something different and interesting, with elements of mysterious religious cultism, political intrigue, and action.
For something completely different in a Charles Bronson movie, I recommend "Messenge of Death".
Gone is a lot of mindless action, being replaced by an intriguing story line involving Mormons, greed, and a "who done it?" Having a good supporting cast, including Daniel Benzali (pre chrome dome), Laurence Luckinbill, and Trish Van Devere helps.
Seems someone in Bronson's circle of rich and influential friends instigated a Mormon feud by slaughtering a family including children.
As Bronson pieces together a conspiracy to acquire water rights from the Mormons, the movie holds interest.
Messenger of Death (1988) ** (out of 4) After three women and several children of a Mormon family are brutally murdered, reporter Garret Smith (Charles Bronson) begins to investigate and it seems the possible suspect might be between two rival members of that family.
As the reporter gets deeper into his investigation his own life comes into jeopardy.MESSENGER OF DEATH is that Bronson movie where he kills nobody.
If you ask die-hard Bronson fans what their least favorite Cannon film is more than likely they're going to name this if they've even seen it.
MESSENGER OF DEATH doesn't completely work but it's still a mildly entertaining mystery that at least gives us a chance to see Bronson in a different type of role.J. Lee Thompson does a pretty good job in his directing duties and especially during the opening sequence where a mystery man enters a house and murders several people.
The mystery aspect could have been played up a lot better but too often the film falls back to a formula action picture where we see Bronson whooping up on people.
MESSENGER OF DEATH isn't your typical Bronson movie but it's certainly not the worst of his career..
After a massacre was committed on a family of Mormons, newspaper reporter Garret Smith decides to dig a little deeper into the story, to only find out that there might just be more to it then just two feuding brothers.Another IMDb reviewer mentioned "Messenger of Death" is somewhat a change of pace for Bronson compared with his other efforts within this period, and definitely they got that right.
'Avenging Angels' or as it is known as elsewhere ' Messenger of Death' is a modestly entertaining Charles Bronson film which goes to show that the over the hill legend still has what it takes, The superbly photographed eerie opening see's Wifes and children of the Mormon household become victims of a massacre.
Bronson is Journalist Smith who is out to investigate the gruesome case and and finds out about economic motives behind the murders.
Bronsan warns the brother moments before a shootout begins and during the fire fight learns this piece of land has billions of gallons of water under it , that guess what some nearby water company has been dying to get their hands on , even with all the pieces he can't stop both brothers from killing one another .Afterwards , the tanker truck returns with its friends , and demolishes the vehicle Bronson Is leaving in.
Bronson intervenes when the two feuding families begin to exchange shots but both Corey and Ireland are offed -- not by their opposing clans but by outside snipers on a distant hill.
So someone is trying to start a feud between Corey's clan and Ireland's clan in hopes that, with the land passing into other hands, the Colorado Water Company can buy it up.But who's behind it all?
Bronson, through his newspaper, knows some of Denver's elite, including the owners of the Water Company.
And there are the owners of Colorado Water, the husband who gave the company to his wife as a Christmas present, and the pretty wife who seems to know nothing about managing the company.The film is more of a mystery than an action movie, and that's rather refreshing in itself.
I always find myself wondering why the driver of the car doesn't just stop his vehicle and let the two trucks keep going.If you or I were to make a "Charles Bronson Movie", we might do it exactly the way that Golan/Globus did.
It doesn't matter if, like Charles Dierkop, the patriarch of the slaughtered family, you can hardly act at all.
A well renowned newspaper reporter, Garret Smith(Charles Bronson),for the Denver Tribune, writes an article on the slaughter of a Mormon family, soon investigating it.
He discovers that the massacred family's patriarch, Orville Beecham(Charles Dierkop) is feuding with his brother, Zenas(John Ireland) over a religious separation, a change in doctrine which divided them to the point of hatred.
Smith believes someone else hired an assassin to kill the family(which included seven children)and it could be over artesian water rights Zenas wouldn't sell to the Colorado Water Company because it was farm land going back generations.
MESSENGER OF DEATH is a bit different than the usual Bronson fare for Cannon Group, his Garret Smith more of a peacemaker trying to keep two families from annihilating each other, almost successful until the hit-man returns to sniper shoot one of the Beechams instigating a shootout which leaves very little men left.
There's a hairy, suspenseful near-death sequence for Smith and Van Devere's Jastra Watson when two huge Colorado Water Company trucks attempt to crash them.
As she does once again, Van Devere's warm, pleasant presence adds quality to the film as does the old timers like Ireland and Jeff Corey(as Willis Beecham, leader of his family's village, moving his men to act against Zenas who he believes killed Orville's family).
As a fan of Charles Bronson it pains me to have witnessed the disaster that is "Messenger Of Death," a "movie" so insipid and poorly-made that all existing prints should be destroyed for the good of mankind.The movie seems to have been shot in seven days, with turgid acting, embarrassing direction, and a laughable script.
Journalist Smith persuades him to help him in the investigation - and finds out about the economic motives for the murder......Coming from Cannon pictures, and being released between two of Bronsons greatest films of the eighties, I was expecting some silly action film that would make me laugh for all,the wrong reasons, but blimey, this is something else.It's basically Bronson playing a nosey reporter who gets involved in other people's business and spends the majority of the film in a long warm coat.To say its his most annoying performance is an understatement, there are time when you really start to root for the bad guys, because Bronson just turns up every now and again with that smug look on his face, and you know he's going to go a snooping again.Now, I'm quite aware that's a journalists job, but he really takes it up to 11 at times.But there are a couple of pluses. |
tt1734067 | Atrocious | Cristian Quintanilla (Cristian Valencia) and his sister July (Clara Moraleda) have a web-show of paranormal investigations covering urban legends. When they are invited to spend the Easter holidays at the family's summer home, they intend to investigate the story of Melinda, a girl that went missing in 1940 and supposedly haunts the woods. Cristian and July spend a great deal of time wandering around the hedge maze there with their video cameras. Their father reveals that their mother once knew the maze quite well in her youth.
Upon finding a well in the maze, Cristian leans into it and calls Melinda's name. July chastises him for being disrespectful. The morning after, their dog goes missing and Cristian and July eventually find him dead at the bottom of the well. That night, the mother enters their room, screaming that their younger brother José has gone missing. When she and the two children head for the maze to search for him, they are separated. Eventually, Cristian finds July, tied to the pillars of a small gazebo, bleeding profusely. He leads her back to the house, where they find José's burnt body in the fireplace. Hearing noises outside, July hides in a kitchen cupboard, while Cristian goes to the front door. An axe blade bursts through the door and Cristian runs upstairs to hide.
The next morning, Cristian goes downstairs to find the kitchen cupboard empty and drenched in blood. Down in the basement he finds an old video recorder playing. It is a tape of his mother being interviewed in a mental institution by her doctors. They mention that schizophrenic episodes in adolescent women have a tendency to reoccur, and that night can bring them on. It is established that Cristian and July once had a baby sister named Michelle and that their mother had a psychotic break as the result of postpartum depression and killed her. The mother blames the episodes on a woman named Elvira, about whom the doctors question her.
As Cristian watches this tape, his mother comes up behind him and slaughters him with an axe. Five days later, the police find the bodies of the Quintanilla family and recover the video footage shot by Cristian and July. | violence, dark, cruelty, murder, sadist | train | wikipedia | However the kids who are curious types are forbidden from their father from going in there.Being a huge fan of hand camera horrors I was eager to discover this little gem.
I have seen various ones such as Noroi, rec, etc, i am a veteran in this vein so take it from me it's good!The thing I liked the most about it was it was very realistic feeling and very intense and creepy and at one point when they're in the woods I checked how much time was left on the movie cause i was anticipating a scare in one scene and I rarely do that with movies unless they're scaryBottom line is, if you like hand camera horrors, realistic scenes and tense feelings with goose bumps watch this now and enjoy it!
People on IMDb tend to rate hand camera horrors really low for some reason but I think most people that review and hate on them don't actually like that "genre" To create a great environment for this type of movie: turn the lights out, watch on a big screen, and by yourself its only 70 minutes who cares if you're alone.
The film has a very promising premise for any horror fan - a story with paranormal elements, a small cast and filmed with a hand-held camera (think of the suspense!).
This immediately sets the expectations high - I was expecting a Spanish Blair Witch Project or perhaps a successful spin-off of Rec.In reality, the friends I went to the movies with got nauseous because of the constant shaking of the camera and I did not flinch once.
It must be said, though, that Atrocious does a good job of misleading the viewer - something I rather enjoyed, but some others might find disappointing.The biggest flaw, however, was that the movie got lost in itself.
The producers were clearly so caught up with the whole amateur-footage-spooky-places-run-and-scream theme that it engulfed the whole movie, making everything else that happened inbetween seem like one long filler.
And then combined with the completely unexpected ending, Atrocious might just leave you feeling a little indifferent about the whole thing - and nauseous, if you're like one of my friends.Overall, it's a decent little horror flick, but nothing that would keep you up at night..
I found that this movie spend the majority of the time running around aimlessly in the woods breathing overly heavily with absolutely nothing happening.
At times I felt chills at the back of my neck and that paranoid feeling I get when I'm scared watching a movie and then quickly that would fade away to boredom and annoyance due to a scene that was ridiculously long.To the movies credit, if they cut those horribly boring long scenes this would have been a great movie.
I loved the creepy maze, creepy house, creepy basement, creepy ghost stories and Etc. There was so much amazing about this movie but when you add overly long scenes of someone annoyingly breathing super close into a mic and a camera shaking and running so much you cant even see what's going on it absolutely kills anything good and creepy about the movie.Zombiesteak.com - Discover a new world of horror films, designed just for you..
The "hand-held" technique has brought some good movies (such as REC, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity and Chronicle), some mediocre ones (such as The Last Exorcism, The Devil Inside, Apollo 18 and Paranormal Activity 3) and some bad ones (such as REC², Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night, Grave Encounters and Paranormal Entity), but none of them was as poor and tedious as Atrocious.
This means that, from now on, things can only get better whenever I watch another "hand-held" movie in the future.
Or that's what I would like to believe as a pathetic consolation after having wasted my time and my money in this piece of junk.There's very few material in Atrocious in order to sustain a whole film, so screenwriter Fernando Barreda Luna (who was also the director) makes us to spend uncountable minutes walking through the woods in a useless attempt to create suspense or impulse the narrative to a more interesting direction...we will never find.
Speaking about not understanding, the "horror" moments are so badly filmed that I could never notice what terrified the characters so much.And then, we have a twist in the end from Atrocious, which pretends to surprise us, even though I found it so arbitrary and gratuitous that it doesn't satisfy, and it looks like an obligatory goop to bring some posthumous sense to the story.
Unfortunately, Atrocious doesn't belong to that group, and I can't recommend it, because I found it a deplorable film in which the only suspense came from hoping the movie not to extend itself too much..
The film starts off pretty much like The Blair Witch Project introducing us to ordinary people who are documenting their research on figuring out an old legend but soon get attacked by an unknown force or being and things turn from normal to terrifying.
This film is uber creepy with an fantastic atmospheric setting that will send chills to your bones and intense suspense that will have you grabbing you seat as well as believable performances from the likable leads that makes the whole ordeal that more effective and downright disturbing.
It was scary but doesn't have a lot of nonstop jolts like the Paranormal Activity series but the intensity is their and the fear of the unknown and the big reveal at the end was clever and shocking and gave it an even more sinister tone that will get under your skin but still expected something bigger and different but liked the direction it took which was a different change of pace.
Overall I wouldn't say it's with the top dogs of the found footage genre but I liked it a little bit more than the very disappointing Paranormal Activity 3 and I liked the direction it took more and this one was just more unsettling and better executed and a more disturbing story.
But the characters is just running around with a shaky camera, so if you have problem with dizziness don't watch this movie.
One night, their brother José vanishes and something evil happens with the family."Atrocious" is another garbage made with hand-held camera.
I usually don't write reviews but I wanted to warn anyone that may be planning to watch this movie.A 5 in this type of movies is not that bad, so I decided to watch it, knowing it wasn't going to be great, but I was in for some cheap thrills.Truth is, this movie is terrible.
It's hard (if not impossible) to know what's going on, at some point I thought this movie was going to give me a seizure.Conclusion: be warned, don't waste your time, this movie isn't worth 5 minutes of your time even if someone pays you to watch it..
Two teenagers on vacation with their younger brother and parents bring cameras to their summer house in Spain in the hopes of catching some paranormal footage.
One of the things I liked about this movie is that unlike a lot of other found footage entries nowadays, it didn't leave everything ambiguous at the end.
I've enjoyed a lot of the open ended ones, but it's nice to have some variety.Spain has given the world quite a bounty of well made horror films, and this one is no exception..
However, after their dog goes missing one day, things soon start taking a horrible turn for the worse.Atrocious is a POV "documentary" style of film and while we all know that's not an original style anymore, the film is still very good.
Making a labyrinth the subject matter for the myth of Melinda was good because they can be creepy enough through the day if you get lost, but to be lost in one at night (especially the one shown in the movie) and knowing of a myth surrounding the labyrinth is downright terrifying.The night scenes are obviously where the movie escalates, and they ARE scary.
Even when he's supposedly safe in the house at times after, there is still that unsettled feeling of "what's going to happen?" The movie may be considered a wee bit slow for about the first 30 minutes or so, but I didn't feel that it was.
For me it was all a good build up to the inevitable scarier scenes and climax of the movie.The actors are all very believable in their parts, and do a really good job in making it seem like a real documentary of events.
The end scene of the movie is a nice touch to make it that wee bit more convincing too (obviously can't say anything else it will give it away).If you enjoy watching movies of this style then there's a good chance you'll enjoy Atrocious.
First half of the movie is brilliant, you really get to know the intense story and start to fear of what to come and you get to really know the people in the movie, and when the horror finally begins..omg I was so scared!
The crisis point is the remaining 35 minutes of running around with the camera from an unknown assailant while screaming.No real scares, no real excitement, nothing but Atrocious..
Hello all first i would like to explain you why is this movie looks so real ,couse there is no fake ghosts like in paranormal activity,It has the same atmosphere like the blair witch project nothing happens till the end and that is reality.Similar movie is as above so below nothing till the end and that is masterpiece storyline.So this movie is one of the best made with pov camera along blair witch.And once again the point is waiting and waiting and than boom not just jumping from the seat all of the time and slashing the people in film.the point is story not gore.At least my recommendation is Asian horror movies with pov cams lot more scarier and realistic than US movies..
I am willing to let a lot of things go when I watch a movie, but this just bothers me every time.Secondly, it seems that the writers and director were unsure as to what to do with the plot.
There not much I can say about this, I did not like it at all.Yes, this yet another Found footage horror movie but this time it's of Spain.The story is focuses on the case of a brother and sister who investigate a local urban myth , while on holiday, resulting in strange occurrences at the family's summer house.
The most of the movies is about walking few Maze and nothing happens at all, there were no suspense or atmosphere in any of the movie.The acting is movie, Well you guessed it, It was really bad and what makes worse, you can stand, one single character in this movieBy the end, I was not really paying too much attention to movie as I just wanted the movie to end, there was a plot twist at the end, Which I didn't really understand at all.With all bad stuff out the way, there maybe just one good I can say this movie, That some of scene in the very dark cellar, can be a little creepy.BeCause of that One scene, I am going to Give this movie 2 out of 10.
OK, when you are running you won't ever have a steady shot, but in the beginning of the movie one would expect at least a bit more of a steady hand.
It has a lot of flaws, but the ending does make up for it, and I have seen worse Found Footage movies (like Paranormal Activity).
While watching Atrocious, my expectations were low - probably because I have been desensitised by the slew of found footage horror movies that have cropped up in the last 10 years starting with the Blair Witch project and culminating with the Paranormal Activity trilogy.
I am certainly a fan of the genre - Rec 1 & 2 (Spanish version) are two of the best examples of this type of film.Rest assured however that even though this film is quite slow most of the way through with unpacking the story and the camera work is extremely shaky the overall experience is entirely worthwhile - it will make you feel suitably foolish (as I did) for having made assumptions about what kind of a movie you were watching.Good things come to those who wait, and I am eager to see more from a genuinely smart horror auteur like Mr. Luna..
Atrocious (2010) *** (out of 4) This Spanish entry in the "found footage" genre has a brother and sister going to their summer house with their parents and younger brother.
These found footage films, in my opinion, delivers some of the greatest scares in regards to horror movies and this one I found to be quite effective.
ATROCIOUS isn't the best the genre has to offers as there are a few plot points that I'd question but there's still no doubt that the film was very effective and very scary at times.
ATROCIOUS is a good, creepy film that manages to use atmosphere and suspense over gore, which is always a good thing..
The film had very good potential to be a solid scare, however the distributor decided to wrap this movie into a Paranormal Activity type hype.
However, there's several things that undermine this, not the least of which is the found-footage angle this employs, which means that a lot of the scenes captured never really should have because trying to hold a video camera up to capture them during such moments is quite ludicrous, unless it happens to them you can't see anything so a lot of time is spent running from something we can't see and thus nothing happens, and then the final reel is so insanely stupid it knocks a lot off the film right off the bat.
I should not even have to say it, but I feel like not saying it would be letting them off the hook for their derivative story.However, unlike the Blair Witch, there is pretty much no way anyone would believe this was really a pair of kids with cameras.
(I don't think I included any spoilers, but just in case I marked it as such.)I love horror movies, and have a particular weakness for found footage or hand-held camera shot movies.
For a good deal of the movie, especially towards the end, you cant see a damn thing, as the screen almost if not entirely black.
Now I gave them some credit for taking the realism thing as far as humanly possible, but it ended up ruining the movie.
At first I didn't really know if I should even watch it, since we have seen so many found footage movies already, and he only got 4.8 points here.
This sudden introduction of a new character, the crazy axe killer, feels completely artificial, like he had some footage left from another movie and needed a few more minutes of film, so he used what he had lying around ^^You also get the feeling he had no idea how to end the movie,and suddenly they started shooting and he had to come up with something in a hurry.
I mean the introduction of that crazy chick at the end could have been a good idea, if the film would have been at least 20 minutes longer, so he has time to really tell her story, but like this ?
It starts with a slow pace and with a supernatural theme but it has a very nice twist in the end.Being a fan of this type of movies myself, I was satisfied with the final result.
It has chase scenes of running and panting that lasts up to five minutes (not kidding, and all of this is filmed form a hand-held camera.) The movie engulf itself in this whole "handheld camera" idea that it swallows the whole movie.
Most scenes you wont know what's happening because it seems like the cameraman is having a some sort of spastic seizure which makes it impossible for him to hold the camera so you can get a glimpse of what's going on.
Because it feels like this movie is begging to be "different" but fails at doing so.Do not watch this film..
This is a film you can watch probably once and never again, which is disappointing; equally disappointing is how the killer isn't developed at all (and barely even has any screen time, nor are they referred to in any way to develop them) until literally the last minute, when it's really too late to build up anything.As some have suggested, it would have worked far better at half its running time, since there's just far too much padding that adds pretty much nothing to the story.
The only other Spanish films that I've seen of this type are "Rec" and "Rec2" which I rate quite highly, and it's good to see that "Atrocious" keeps up with these titles.
Where to start..As far as a "lost footage" film goes, this isn't much different then others in the genre.
The big problem I had with the movie was part of the lost footage, there's almost a three minute segment where it's nothing but camera juggling while Christian (one of the two main characters) was getting chased through the labyrinth almost to the point of motion sickness if you watch to closely.
It is a "shaky camera" film style,so if you don't like those types of movies don't watch it.
I don't mind the "shaky camera" style and thought the use of a labyrinth in a horror movie was something you don't see too often.
There is also a dead dog in the movie and was pretty real looking just a warning for people who are sensitive to that type of thing. |
tt0072709 | Black Moon | A young girl, Juanita, finds her parents killed in a voodoo ritual on a distant tropical island. She escapes with her life, but when she reaches adulthood, she feels compelled to return to the island, bringing her daughter and nanny with her. Once there, she goes to stay with her uncle who lives on the island. She soon discovers that the natives, who had been using her for voodoo rituals when she was a child, now treat her as a voodoo goddess. In this role, she begins leading their rituals.
Any attempt to fight Juanita's influence or to remove her from her position is met with violent force. One person is found dead in a lava pit, while another is found hung. At one point, Juanita is so overcome by the voodoo curse that she offers her daughter up for sacrifice. Juanita's businessman husband, Stephen, follows her to the island and attempts to travel into the jungle to rescue her, but finds her taking part in a sacrifice of an innocent woman. Although he shoots the high priest of the tribe, Juanita completes the sacrifice herself.
Their high priest injured, the natives now plan to murder all of the white people on the island. Stephen takes his daughter and two others into the fortified section of a plantation house. The natives succeed in capturing Stephen and his secretary, Gail, but they are eventually rescued. In the end, Stephen shoots and kills Juanita just as she is about to sacrifice her own daughter. | pornographic, allegory, violence, alternate reality, absurd, psychedelic | train | wikipedia | In the mid-70s when this film was made there was - in the real world - a 'battle of the sexes' with militant feminism in full swing (if not an actual 'war', there was a lot of bruised feelings and anger in the air - witness works of fiction like 'Who needs men?' and 'The Woman's Room'); the student riots of the late 1960s were a fresh memory, as were images of Vietnam (and for British viewers, the latest IRA atrocities).
Black Moon may not 'make sense', but it's more understandable as a dream, from beginning to end (forget the idea that any of it is meant to be set 'in the near future'), by a pubescent girl, subconsciously worried by the apparent war between the sexes and disturbed by her budding sexuality (note the juxtaposition of the idealised vision of heterosexual love, presented by music from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde first heard on the car radio, quickly followed by the shocking images of war).As mentioned elsewhere, this is beautifully filmed, and IMHO captures beautifully the quality of dreams where one event follows another in a 'stream of consciousness' manner (yet with certain obsessive themes), and the dreamer does everything as if it were the most rational thing to do (as one does in a dream).
Such events occurred in this film contains a talking unicorn, a teenager breast feeding an old woman (and later a unicorn?) and a naked children, frocking around the meadow as if nothing were watching them.
And I have never seen it on cable tv (Sundance, IFC, you listening?).A neo-surrealistic fantasy, it was promoted in newspaper ads in Germany as The Movie Where Animals Talk to People!Weird and wonderful from beginning to end, IMHO.
Louis Malle's surrealist experimental film "Black Moon" could very well fit into this category of the directors' own interpretation of the novel giving it their own "free form"!
Set against a post-apocalyptic backdrop of a "war between the sexes", this film simply chronicles the weird happenings as experienced (or imagined?) by a teenage girl, Lily (Cathryn Harrison) who has narrowly escaped being killed by men seemingly out to wipe out the entire women populace!
The house is dwelled in by a cantankerous, bed ridden old lady (Therese Giehse) with a weird fetish, who talks to animals, especially a big rat-like creature "Humphrey" in some language that's gibberish, and every once in a while speaks on a radio kept by her bed.
The most bizarre of all though, is the presence of about half a dozen naked children running around playing with a gigantic pig; they keep interrupting Lily's path every time she chases a not-so-graceful Unicorn that seems to be a regular visitor around the property
..Everything sounds very interesting for film lovers who love their films rife with surreal dreamscapes but frankly it doesn't go much beyond this.
The film surely holds our interest for most of its modest running time of about 95 minutes thanks to the splendid camera-work by the genius cinematographer Sven Nykvist and the rather awe-inspiring sound design.
Malle even tries to infuse some allegorical allusions to the Indian epic Ramayana (a particular episode involving "Jatayu", the demi-god possessing the form of a vulture, who tries to save Sita from Raavana's clutches!) but it doesn't necessarily create a huge impact in the overall proceedings.This is an English language film and Cathryn Harrison, portraying Lily clearly speaks in English.
Weird movie by Louis Malle, Which was filmed at Malle's own Manor, with Joe Dallesandro acting in his first (and only), non speaking role, Playing the brother of a twin sister.
The film starts off with a girl, played by Cathryn Harrisson (Actor Rex Harrison's granddaughter, who was only 16), driving in her car in the dark and runs over some kind of beaver or something, later on down the road she encounters a road-block, put up by men with army suits and gas masks.
In order to write a review that might add something useful to the many already written, I will try to point out some elements that could affect your enjoyment of this movie thereby helping you decide if you want to spend the time watching it, to wit:First off, it's not sci-fi.
On the other hand, this muddled romp through Louis Malle's rather...er..."peculiar" mind has all of the charm of a full-for-5-days, fish offal bin, on a hot August afternoon.The reviews that allude to this film being allegorical and/or composed of a parable(s) and/or containing deep "messages" regarding war, social inequity, animal rights, etc., etc., ad nauseum must have Malle rolling on the floor, laughing hysterically.
The point is that there is no point to this movie and it is likely deliberate!So, if you like watching films that are well-produced, well-photographed, artless euro- bourgeois, jumbled stream-of-consciousness, incoherent, pseudo-socially mindful, plot- free, products of Louis Malle's contemporary (to 1975) musings and possible masturbatory fantasies, then "Black Moon" is for you!
Cathryn Harrison (who co-starred in Robert Altman's Images a few years prior) plays a young woman named Lily who is trying to escape from an apocalyptic war zone (it seems that the battle of the sexes has come to its culmination, and men and women are slaughtering each other willy-nilly).
It leads her to an out-of-the-way mansion in the middle of nowhere, and it's populated by a dying old woman, her twin grandchildren (an androgynous set of male-female twins, both named Lily, just as the heroine) and an unspecific number of always-nude children who run around the farm driving various sheep and swine.
I have to confess though that the piano scene threatened to send me under again.Finally, I couldn't say that I liked this movie, but at the same time I couldn't say I particularly disliked it either (I would have slept thru the whole thing if I did).
for instance i would say the scene in the end with the two children singing while the girl was playing piano was trying to evoke the same feelings u would get from looking at a picture from the Renaisance era.Hell if u had everyone in the shot freeze and told an artist to paint what he saw with the exact lighting and etc it would look like a Renaisance painting.
It probably has something to do with coming of age, but the "something" it has to "do" with is so blurry that it's just not worth the bother of bringing it into focus.The film does have one redeeming feature: it makes you feel like going out and doing something useful in the world to make up for the 100 minutes you totally wasted watching it.
I had missed out on this on French TV a few years ago – the film is so obscure that I had never even heard of it back then!; eventually, I caught up with it while in Hollywood on bootleg DVD-R in an English-dubbed version (as was this current edition, albeit a slightly out-of-synch one!).Best described as a plot less apocalyptic surreal fantasy on "Alice In Wonderland" lines, it actually precedes Claude Chabrol's own superior modernized take on the children's classic (ALICE, OR THE LAST ESCAPADE [1977]).
The leading lady of BLACK MOON is a beguiling Cathryn Harrison, granddaughter of Rex; also in the cast are Alexandra Stewart and Joe Dalessandro as incestuous siblings (neither of whom ever utter a single word, though he likes to express himself in baritone!).The film's war-torn landscape is undercut by a plethora of entomological detail, beginning with a raccoon getting crushed under the heroine's car's wheels and ending with a snake slithering up her skirt!; there is also a giant rodent – with which the eccentric old lady of the central setting, a dilapidated country-house, frequently engages in gibberish conversation (for whatever reason, she also keeps a control center by her bedside!) – and a squat talking brown unicorn, which seems to particularly intrigue Harrison!!The elderly woman – who died before the picture was released (in fact, it is dedicated to her memory) – occasionally takes the semblance of death even here and, when she comes to again, finds herself craving milk: Stewart and, eventually, Harrison oblige her in this regard – the film, then, ends on a shot of the heroine about to feed the afore-mentioned horse in the very same manner!
Harrison, too, seems fond of milk – which she repeatedly drinks out of a very tall glass set at table, always with a pig nonchalantly looking on!; besides, a brood of wild naked children are continually seen chasing a hog all over the place.In the end, the film proves too obscure and personal for complete success and, yet, it is certainly not to be ignored by way of its intrinsic strangeness and undeniably haunting quality..
Louis Malle had just made "Lacombe Lucien" before,and it's not hard to find out that's it's he -not Lily- who escapes from the cruel world where man wages war.At the beginning of the movie Malle warns us:"forget your logic,brace yourself for a world close to your dreams."He 'd better have said "for your nightmares"Lily plays some kind of little red riding hood,that brings an old lady his breast by way of butter pot and galette.She found a bad-tempered unicorn (always the fairy tales!) and twins (Alexandra Stewart & Joe Dalessandro) always dumb ,who seem to be the old lady's offspring.The dreamlike genre is one of the most difficult to handle:Malle's movie is partial success.The main problem is that we know nothing about Lily,about her life ,her frustrations.When Bergman uses dreamlike scenes like in "wild strawberries",we see the connection between the hero and what he dreams about.Here,the connection escapes us,that's why,after a while,we don't care that much about Lily's fate.The ending disappoints,it should open a new gate,or another crack in Alice's mirror (Carroll's influence abounds,remember the crying flowers),and it seems that Lily is now part of the furniture..
The second time made more sense (or as much sense as it can make!) and the allegory worked for me.I've never delved into Malle's films, and this was probably not the best place to start, but the Alice in Wonderland connection intrigued me and I was not disappointed..
I'm glad to report that this very rare picture by the great French master Louis Malle is finally available on DVD, with the Italian title "Luna Nera", in a splendid digital remastered copy, without any artifacts and with a crystal clear, sharp image that looks exactly like the original print I saw at the cinema, exactly 30 years ago.
Instead of this, it just gradually builds up a huge disregard for a movie that presented itself with an excellent openingOf course one can indulge self in seeking the true meaning of a given scene, hidden messages or themes running throughout the film.
Or maybe even that also the elderly woman is the same person as the girl and that woman, because the repeated breastfeeding symbolizes a never ending cycle of life, happening even in the time of war blah-blah-blah how much more boring can this movie get?
Was the often running around of the girl also to mean something, or was it only put in the film to wake up the audience falling asleep?Aside from a great black and white movie poster, this picture presents us with an extraordinary performance by the leading actress Cathryn Harrison, who must have been of only 15 or 16 years of age at the time of the shooting.
The free-flowing narrative of "Black Moon" is hard to describe,but basically it's the story of a teenager(Cathryn Harrison)who witnesses a war between the sexes and finds herself involved in numerous dream-like situations at a country estate.She meets strange family,naked children and various animals including unicorn.Obviously inspired by "Alice in the Wonderland" and Robert Altman's "Images" "Black Moon" is truly bizarre and unforgettable.Here is what Louis Malle said about this peculiar fantasy piece:"I don't know how to describe "Black Moon" because it's a strange melange-if you want,it's a mythological fairy-tale taking place in the near future.There are several themes;one is the ultimate civil war...the war between men and women.I say the 'ultimate civil war,'because through the 1970s we'd been watching all this fighting between people of different religions and races and political beliefs.And this was,of course,the climax and great moment of women's liberation.So we follow a young girl,in this civil war;she's trying to escape and in the middle of the woods she finds a house which seems to be abandoned.When she enters the house,she obviously enters another world;she's in the presence of an old lady in bed,who speaks a strange language and converses with a huge rat on her bedside table.She goes from discovery to discovery-it's a sort of initiation.".
You might consider this an apocalyptic version of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"..."Why did Lily throw clocks out the window?" Well, to see time fly, of course...Writer-director Louis Malle is behind "Black Moon".
Stay tuned for the answer to this question and a surprise bonus...*** Black Moon (9/24/75) Louis Malle ~ Cathryn Harrison, Therese Giehse, Joe Dallesandro, Alexandra Stewart.
But on the other hand, at least other movies of this type are typically slices of real life, whereas this one is just a bunch of weird things, like a dream as mentioned elsewhere.
Louis Malle (who, at this point in time, had been directing films for 20 years) gave me no indication with Black Moon (a seriously misguided and mistitled fantasy picture) that he was a professional filmmaker who had a firm command of his craft.Black Moon was inexplicable rubbish that tried so hard to be bizarre and weird, but only succeeded in being an utter bore of foolish nonsense.I swear that Malle and his movie-crew were making this one's story (what there was of one) up as they bulldozed their way along.Besides the totally idiotic lesbian, breast-feeding sequences, this stupid picture also hinted that the children who were dancing around on the property in the nude were, in fact, being used as someone's sex toys.I found this movie to be totally sickening.
Designed as a Deep, Disturbing, Coming of Age Allegory, this is a Bizarre, Enchanting Film but is at Times Very Unsettling and Nightmarish.Animals, Including a Unicorn, Speak.
At the beginning of "Black Moon" we see a young woman (Cathryn Harrison) trying to negotiate a war-torn countryside in a car.
It feels like a variation on "Alice in Wonderland" as designed by Salvador Dali.In my best interpretation of this film, it is a dream of the girl's.
The war between the men & women seemed like just an excuse to drive the young girl to the house where the animals talked, the people sang, and the kids ran around naked.
Or getting to view a rarely-seen cinematic conundrum also created by Louis Malle.That would be "Black Moon," made in 1975 and featuring Joe Dallesandro and Cathryn Harrison, grand-daughter of Rex Harrison, and a gaggle of naked children running wild with a large white pig.
And a manor house where something is always cooking.Without a doubt, Malle's "Black Moon" is one strange and beautiful movie concoction.
Along with Giehse, who stars as the crazy old lady of the manor house ( surrounded by sheep, goats, pigs and the naked feral children ), Dallesandro and Alexandra Stewart as Brother and Sister Lilly round out the credited cast.The photography for "Black Moon" is sumptuous.
At this point, the cranky old lady has disappeared, the unicorn has reappeared for about the fourth time, and Lilly closes the window and retreats into the on-going hallucination of this manor house.And then, the film freeze-frames on an image of her beautiful face and penetrating eyes, and then simply fades away.
Though there are some fleeting suggestions of sexual awakening, they're just impressions added to the mix, not real components of the plot, and not the key to the hidden meaning of the story.The main characters are always interesting to watch: Lily fair and slim and intent on discovering what's going on and flushed by the effort, the son and daughter (Joe Dallesandro and Alexandra Stewart) all cheekbones and enigmatic looks and practically no words spoken, the old woman (Therese Giehse) alternately plaintive, furious, comatose, malicious, welcoming, and bizarre--she talks to a rat, and he talks back.
Louis Malle made some bizarre films, but "Black Moon" takes the cake.
A gorgeous young blonde (Cathryn Harrison), who is fleeing from a war that has broken out between men and women, arrives at a country mansion where naked children run with sheep, a unicorn patrols the grounds, Joe Dallesandro maintains the garden, a bed-ridden old woman communicates with partisans via two-way radio, and the same old woman routinely feeds from the breasts of Joe Dallesandro's sister.
But that doesn't explain the sheep; the turkeys; the huge talking rat; the short, shaggy, talking unicorn; the war; the WWII radio; the mother, brother, and sister's relationship; Lily's actions from beginning to end; the costumed houseguests; the black eagle; eating the ant infested cheese; nursing granny; etc, etc, etc...I suspect the movie may be full of symbolism and hidden references but all I saw was one long surreal visual nightmare (with surprisingly very little dialog).
There are animals doing strange stuff, there is a rather absurd i.e. overly symbolic war between men and women (carrying whatever left-wing meaning it probably carries), and there is an old woman that seems to have a taste for fresh human milk.
Did I mention that Joe's name is also Lily?Where else but in a 70s European "art film" will you see a 75 year-old hag suck on the nipples of a young woman (her own daughter)?
The long scenes in the bedroom of the ugly old lady bored me to distraction.The hordes of naked children did give a bizarre aspect: but this is a film where nothing really seems to happen. |
tt0064861 | Que la bête meure | A high-powered car races through the French countryside. A young woman is in the passenger seat. It enters a small village at high speed. It hits Charles Thénier's nine-year-old son, returning from the beach, and drives on without stopping. Charles vows to have his revenge, keeping a journal of his thoughts.
The police investigation is fruitless. Charles thinks the guilty party may run a garage, since there is no record of a car going in for repairs. By chance, while pursuing this hunch, he discovers that actress Hélène Lanson was the passenger in a car that was damaged on the day of his son's death. Adopting a pseudonym, he seduces her and discovers that the driver was her brother-in-law Paul Decourt. He arranges a trip with Hélène to visit her sister's family in Brittany.
Charles discovers that Paul is detestable, cruel to his wife and hated by his teenage son Philippe. He has conflicting thoughts as to whether or not he will kill Paul. He rescues him from a cliff-fall. Philippe confides to Charles his own desire to kill his father.
Hélène confesses that she once slept with Paul. Charles presses her to explain more of her anxiety about Paul, but she refuses to add anything.
Charles decides to kill Paul in a staged boating accident and buys a yacht for that purpose. However, while at sea, Paul pulls a gun on him and reveals that he has read Charles' journal and passed it to his solicitor to take to the police should something happen to him.
Charles appears to abandon his plan to murder Paul and drives away with Hélène. In a roadside cafe a television announcer reports Paul's death from poisoning and appeals for Charles and Hélène to return, which they do. Charles argues to the police that it would be foolhardy for him to kill Paul when he knew the journal would reach them. They contend that Charles has planned to use this argument to deflect their suspicions and arrest him. However, Philippe enters and confesses to the murder.
Back at their hotel, Charles is weary and promises to tell Hélène the entire story the next day. She wakes to find his note explaining that Philippe has confessed falsely to the crime Charles himself committed. He tells her to share his confession with the police and that he will punish himself and never be seen again. He is seen sailing oceanward. | revenge, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0068935 | Meng long guo jiang | In Rome, Chen Ching-hua and her uncle Wang experience trouble with their restaurant from a mob boss who wants their property. When Chen refuses to sell, the mob boss sends gangsters to scare away customers. Appealing to an uncle in Hong Kong, Chen receives help in the form of Tang Lung, a martial artist. Disappointed, Chen asks how he can help her, but Tang confidently assures her that he is capable. At the restaurant, Tang learns that the staff have begun to learn karate, much to the annoyance of Quen, an employee who favors Chinese martial arts. Tang tells Quen that he should be open-minded and incorporate any moves that work. Before Tang can demonstrate his style to them, customers arrive, and the staff change clothes.
Before long, gangsters appear at the restaurant and chase off the customers while Tang is in the bathroom. Angered by Tang's poor timing, the staff question his skill and the usefulness of his style. Later, the gangsters return to harass more customers. Before the staff can engage the gangsters, Wang asks all involved to take their fighting outside. The staff engage the thugs, only to be beaten. However, Tang single-handedly defeats the thugs, and the staff abandon their training to study under him. Wang warns them that the gangsters will now seek revenge and that this victory could make the situation worse. Tang vows to protect the restaurant. Chen and Tang grow closer, and she takes him on a tour of Rome, though Tang is unimpressed.
Ho, the mafia boss's consigliere, returns with armed thugs and takes the restaurant staff hostage while they wait for Chen and Tang to return. Ho gives Tang a ticket back to Hong Kong; when his men escort Tang outside, Tang quickly disarms and overpowers them. When reinforcements from the restaurant arrive to subdue him, he defeats them using a pair of nunchaku. Tang warns Ho not to return, and the thugs leave the restaurant. The staff celebrate their victory, though Wang again urges them to focus more on business than fighting. Meanwhile, the mafia boss threatens to send an assassin to kill Tang unless he leaves by Chinese New Year, and Wang urges Chen to convince Tang to leave.
When Tang refuses to abandon the restaurant, the assassin targets him from a nearby rooftop. On edge from nearby fireworks, Chen and Tang survive the attempt, and Tang races off to confront the assassin, whom he tricks into wasting his ammunition. When he returns to the apartment, he finds Chen gone. Assuming that Ho has kidnapped her, Tang arrives at the mafia boss' headquarters and leads the restaurant staff in a battle, which they win. Tang issues a final warning to the mafia boss, which Ho translates. The staff again celebrate, but a telegram for Tang cuts this short when they learn that he has been summoned back to Hong Kong. Tang assures them that he will not leave without seeing the situation resolved.
Ho hires two martial artists to challenge Tang, Japanese and American karate practitioners who initially refuse to work together. When the mafia boss indicates that money is no issue, Ho also recruits the American's sensei, a world-class martial artist named Colt. Ho leads the restaurant staff to an isolated spot under the pretense of a truce, where the two hired martial artists attack them, and Ho lures Tang away to fight Colt at the Colosseum. After they defeat the martial artists, Wang betrays and kills two of the staff, as he wants to sell the restaurant to the mafia boss and return to Hong Kong.
In a brutal fight, Tang injures and then disables Colt. When Colt refuses an offer of mercy, Tang kills him. The mob boss arrives at the original location as Tang and Ho return, and the boss kills both Ho and Wang. The police arrive and arrest him as he attempts to also kill Tang. As Tang leaves for Hong Kong, Quen tells Chen that Tang is a loner who will never settle down. | violence | train | wikipedia | The Cantonese title Maang5 Lung5 Gwo3 Gong1 (Dir. Bruce Lee; 1972) is aesthetically fully controlled by the leading actor Bruce Lee (1940-73) himself, and it's the largest box office hit in Hong Kong among all Bruce Lee action martial arts films.Although his actually completed Hong Kong films of 1970s are only four films such as The Big Boss (1971); Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973).
In fact, they did not play any actual Kung Fu fight out there, that was dealt by studio shooting separately.The opening sequence typically shows new genre style and Bruce Lee's comical acting taste while Tang Lung waiting for the arrival of Chen Ching-hua at the airport.
It something attracts audiences psychologically.Besides this, Bruce Lee's role Tang Lung intends to avoid killing anyone during all fight scenes in this film.
The fight scenes are unbelievable, and it is already widely regarded that the final Colloseum battle between Tang Long (Bruce Lee) and Colt (Chuck Norris) is the best fighting sequence ever filmed for a movie.Do yourself a favor by watching the original Way of the Dragon with all it's original fighting noises intact.
The former (hugely influenced by Oriental martial discipline himself) gave him a hero who is narcissistic (check the opening shot), whole; whose physical prowess is ironically the result of mental superiority, an almost Zen laid-backness; concealing the coiled, taut, muscle-burst of Lee's beautiful body.Kung Fu is primarily an art of self-defense, and this film returns to these roots: its conception of protecting the oppressed rings throughout the film (in the seemingly gratuitous picture-postcard scenes, Lee makes the connection between European colonial splendour, and the poverty and repression of Hong Kong).
This is ironic, since it is the proof of Lee's martial art power that makes the initially sceptical heroine (very stylish and lovely) fall for his charms (and who can blame her?).Lee's second master is Sergio Leone, from whom he has learnt an irreverent approach to genre, with jokey zooms, close-ups and cuts; mocking, yet mournful and melancholic Morricone-esque music; a ritual stand-off between mythical archetypes (an awesome set-piece in the Colosseum), with the film's heart belonging to the slightly silly, but loveable, subsidiary characters.The use of these iconoclastic directors adds a reflective and critical dimension to a genre previously (in its most populist form) a showcase for male vanity (although Lee never lets us forget how gorgeous and sweetly small and cuddly he is).
Much like the Big Boss the first Bruce fight scene is way into the film but in my opinion this good because it creates a good build up, the nunchuka scene is second only to the one in Fist Of Fury or the uncut Game Of Death.
There may have been better fights since on screen and I havn't seen many Hong Kong films with Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen etc but this is the first great one on one fight, therefore it set the standard.There will indeed never be another Bruce Lee. I find it fascinating to imagine what Bruce would have done if he had lived, the 80's and 90's would have been very different if Arnie, Stallone, Wiilis, Seagal and Van Damme had Bruce to compete with, Bruce is sometimes critcised for being a bad actor, but i disagree, if anyone has seen his episodes of `Longstreet' or `Marlowe' they will see that Bruce could convincingly carry a dramatic scene given the right script and no dubbing and he oozed charisma, and he showed glimpses of good acting in Enter The Dragon.Being a Bruce fan i kind of wish that Jet Li would do the films that bruce did or was planning on doing, Jet's early work in Honk Kong like the Shaolin Temple or more recent stuff like Fist Of Legend(remake of Fist Of Fury) and Once Upon A Time In China was very promising and it seemed he was the successor to Bruce but instead now he's doing crap in Hollywood with DMX and Jason Statham.
(where it was released as a sequel to "Enter the Dragon"), "Meng Long Guojiang" was Lee's first film as a director, and like his following two final films, a movie where he was able to express not only his physical abilities, but also the philosophy he developed to achieve them.In "Way of the Dragon", Bruce Lee plays Tang Lung, a young man from Hong Kong who is sent to Rome by his uncle in order to help a family friend, "Uncle" Wang (Chung-Hsin Huang).
With Tang Lung's help, the Restaurant's waiters manage to defend themselves from the gangsters, but the Mafia Boss is completely decided to get the Restaurant, so he hires a group of Martial Arts experts, including the famous Colt (Chuck Norris) to eliminate Tang Lung.After proving he was a bankable star, Bruce Lee finally got the opportunity of not only writing, but also directing his own film.
While the plot is very straight forward, and a bit typical, Lee uses it effectively to showcase his own ideals and philosophies as martial artist, delivering finally an action film with some depth beyond watching the character overcome the enemies.Borrowing heavily from Spaghetti Westerns (even some score by Morricone is used), Lee creates a magnificent epic set on the beautiful locations of Rome, where his lonely hero Tang Lung arrives as a modern day cowboy to right some wrongs.
"Meng Long Guojiang is definitely the basics for what Lee conceived as a Martial Arts film, and many of what he developed for this movie would become of great influence for future directors of the genre.Due to his character in "Enter the Dragon", most people remember Bruce Lee's acting as a serious, dark personification of the perfect martial arts warrior, however, "Meng Long Guojiang" is a chance to discover a way different side of Lee's persona, as he allows himself to be as funny and human as skilled in Kung-Fu.
Martial arts expert Bruce Lee fights off mobsters and world champion Chuck Norris.
A man named Tang Lung (Bruce Lee choreographed his own fight scenes) arrives in Rome to visit his relatives , he help his cousins (Nora Miao who along with Lee played ¨Fists of Fury¨) in the restaurant business .
The American martial artist Colt (Chuck Norris film debut) is also hired and takes place a deadly ending combat .This violent Chop-Socky displays action-packed , thrills , fast-paced and wild fighting images .
And that's what where mainly in this film for the martial arts action and Bruce Lee himself.I like his character Tang Lung whom is supposed to be kind of an outsider as he's from the country which makes him somewhat easy to emphasize with as he's a guy that does his thing and is doing his best to understand the world around him.
Even like the use of the darts which look like really sharp pencils, it's true they probably wouldn't be very effective in real life but from Bruce's performance and how well executed the sequences are it's fun to think they could work and having an alternate weapon other than the conventional gun.And the fight with three actual champion martial artists two of them Robert Wall and Ink Sik Whang.
But of course, in this fight it is the one on one battle between both Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris that is most memorable and is one of my favorite one on one battles ever, it's a truly legendary battle in martial arts movie history because here we're seeing two martial arts action stars going against each other.
Moreover, apart from the brilliant physical performances, there are more emotional performances, especially at the end of the final fight scene between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris..
Many of who've also starred in the "Enter the Dragon".Very classic Hong Kong movie starring Bruce Lee. It has innocence of the old days, and is a good film to watch..
Instead, just sit back and revel in the athletic prowess of the god that is Bruce Lee, who delivers scene after scene of iconic fight action, culminating in his legendary showdown in the Colosseum against hirsute Karate champ Chuck Norris.Lee stars as Tang Lung, a kung fu expert sent to Rome to help defend his relatives against gangsters who aim to get their hands on the family's restaurant.
When Lung sends the bully boys packing, effeminate thug Ho (Ping-Ao Wei) enlists the help of several martial artists, including formidable US fighter Colt (Norris), to help even the score.Watch the uncut version of the film and be amazed as Bruce uses two sets of nunchakus to decimate his foes, delivers punches and kicks so fast that to blink is to miss them, and unleashes his fury against Chuck in a fight to the death that, to this day, remains one of kung fu cinema's most impressive battles.
In addition to all of this skull-cracking and bone breaking, Bruce gets accosted by a busty brunette (but runs a mile when she gets her kit off), teaches his style of fighting to the restaurant's staff (who had been learning useless Karate up until then), and gets acquainted with oriental cutie Chen (the rather gorgeous Nora Miao).A classic of the genre that no self-respecting fan of fight films should miss, Way of the Dragon once again proves that Bruce Lee, above all others, is, and probably always will be, THE coolest martial arts star of all time.8.5 out of 10, rounded up to 9 for IMDb..
Way Of The Dragon though has crossover appeal for everyone and I'm fairly sure that anyone who is a fan of the action genre cannot sit and watch without feeling a sense of excitement when Lee takes on Norris in the finale.
100% Bruce Lee. In an age where CGI effects and wires can make the most impossible move possible and can turn your average Hollywood actor into a fighting machine, I feel great relief when I watch a movie like "Way Of The Dragon".
Bruce Lee's amazing skill is what made this movie so good, no wires, no need for fast forward photography, just pure skill.Way Of The Dragon casts Lee as a simple man from the outskirts of Hong Kong who is sent to Rome to help some relatives fight of members of the mob.
Not the strongest of premises but then again this is a Bruce Lee movie (even more so then the rest since it is also his debut as a director) so chances are you're not watching it for the plot but for the action scenes.
In this case, said relatives own a successful Chinese restaurant in Rome, Italy, and are constantly being harassed by a powerful gangster and his legion of disposable henchmen - Tang's frequent encounters with them eventually leading to one of the greatest Nunchaku showdowns I've ever seen in a martial arts movie.Tang Lung annihilates most of the bad guys sent in his direction, many times leaving them beaten and bruised.
Most of them are played for laughs to begin with, so that makes their beatings even funnier (though you really shouldn't laugh at the pain of others, even if they are villains).When Tang proves to be too big a problem (in fact, WAY bigger than they expected him to be), the gangster boss uses his contacts to hire an American martial artist, Colt (Lee's most skilled opponent in the film and world karate champion Chuck Norris, in his breakthrough film role), to deal with him.
The action then escalates into the film's brutal, take-no-prisoners climatic showdown between the two combatants at the Roman Coliseum, in what is widely said to be one of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed.With its goofy humor, horrendous dubbing and comic book bad guys not withstanding, "Return of the Dragon" is actually one heck of a good movie.
This is a brilliant film, just for watching Bruce Lee's fight scenes.
However, I do not watch Bruce Lee films for the storyline and acting etc, I watch them because he was the best martial artist ever, there is no-one that can come close to fighting as good as Bruce Lee, he is the original.If you want to see a martial arts film, with no special effects to make the actor look better, for example, like in Jet Li's films and The Matrix, then I recommend this film highly, all the fighting is authentic.
The plot is rather silly, but it does exactly what Bruce's fans expect it to do--set up some of the most fantastic fight sequences ever put to film.Perhaps the thing that sets Bruce's movies apart from the myriad of action hacks that followed him is not his unparalleled kung fu choreography but rather his powerful screen presence.
There are even flashes of what will become Jeet Kune Do in his climactic fight with Chuck Norris.Speaking of which, if you want to find simply the greatest martial arts sequence ever put to film, look no further.
The original title was Way of the Dragon, but after the tremendous success of Enter The Dragon (1973), the title was renamed "Return of the Dragon." Lee is a country boy going to Italy help a family friend whose Chinese restaurant is being bullied by local gangsters.The movie is nothing short of brilliant and it has several themes to it, and yes I'll explain everyone of them.Bruce Lee in all his films managed to maintain a family element in his films.
To see Bruce go into his routine and execute his moves to perfection is inspiring.Especially the fight with Chuck Norris, before fights him he goes into a mind boggling array of stretch exercises that were soon copied by bogus Bruce Lee imitators including Chuck Norris.Without giving too much away, the film is jam-packed with flying fists, kicks and humor.In one scene for example, an Italian thug tries to use Bruce Lee's nunchucks against him and ends up hurting himself!!!The movie is a great buy for any action fan, and if you're a Bruce Lee fan, you should have this in you're collection.More info about the movie:On Amazon.com, the movie has gotten great feedback from it's viewers, including Leonard Maltin.Chuck Norris was a student of Bruce Lee's martial arts school along with James Coburn, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and others.Raymond Chow produced this film but it was Lee who wrote ,directed and starred in it.Raymond Chow has executively produced other great martial arts films like "Police Story" by Jackie Chan and the Bruce Lee movies "Fists of Fury" , "Chinese Connection" and "Enter the Dragon.".
I've only seen the dubbed version, but the guy who voices Bruce has a cool voice.Bruce Lee plays a relative who comes to Rome to help out his uncle, who owns a Chinese restaurant and also has a dojo to train people for martial arts.
This film is an action-packed martial arts extravagganza, guaranteed to make any die-hard fan of Bruce Lee OR Chuck Norris drool, with their eyes glued to their television sets.
I am not a huge fan of the genre, so I only give the movie a 7--though it IS one of Bruce Lee's best films (the only one better being ENTER THE DRAGON--which has nothing to do with this film, despite the title).
Seriously one of the best martial arts kung fu films of all time mostly because of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.
Nora Miao as Chen Ching Hua was excellent as Bruce Lee's cousin I like her, she was better than most of the actresses today.The movie is about a martial arts expert who visits his relatives at their restaurant in Italy and has to help them defend against brutal gangsters harassing them.The music score is excellent.
And the fight Bruce Lee vs Chuck Norris, creates a martial arts classic that will go down in history..
Now, you won't go to a Bruce Lee movie expecting the best dialogue ever or a plot full of nuances, but something more than what "The Way of the Dragon" has to offer would be welcomed.The story is simple, and a typical in martial arts movies ("Rumble in the Bronx", for example, comes to mind): Tang Lung is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help the Chinese there from some very bad people.
Rated R for Violence Quebec Rating:G Canadian Home Video Rating:14AReturn Of THe Dragon or Way Of The Dragon is Bruce Lee's third movie.It is a good movie with the usual kung-fu scenes and mild humor of a Bruce Lee film but I preferred Fists Of Fury,Enter The Dragon and Chinese Connection.Return Of The Dragon is a good movie however and it is worth watching for any martial-arts film fan.The film is about a man who goes to visit his cousins in Rome.They own a restaurant, however they are being harassed by some gangsters to sell the restaurant.So basically Bruce starts kicking their asses.This film has an appearance by Chuck Norris as well and the final fight is pretty sweet.Overall a good martial-arts flick..
A BRUCE LEE CLASSIC.His other movies like Enter the Dragon and The Chinese Connection are good as well, but this one definitely tops them off.
Plus, it has one of the sickest fights to hit the movies.CHUCK NORRIS VS BRUCE LEE in Rome's Coliseum!
Also it contains the great scene with Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee fighting.
The fight scenes are the highpoint and very explosive, showing off the differing martial arts skills of both Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.
Watch the Colliseum fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris it's a real classic.
There are a great many people out there who will tell you that "Enter the Dragon" is THE martial arts film par excellence, and the greatest movie of the late Little Dragon himself, Bruce Lee. These people are, of course, wrong. |
tt2112127 | Christmas Magic | Carrie Bishop (Lindy Booth) is a successful event planner living in New York City. Her life changes when she is involved in a car accident and wakes up in Central Park, where she is met by an older man, Henry (Derek McGrath), a spirit guide who is there to instruct her how to get to Heaven. He explains to her that in order to move on, she must complete one task: help widower Scott Walker (Paul McGillion), the owner of a struggling restaurant.
In order to complete her mission, Carrie spends time at the restaurant and becomes friends with Scott's daughter Abby. Carrie puts her event-planning skills to good use and helps to promote the restaurant. But there is a catch: Carrie only has until midnight on Christmas Eve (in two weeks) to succeed in helping Scott turn the failing restaurant into a successful, thriving business. And there are rules, including that Carrie is forbidden to contact anyone from her previous life and that ultimately she cannot meddle in Scott's life (he must make his choices by free will, without her influence). These rules prove difficult to follow, especially when she begins to fall in love with Scott.
Carrie eventually learns that Henry is actually Scott's father. In the meantime, Scott learns that Carrie has been in a coma and realizes that he must wake her up. He takes his keyboard to the hospital and plays a love song that he wrote for her. Henry ultimately gives Carrie a choice: go to Heaven and live in everlasting peace or stay on Earth and be with the people she loves. In the end, Carrie chooses to wake up from the coma, accepts Scott's love, and gives him a message from his father: "the secret ingredient is love." | romantic | train | wikipedia | Heartwarming Christmas Story for the Family.
I completely disagree with the reviewer that gave this movie a poor rating.
In a day where all we see on TV is violence, death, and sex- this is a refreshing and heartwarming Christmas story for the entire family.
Lindy Booth gives a great performance as a woman who is a planner and assists businesses and individuals who need advertisement or just advise how to succeed- however living such a busy and hollow materialistic life has left her loveless, cynical, and alone.
Her relationship with her father is non-existent, and she is in desperate need of a wakeup call before it's too late!
She meets a kindly older gentleman while filling up her automobile at a local gas station who will change her life in ways she never expected.
Enjoyed this movie very much.
A nice twist on a Christmas story line.
Main character does not realize her life is unfulfilled.
Lindy Booth does a nice job of carrying the emotions of the season.
This has become an annual watch for myself and my family!
The Christmas angel played by bus driving Dererk McGrath is well done and subtle...never over the top.
I found the background music soothing and understated.
I hate movies where the music does not fit the movie and causes the scenes to be cluttered and rough to watch.
Kiara Glasco as the daughter is terrific as well.
The actors all do fine starting out slow and building relationships.
Again I have to give credit to Lindy Booth...she does not try to hard to show emotion but allows her genuine spirit to shine..
Different.
This movie is different from the other holiday movies I've seen this year.
A few minutes into the film I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue watching.
I didn't see how I could like the ending, however I chose to see it through to the end.
The movie leads you to believe one possible ending but surprises you with another one.Lindy Booth brings real depth to her character, which is very likable.
The other actors also did a good job of making the story believable.
There are some problems with the film such as make-up, the hospital set, lip syncing and how Carrie jumped into her task so easily.
Also the end of the film is a little rushed.
You have to realize that this is an Hallmark Channel TV movie.
It's a less expensive movie than major network TV movies and has maybe one or two recognizable stars.
It's meant to be for all members of the family and give a warm fuzzy holiday feeling..
One of my favorite Hm.Christmas movies!.
...because it was UNlike some other Hm. Christmas movies that should be shelved permanently!
Christmas Magic: 1.
none of the characters were irritating.
2. The subject wasn't boring.
3. The plot was nice, decent, flowing...and 4.
stayed focused on Christmas, 5.
consistent also with Christmas décor.
6. Despite "Carrie," "Scott," and his daughter being in sorrowful situations, there was still a tone of optimism and lightness throughout.
7. Although a fantasy type of movie, it really didn't come across as being corny.................................
It was just a very enjoyable movie with enjoyable characters, that I have enjoyed seeing several times.......so I didn't find it necessary or important to care about mistakes..................................On the slight down-side: I didn't care for Scott's attitude...that came out of nowhere...when he defended Carrie's business rival.
It was an undeserving, senseless insult to Carrie at that point, after all she did for him and his daughter..
No Magic Here.
Cheesy TV Christmas flick.
Starts out OK but runs out of steam fast.
The story is about a career-driven woman (Lindy Booth, adorable as usual) who seemingly dies and is brought back as an angel.
Her first task is to help a single father (Paul McGillion) turn his restaurant business around by Christmas.If the movie had stayed in the Highway to Heaven mold it started out as, it might have been slightly better.
However, they decided to go the romance route.
I saw no chemistry between the young attractive Lindy Booth and the older paunchy Paul McGillion, who apparently is also a mouth-breather.
It was kind of gross actually.
I'm sure I'm sounding shallow here.
I could buy her with an overweight older actor if maybe it was someone like Kevin James, who is likable and has a fun personality.
But McGillion is about as personable as frozen fishsticks.Another unimpressive part of the cast was Paul's annoying friend, played by Teresa Pavlinek.
I was surprised to discover this was not her first acting job as she was quite terrible.
One bright note on the casting was Derek McGrath, an actor I had not seen in many years but have pleasant memories of from many television series in the 1980s, most notably that of "Andy Andy" on Cheers.
McGrath plays the angel who guides Lindy throughout the movie and, besides Lindy, he's the only actor with any real presence or charm about him.Look, it's a made-for-TV Christmas movie.
There's a ceiling on how good this could possibly be.
I'm sure my ceiling is lower than most others who might check this sort of material out.
Judging by some other reviews here, I know that some will enjoy the movie far more than I did.
But the romance between two people with zero chemistry and a rather predictable cornball story with a cheat ending just made this movie a chore to sit through for me..
1/2 of the film is good.
BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS.
SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME.
NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE.
IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM .
NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS.
I HAVE NO AGENDA.
One of the rare Hallmark films that had more promise than most of them but then it becomes cringe worthy when the lead male star breakouts into a song.
In this film in order to gain entry to heaven, a woman (Lindy Booth) must help a man (Paul McGillion) and his young daughter.Carrie Bishop (Lindy Booth) is a successful event planner living in New York City.
Her life changes when she is involved in a car accident and wakes up in Central Park, where she is met by an older man, Henry (Derek McGrath), a spirit guide who is there to instruct her how to get to Heaven.
He explains to her that in order to move on, she must complete one task: help widower Scott Walker (Paul McGillion), the owner of a struggling restaurant.In order to complete her mission, Carrie spends time at the restaurant and becomes friends with Scott's daughter Abby.
Carrie puts her event-planning skills to good use and helps to promote the restaurant.
But there is a catch: Carrie only has until midnight on Christmas Eve (in two weeks) to succeed in helping Scott turn the failing restaurant into a successful, thriving business.
And there are rules, including that Carrie is forbidden to contact anyone from her previous life and that ultimately she cannot meddle in Scott's life (he must make his choices by free will, without her influence).
These rules prove to be more & difficult to follow, especially when she begins falls for Scott.The film starts off okay but the last 20 minutes are so bland and vanilla that they good will it has with its audience is now gone.
The song that get sung gets played so many times that you may not finish the filmSuitable for everyone but most people will be bored!.
Reasonable Christmas movie.
It's a TV movie, so don't expect too much, and unfortunately it looks like it was edited around advert breaks, so it cuts away at strange times.
Okay, it's contrived, but then so is a story where a man gets visited by 4 ghosts all in the same night and then wakes to find that the prize Christmas turkey is still for sale, which gets delivered, cooked and eaten all in one day.
The ending does go a bit quickly, which is a shame, as they could have extended that whilst speeding up some of the middle bits of the film, which did drag a bit.
I enjoyed the movie, but will i watch it again?
We will have to see this time next year..
Heartwarming Christmas Angel Story.
This year, 2016, I'm getting in the spirit, as I do every year, by watching Christmas films.
This year, however, the terrestrial channels seem to have gone overboard and my viewing schedule has doubled, and then some.So far this is my favourite Angel / Ghost Story of the festive season.The acting is average, at best, though Lindy Booth and Derek McGrath give the best performances and add the heartwarming element to the tale.
I even like the sometime brusqueness of Paul McGillion's character, after all, the tragedy he's been through I can understand it.The storyline is average and the ending is way too saccharine, far- fetched, and over romanticised for my liking.
It harks back to Prince Charming awakening Snow White...
but it isn't done so well as the animated film, either in script or direction.
If you're going to do something this cheesy, then at least do it right.It's not a film I'd rush to see again anytime soon, though I did enjoy it.
If you've not seen this movie, give it a try...
remember you can change the channel or stop and delete the recording at any time....
Refreshing NOT!.
This is a blatant rip off of Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo.
They just threw a kid and Christmas into the mix.
All of the folks calling it refreshing must not have seen that.
I'm surprised they haven't sued.If someone is on life support, they have a ventilator, IV's, heart monitors etc.
The mask they had on her wasn't even for O2.
Ick!.
Bad B-rate Made for TV Cheese Movie.
It doesn't get much worse than this.
Bad acting, really bad.
Bad direction and editing, really bad.
A tired plot that feels contrived and devoid of any Christmas magic (ironically).
The cast lacks chemistry.
They looked like actors forced to make a Christmas movie together and weren't given much direction.
A side note to the filmmakers, if you're going to use a blue screen, at least make sure the lighting makes it look somewhat realistic.
I gave it 2 stars rather than 1 because I'm sure some young children could still enjoy it (if they don't fall asleep from it's slow and unnecessarily long pace).
If you've seen ALL the other Christmas specials and are really craving for something more, then - and only then - can you put this movie on (to fall asleep to).
I couldn't watch it in one sitting.
And if the ending doesn't make you cringe and regret the time you spent watching it, the bad singing and lip syncing of songs will.
Merry Christmas!.
Amazing!.
A Hallmark classic if I ever did see one.
The movie "Christmas Magic" starring Paul McGillion and Lindy Booth is a heartwarming Christmas tale made all the better considering that they're both Canadian.
^_^"Christmas Magic" is about Kerry, a event planner who has no time for anything or anyone else.
She is warned by a friendly bus driver to watch the road and not talk on her cell phone and when she doesn't she ends up as an angel who needs to earn her wings by completing an assignment by Christmas Eve.The assignment is to help Scott Walker, a widowed father who is struggling with a restaurant and the weight of his wife's death five years previously.
Kerry just waltzes into his life, charms his staff, endears herself to his daughter who can see that she's an angel, and ends up completely turning his business around by introducing him to 'Dimitri' an up and coming artist.Throughout it all, sparks begin to fly between Kerry and Scott however their fledging relationship is threatened by Kerry's distance (due to the fact that she's an angel) and Scott's semi-interest in another woman (Lynett, a rival of Kerry's) however thanks to Lynett bragging about her apparent win over Kerry, Scott realizes that his daughter was right about Kerry being an angel and with moments to spare on Christmas Eve, he finds out that Kerry has only been in a coma and through a song, Scott is able to bring her back to him.All in all, this movie is fantastic and I've watched it three times in the past three days..
Christmas movie.
Christmas movie.
A soothing, relaxing and predictable movie.
Something light for the evening.
One should understand that as a Hallmark Channel movie,themes and endings are light.
I watched this movie because I wanted to be in the Xmas spirit.
Acting was OK but what does one expect for a TV made movie.
This is not really drama or romance.
Nor is it science fiction.
But I guess it can be categorized that way too.
I guess one has to realize that TV movies are not going to be Emmy Award winning performances.
But story line wise - one does not mind watching this.
Not one of my favorites but the actor and actress deliver a stellar performance.
No reason why one cannot just sit back, relax and enjoy the story line..
wonderful story line..
I am not normally a fan of angel movies, it's nothing against them.
Unlike most of the angel movies, this one ends happily.
The ending is a twist in a great way.
it had multiple twists.
they were well written, I have seen a thousand movies and did not see these coming.
the connection between the little girl and the angel is really touching.
when we first meet Carrie she is married to her work, and did not celebrate Christmas.
When she gets into a car accident and dies.
She is told that she must complete a assignment, in order to get into heaven.
Scott has lost his wife on Christmas and no longer celebrates.
he owns a restraint and also has a little girl.
This story line seems to be predictable and on some level it is, but at the same time while watching and hoping that these two will end up together you have to conceder that she is a angel and cannot date a living person.
so how will the story end?.
The only magic is Lindy Booth.
Another Christmas angel story.
Actually this is a bit of an older one.The plot is pretty predictable, although they throw us off just a bit by having Scott meet and suddenly seem to get romantically involved with Lynette, Carrie's biggest rival.
This was very poorly done and didn't play at all.
There is no way Scott would go on a date with another woman Christmas Eve. Perhaps the writers thought he was striking back at Carrie's rejection, but the way it played was totally false.
But then they needed a way to tell Scott that Carrie was in the hospital.Unfortunately Paul McGillion should not attempt to sing in public.
And not just once but three times.
The song could have been a very sweet climax to the movie, but fell flat because of the singing.But lovely and energetic Lindy Booth made this a movie worth watching.
Lindy does optimistic so well.
She just lights up the screen.
It was a little strange seeing her go from heartless business barracuda to sympathetic and sweet in the blink of an eye.
But Lindy can be just plain sweet and it's hard to stop watching her in a role like this one.The ending was awkwardly done, but still struck heartstrings..
I love Christmas movies, but.......
This one is beyond bad.
Every year, I look forward to Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas.
I love their movies.
However, this one was pretty awful.
The lead actress (Booth) was unlikable and completely unbelieving in her role.
The male lead was equally as bad.
I felt like the whole relationship between the two of them was forced and contrived.
I felt no on-screen chemistry.And the singing, oh my gosh.
Terrible lip-synching and corny songs.
I was embarrassed for everyone involved.
The ending was the worst though.
With it being revealed Kerry is in a coma, Scott and his daughter go there.
She is lying in a hospital bed that appears to sit in the middle of the nurses station.
The only apparatus that she has on is a breathing mask (no breathing tube, IV, or chest monitors)while supposedly being on life support.
The whole time people are talking around her, she has a frown on her face.
You don't frown or make any facial expressions in a coma.
The whole scene was very poorly done.
I don't think I've ever watched such a bad Hallmark Christmas movie before.
This one takes the cake. |
tt0071880 | Mussolini ultimo atto | Grunge rocker Blake escapes rehab and walks home through a long forest, also swimming through a lake then lighting a fire for the night. The next day, he gets home and changes his clothes. He walks around in the house with a shotgun pointing it at his sleeping roommates Scott, Luke, Asia, and Nicole. He is greeted by Yellow Pages representative Thadeus A Thomas who talks to him about placing an ad in the upcoming book. He receives a phone call from his record company telling him that he and his band have to do another tour and that it is important they make the booked dates, but Blake hangs up. He goes upstairs and falls asleep on the floor in one of the rooms. Asia awakes and finds him asleep as two boys arrive at the door. Scott and Luke answer the door and the two boys talk to them about their church down the street. Blake changes into different clothes and leaves the house for the shed outside as the Christian boys leave.
Scott, Luke, Asia, and Nicole leave and Blake goes back into the house. His friend Donovan and a private detective come to the house and Blake leaves as they look around the house for him. He waits for them to leave before he enters the house again. He messes with the guitars and drums putting them on loop with his vocals. He stops when his record executive (Kim Gordon) comes over and tries to have him leave with her but Blake refuses. Blake goes to a rock club that night where a friend of his comes up to him and tells him about how he went to a Grateful Dead concert. Blake leaves before his friend can finish telling the story. Blake goes back home where Scott takes some of his money and Luke asks help from Blake on a song.
Scott tells Luke that Donovan had a private detective with him and that they should leave. After Scott and Luke have sex with each other upstairs, Blake plays acoustic one last time before walking out to the shed where he sits quietly, watching his roommates leave. They spend the night at their friend's house, and awake the next morning to see the news announcing that Blake committed suicide and an electrician found his body. Scott, Luke, and Nicole get in a car and leave, driving down a highway while Luke plays the guitar in the back seat. | revenge | train | wikipedia | Fantastic...
riveting!!!.
I finally had the privilege of seeing THE LAST 4 DAYS a few months ago, and I was blown away by how amazingly well done it was.
The film stars the great Rod Steiger as Benito Mussolini, who faces his last 4 days of life.
The film features great Ennio Morricone music, superb direction and great performances all-around by an allstar cast.Rod Steiger is INCREDIBLE as Mussolini.
He faces his last days on earth having to make several major decisions as his life and nation fall apart around him.
I can't describe his performance; it's just powerful and incredibly believable.
Franco Nero is great, too, as an Italian partisan officer who is assigned to kill Mussolini.
Lisa Gastoni is excellent as Mussolini's wife, who like any loyal wife, wants to be with her husband through the thick and thin.
Henry Fonda is very good in a small role as Cardinal Schuster, who tries to help Mussolini but ultimately fails.
Watch also for: Giuseppe Addobbati, Andrea Aureli, Bruno Corazzari, Marco Guglielmi, Tom Felleghy, Luciano Pigozzi, John Stacy and finally Giacomo Rossi-Stuart as an American officer assigned to apprehend Mussolini.
The direction is tight and spectacular.
Carlo Lizzani brings every aspect to the movie to life.
The paranoia and confusion of Italy falling apart to stunning life.
There is not a wasted frame in this movie, and the pace is set perfectly.
The editing is also very good, -- especially in the scenes where Mussolini is jumping from flashback to current time -- are shocking realistic.
Ennio Morricone's score is haunting and really penetrates you.
I saw this movie as a copy of a copy of the Lightning Video.
The print is relatively clear, especially for a 3rd generation copy, and I don't believe anything has been removed.
If there is any missing footage, it doesn't show in the editing.
The credits are letterboxed about 1.85:1.
See an original video; don't be lazy like me and settle for somebody else's dub.
The visual quality is essential to the theme of the movie.An amazing drama of a leader that not many people know much about.
The film gives a true insight into the last days of his life, and we see him as more of a man than as a diabolical Fascist leader.
For being so professional and stunning in every way, I give it a 10 out of 10..
The last days of Benito Mussolini.
Rod Steiger once again showed his ability to play roles of political and historical men.
In the past he was Al Capone, Napoleon, Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant, Pontius Pilate, and Mussolini twice (also in "Lion of the Desert" ,1980).
At his last minutes he was a kind of Mussolini humble, lost, not knowing what to do once he was arrested.
Very good acting also from Henry Fonda playing the role of Milanese Cardinal Schuster, he worries more about Mussolini's fate than of those innocents who may have died during those days.
The film showed well how Germans wanted to keep Mussolini and the efforts of the Americans to capture him.
The director Lizzani did an excellent work trying to show these last hours of the dictator and his lover, Claretta Petacci (Lisa Gastoni).
Very interesting dialogues were shown between the guerrilla fighters and Mussolini.
He claimed that only Germans guilty of the war, and that he had very little responsibility on what happened, but the fighters refused all his coward arguments with real facts.
Mussolini destroyed Italian democracy, eliminated political parties and unions, and also killed many innocent people.
He supported well Hitler although he was a puppet in the hands of the Germans.
I do not know whether Mussolini was killed together with his lover in a way it is shown in the film.
What is known is that he tried to cross the border disguised as a German soldier in a convoy of trucks retreating toward Innsbruck, Austria.
He was recognized and together with Claretta shot in an area closed to Como.
Until here the plot must be accepted, but I wonder why Lizzani did not want to show further this history, i.e. that the bodies were hung, head downward, in the Milanese Piazza Loreto in Milan..
Thrilling film.
The movie tells the story of "Il Duce´s" or Benito Mussolini´s last days.
Abandoned by his black shirts and supporters, Mussolini is haunted by the Partisans, Allies, and even the Germans (who want bring him to Germany) Due to the great performance of Rod Steiger (Mussolini) and interesting plot + good music this is the best Italian movie I have seen..
excellent portrait of the real Mussolini.
This is a great movie showing what a histrionic character and opportunist Mussolini was, double crossing until the end between the Italians, the Germans and the British, worried only about himself and not caring about the devastation he brought in his country and trying to escape to Switzerland where to live a comfortable life.
Well depicted also his emotional life with her lover Petacci - which probably he exploited to the end for her devotion and total love.
I was sorry that the story of the documents he was carrying with him, with all the letters exchanged with Churchill - and that would compromise Churchill if brought to the public - was totally ignored - probably too delicate a topic to be dealt with in this kind of commercial movies..
Waterloo's Cousin?.
It is interesting that Rod Steiger has attempted two ambitious epic-roles in his career - Napoleon in Waterloo, and now Mussolini in Ultimo Atto - both European co-productions outside the normal auspices of Hollywood.
Although it may be decidedly the minor of the two, the subject matter of the film still captivates the viewer as it chronicles the last few days of the Italian Leader.Mussolini: Ultimo Atto portrays the demise of Italy's one-time Dictator from a leader of emperor-like proportions to that of a desperate fugitive.
Mussolini is hunted by four separate groups each with different ideas of his fate.
Hitler wants him to fight until his final breath, the Allies and the new Italian government want him to stand trial for war crimes, and the Italian partisans want to shoot him on site.Rod Steiger plays Mussolini credibly (from what I know of him) and Henry Fonda is also notable in his role as a Cardinal..
Rod Steiger at His Brilliant Best as Usual.
The story of the last tragic days of Benito Mussolini is not well known, even by readers and students of history and specifically World War 2.
The end for Il Duce came swift and dramatically.
It was a fine line of circumstances that could have either seen him escape to Switzerland or return to Germany to join Adolf Hitler in his last days.
The fact of what happened to Mussolini is sad, tragic, a terrible end for a man that was the galvanizing force for the rebirth and revitalization of a new and reformed Italy when Il Duce took power in 1922.
For Adolf Hitler it was Mussolini who had always been a role model and an icon of the new philosophy of National Socialism.
What happened to Benito Mussolini is a disgrace for such a great and visionary man that only wanted the best for the Italian people.
Rod Steiger is superb as always as Il Duce.
He reprized his role 6 years later in 'Lion of the Desert' 1980 when he played the visionary leader once more.
Excellent film by Lizzani a master Director and sad to hear of his death just 3 months ago.
Magnificent film..
Rod Steiger is Il Duce.
A very well made, personal epic about the last days of the Italian fascist dictator.
Rod Steiger is very commanding in the title role, sweating out his final hours while he tries to outrun both the partisans and Allied troops, and getting little help from either the Germans or his hopelessly dedicated mistress Clara Petacci.
Director Carlo Lizzani wastes little time and moves the film along at a brisk clip.
The film has an epic feel to it while capturing the utter desperation Mussolini feels.
Steiger is excellent and Lisa Gastoni is terrific as Pettaci.
A number of Italian character actors, including Lino Capolicchio and Giacome Rossi Stuart appear in supporting roles.
The film also features Franco Nero as as the dictator's soon to be executioner and, in a brief role as a duplicitous Cardinal, Henry Fonda.
Another great music score by Ennio Morricone (one of his most despairing)..
The Tragedy of Benito Mussolini.
The film, like the almost contemporaneous Hitler: The Last 10 Days, follows the final hours of one of the leaders of the axis powers during WW2, in this case Benito Mussolini.
Rod Steiger plays Il Duce (a role he was later to repeat in Lion of the Desert) and the bulk of the film concentrates on the former dictator coming to terms with the fact that his freedom is gone and his life may soon be as well.
It is a compelling performance, as Mussolini begins defiant as the Germans demand to keep him under close guard (on the express orders of the Führer), attempts to wheedle deals with the Church and the Swiss to ensure an escape to neutral territory then falls into a sullen sulk as he is made a prisoner of the Italian partisans, realising that he is probably going to be executed.
By the time he is put up against a wall with a gun pointed in his direction, he is almost catatonic.This delineation of Mussolini's fall from power gives the film an authentically tragic aspect.
It is as if the first 4 acts of Macbeth were cut and the final movement, with Birnam Woods closing in on the trapped usurper, were to constitute the entire drama.
There is a wannabe Nietzschean aspect to Il Duce, a man who it is emphasised in the film looked on himself and was looked on by others as a God, although the slumped wreck we see being executed at the end is quite without divinity.
The film strongly posits that Mussolini lost his self entirely when he lost power, an idea given vivid visual expression when he is wrapped in a head-bandage whilst being transported, the god-Emperor being reduced to the Invisible Man. The film portrays the dictator as a morally dubious but not utterly condemnable character – although he sheds no tears nor has any feeling for the ruin he has brought on his nation, he is a man constantly let down by those he trust, whether it be his protégé Hitler who invaded Russia against Benito's advice or his own black-shirts, who fail to provide the promised cavalry to rescue him.Two other important character studies are intriguing.
Mussolini's mistress, Claretta Petacci, is portrayed as the ultimate in servile love, even sacrificing herself at the end in a vain attempt to save the man to whom she has uncritically (if jealously) devoted her life.
In the final third of the film, the partisan leader Walter Audisio 'Valerio' becomes a focus of attention, driven onwards with a single-minded mission to ensure that Mussolini is executed in the name of the Italian people rather than becoming a trophy prisoner of either the Americans or the British.
That Valerio is a rather inhuman, cold figure adds a certain odd ambiguity to the film, as only on an ideological level could we sympathise with this man against the Mussolini that we see through Steiger's performance.
I am not sure whether to call this ambiguity daring or dangerous.
The mistress and nemesis of the dictator are played respectively, and excellently, by Lisa Gastoni and Franco Nero.
Henry Fonda has an intriguing cameo as a rather reptilian Cardinal, whose sympathies and opinions are impossible to gauge.The film begins at a stonking pace, cutting quickly through events and setting out the story admirably.
The pace evens a little the tension mounts and the relationship between the dictators and his mistress gets explored with some depth and the negotiations as to what will happen to him get murkier.On the whole this is a rather remarkable film, deserving of being much better known.
It is a decent history lesson but, far more, a brilliant character study and chilling portrait of what happens when a human being overreaches himself and is brought down to nothing and death..
Assuming you can get a full version of the film, this is a good war time drama about the end of a leader.
The story of the last four days in the life of Benito Mussolini during the close of the Second World War. Rod Stieger gives an often restrained performance as Il Duce.
Henry Fonda is a Cardinal trying to bring an end to the madness of the war.
Franco Nero is a partisan hunting the deposed leader.
From what I could tell of the film from the print included in the BCI Maximum Action set this would be a good drama had I seen the complete film.
I mention this because the print I say ran under 75 minutes while the running time at IMDb lists it as having two different versions running 105 or 120, meaning that I did not see 30 to 45 minutes of the film.
The result of this choppiness is that a scene that is a meeting between Steiger and Fonda, who are the only two people in the room, suddenly are joined by 7 or 8 other people when they miraculously appear in seats around the table in the course of one shot to the next.Its a surreal moment.
I liked what I saw, but There seemed to be so much cut out that I can't be sure that any problems I had was due to the film or the print.
Worth trying for those interested in war time dramas assuming you can get a full version.(Rating of 7 out of 10 is based on the assumption that all problems I had with the film were do to a choppy print) |
tt4382872 | Extraction | In 2005, undercover CIA operative Leonard Turner (Bruce Willis) is held captive and interrogated by a group of unidentified Russian arms dealers. His interrogators have been aware of Leonard's true identity and demand a full written list of individuals and businesses affiliated with the CIA in exchange for the safety of his wife and son. Leonard breaks from captivity and kills his interrogators, phoning his colleague Ken Robertson (D.B. Sweeney) to get his family to safety. Leonard's wife, Kate, was fatally shot by the interrogator's affiliates, while his teenage son, Harry (Nathan Varnson) hesitates on shooting the home invaders before being rescued by Robertson.
In 2015, an adult Harry (Kellan Lutz) joins the CIA's Prague branch under Robertson's wing much to Leonard's disapproval. While working as an analyst, Harry undergoes numerous field agent training sessions only to be rejected repeatedly by Leonard behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Leonard is given an undercover assignment to recover an item called The Condor, a mobile computer capable of hacking the entire global telecommunications infrastructure that can only be deactivated with a physical key. While Leonard attempts to recover the device in Newark, New Jersey, he is ambushed and captured by arms dealer Drake Chivu (Joshua Mickel).
C.I.A. Station Chief Theodore Sitterson (Steve Coulter) is brought up to speed on the recent development and assigns field agent Victoria Phair (Gina Carano) to recover The Condor while keeping Harry out of the investigation. Incensed, Harry breaks free from his security escort led by Higgins (Dan Bilzerian) and flies to Newark in order to investigate Drake's associates.
Harry's first visit is to a biker bar known for its business association with Drake. After instigating a fight and interrogating the patrons, Harry learns that Drake's brother is the lead mechanic at a local garage. Harry also encounters Phair, having previously parted from a romantic relationship on bad terms during their training. Harry only agrees to return after helping her recover the Condor and after rescuing Leonard. After interrogating Drake's brother, Harry and Phair learn that Drake is holding a party in a local nightclub. Enlisting Phair's roommate, Kris (Lydia Hull), Harry and Phair enter the nightclub. Meanwhile, Sitterson reviews Leonard's video-recorded ransom and prepares an assassin for deployment in suspicion of Harry having committed treason, much to Robertson's dismay. The assassin ambushes Harry in the nightclub's restroom while Drake captures Phair.
Maintaining contact with their communications earpiece, Phair gives clues to Harry while he and Kris try to locate Drake's car. The final destination leads them to an abandoned factory, where Harry is tranquilized by Drake himself before being reunited with Leonard. Harry regains consciousness and is reunited with his father, only to find himself questioned on the people aware of Harry's whereabouts. Harry only confides that he told Robertson about his last known location, with Leonard's approval. At this point, Leonard reveals to his son that he went rogue and allied himself with Drake in order to draw out the people interested in recovering the Condor, as well as the perpetrators and CIA mole responsible for Kate's death. During the business deal, Leonard demonstrates the Condor's capabilities by sabotaging China's electronics infrastructure before double-crossing the Russian customers. The Russian customers have been revealed to be responsible for purchasing Leonard's personal information and ordering Kate's death, while Leonard has Harry fatally shoot the Russian ringleader.
After seemingly tying up the loose end, Robertson and Higgins intercept the Turners, with Robertson revealing himself as the mole responsible for Leonard's blown cover, and also responsible for the recent assassination attempt on Harry. Robertson shoots Leonard in the stomach. Phair breaks free from captivity and shoots at Drake's henchmen while Higgins engages Drake in hand-to-hand combat. Harry engages in a car chase with Robertson and fatally wounds him with a vehicle collision. Shortly after recovering the Condor, Harry destroys the device with an assault rifle to prevent it from falling to enemy hands and mourns his father's death before leaving the scene with Higgins, Phair, and Kris.
During the aftermath, Harry gives Phair a phone call to rekindle their romance before killing Drake with a car bomb. | revenge, comedy, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | Is the old Bruce Willis back in an exciting action movie?
I'm quite stunned to see that out of so many producers on this project that it looks as if not one of them done anything to make the film worth watching.Extraction is a film which is riding the coattails of Bruce Willis, knowing that with his name on the picture a lot of people would go check it out.
I've always been a fan of Bruce Willis and what I saw in this movie truly upset me to see, the film is horrible.
The dialogue never gets better and though most of the fight scenes are okay, enough of them are badly staged that it detracts from the only thing that makes the film worth seeing.
How many lines of text does one need to state the movie is disappointing, bad, not entertaining, overdone as to violence, poorly scripted, using no-name unbelievable unattractive actors.
Do not waste your time watching this movie as I have spent trying to reach the required (ten) number of lines of review in order to allow my review to be accepted.
It isn't anything like normal Bruce films - this needs to be put on the bonfire and never seen again.All the main actors Bruce Willis, Kellan Lutz, Gina Carano, D.B. Sweeney, Joshua Mikel, Steve Coulter, Theodore Sitterson were all good but I feel could have been so much better.
Also, son-of-willis got a few cuts on his face from a fight near the beginning which lasted throughout, but Gina Carano had a close-range face punch in a car later (with the perpetrator saying "sorry about the face" before he hit) yet she didn't have any marks on her face thru- out the film.
One which stars Bruce "Moonlighting & "Die Hard" Willis and sexy fighter turned actress Gina Carano.
The latter is set to be on DVD and the i- net later this month.I have seen Bruce in much better action films, especially "Die Hard "1 & 2 and "The Jackal" with the brilliant Sidney Poitier.
Bruce here plays a CIA agent who gets captured by the enemy on a very important mission,and the son,who's a cia wannabe field agent have to find him and save him.That's basically the entire storyThis movie is nothing new under the sun.
And the male lead is such a bad actor you laugh.Every time he knocks down someone,he takes a half a minute pause,just to gloat There's no chemistry between him and Gina,and they are suppose to be ex lovers.They try to convince you they were once a couple, with mixing some baby talk in between and talking in half sentences.Pretending they have long history together..But alas the chemistry is all wrongWhats worse is, every darn bad guy know MMA.no matter how low on the totem pole they are,they seem to be excellent figthers.
The direct to video kung fu/ martial arts action movies ,with Michael dudikoff,jean claude,Steven seagal,Dolph lundgren etc.When every bad guy they came up against knew martial arts?
You had good elegant fighting scenes,with the camera way back.Heres the problem.Back in the days,that stuff worked.You were okay with every bad guy knowing kung fu,it worked,because it was that type of movie.
I have been a fan of Bruce Willis and watched all his movies and I can clearly say this is the worst.
Phair lady Gina Carano deserved more screen-time, she was sort of a wasted talent in this and was proll'y not supposed to upstage Kellan Lutz who did a good job overall - he's believable as a tough guy.
Bruce Willis has very limited screen time - an aging movie tough guy passing the torch.For me, it works.I'd simply ignore some of the "reviews" on this site.
The film reminds me of, The Cold Light of Day, both involved Bruce Willis playing a dad whose son joins the family business of espionage after hit with tragedyBut instead of Man of Steel's Henry Cavill, we get some new guy, Kellan Lutz.
I was thinking that she was in the film as a backup just in case the new pretty boy falls short, which he does, and she would pick up the slack, but she acted as no more than just the love interest for the hero, which is so lame, cause I seen her do too many amazing fight scenes to be second rate in this film.
Speaking of second rate, Bruce Willis most likely lends his name to the movie in exchange for a big pay check.
Just enough to give the character a little more depth than the others (guess he did not want young and hot new action star to upstage him)So the movie is not as bad as I'm making it out to be.
Whilst sitting at work with nothing better to do i thought that i would watch this film as i had just finished watching "A Good Day To Die Hard"(iv'e got an easy job) so i thought i'd stick to watching another Willis Movie, first 5 minutes i could not stop laughing,just look at the cable ties holding Bruce,trust me you will notice it,they change a Lot,the acting is terrible,Willis is in the movie for only a short time,the fight scenes are straight out of the 80's and the whole film probably cost £99 to make, but the Gaffs make it watchable as there are such a lot,and you do not need to wait long for another to pop up, if it had been a Danny Dyer film you would expect it to be this rubbish and cheap,but it's not.Waste of time.2/10 and only for the rubbish editing it makes it laughable..
Bruce Willis's Other Bad Movie from 2015.
Over a year and a half ago, I reviewed a Bruce Willis movie called Vice.
While no movie did that, despite Fantastic Four's valiant effort, at the end of the year, another Bruce Willis movie came out in the action thriller genre that also got a VOD release called Extraction.
But that's the only good news I have, because it's another Bruce Willis movie in the action thriller genre that only got a VOD release playing to the top-name actor's pedestrian-level abilities.
As an avid action movie fan I hoped for an evening of mindless explosions, sarcastic humour while watching a now familiar story line, what a disappointment.
Being a Die Hard fan, Tears of the Sun and seeing Bruce Willis in the main cast I was hoping to see some RED action with a good female sub-lead in the ranks.
Bruce Willis will always be a favorite but maybe it is time to retire and leave the CIA roles to the new guys, how about RED 3?
Gina Carano, I am all for tough chick action, hopefully she will get a better chance in the Mutant, Superhero genre seeing low-budget movies use her as a prop for a bad script wanting to have some female blood to mix it up - mega fail in this movie.
Newly trained CIA Agent Harry Turner (Kellen Lutz) learns that his father, Leonard Turner (Bruce Willis), a seasoned CIA agent has been kidnapped by terrorists who also want The Condor, a unit that will control all the telecommunications on the planet.
Surprisingly not a movie about dental procedures but about as much fun as a visit to the dentist.As many have said, Bruce Willis has very little screen time.
It looks like they didn't pay him enough for more than one facial expression ('serious') and I hate to say it but this reminds me of many recent Steven Segal, outings, specifically the execrable 'Sniper: Spec Ops', i.e. the great man shares little or no screen time with other actors so they can easily add him into scenes during editing.
I imagine the inexperienced cast members were excited to appear in a Bruce Willis movie but it's hard to see how this will help their careers.Ultimately it's the kind of movie you fast forward through primarily to avoid the pain of seeing it in your 'continue watching' queue on Netflix..
The fight sequences are pretty well done, Gina Carano is a fine film fighter and so are Kellan Lutz and Bruce Willis, age notwithstanding.
Kellan Lutz and Gina Carano have careers as action stars and given better scripts and some experience under their belts have the ability to make some fine films in the future.
So bad very bad awful and terrible the other honest reviews said already what a bad bad movie this is cashing in on Bruce Willis name...but I had to say it too how bad this movie is terrible awful absolutely lame and boring and couldn't watch it of course only the first 20 minutes or so then I had to write this.and of course 10 lines of text is a joke mister IMDb I do not get why you have to want ten lines when sometimes you can say everything with just a couple of words and ten lines is so much extra waste of time for this wanna be movie.
It had a good cast - well at least Bruce Willis (although it was clearly a paycheck film for him.) The story line seemed to just be have been nipped from a half dozen other movies.
Saw 'Extraction' because Bruce Willis has done good films and given good performances in the past, 'Die Hard' is a genre landmark and his performance is iconic in that.
Expectations were not high though, because Willis has been past prime for a while (several bad films and has looked tired and disengaged a lot).'Extraction' is not a good representation of him, if not as bad as 'Vice' and especially 'Reprisal'.
Decent hand-to-hand fight sequences save low budget actions film (which Bruce Willis is barely in).
The story involves Willis as a CIA operative who's kidnapped within the first few minutes of the film and it's then up to his son, Kellan Lutz, and real-life MMA champion Gina Carano to rescue him.
Overall, this low budget action film does feature some decent fight sequences that make it worth watching, but the film's overall low production value and rather thin story do make it pretty obvious to audiences that this is not a something of "Die Hard" or "Haywire" of quality.
Maybe he should try ballroom dance.Its OK if you want to watch an action fight movie when you got nothing else to kill time.
This movie essentially begins with a veteran CIA field agent by the name of "Leonard Turner" (Bruce Willis) being abducted by terrorists who also manage to seize a valuable piece of computer technology from him in the process.
As it so happens, Leonard has a son named "Harry Turner" (Kellan Lutz) who works as an agent for the CIA as well but because he hasn't been certified as a field agent he is not allowed to become involved in the rescue of his father or the reacquisition of the computer equipment in any manner.
Bruce Willis and Kellan Lutz play the role of father (Leonard Turner) and son (Harry Turner) C.I.A. agents.
Sweeney and Willis are reliable, Lutz isn't given enough to work with, Carano is getting a little better with her voice-acting and we get to see her make out with another girl, in what is perhaps the highlight of the movie.
There was a time, when seeing the name of Bruce Willis in a movie meant entertainment or even quality(Die Hard, Sixth Sense).Not anymore.
Kellan Lutz and Gina Carano, not a really bad acting, but, you get to wonder.
Bruce Willis is a sell-out ( he is like a actor version of a hooker) and recently become synonymous with low budget action B-Movies.
Its not a problem for me and i didn't care.Kellan Lutz have potential as an action star, he truly does, but he need to choose his movies a bit better.
The story start OK and is overall decent for the most part of the movie but the action is ...bad.
In the Blood was a typical B action movie but it worked cause the story was engaging and again Gina did some solid fights.
Even though the fight scenes are good, it is not worth the time or money to watch it..
You Can't Go Wrong Watching Bruce Willis Movie.
Dismal thriller with Bruce Willis making another one of his $1 Million a day appearance as CIA agent who wife was blown away by some European baddies some years back and his teenage son threatened.Ten years later Willis is held hostage and his son, now a desk bound CIA agent defies orders and sets out to rescue him with the help of fellow agent and ex girlfriend, Gina Carano.The film looks cheap in the opening sequences with too much bright light, the script is full of clichés, the action scenes are uninspired, I actually felt they wasted Carano's talents for the action sequences.There is a family best friend who we can guess early on has obscure motives and of course given his fee, Willis is used sparingly throughout the movie..
It has Bruce Willis after all, and while not known for his great acting, he is one whose work in action films has been very popular.
The director wasted most of his budget on the opening credits, which looked quite good, and a couple of the action scenes were half decent but once the whole save the world concept came into play, it became really annoying and the technical jargon just got on my nerves.
Anyway, Leonard Turner (Bruce Willis) is a highly decorated CIA agent who loses his wife at the beginning of the movie and seeks revenge by setting up the people who killed her.
His son, Harry Turner (Kellan Lutz), who is moving up the ranks as a CIA agent, hears that his father has been kidnapped, so he takes it upon himself to try and save his dad, even though the head of the agency told him to stay away from the case.
Gina Carano played her usual "tough girl" type of role but I really don't know what the hell Willis was doing in this film.
I think you can tell that I thought this film was bad but I will give it a couple of stars for the action scenes.I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/thrillers starring Bruce Willis, Kellan Lutz, Gina Carano, D.B. Sweeney, Joshua Mikel and Steve Coulter.
Yes it is predictable and yes the acting is mediocre but I don't really watch action movies for Oscar winning performances.
Bruce Willis has been taken, by this lackluster second rate action movie.
There are some action fun from combat, though they are brief, too few and scattered throughout disjointed mandatory set pieces.Bruce Willis can deliver a good action movie and Extraction is primed for humorous quirky relationship with younger actors, he has done this gig before in RED.
Now, he must race against time and utilise his combat training to take down the terrorists and save his father.......In some perfect world, the surname Turner would be changed to Church, and this would be a spin-off to The Expendables, telling us just what happened to Mr Church and reveal that Lutz was really his son, thus linking his character to part three.But it's not, it's another direct to DVD clunker that has Willis sleepwalk through his role, looking forlorn and lethargic, and he's only in it for around twenty minutes, although his character is pivotal to the narrative.So we have Lutz in full on action man mode, escaping his protection and going on the run in Prague, fighting almost everybody who crosses his path to gain a little information on his fathers whereabouts.Add a bewildered D.B Sweeney with a look on his face like he's longing for The Cutting Edge to get an anniversary re-issue, and Gina Carano as the love interest, and you are left with the afterthought 'Does Willis really value his fans opinions anymore'.It's a terrible movie, something you have seen a thousand times before, with every action cliché thrown in for good measure, from the Russian roulette sequence, to the smoke grenade, to the bar fight, we've seen it a thousand time before, and a lot better.Lutz seems to have the potential to do some decent acting, but if he carries on taking roles that are suitable for his frame rather than his range, he will be soon forgotten, just like Taylor what's his face.Throw in some silly twist at the end, and your left with another dud for the once great Willis.
The opening scene in fact where we get to watch action hero/legend Bruce Willis kick some serious a$$ in old school fashion made me think...okay maybe this will be something and then it crashes faster than a speeding rocket.
I have a good idea that Bruce Willis fans - if there are any left after him doing dreck like this for the past few years - will be especially disappointed by this movie.
The whole plot seemed weak.Not the best Bruce Willis film out there, but better than that one where he dies early and his son has to use his cell phone (The Cold Light of Day).
I settled in to watch "Extraction" knowing only that it featured Bruce Willis and possibly that it involved the CIA.
By the end of the movie, it's fair to say that this isn't really a Bruce Willis movie at all since he plays second fiddle to actor Kellan Lutz, who plays a character named Harry Turner.
Now if someone asked me, "Do you want to watch a Kellan Lutz movie about the CIA?", I might say, "I don't know...it might not be good if a familiar actor isn't the lead." Having watched this movie, my words would be justified.
EXTRACTION is an acceptable B-movie thriller with a lead role for THE EXPENDABLES 3 actor Kellan Lutz and a guest part for Bruce Willis. |
tt0077327 | Amore, piombo e furore | Gunslinger Clayton Drumm (Testi) is in jail, about to be hanged, when railroad company men offer him a chance to live if he will agree to murder Matthew Sebanek (Oates), a miner who has steadfastly refused to sell his land to the railroad.
Although he accepts the assignment, Clayton has become weary of killing and wants to try to build a new life for himself. The would-be killer finds Matthew at his ranch and after some initial suspiciousness, Matthew and Clayton become friends, even though Matthew correctly guesses that Clayton has been sent by the railroad, the same railroad Matthew once worked and, as he admits to Clayton, killed for. Matthew is married to the beautiful Catherine (Agutter), who greatly complicates matters by falling in love with Clayton. She follows Clayton when he goes for a late night swim in the nearby hot springs. She disrobes, and Clayton has sex with her. The next morning, when Matthew discovers his wife’s infidelity, he becomes infuriated. Catherine stops him from shooting the departing Clayton. When he begins beating her, she stabs him in the back and then hits him on the head with a rolling pin. Believing that she has killed her husband, she catches up with Clayton and persuades him to escort her to Liberty, a town where she can catch the train. For money she intends to sell Matthew's special high-powered rifle which Matthew has said is worth $100. Clayton insists that he is the one who should buy the rifle and offers the $100 to Catherine.
Clayton and Catherine stop for the night in a hotel in a small town where Catherine has a bath and where she and Clayton enjoy a night in bed with each other. In amorous chit-chat after they have had sex, Clayton tells Catherine he hasn't made love with many other women; indeed, she is only the second married woman with whom he has had sex. When Catherine inquires about what happened to the husband of the first, Clayton forebodingly says that he shot him after the husband had shot and killed his wife.
In the morning at breakfast one of Matthew's brothers, Virgil, coincidentally appears and, after ordering his own breakfast and recognizing Catherine and Clayton from having been at Matthew's a day earlier for a family party, inquires, "Where's Matt?" Clayton tells him what he believes is the truth, that Catherine has killed Matthew who had attacked her and he is still "back at his place." Virgil is intent on taking Catherine back with him and says he will challenge Clayton to draw in order to do so, but Clayton, advising him not to, easily disarms Virgil and Clayton and Catherine leave the hotel. Virgil follows them out of the hotel and, having retrieved his gun, attempts to shoot Clayton, who, warned by Catherine's "Look out!," turns, shoots and kills Virgil. Catherine, presumably distraught at the recent turn of events, goes to a church to pray where Clayton retrieves her, and they mournfully embrace.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matt has apparently recovered. As his wounds are being attended to, a wagon with a lone driver pulls up at the house delivering Virgil's corpse. Matt and his remaining three brothers set about burying Virgil, but, vowing to finish the burying when they return, Matt insists they leave immediately, eager to get after Clayton and Catherine. Virgil's grieving widow Barbara is left behind weeping at her husband's grave.
On the trail Clayton and Catherine have stopped to rest. Catherine musingly asks, "What choices do I have?" to which Clayton replies, "Whoring or teaching school." Catherine adds, "Or get married again." Expressing his credo that being independent is the best way to live, he says to Catherine, "I need you tonight and I hate you for it." So much for his philosophy of life and her (women's) prospects on the frontier.
Back on the trail, the two lovers encounter a lost dwarf who's become detached from his circus, a thing Catherine has never heard of much less seen. Clayton hoists him up behind Catherine on her horse and they ride into town, presumably having arrived at Liberty where Catherine was to have taken the train. Clayton is a famous gunfighter, and the sheriff when apprised of Clayton's arrival, immediately leaves town on a supposed errand to Juarez. Clayton goes into the railroad office and returns the money he had been paid to kill Matt, reporting that Matt is dead "but I didn't kill him." Enter a grizzled old dime-store-novelist-of-the-west (Peckinpah), who offers Catherine money to tell him her story which he promises to write up and publish, making her rich by feeding the rabid interest in the largely fictional exploits of gunfighters back east. In his pitch he points our how short-lived are gunfighters and suggests she would be wise to feather her nest which he asserts will soon be missing a mate. Clayton and Catherine, however, reject his blandishments and send him on his way.
Clayton and Catherine discuss what they want to do next, Clayton suggesting the two together don't have a future, though in his telling her something of his life's story on which his reluctance to become involved in anything resembling a "relationship" is based, he does account for his (Italian) accent.
The circus leaves town while Clayton is attacked on the street by Matt and his three brothers who have caught up with the fleeing lovers. With his youngest brother, Matt goes to Catherine's room, sits on her bed, and rolls a cigarette. The other two stay below shooting it out with Clayton. When Matthew hears an explosion--Clayton has found a box of dynamite sticks in the store into which he has sought refuge--he leaves Catherine in her room with his young brother who almost immediately attempts to rape Catherine. Clayton is shot in the leg but manages to get his horse and Matt's special rifle and ride out of town. Matt interrupts his wife's rape but says to his young brother, "Go ahead, boy. That's what whores are for. (Then addressing himself to Catherine) Get your clothes, you're going home"
Out on the trail, Clayton performs some surgery on his leg wound, extracting the bullet, and then falls asleep.
Meanwhile, the railroad men understanding that Clayton has not lived up to his part of the bargain, send two groups of gunmen to kill both Clayton and Matthew. Three of them attack Clayton in a whorehouse in which he has taken refuge. One shoots at Clayton through the window of his room, killing the young prostitute who is offering herself to Clayton, and Clayton shoots him through the same window. Clayton then shoots a second attacker through the door of his room, sending him over the railing to the floor below. The third attacker is dispatched by the whorehouse's madam, who seems to have a strong affection for Clayton as she smiles up at him while her pistol still smokes.
Meanwhile, Matthew with his surviving brothers heads home to his ranch with Catherine in tow as a sort of captive--she obviously would rather be with Clayton--unaware that the other bunch sent by the railroad managers to kill him is hiding there in ambush. Simultaneously, Clayton rides as fast as his horse will carry him following the trail of Matthew and Catherine. When Matt and his crew stop for the night, Matt begins to try to woo Catherine back, taking care to offer her a blanket, since the night, he promises, will be cold. The next morning he assures her he will never hurt her again and asks why she was unfaithful in the first place. She replies that she really doesn't know why, and they continue on their way home as Clayton continues on his way after them.
As Matthew and his brothers and Catherine approach the ranch, the gang lying in ambush shoots at them. Matthew's three brothers are killed but Matthew manages to gain some shelter in something like a foxhole with Catherine by his side. Soon Clayton makes his presence felt as he shoots and kills at least two of the ambushers from the hill above the ranch. The remaining two ambushers attempt to leave the ranch-house, one even trying to surrender, but Matt guns both down. After all the ambushers are dead, Matthew insists Clayton and he engage in a showdown. Clayton outdraws him, shooting Matt's gun from his hand, but refuses to kill him. Matt opines that "You ain't gonna last long, son. There ain't no soft-hearted gunfighters left." As Clayton prepares to leave, Catherine asks him, "What're you gonna do?" to which Clayton, true to his credo, replies, "That's my problem," and he rides off into his future without Catherine. Matthew and Catherine pack their wagon also preparing to leave. As they head up the hill away from the ranch, the camera reveals that Matthew has set fire to his house and barn. | western | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1260581 | Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980 | === Red Riding 1974 ===
Director: Julian Jarrold
Technique: 16 mm film with an aspect ratio of 16:9
Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Rating: 3.07m
1974. Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield) is a cocky and naïve cub reporter for The Yorkshire Post. John Dawson (Sean Bean) is an unscrupulous local real estate developer. Their paths cross when Dunford investigates a series of murdered or missing girls, one of whom is found on Dawson's property, tortured, raped, and strangled, with swan wings stitched into her back. Dawson has bought the help of the West Yorkshire Constabulary (WYC) and the local councillors, the latter allowing him to purchase land and gain permission for construction of a shopping centre. The Romani camp on the land is burned down, supposedly accidentally.
Dunford is spurred on by comments from people, including his friend Barry Gannon (Anthony Flanagan), the latter warned of trouble and then killed in an accident. An elusive male prostitute, B.J. (Robert Sheehan) passes incriminating materials gathered by Gannon about local officials. Dunford believes that during the investigation of Gannon's death he has found a friend in reform, a young police officer. Dunford also becomes romantically involved with a missing girl's mother, Paula Garland (Rebecca Hall). He also learns from her that she is both sexually involved with Dawson and has known him all her life.
Dunford ignores corrupt WYC officers' threats to lay off the story, including keeping away from Dawson's institutionalised wife. Despite being beaten twice, he continues, eventually being arrested and tortured after storming into Dawson's private house party. During the police interrogation, he is shown the dead body of Paula. The Gannon materials are passed to the officer he thought a friend but eventually they are given to Detective Superintendent Maurice Jobson (David Morrissey) who has them destroyed. After a last brutal torture by police officers, Tommy Douglas (Tony Mooney) and Bob Craven (Sean Harris) give Dunford a loaded gun to do their business and abandon him in a desolate area.
Bloody and frantic, Dunford seeks out Dawson at his house to no avail, instead finding him at his establishment – the Karachi Club. Two of his henchmen are shot; then he confronts Dawson about the murders. Dawson offers that he was "no angel" and that he had "a private weakness", implying that he is somehow connected to the murders and missing girls. Dunford shoots Dawson dead and flees south in his car, but reverses course when he finds himself chased by police cars, deliberately driving toward the pursuing police cars; a vision of Paula appears to him before his death in the ensuing collision.
=== Red Riding 1980 ===
Director: James Marsh
Technique: 35 mm film with an anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.35:1
Run time: 1 hour, 33 minutes
Rating: 1.99m
In 1980, following public outcry over the failure to catch the Yorkshire Ripper, a "squeaky clean" Manchester police detective, Assistant Chief Constable Peter Hunter (Paddy Considine), is assigned to travel to West Yorkshire to head the WYC investigation, much to the chagrin of the former head, Bill Molloy (Warren Clarke). Hunter had previously worked on the Karachi Club massacre, a case he had to abandon due to his wife Joan's miscarriage. One member of Hunter's new, hand-picked team is Helen Marshall (Maxine Peake), his former adulterous lover. The two cases – massacre and serial killings – are linked by Officer Bob Craven (Sean Harris), who behaves in an openly hostile manner to the new team. Hunter correctly deduces that the Ripper inquiry is being side-tracked by the Wearside Jack tapes, and feels that the real Ripper has been interviewed and missed.
Hunter suspects that one of the Ripper's supposed victims, Clare Strachan, was not actually a Ripper victim. Hunter receives information on the murder from B.J., who is introduced through Reverend Laws (Peter Mullan). B.J. claims that Strachan was a prostitute working for Eric Hall, a now-dead WYC policeman. Hall's wife requests that Hunter meet her, and after visiting her house – where Reverend Laws is also present – she provides Hunter with proof of Hall's work as a pimp and pornographer, and that she gave Hall's documents to Jobson. Jobson claims to have lost the files. Meanwhile, the former affair between Hunter and Marshall threatens to reignite.
Hunter interrogates Inspectors Dickie Alderman and Jim Prentice, who lets slip that the Strachan murder was probably performed by Hall, covered-up to look like a Ripper murder. Hunter also visits the now debilitated Tommy Douglas who later phones him demanding that they meet at his house. However, Hunter arrives to find Douglas and his daughter killed. Hunter is seriously intimidated when he receives covertly taken photos of himself and Marshall in compromising positions.
Near the end of Hunter's Christmas holiday, his Manchester house is burned down. Hunter then learns that his superiors have taken him off the Ripper case due to unspecified allegations of disciplinary breaches. He returns to West Yorkshire for a scheduled meeting with Jobson, but it appears, amid great fanfare, that the Yorkshire Ripper has been captured. The suspect confesses to all murders except that of Strachan, which he explicitly denies.
Hunter tracks down B.J. and forces him to reveal that five masked policemen burst into the Karachi Club minutes after Eddie Dunford's revenge, killing all civilian survivors and finding Bob Craven and Tommy Douglas wounded by Eddie. Strachan a waiter at the club, and her friend B.J. witnessed the whole scene while hiding behind the bar, and were spotted by Angus and Craven as they fled the premises. B.J. is, therefore, the only surviving witness of the Karachi Club massacre, which forces him to flee town. B.J. also implies that Craven was the murderer of Strachan.
Hunter returns to Millgarth Station, Leeds, to reveal this new information to Detective Chief Superintendent John Nolan (Tony Pitts). Nolan takes Hunter downstairs to the cells where Hunter enters to see Craven slouched back in a chair, shot through his head. He realises that Nolan was one of the five who took part in the Karachi Club shootings, but Nolan quickly shoots him dead. Alderman and Prentice plant the gun to make it look like Hunter and Craven shot each other. In a final scene, Joan Hunter is comforted by Reverend Laws at her husband's graveside.
=== Red Riding 1983 ===
Director: Anand Tucker
Technique: taped with a Red One digital camera
Run time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Rating: 2.05m
In 1983, Detective Inspector Maurice Jobson is plagued by guilt over his reluctant participation in the corrupt activities within the WYC. It is revealed that it was he who tipped off Dunford about the arson in the Roma camp near Hunslet, in which Jobson took part under pressure by Molloy. It is also revealed that the camp site had to be vacated to pursue a £100M joint investment between Dawson and the top echelons of the WYC (including Jobson, Molloy, Angus, Alderman, Prentice, Nolan, Douglas and Craven) on a project for a commercial center. It is also revealed that he knew about the innocence of Michael Myshkin (Daniel Mays), a mentally retarded man who was accused of the serial killings in 1974. Jobson is aware of a conspiracy within the WYC protecting high-profile figures, including Dawson, from public exposure. Jobson's pangs of conscience are brought upon by his investigation into the recent disappearance of a young girl named Hazel Atkins, and lead him to open previous cases. He also starts an intimate relationship with a medium (Saskia Reeves), who seems to be in possession of valuable information concerning the more recent crimes.
Meanwhile, John Piggott (Mark Addy), a solicitor and the son of a notorious WYC officer, decides to explore the Atkins case himself. His inquiries lead him to Leonard Cole (Gerard Kearns), the young man who found the swan-stitched victim in 1974 and who is now being framed for Atkins' disappearance. Cole is tortured and murdered by the police, his death disguised as a suicide. Using information given by Myshkin, Piggott finds a mine shaft hidden in a pigeon shed near Laws' home, where it is revealed that a paedophile and child-murdering ring was run in West Yorkshire by Reverend Laws, and that clients of this ring included significant figures of society, among them businessmen such as Dawson and policemen such as Piggott's own father.
It is implied that only when children with known, stable local families were abducted did the criminal structure run the risk of being made public. This was the main reason for the constables' indirect assistance in Dawson's demise, thereby solving the "two little problems" referred to by Angus (a nosy young journalist and a businessman with a dark secret) at the same time without compromising their million-pound investment on the commercial center. It is clear that, at least after 1974, Laws counted on the complicity and even direct collaboration of high-ranking officials in the WYC, although the extent of his grip on the police, the reasons why he did not share a fate similar to Dawson's and the degree of knowledge WYC brass had of his and Dawson's activities prior to 1974 are left open to speculation.
Finally, it is also revealed that B.J. was the first child abducted by this criminal enterprise, and perhaps the only one who survived. He ends up returning to Laws' home to enact revenge, but in the last moment finds himself unable to do so due to Laws' mind-numbing, domineering influence on him. Seconds before Laws is about to drill into B.J.'s head with an electrical drill, Jobson appears with a shotgun and shoots the reverend three times, killing him. He then opens the hidden entrance to the mine shaft just in time for Piggott to emerge from it with a still-living Hazel Atkins in his arms. B.J. flees southward by train, reflecting on his upbringing, his experiences, and his "escape" from the past of West Yorkshire. Thus three characters – Jobson, Piggott and B.J. — achieve some measure of redemption in the end. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0043953 | Rabbit Fire | Daffy Duck lures Elmer Fudd to Bugs Bunny's burrow, and watches from aside when Elmer attempts to shoot Bugs. But Bugs informs Elmer that it isn't rabbit season, but instead duck season. Daffy emerges, irate, and attempts to convince Elmer that Bugs is lying. Their conversation breaks down into Bugs leading Daffy to admit it is duck season by a number of verbal plays.
Once Daffy admits it is duck season, Elmer fires his shotgun at Daffy, causing the duck to suffer a temporary setback before he tries again. This repeats multiple times during the short, with Daffy trying different ploys to get Elmer to shoot Bugs, but Bugs continues to outwit him. After Daffy is shot for the third time, he walks away. Elmer tries to shoot him, but no more shells come out of his gun. Thrilled, Daffy comes back and grabs Elmer's gun to make sure, only to be shot with the last shell.
Daffy then sees a sign that Bugs has nailed to a tree saying "Duck Season Open". As he sees Elmer approaching, he disguises himself as Bugs, telling him that it's duck season. Bugs then appears disguised as Daffy, complete with webbed feet and fake bill, and asks Daffy why he thinks it's duck season. Daffy points at the tree where he previously saw the "Duck Season Open" sign. However, the sign nailed to that tree now reads "Rabbit Season Open", implying that Bugs replaced the signs. Elmer, of course, shoots Daffy. After Daffy gets blasted, he goes up to Bugs and says, "You're desthpicable!" The two walk away, getting out of their costumes as Daffy rants to Bugs how despicable he is. Ignoring Daffy, Bugs then begins to read duck recipes from a cookbook that he pulls out of his rabbit hole, and Daffy does the same with a rabbit recipe cookbook that he also pulls from the rabbit hole (though why Bugs is disturbingly keeping a rabbit recipe book in his own home is unknown and goes unquestioned). Elmer tells them he's a vegetarian and only hunts for the sport of it (although, in previous episodes, it has been stated that he was hunting Bugs for rabbit stew or the like). Outraged, Bugs gets in Elmer's face and claims, "Oh, yeah? Well, there's other sports besides huntin', ya know!" Daffy then offers to play tennis ("Anyone for tennis?"). Elmer blasts him again, tells Bugs that he's next, and then begins shooting and chases both of them all the way to the rabbit hole. Bugs comes out of his hole and accuses Elmer of "hunting rabbits with an elephant gun," suggesting Elmer to shoot an elephant instead. Just as Elmer is considering it, a huge elephant appears from literally nowhere, threatens Elmer in a Joe Besser voice ("You do and I'll give you such a pinch!"), and preemptively pounds him into the ground before striding off.
Elmer finally loses patience and decides to take out both Bugs and Daffy. Daffy comes into the scene, disguised as a hunting dog and Bugs comes in as a lady hunter. It appears that the outrage of Elmer hunting for sport rather than food has united both rabbit and duck against him. Elmer, however, sees through their disguise and threatens to shoot them. The cartoon climaxes when Bugs and Daffy argue by a tree with a sign that starts with the words "Rabbit Season." Bugs and Daffy continue to pull off the sign to alternatively reveal it is "Duck Season" or "Rabbit Season" until they hit a final sign, proclaiming it to be "Elmer Season." The tables turned, Elmer starts running and Bugs and Daffy, dressed as hunters, begin to stalk Elmer. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1538403 | The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones | New York City teenager Clary Fray begins seeing a strange symbol, worrying her mother Jocelyn Fray and her mother's friend Luke Garroway. Later, at a nightclub with her friend, Simon Lewis, Clary is the only person who sees Jace Wayland killing a man, who he claims is a demon. Meanwhile, Jocelyn is abducted by two men, Emil Pangborn and Samuel Blackwell, but she is able to call Clary and warn her about someone named Valentine. Jocelyn drinks a potion putting her in a comatose state. Returning home, Clary finds her mother missing and is then attacked by a demon. Clary kills it, and then Jace appears. Jace explains that he and her mother Jocelyn are both Shadowhunters (also called Nephilim), half human half angel warriors that slay demons and rule over the downworlders. Clary has inherited her powers, including the ability to use runes.
Madame Dorothea, the Fray's neighbor and a witch, deduces that Pangborn and Blackwell seek the Mortal Cup, one of the three Mortal Instruments given to the first Shadowhunter by the Angel Raziel. It allows normal humans to become half-Angel Shadowhunters. Simon, now able to see Jace, arrives and they go to Luke's bookstore. Pangborn and Blackhell are interrogating Luke there, who claims he cares nothing for Jocelyn and only wants the Mortal Cup. The trio escapes to the Shadowhunters' hideout, the Institute, where Clary and Simon meet two other Shadowhunters Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, and their leader, Hodge Starkweather. He reveals that Valentine Morgenstern, an ex-Shadowhunter who betrayed the Nephilim, now seeks the Mortal Cup to control both Shadowhunters and demons.
Hodge instructs Jace to take Clary to the City of Bones so the Silent Brothers can probe Clary's mind for the Mortal Cup's location. The Brothers uncover a connection to Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Bane says Jocelyn had him block the Shadowhunter world from Clary's mind. Vampires then kidnap Simon from Magnus' party for downworlders. Clary, Jace, Alec, and Isabelle trail them to their hideout and rescue him but are outnumbered. Werewolves (that share a truce with the Shadowhunters) intervene and save them. These are led by Luke.
At the Institute, Clary shares a romantic evening with Jace, ending in a kiss. When Simon confronts Clary about it, she downplays the incident, angering Jace. Simon confesses to Clary that he is in love with her, leaving her feeling guilty because she does not reciprocate his feelings.
Clary realizes the Mortal Cup is hidden inside one of Madame Dorothea's tarot cards that were painted by her mother. The group goes to Dorothea's apartment but she has been replaced by a demon sent to steal the Cup. Simon and Jace kill it, but Alec is critically wounded. Clary retrieves the Mortal Cup and they return to the institute.
Clary gives the Mortal Cup to Hodge who betrays them by summoning Valentine Morgenstern and giving him the cup. Valentine reveals he is Clary's father and wants her to join him. She escapes through a portal that transports her to Luke's bookstore. Luke, revealed to be a werewolf, confirms that Valentine is her father, and says Clary had an older brother named Jonathan who was killed. Luke and his werewolf pack return to the Institute with Clary to fight Valentine, who has summoned an army of demons through a portal he created. Simon and Isabelle close the portal with help from a repentant Hodge, who sacrifices himself. Meanwhile, Magnus Bane arrives and heals Alec.
Clary and Jace fight Valentine, who claims both are his children. They refuse to join him and, following a battle, Clary pushes him through the portal after giving him a fake Mortal Cup. The portal is destroyed, and Jocelyn is rescued, but she remains in a coma at the hospital. Clary tells Simon that someday someone will love him. Clary heads back home and uses her new-found powers to repair the apartment. Jace appears on his motorcycle, confessing he needs her and wants her to return to the Institute. Realizing that she belongs in the Shadowhunter world, she goes with him and they ride into the distance. | fantasy, gothic, murder, violence, flashback, good versus evil, psychedelic, revenge | train | wikipedia | We could tell that Simon was nerdy, Isabelle liked slutty clothes and fighting, Valentine was evil, Hodge was sketchy, Luke was some kind of family friend (why, who knows?) and Jace was the standard romantic lead with a penchant for sappy lines and rescuing Clary.
The movie had changes in it that ruptured the foundation of the book and a lot of what it stands for, ruining the ingenuity of the plot and the world that Clare built which had me so enraptured from the beginning.
I went into this movie as open-minded as possible knowing that there were some changes made to the film.Firstly, several reviews, both good and bad, had issues with the pacing.
Parts of it did come off a bit cheesy, but overall it did not overpower the movie like I thought it was.I really enjoyed the action sequences.
Many reviewers were adamant that it kept to the book most of the time, but I would say it was a pretty even mix.Like most fans I had a certain idea how some scenes or characters would be and I felt a little let down because characters weren't how I imagined or expected them.
There are a lot of good elements going on here and a lot of decent acting from people I least expected it given the time they had to actually develop the characters.
I went to see this movie the other day and since I'm a big fan of the books I was all so excited to actually be able to see my fantasy on the big screen.
In conclusion, I really think that the books had good potential for becoming a movie without changing everything, which unfortunately happened.(Read the books, they are amazing.
It's has real action, solid acting, good cinematography, and dwells more on the storyline then romance.Having never read the Mortal Instruments books, I was a little leery of seeing the movie and being totally lost.
for frag sake, you would think with the quality cast in the film it would at least entertain.now, i like movies.
Since the success of films like Harry Potter and Twilight, film studios have been looking for the next young adult book series to adapt.
With five books already out and a sixth on the way, The Mortal Instruments is latest series to diving into a cinematic adaptation, being more fantasy, than supernatural romance.Clary Fray (Lily Collins) is a seemingly normal New York teenager, who lives with her artistic single mother, Jocelyn (Lena Headey).
Valentine (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is looking for the lost Mortal Cup that can create more Shadowhunters.To get the Twilight comparisons out of the way, yes there is a love triangle and a teenage girl has a romance with a supernatural creature.
But despite all this, death is kept to a minimum.While The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones does have Judo-Christian iconography with its use of angel statutes and paintings, this is a film that actually side-steps being be a Christian, saying all religions are valid and avoids any mention of God or the afterlife.The acting for the most part is decent enough, though the dialogue is predictable and a little clichéd at times.
Yet, the demons near the end of the film does have a cool, glowing effort and have a similar look to Kronos' minions in Wrath of the Titans.The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has been have a torrid time with mainstream critics, but in all honesty, it is a perfectly serviceable fantasy adventure that is better to the Twilight series it has been compared to and will please fans of the novels.Please visit www.entertainmentfuse.com.
Story line: The story in this film is all very cramped together as the book was quite big so i think the screenwriter done a good job fitting it all in the 2 hours.
(Don't ask me how I know how it felt.) But, I was determined not to judge a book by it's movie (ha!), and went to see City of Bones last night.
Cons: - I've read that a considerable amount of the book was cut from the movie, simply because it was impossible to fit everything into a 2-hour film.
I feel like whatever was cut from the book would have made a better 2 hours of movie.
Total movie: 90/100 Acting: 80/100 Effects: 80/100 Book Changes: 80/100 Awesome Level: 100/100Not really any spoilers, just the mention of changes, and certain scenes.
It's nothing we ever have seen before, being a fan of a lot of YA novels and movies, (and have repeatedly read and watched them) so I know whats what.
WHO WILL LIKE THIS MOVIE: I was with my mom, who has not read the books at all, and she loved it.
So I recommend this movie to ANYONE who likes fantasy films, that have action, good acting, love, and a little bit of scary.
I have not read the books , I hadn't even heard of them so I went to see this with a very open mind , but this is just a very poor film , badly adapted , not very well acted and all the special effects can not make up for what is just a turkey of a film , I didn't engage with any of the characters which left me not caring what happened to them , and i just ended up looking at my watch to see how long it was till it finished !
I believe these people wanted to make another hit like Harry Potter or a better version of Twilight, but City of Bones turns out to be another one of those movies that thinks it's epic to just show stuff that people don't see everyday, sit down, explain, fight, sit down, do the same thing until it reaches the climax.
Lily Collins who plays Clary, wow she looking so beautiful in this film & a brilliantly done performance from her with her character as she really shows motion & believable character as she come to term with her destiny as a shadow hunter when she see things that go beyond reality.Like I said before this film is visually stunning with special effect & concept, the special effect on the face change was brilliant don't to show a dark horror tone to the demons as well as the beauty of the garden at midnight.
Loved the books and really enjoyed the film, if you like twilight / potter and these kind of fantasy films then this is defiantly worth a watch or read...
The rest of the plot is explained well, can be understood without the book.The look of the movie was great.
A romance story is fired up right away as well, between Clary and this guy Jonathan with the cool sticky hair and silky British voice, and the two seem a little naive in that they don't pick up on each other's signals, but I guess that takes some life experience.The story is very simple, utilizing all the expected elements of the genre, but does manage to keep them fairly fresh, and the plot has sufficient twists to stay interesting, although most of them have only minor impact on later turns of events.
The love scenes are ridiculous, the fight scenes don't make sense, the magical scenes either (check out the one when they battle demons, she freezes them up, and then they try to move around them rather than just kill them like they would do just a few seconds later when the demons unfreeze) and some of the roles in the movie are really confusing, like the one of the great warlock that seems to know all, appear out of nowhere when you need him and everybody trusts him.The acting wasn't bad, but the direction and individual scenes were clumsy and sometimes outright bad.
The dotter, Clary (Lily Collins, the good Snow White from the bad Snow White movie), and her mom, Jocelyn (Lena Headey from Game of Thrones, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and the under-appreciated The Purge) are perfectly fine, tho Jocelyn gets to spend much of the film doing her Sleeping Beauty impersonation.
It has a few good action scenes, and an interesting wrinkle or 2 in the plot line, but it suffers from the same problem that all these supernatural/demigod films do, which is trying to explain the motives of the bad guys, other than just, well, that's the way villains are supposed to behave.
For the most part it was true to the book, the acting was outstanding (especially from Jamie Campbell and Robert Sheehan), and the effecting were stunning.The movie also had a lot of action and special effects which made it fun to watch.
Not every book to movie is imitating Harry Potter and the film adaptions of Twilight sucked.
Now, I'm in my mid-20's and probably not the audience this book was intended for, but I still found the series enjoyable and easy to read, although it was a strange mish-mash of Twilight and Harry Potter at times.
All other characters were very hard to get invested in, which is sad because Lena Headey is great in Game of Thrones!As for the story line, if you haven't read the books or some sort of plot summary, don't bother.
And as for book readers, prepare to be frustrated at the way the studio tried to dumb down the plot (notably with the Jace/Clary dilemma), as they spoil one of the major series plot twists right in the first movie.The worst part was that I was actually embarrassed watching some of the romance scenes.
Hot on the heels of movies based off bestselling young adult books such as the Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games comes the film adaptation of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, the first of six books in Cassandra Clare's urban fantasy series.
It is a great movie with awesome special effects, and you do not have to read the book in order to understand what is happening.
Went to see this film despite some not so good reviews and also after reading the books.
i never write reviews but seeing all the bad reviews i was worried that it would harm the sequel's chances of coming to film - though it still seems to be good to go.i haven't read this book nor have i even heard of it.
Other characters just pop up when needed, making me think they had action figures to sell, rather than a use for the story.The action was okay, but there was far too much love triangle for my liking and jokes that I've heard before.
My husband, sister, and her fiancé had not read the books and they too felt like it was an amazing movie.
For those of you who didn't read the book, City of Bones, this movie may seem a bit confusing to you.
Certainly they had to cut things out of the nearly 500 page novel, but some key moments are simply touched upon with a line or two, making the movie a bit confusing at times.
I especially loved all the quirky comments made by Jace.The ending was very different from the books, but we will see how they tie that all together in the 2nd one - which hopefully gets produced since this movie has a bit of a rocky start.All in all, I really liked it and will be buying it as soon as it's released!
They have eliminated certain things from the book that are childish, giving more maturity.The film has had some very harsh critics and after seeing the movie, I don't understand it.
"The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" is a movie with good cast and top-notch special effects.
The Mortal Instruments City of Bones was adapted from a novel like many of the contemporary fantasy films of late.
I don't know what was worse: gaping at the screen in shock and disgust because the cast couldn't get one single thing right, or not understanding what the hell is going on because some of the key things from the book are left out in the movie.
At times, some random info just pops up as if everyone who's watching the movie has read the book.
Fans of the book series may enjoy this movie, as well as people who like to look at "pretty" people emote.
When I heard there was going to be a movie about City Of Bones I thought how the hec will they manage that when the plot line in the books take forever to get into?
The books were good but the movie was better that is my honest opinion.I fully recommend going and seeing it - and people who have read the book I advise keep an open mind, don't be overly critical, and enjoy it for what it is..
I wanted them to take a bit more time explaining things better.I still like the overall story and plot.
Based on Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instrument series which I have read the film centers on the plot line in the first book the least good one in my opinion, As a young woman Clary whom discovers her hidden birth right when her mother is contacted.
How after reading the books can any of you say this movie was good?
Compared to many other young adult books turned to movies, this one kept my interest through the whole thing and had good, if marginally hormonal characters.
I have not read the book, but my wife has and it encouraged her to read the whole series again, which happened to be sold out at every bookstore she went to as well as Amazon, which reinforces that lots of people are liking it, except the critics who did not give it great reviews.
I realize no movie can ever compare to a book however others have managed to stay true to the story at least the main plot lines, characters and ideas.
Together they must fight Valentine, save Clary's mother, and protect The Mortal Cup (one of the three Mortal Instruments).I actually found the movie to be much more engaging than the book.
I do think that there were times when the comic relief got to be a bit too much, the same goes for the extremely cheesy moments when it came to the love story subplot.Overall it was a fun film and a very good adaption of the first book in the popular series..
I will re- read the books because they are good but you will not see me at the sequel to this terrible movie!.
As someone who has read the book I'm probably more than a little biased, but I really liked the movie.
I gave this film a 2/10 instead of a zero for the following reasons: -The demon dog was pretty freaking badass -It featured a song by Zedd (even though it was so out of place and just felt dumped in, especially when it transitioned back to the original soundtrack)Thats all i have to say maybe i needed to have read the books but this is one to steer clear of.P.s did anybody else think Simon was going to turn into a angel?
Her mother goes missing and she joins a group of other Shadowhunters who battle demons in a world filled with warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other dark creatures.If you haven't read the books like me, the movie feels like one long quiz.
There's no possible way a movie, limited to a certain time length can compare to a book, especially a series of books.I've read many (young) reviews, and viewed things quite differently.
Have to watch it several times just in order to catch every little detail....and there are a ton.I look forward to the next movie in the series ..and look forward to reading the books as well..
I liked it so much and wanted to know what would happen to these characters that I went online and purchased the first three books, all of which I finished reading under a week.
If you enjoy YA movies you might like this, I did.I can understand how some of the characters are not as you might have imagined them to be if you read the books first but I think overall they did a good job.
If they're going to attempt to turn this into the next big saga, they need to do a lot better, since this is clearly not the best example of a good movie adaptation; it's a mix of things we've seen before, with a couple of fresh notes, but that end up being eclipsed by unnecessary scenes and situations.
I might be a little biased because of how much I liked the book, but this movie is just terrible.
The Mortal Instruments City of Bones is also a bad movie, because it loses many of the themes from the book.
If you're expecting the movie to be like the book, then you'll be disappointed after ten minutes.
I'm missing some of it and I could also go without a lot of stuff they put in the movie.OK, if I'm not comparing it to the book anymore - it's like a mix-up of Harry Potter and the Twilight Saga.
I know what bad movies look like and this is not one of them!!!!!
So when I went to watch the movie in theatres I was honestly very happy with the results.Obviously not everything was perfect like the book, but the story held together and it was entertaining.
Read all the books in the Mortal Instruments series before I saw the film so I knew what to expect, and I must say it was by far better than I expected.
A Movie Different From the Book But Just as Good.
I honestly really liked the movie, but was the book better?
The overbearing music mixed with the missing story line made it feel like I was watching a trailer for the movie rather than the actual thing. |
tt0051913 | The Matchmaker | Marcy Tizard (Janeane Garofalo) is assistant to Senator John McGlory (Jay O. Sanders) from Boston, Massachusetts. In an attempt to court the Irish-American vote in a tough reelection battle, the bumbling senator's chief of staff, Nick (Denis Leary), sends Marcy to Ireland to find McGlory's relatives or ancestors.
Marcy arrives at the fictional village of Ballinagra (Irish: Baile na Grá, literally the Town of Love) as it is preparing for the annual matchmaking festival. She attracts the attention of two rival professional matchmakers, Dermot (Milo O'Shea) and Millie (Rosaleen Linehan), as well as roguish bartender Sean (David O'Hara).
The locals tolerate her genealogical search while trying to match her with various bachelors. Sean tries to woo Marcy despite her resistance to his boorish manners. After they have begun their romance, they return home to Sean's house one afternoon to find his estranged wife Moira (Saffron Burrows) waiting for them. Marcy leaves Sean, upset that he did not disclose his marriage to her.
McGlory and Nick arrive in Ballinagra, although Marcy's been unable to locate any McGlory relatives. McGlory discovers Sean's wife's maiden name is Kennedy and brings her back to Boston as his fiancée just in time for the election, and wins by a small margin. While at the victory party, McGlory's father (Robert Mandan) reveals privately to Marcy that the family is Hungarian, not Irish. The family name had been changed at Ellis Island when they immigrated, but as they settled in Boston with its large Irish population, he never told his son their true lineage.
Sean follows Marcy to Boston, and they reconcile. | romantic | train | wikipedia | What to do, especially since his young clerk Cornelius Hackl has eyes for her also.Shirley Booth who originated many parts on the Broadway stage, but had few screen credits up to that time takes over the role that Ruth Gordon played on stage in the 1955-1957 season for 481 performances.
Another Shirley named MacLaine with few screen credits at that point to her name plays young Irene.
He looked a lot like Edgar Kennedy, but his boiling point was always quickly reached.Anthony Perkins who really did other things besides Norman Bates in Psycho is just fine as the wistful young clerk at Ford's mercantile and he's partnered in his adventures by young Robert Morse who repeated his stage role as Barnaby Tucker.Of course most know The Matchmaker as the basis for Hello Dolly and seeing it now is like seeing Shaw's Pygmalion which for better or worse is now known as My Fair Lady without the songs.
The picture is perfectly cast, with the peerless (though by now, nearly forgotten) Shirley Booth as a sly but gentle, voracious but sweet, determined yet vulnerable Dolly.
Everything about this film is so sweet and Shirley Booth gives a performance that is just hilarious.
I wonder what "Hello Dolly" would have been like if they gave the part to Shirley Booth?.
"Hello, Dolly!", that marvelously overblown, elephantine 1969 movie musical starring Barbra Streisand, can trace its cinematic origins to this charming film, which, in its stage incarnation, had enjoyed a successful Broadway run a few years before.Paramount wisely employed the inimitable Shirley Booth to head the cast and, perhaps since she was no guarantee of big box office, despite her Academy Award for "Come Back, Little Sheba" (1952), they filmed it in VistaVision but not Technicolor.
His wonderfully humorous Horace Vandergelder makes one wish he'd been allowed to play the role again opposite Streisand (though, to be sure, he would have appeared to be much too old for Barbra, who was only twenty-seven years old when Twentieth practically bankrupted itself filming that monumentally successful Broadway bonanza.)Anyway, this version is genuinely charming and always repays a re-viewing.
The costumes are superb, the timing is excellent.One thing I must mention here though is, that although I also consider Barbra Streisand a great talent, she seemed to be more or less mis-cast in the role in "Hello Dolly." She merely played herself.
He had written it for Broadway in the fifties, it was filmed in 58 in this version, and Jerry Herman must have seen it and fallen in love with it for the musical "Hello, Dolly!".
The film version of the musical is dreadfully over danced and Streisand was way too young for the lead role.
Shirley Booth, here in this "Matchmaker", is much closer, in a way to Channing's Dolly of Broadway.
Some of Thornton Wilder's ironies about love and money get mangled in the dumbing-down of his stage material, and the theatrical conceits (characters constantly breaking down the fourth wall) probably worked better in the legit theater.
Anthony Perkins and Shirley MacLaine are young love personified; I'm not sure either of them was ever this appealing again.
"Matchmaker" is a good enough movie, but "Dolly" really sings (even when there's no music)..
Thornton Wilder's play about a matchmaking busy-body named Dolly Levi in 1880s Yonkers, New York who has been hired to find a mate for a wealthy, grumpy business owner; she comically attempts to keep him for herself, while the gal he admires is quickly falling for one of his own employees.
The later stage (and film) musical "Hello, Dolly!" actually improved upon this scenario--there are pauses here which practically call out for a song--but there's evident charm in Shirley Booth's lead portrayal; at times addressing the audience directly (with many of the players following suit), Booth sounds a lot like Thelma Ritter (and has some of Ritter's spunk), but she doesn't get her share of the good lines.
Scenes of Dolly getting a wedding ring stuck on her finger or delightedly finding men hiding in Shirley MacLaine's hat shop don't really come off.
Booth is friendly but frivolous, and we never quite become involved in her quest to have a man--this man--in her life (in the film-version of "Hello, Dolly!", Barbra Streisand was much more persuasive about her need to share her life with a mate--even if it was Walter Matthau!).
The film flutters about in a jolly, folksy way, but some of its gags (such as Anthony Perkins and Robert Morse having to dress in drag) are just silly.
It attracted the attention of Hollywood, and in 1958 it became a vehicle for Tony and Academy Award-winning actress Shirley Booth.The film version alters Wilder's script quite a bit, and not always for the better, occasionally over-reaching itself in a grab for broad farce; all the same, it does manage to capture the innate charm of the original.
Memorable character actors Paul Ford, Perry Wilson, and Wallace Ford; rising stars Anthony Perkins and Shirley MacLaine; and even a very young Robert Morse.
Miserly businessman Horace Vandergelder (Paul Ford) is eager to marry and employs professional busy-body Dolly Levi (Shirley Booth) to fix him up--but when he takes the day off to visit prospective bride Irene Malloy (MacLaine) his two clerks (Perkins and Morse) follow suit.
A series of chance encounters bring all concerned together--and with a little not-so-gentle nudging from Dolly, Vandergelder makes the discovery that the matchmaker herself is his own perfect match.
If all this sounds a bit familiar, it should, for THE MATCHMAKER had yet another, slightly later incarnation: with music by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart, it became HELLO, DOLLY!, one of Broadway's most celebrated musicals, which itself reached the screen in 1969.There is nothing in the way of bonus materials--a tremendous pity given the astonishing cast--but the DVD does offer the film in near-pristine transfer, and while THE MATCHMAKER doesn't quite rise to the level of the stage play's spark, it is nonetheless a gentle, amusing, and extremely well performed film, an overlooked gem from late-1950s Hollywood.GFT, Amazon Reviewer.
This a great film with outstanding actors and is a take off on, "Hello Dolly".
Shirley Booth, (Dolly Gallgher Levi) plays the role as a matchmaker who is always broke but manages to get by one way or the other.
Dolly has her eyes set on Horace Vandergelder, (Paul Ford) who is a very rich man and is very tight with his money and pays horrible wages to his employees at his General Store.
This story takes place in Yonkers, N.Y. in the 1800's, and one day, Dolly decides to find a young girl for Horace in New York City who sells ladies hats and is very pretty.
This is a very romantic and great comedy from 1958 and Paul Ford and Shirley Booth give outstanding performances, don't miss seeing this film..
The entire cast is great, particularly Shirley Booth and Anthony Perkins.
The basic premise: Shirley Booth is a professional matchmaker who decides she wants to marry her latest client (Paul Ford) herself.
Meanwhile, Anthony Perkins is interested in Shirley MacLaine, who is simply interested in getting married.
I loved the way Dolly Levi was such a fun persuading money loving woman who you can't resist to like.
One of my favorite Shirley Booth films and it has several other favorite stars of mine including Anthony Perkins and the GREAT Shirley MacLaine!
The film is the original story which the famous musical Hello Dolly!
The young couple is played by Shirley MacLaine and a pre-Psycho Anthony Perkins.
They're both adorable and perfect as the proverbial "romantic leads" in a theatrical (The Matchmaker was first produced on the stage, just like the musical).Yes, it doesn't have the dancing and splendor of a colorized film, but I like it much better than the musical.
Paul Ford provides a fine "old geezer" foil, and a young Shirley MacLaine matches the men gag for gag.Director Anthony's early career as a dancer/choreographer and his extensive credits as a Broadway director have prepared him well to handle the farcical demands of this stylish screenplay.
When I saw Hello Dolly, it was love at first sight, along with a lot of other people.
If you're going to pick on age, I think it's more like Shirley Booth seemed too old for the part.
New York matchmaker Shirley Booth (as Dolly Gallagher Levi) is assigned to pick a mate for wealthy old gentleman Paul Ford (as Horace Vandergelder); but, Ms. Booth decides she wants him for herself.
Meanwhile, Anthony Perkins (as Cornelius Hackl), who works for Mr. Ford, falls for young Shirley MacLaine (as Irene Molloy).
For example, the characters "speaking to the camera" becomes tiresome, after Booth's charming opening.One thing filmmakers wisely kept was actor Robert Morse (as Barnaby Tucker), who essayed the role on stage, alongside Arthur Hill.
If the film were better received, Morse might have been considered for a "Best Supporting Actor" award."The Matchmaker" returned, to both stage and film, as "Hello, Dolly!".
It's the first time for me, and while watching it, I saw that it is almost the same script as Hello Dolly!
I don't like every musical either, but Hello Dolly!
Long ago eclipsed by it's musical version "Hello, Dolly!", the film seems like an introduction to the songs (particularly in the earlier part) which never come.
As played by Shirley Booth, she is hardly the miscast young diva Barbra Streisand was.The character of Malachi Stack, perhaps a sort of cousin of Alfred P.
And Ambrose and Ermengarde are also nowhere to be found.The play by Thornton Wilder is itself based on his own "The Merchant of Yonkers" which itself was based on earlier (early to mid-19th century) plays by the Austrian Johann Nestroy and the, even earlier, British John Oxenford.The film, I think unwisely, has many of the characters directly addressing the audience and no doubt this worked better in the theater.
Perkins, here a considerable improvement over Michael Crawford as Cornelius, could have done the songs not much worse (He did sing on the Broadway stage in the short-running 1960 musical "Greenwillow", but none too well.).
I think Marianne McAndrew and Danny Lockin were fine as Irene and Barnaby.I think this film, for all its problems, is a considerable improvement over that of "Hello, Dolly!" but it is hoped that a decent version of the musical becomes available in the not-too-distant future..
It is the first film version of the play by Thornton Wilder that was made into the musical smash HELLO, DOllY!.
It is also one of the too few movies made by Shirley Booth in the 1950s after she won the Oscar for Best Actress, and gives her versatility a chance to shine with COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA and ABOUT MRS.
Booth usually was in movie dramas, and this is a rare chance to see her handle a comedy.This version sticks closer to Wilder's original version of THE MATCHMAKER, for there were more "Strange Interlude" style asides by the various characters talking to the audience.
The only major change is in what would be the concluding act of the play: Wilder had Vandergelder's niece Ernestine run off with Ambrose (and followed by Cornelius, Irene, Barnaby, and Minnie - and then Dolly and Horace) from the Harmonium Gardens to Vandergelder's sister's home in Manhattan.
Her loss from the movie is no loss.Little bits of biography about Dolly and Horace are in this version and not in the musical.
Even at the end of the film he is telling the audience to save their money.Anthony Perkins normally did not appear in comedies, but he is Cornelius here - opposite Shirley MacLaine as Irene.
Ford makes us like this kindly wreck of a man, who ends up beating his new boss as well as the others do.Lines of dialog in the film make us realize we are hearing song cues (MacLaine mentioning how ribbons on a hat are the in-thing this year is an example).
I just love this movie, and especially Shirley Booth in the lead roll of Dolly Levi.
Once I saw "The Matchmaker", "Hello Dolly" took the backseat to the movie and has stayed there since.
Streisand was TOO YOUNG for the role of Dolly Levi.
But in "The Matchmaker" -- Shirley Booth is incredible as the constantly meddling, good hearted, slightly nosy, overbearing at times, loving widowed woman, trying to find a living for herself in an age where middle aged women really didn't have many options.
Filmed before either Shirley MacLaine or Anthony Perkins had become established, this film doesn't feature a really big star.
Simply put, I would have been more involved with the character of Dolly (and the other characters) had she been presented as "real" and not just a character within a play.Nonetheless, this is a highly entertaining film, superior to the succeeding musical versions of the story, and a better adaptation of Thornton Wilder than Our Town.
Shirley Booth makes and excellent Dolly, as does Shirley MacLaine as Irene.
Paul Ford, while he did a wonderful job as Horace, he will always be Mayor Shinn, from The Music Man, to me.Anyway, every Perkins fan needs to see this movie!
(Considering that "The Matchmaker" was an updated variation of "A Trip to Chinatown").Like another Jerry Herman musical ("Mame"), "Hello, Dolly!" was based upon a hit Broadway play that was later musicalized.
And like the original "Auntie Mame", the movie version of "The Matchmaker" (the Thornton Wilder play upon which "Dolly" was based) was released in 1958.
And Cornelius Hackl (Anthony Perkins) says at the very beginning as he is planning a trip to Manhattan with Barnaby (Robert Morse) that even if they come back broke, at least they can remember that once they had a very good day, which in the musical Cornelius says later in the story.
Each of these incidents in the musical leads to a song, and if you know "Dolly" well, you might find yourself humming them at the non-musical version, a delightful comedy that shows Manhattan at a much different time when life may not have been totally smooth, but certainly not as complex as New York City is today."Auntie Mame", the movie, saluted its stage origins by having a blackout in between the important scenes to represent the end of an act.
In "The Matchmaker", the stage origins are saluted by having the characters break the third wall and talk to the audience directly.
While the basic structure is the same as the musical, there are some slight differences, changed for dramatic content when Michael Stewart wrote the book in the early 60's for the long-running Broadway version.Shirley Booth had been playing only dramatic parts in movies ("Come Back Little Sheba", "About Mrs. Leslie") when she made this, a pre-cursor to her television role as the housekeeper "Hazel".
While Ruth Gordon originated the role of Dolly in "The Matchmaker" on Broadway, Booth was a perfect choice for the movie, and I can't imagine it without her as wonderful and cheery as she is here.Shirley MacLaine, who would play Booth's daughter in the same year's "Hot Spell", brings in all her growing comic tricks as Irene Malloy, and steals the scene where Cornelius and Barnaby hide under the table and in the closet of her hat shop, as well as the later scene in the Harmonia Gardens restaurant.
Paul Ford, so utterly irascible as the mayor in "The Music Man", was a perfect Horace Vandergelder.
In an ironic twist of trivia, character actor David Burns, then on the Broadway as the mayor in "The Music Man", would later play Vandergelder in "Hello, Dolly!".Tall and lanky Anthony Perkins is handsome and graceful as the shy Cornelius who longs to come to life, while future Broadway leading man Robert Morse is perfect as his puppy like sidekick Barnaby.
Disappointing film despite the all-star cast of Shirley Booth, as Dolly Gallagher Levi, Paul Ford as Horace Vandergelder, Anthony Perkins, Shirley Mac Laine and Robert Morse in important supporting parts.Miss Booth acts more like she is getting prepared for her television role in "Hazel." I expected Mr. B and his family to appear at any moment.
She sheds her blouse wife image from her Oscar-winning performance in "Come Back, Little Sheba" and substitutes a match making woman who now wants to remarry and turns her attention to the tightwad Vandergelder, who is played well by Paul Ford.Coming off his Oscar nominated performance in "Friendly Persuasion," the year before, Perkins is charming but lacks the comic wit of the role.
This is the same year that MacLaine received a best actress nomination for "Some Came Running." She was fabulous there, but in this film she lacks comic timing.
The Matchmaker is an excellent play by a serious playwright; Hello, Dolly is a cheesy schtick, an excuse for a musical perpetrated by the felon also responsible for MAIM (oops, Mame).
Shirley Booth is a multiple Tony-winning stage actress and star who is marvelous as always; Barbra Streisand, years too young for this part, plays herself as she always does, speaking of unbearable schticks.
And, okay, maybe sometimes it's a little TOO cute but it's still an awful lot of family fun, filled to bursting with innocence and apothegms.Anthony Perkins and Robert Morse are two young clerks in the Yonkers store that belongs to Paul Ford in 1884.
This was before Son of Sam.He's a skinflint alright but, like Scrooge, he's completely undone and made to see the error of his ways in a kind of epiphany, by three agents: MacLaine, Perkins, and Shirley Booth as the matchmaker whom he winds up marrying.
The two most interesting characters are Paul Ford as Horace Vandergelder, who would be a Master of the Universe if the universe were limited to Yonkers in 1884, and Booth as the manipulative and sneaky, but very wise, middle-aged woman who holds the play together. |
tt0086443 | Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann | Lyle Swann (Fred Ward) is a well-known dirt bike motorcycle racer who is in the desert competing in the Baja 1000, a multiclass vehicle cross-country race. Swann has a reputation for being a great rider but is plagued by technical problems from the high-tech gadgetry he incorporates into his C and J framed XT500 Yamaha. When Swann accidentally goes far off course, he stumbles across a time travel experiment that utilizes "maser velocity acceleration" to send objects (in this case, a simian subject by the name of Esther G.) back in time.
Swann rides through the field and gets sent back to November 5, 1877. The scientists in charge of the experiment soon realize what has happened, but Swann rides off, unaware of what has happened to him, before he can be returned to the present. While taking a swim break in a local pond, he runs into a gang of outlaws led by Porter Reese (Peter Coyote). Reese becomes obsessed with stealing Swann's motorcycle, and the outlaws pursue Swann into the small village of San Marcos, but his red suit and dirtbike scare the local Mexicans, who think he is the Devil or 'El Diablo' (Spanish for 'The Devil').
There, he meets a beautiful woman, Claire Cygne (Belinda Bauer), who gives him a safe place to hide, and who severely wounds one of Reese's men Carl Dorsett (Tracey Walter). The village priest (Ed Lauter) compels them to withdraw, but Reese continues to plot the capture of Swann's dirtbike. In the village, Swann is seduced by Claire and sleeps with her, but she is later kidnapped by Reese's henchman Claude Dorsett (Richard Masur) as revenge for her shooting and wounding his brother Carl.
They also manage to capture the dirtbike, leading to a series of hijinks, while Swann gets help from a posse of two U.S. Marshalls, Ben Potter and Daniels (L. Q. Jones, Chris Mulkey) who are trying to capture or kill the gang. Potter has a personal vengeance against Reese, for Reese killed Potter's son two years previously. Swann manages to retrieve his dirtbike and rescue Claire. Potter is killed by Reese in an ambush, and his 2nd, Daniels, is mortally wounded and dies later.
In a final showdown, Reese's band of outlaws faces Swann, the last survivor of the posse, and Claire atop a plateau. When a helicopter shows up (sent by the builders of the time travel experiment to take Swann home), Reese's men run away in fear, but Reese stays behind and fires at the helicopter, killing or wounding one of the pilots. The helicopter begins spinning wildly as the co-pilot tries to maintain control, knocking the dirtbike off the side of the plateau. Reese is killed by the helicopter's tail rotor. The helicopter manages to land on the plateau and extract Swann.
Just as the helicopter pulls away, Claire snatches a pendant from Swann's neck that was handed down from his great-great-grandmother, who had stolen it from his great-great grandfather as a reminder of "one incredible night they had together." Swann realizes that he is his own great-great-grandfather. | cult, revenge | train | wikipedia | If you plan to see the movie (and I recommend you do), do not read the rest of this.Both Gene and Roger felt that the title character seemed stupid in that he didn't understand what had happened (i.e. that he went back in time) until the very end.
I loved every minute of it, when HBO showed Timerider, I watched it everytime like I see it the first time, it perfectly fit my interest in motorcycles, it was funny (poor old guy), endless enjoy watching it, Years after, I was searching to get this movie, had hard time to find it, and I bought it on a used video tape for $70 bucks, later I find it on DVD, I bought that too.
I love time travel films, but there are two that disappoint me, this one and "Return to the Future".
This one was absolutely corny and I think primarily designed for American Motor Cycle enthousiasts ( the film is not even known in Europe and hasn't appeared on VHS or DVD ).
All time travel film is of course fantasy, but the story of this one is too corny.
Throughout almost all the film the bike rider doesn't even realise he has crossed time and the villagers, apart from being fascinated by his machine, don't understand where he has come from.
A guy on a motorcycle in the desert gets accidentally catapulted back in time by an experiment, and is himself unaware that this has happened.I liked the people of the 19th Century town, and the chemistry between Lyle Swan (Fred Ward) and the local beauty there (Belinda Bauer) is a plus.
The same jokes about futuristic marvels that he shows the astonished people get thin pretty fast, and some of the same dialog, like "Where's my bike?!?" even repeats.There's only one common thread running through the story that has any meaning as far as the impact of time travel adventure goes, and if you blink, even that will zip by.
I later discovered that Michael Nesmith (of The Monkeys fame) wrote the music as well as had some involvement with the production of the movie.The sound is pure 80's with the punchy and familiar distorted electric guitar.
Fred Ward deserves more attention as an actor...he did a great and believable job in this movie!
Some good ideas just get lost in the time/space continuum.Look at "Timerider".
Great idea (moto-cross racer Ward inadvertently rides through a time travel experiment that lands him back in the Old West, circa 1870), but once Ward comes upon an Old West town, that's where things kind of slow down to a crawl.
A gang of cowboys shoot at a revving motorcycle, they think Ward in all his moto-cross gear is some kind of demon and no one knows what an Exxon station is.
Thank goodness for pros like Coyote, Masur, Lauter and Walter; they help keep things lively and interesting for a while.
My favorite Fred Ward movie is Remo Williams:The Adventure Begins.
I don't know why I haven't caught him in anything since, but I certainly enjoyed that period of his career.I really enjoy time travel movies.
When I watched this, I had just finished another time travel film with William Devane and Lauren Hutton (Timestalkers).
Not first quality, but interesting nonetheless.This one starts off with Swann (Ward) getting caught in a time travel test and being shot back to 1877 with his motorcycle and full gear.
You can imagine the impact that had on an old Mexican.Swann spends his time trying to figure out where he is, while he tries to escape the bad guy, played by Peter Coyote, who wants his "machine." Interesting twist at the end of a mediocre, but fascinating movie.Would have liked to see more of Belinda Bauer, but I'll have to check out her appearance in Winter Kills for that..
"Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann" has an intriguing premise: What if a modern day motorcycle rider was transported back in time with his motorbike to the age of the cowboy?
The movie manages to mine some interesting and entertainment moments from this, ranging from the reaction of nineteenth century people to this modern figure and his machine to some interesting action moments.
It's also fun to see cult stars L.Q. Jones and Ed Lauter.While the movie passes the time acceptably, at the same time I couldn't help but feel that the screenwriters didn't punch up the script enough.
Lyle Swann, a motocross rider who got lost while racing in the Baja 1000, stumbles across a top-secret research testing site running a series of experiments regarding backwards time travel in the middle of the desert.
Such scenes gets a boost from the groovy electric-guitar and synth-heavy soundtrack courtesy of Michael Nesmith which serves to amplify William Dear's brisk pace in handling those said action-packed sequences.This flick features some of Hollywood's most underrated character actors who are very much aware that all they're making is a popcorn-and-drinks-while-watching-it kind of a movie.
And as for the bad guys, there's Tracey Walter as Carl Dorsett who accidentally suffered because of Claire's defense of Lyle, and Richard Masur playing Claude, the other Dorsett brother, with a restrained goofiness which serves to complement Peter Coyote's relishing that understated campiness in playing the role as the leader of the outlaws, Porter Reese, who's determined to get his hands on the Yamaha off-road motorcycle, which can be considered a part of the ensemble.
But that lack of sense kind of justifies the fact of that the story takes place in an almost barren, semi-arid location with lots of baffled peasants mistaking Lyle for the devil incarnate while the bandits are brave enough to dare take his motorcycle and stuff him lead bullets just to acquire it.
A wonderful adventure back to the Old West through time travel.
One of my favorite time travel movies.
In late 1982 the hero, an off road motorbike racer, named Lyle Swann, unwittingly gets caught in the middle of a time-travel experiment and is transported to the Old West of 1877.
As the film progresses Swann meets several people in 1877: outlaws, an attractive woman named Clare Cygne from Louisiana, a priest Quinn heading a small town and two US Marshalls.
When Clare pulls out a copy of Twain's "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", written in 1865, viewers paying attention to the scene will recall that Twain is the author of one of the most famous time travel stories "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" written in 1889 and which probably inspires this film.
The priest and Clare work together bartering with Mexican locals, trinkets, guns, and food stuffs.The film showcases several adult themes ie: profanity, gunshots, mild sex scene.
At this point many viewers who have seen the film think that Clare's actions reveal her to be Lyle's great great grandmother.
Even if time-travel was real, Lyle Swann could not be his own great great grandfather or father his own great grandmother who would be the child Clare would conceive after the night of sex with Lyle.
...The pendant, a seemingly valuable trinket as Lyle had been handed down to by his mother, is probably something from the 19th century and now it's returning to it's original time when Clare snatches it.
Amusing cult flick combines sci-fi and the Western in this offbeat tale of a motocross racer, Lyle Swann (Fred Ward), who gets lost and wanders into the testing area of a time travel experiment.
So good old Lyle is zapped back over a hundred years to the Old West where he confounds the locals with his outrageous (to them, anyway) get-up and his astounding vehicle, which slimy outlaw Porter Reese (Peter Coyote) wants to obtain no matter what.The film is co-written (with director William Dear), produced and scored by ex - "Monkee" Michael Nesmith, and overall is pretty entertaining, even if it's doing a lot of standard fish-out-of-water humour.
It never once occurs to him that he could have ended up in the past."Timerider" certainly features an impressive roster of character actors - Ward is likable in the starring role, the oddly matched Richard Masur and Tracey Walter are funny as bickering brothers, and Ed Lauter, L.Q. Jones, Chris Mulkey, and Macon McCalman are fine in supporting parts.
There is some violence, but never much in the way of gore.B movie enthusiasts will surely enjoy the premise of this little film, which does move along quite well and offer enough diverting set pieces and laughs to rate as acceptable entertainment.Seven out of 10..
Fred Ward is a very interesting actor in all his movies.
Bike-racing daredevil Lyle Swann (Fred Ward) loses his way during a test drive and passes through a scientific test area where he accidentally gets catapulted back in time to the year 1877.
"Timerider" predates "Back to the Future", the milestone that single-handedly popularized the time-traveling concept in cinema, so it just ends up being a lame crossover between Sci-Fi and comedy.
Lyle Swann only tries to recover his stolen motorcycle throughout the entire film and, in the end, he's rescued by a helicopter that got sent back in time as well.
It's not a good film because it lacks a cohesive plot, the narrative sorta just plods along and we never really learn much about Lyle Swann, the dirt biker part of a motor-cross marathon that accidentally gets sent from 1982 to 1877.
The film seems to end rather abruptly, and on a somewhat bittersweet note.The biggest complaint I always see about Timerider is that Lyle Swann is pretty stupid about what happened to him.
He doesn't seem to put together that he went back in time till literally the very last scene, even the moments leading up to that last part don't give a hint that Swann had realized he was sent back to the 19th century.
Though I do find it believable that most people would not suddenly think "hey I went back in time" simply because they are lost.
Swann's interaction with the old man in the desert or the villainous Reese and his crew would probably not be enough for him to make that connection, but I think that by the time Swann had reached the small village something should have sparked in his mind that this was not right.
By this point Swann should have seriously wondered about why people continue to assume he is some demon.I want to echo the sentiments of another poster, some of the stuff I really enjoyed about this movie was the raw unapologetic presentation of 19th century America.
I really liked this, when I saw this movie for the first time as a small child this struck a chord with me, as I don't think I had seen too many films up to that point that presented the old west like that.
Time Rider made today would be a great film.
Fred Wards continual sweating and saying things like "Where's my bike" and "I gotta get outta here" just don't hold you for 90 minutes.
Then there's Peter Coyote (wasted here) gritting his 50 or so gold fillings while saying "That's mine, that's mine" The premise here is good and the film entertaining but another 15 minutes of character building and a better use of Swan's gadgets would have been a big help.
One of the better time travel movies,and one of the more original of the genre.This movie is set in the Baja 1000,with a motocross driver who goes back in time.Not the best in production quality,but still very entertaining..
This was the first Cable movie I ever saw way back in 1983.The best things were its gadgets and predictions, more or less about our time believe it or not.
Even the girl seems thrown in as an afterthought.Probably the only good reason to watch this movie is to see Belinda Bauer.
Curious in a film that purports to be the adventure of Lyle Swann.
When he started to realize something was wrong, why did he not remember what he read on the plaque of the time machine?But being a fan of alternate reality and time travel, I do enjoy this movie a lot.
I get a kick out of time travel stories where there is a meeting of past and present, such as in this one where a helicopter rescues a hapless motorcyclist who gets sent back in time.
I think this is the first time travel movie I had ever scene as a kid.
Such as the Peasent puts on cycle helmet and is blasted by rock music, and the sight of the helicoptor at the climactic end sequence.Goof - Time Travel Paradox in movieLyle Swann says to Belinda earlier in the movie that the pendant he wears is from his great grand mother.
At the end of the movie, Belinda snatches the pendant from the neck of Lyle as he is being lifted by the helicoptor.
Star motorcycle racer, "Lyle Swan" (Fred Ward) goes missing as he is in the middle to a race.
In reality, he stumbles upon a secret government time travel experiment, and is sent to the late 1800's.While in the past, he comes across a band of outlaws, who become obsessed with his "machine." He also meets the residents of a small town, who believe him to be the devil, as well as a woman (Belinda Bauer) and the local padre (Ed Lauter).The entire time, "Swan" is unaware that he is in the past.
A so-so time travel film that sounds like it would be a lot more fun that what is actually is.Unfortunately, despite trying, I can not get into the Western genre and after the first 10 minutes this film becomes a very sub-par Western film with the novelty element of someone who has gone back in time.
There whole time travel element is almost completely irrelevant to the storyline and is nothing more than an occasional novelty element in the storyline.Lyle Swann is accidentally transported back to the Wild West and from that moment it's a simple case of boy meets girl, girl gets kidnapped by baddies, boy rescues girl.
Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann.
I half expected this to be an adaptation of a children's book but surprisingly it isn't...but the whole premise predates the 'Back the the Future' franchise which makes you think.So basically a young Fred Ward plays the protagonist 'Lyle Swann', also known as the Timerider...kinda.
During the Baja 1000 cross-country bike race he goes off course and ends up riding into a scientific experiment that has been set up to...errm send things back in time.
The start of the movie virtually shows us nothing more than the title character riding through the barren Mexican desert on his bike, literately that for around 20 minutes!
Seriously they are conducting this major experiment in the desert yet there's no one there to safeguard it or keep people or roaming animals out the way.Once in the wild west of Mexico Swann comes across all the things you'd predict he would such as bandits, outlaws, a lovely lady, priests and terrified locals.
It is reasonably amusing how Ward's character doesn't know he's gone back in time, there are some nice moments based on that idea but most of what happens you can see coming a mile off like the locals thinking he's a demon from hell, Swann falling for the pretty female, the bad guys wanting his bike etc...I can't really complain about the clichéd plot line because the film was made in 82 and back then this wasn't clichéd or predictable, ditto the situations Swann gets into, nothing original or particularly exciting but back in the day it would have been different.I did like the twist ending surrounding his great great grandmother and father, bit of a time paradox thinker which shows that had Swann never gone back in time he would have never existed.
Then there's the usual old silliness of all the outlaws shooting at Swann on his bike yet failing to hit him every time.
The story only becomes really interesting right at the very end with the nice time paradox twist, up to that point its no way as cool as the movies poster makes it out to be.4.5/10.
Lyle, a motorcycle champion is travelling the Mexican desert, when he find himself in the action radius of a time machine.So he find himself one century back in the past between rapists, thieves and murderers....The thing that is wrong with this movie, and what deters it from other schlocky eighties movies of this nature, is the fact that there is no characterisation, no real story, no narration.The film at times doesn't know what to do with itself, so spends the time with Ward riding his bike to one situation that ends with a comedy moment, or with an action moment.But the most irritating thing about this movie is that not once does Swann ask what year he is in, thus making the title of the film pointless.There are a couple of good scenes, bloody boots and Coyote trying to start the bike, but it really doesn't hold a candle to cult movies like Zone Troopers or Solarbabies..
This is a very clever movie.I disagree with those that criticize the movie because Lyle can't figure out he has traveled through time; indeed, that's what makes the movie so effective.
Sappy, slap-stick sci-fi, ....maybe so, but a movie with a pseudo-classic line that makes one think about a side-plot years later can't be considered anything less than very effective!
A very cool and enjoyable low-budget 80's sci-fi/Western time travel favorite.
Fred Ward gives a typically credible and engaging performance as Lyle Swann, a hotshot off-road motorcycle champion who becomes lost in the Mexico desert while in the middle of a motorcross race.
Swann accidentally stumbles across a top secret government base that's conducting a time travel experiment and gets transported back to 1877. |
tt2369317 | Space Station 76 | Space Station 76 is a dark comedy film that deconstructs seemingly idyllic relationships, set against the backdrop of Omega 76; a 1970s' retro future styled space station.
Jessica (Tyler) arrives to serve as the station's new co-pilot. While at first all seems normal and the crew friendly, she soon discovers that the people on board are struggling with issues such as infidelity, loneliness, depression, and drug abuse.
She becomes increasingly frustrated by Captain Glenn (Wilson), who harbors a secret of his own, namely his failed relationship with the previous co-pilot, Daniel. She is eventually drawn to Ted (Bomer), a lonely, married crewman, and his 7-year-old daughter, Sunshine (Rogers). Ted yearns to reconnect with his wife, Misty (Coughlan), but she's happier talking over her problems with Doctor Bot and having an affair with Steve (O'Connell). His daughter Sunshine contends with her unhappy, mentally ill mother and her pet gerbil eating its babies, one by one.
Events finally come to a head at a Christmas party, when Misty suggests they play the "Truth Game". Jessica then exposes Glenn's homosexuality, just before Misty almost exposes Jessica's inability to have children. Just when it seems like everything's falling apart, an asteroid collides with the station, destroying the shuttle and leaving them all stranded.
As the crew slowly return to their lives, Sunshine turns off the gravity, and floats whilst viewing a meteor shower through the window. | satire, melodrama | train | wikipedia | I think part of it could be cultural and us Brits having a different sense of humour to Americans/Canadians (which is where this film has thus far been released).Frankly, I found this a lot more entertaining than comedies like 'Bad Neighbors', 'This is the End', 'Pineapple Express', 'Hangover'...
Again; probably my different sense of humour, contrastive to a lot of reviewers here who have echoed similar thoughts about Space Station 76.Now, Space Station 76 isn't paced to have you laughing at every second - and it is deliberately slow as a film; rather, it's a window into daily life in space coupled with awkward discourse and events amongst the small community on the ship.
It's evident this is going to end up as more of a cult movie: it deserves to be.The sets are wonderfully put together and create a consistent sense of galactic immersion, the acting is brilliant, the cast is filled with a lot of familiar faces from great films and the comedy delivers well.
Despite the label, I didn't find this film funny at all, but rather quite tragic with scattered moments of pitch-black humor.That said, this was a rather clever and poignant allegory of middle- class suburban living aboard a spaceship floating through a region of space devoid of any other ships, inhabited planets or stations.
The themes present in this film are universal and are relevant today despite the retro setting.These characters broke my heart, but none more so the leading trio of the captain, lieutenant and Ted played by Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler and Matt Bomer respectively.
His portrayal of Ted the welder comes across as extremely authentic despite the sometimes gauche elements of the film.While I did enjoy the movie I found the ending a little abrupt and disappointing, as if they'd made their point and decided to leave it there instead of providing some sort of thematic resolution.Don't watch Space Station 76 expecting a slick, CGI-tastic sci-fi movie.
The acting is fantastic (absolutely everyone is good) and the sound track is delicious, but there is absolutely no comedy, apart from strangeness linked to the setting and a few gimmicks, (all done in the first 5 minutes).The film is even a bit depressing.
The pilot Jessica (Liv Tyler) arrives at the refueling Space Station 76 as the substitute for the former pilot Daniel to work with the alcoholic gay Captain Glenn (Patrick Wilson), who is depressed for missing Daniel.
During the Christmas party, Misty suggests they should play the truth game when secrets are exposed."Space Station 76" is one of those movies that does not work for at least two main reasons.
I really wanted to like this movie but they did an awful job and I feel bad for the actors in it, who did the best they could with the direction and writing they were given.Great job on the sets, that's the only positive thing I have to say.
If you are willing to sniff every bit of nonverbal communication and recognize all the clichés behind each character, you should really enjoy the acting and find some well placed dry and ironic humor.If you want to see a movie to briefly forget your daily troubles and/or have some quick laughs, you will REALLY hate Space Station 76.
I think the dysfunctional families were so caught up in their lives and drama no one was paying attention proximity warning also pointed out very clearly in the beginning when the captain was explaining its use and that the bridge was left on auto pilot shows how we leave our lives on auto and miss the coming dangers and that when the realization of sudden death hit them suddenly their day to day drama no longer mattered what mattered was Love and family shown in Tyler and bower relationship the mother daughter relationship, and the new Born's child's family this movie was brilliant there was also several small themes like the garbles dieing leading to the dog dieing and ending with the child knowing all the loss that there was still her love of floating.
This is a good movie, but if you go in thinking it's going to be some wacky, sex space movie like the trailer makes it out to be, you'll be in for disappointment.
An outstanding film that is like a microcosm of the social groups, people, and diversity of character we all find in modern life here on planet earth.It is based on a small ship in the middle of nowhere.
I like that whole 70's Buck Rogers/Space 1999 look and love when film makers try to make movies that are set in a different time.
Patrick Wilson was good too but as with many of the other characters he was just a bit too hard to find believable.As for the feel of the whole movie: it was surprisingly dark in it's tone.
There was no definite plot other than a bunch of random people thrown together on a space station and petty arguments happen.The only thing that was half-way decent were the special effects.
What people go into this movie expecting is a parody of the 70's, but what they get is the vision of the future as seen from the 70's as done in the storytelling styles of the 70's.You've got the sad kid stereotype played perfectly, the petty manipulator, the closeted gay man who contemplates suicide and is extremely depressed due to social mores, you've got the pop- psychology spewing psych robot with no personality, the woman who doesn't feel she's a woman because she can't have a child, the mother who won't stop about how your life doesn't start until you have kids, etc.Beyond that you have what appears to be a story that while it takes place in space almost has nothing to do with science fiction or space.There's a 70's social naivety that fogs all the characters actions causing them to seem cardboard and stiff along with a fundamental difference in technological understanding that pervades every aspect of this movie.It is not a particularly good movie, but it is made perfectly as what would play in the 70's.
In this dark comedy that is blacker than the deepest depths of space, a group of denizens reside in a random floating space station (Station 76 to be exact) whose lives and well-being are put up for inspection by the audience as they struggle with everyday ordeals such as loneliness, infidelity, sexism, drug use, self loathing and loneliness (yes, the second mention was intentional).This low budget film does the most with its budget and it actually all looks quite acceptable as it is a spoof/comedic take on cheap, cheesy futuristic 70's science fiction films which allows for poor special effects and less-than believable interior shots of actual human- built ships/stations floating about in space.
I chuckled throughout most of this movie but this comedy is actually more of a tragedy and while everything is played for laughs the somber, serious nature of each of the characters may persuade some to believe they are instead watching a bizarre drama as these characters are clearly all crying on the inside.When Jessica (Liv Tyler - Empire Records) newly arrives at Station 76 as a new mate, the men and women of the station aren't sure what to make of a woman wanting to "work".
And the feeling of the 70's future is so well polished I really feel like this is space 1999 meets alien.The swishy brown lines in the lunchroom, the star wars lighting for the hallways, roller skates, crayon maps on the wall, vcr references to Mr. rogers, even the horrible mustache on one of the lead characters all layered with 70s tunes and a great rock intro to the film...Just enjoy it, don't bother criticizing a good time :).
Avoid watching this movie if you really have something better to do, like slamming your head in a car door, or just going outside and being part of the real humanity.This movie has it all petty jealousy, hatred of different people, materialistic values ahead families and friends, and finally plain old child neglect.
Retro is my thing, and anything with punk in it – steampunk, dieselpunk, atompunk – so I was looking forward to seeing Space Station 76.Now, for the positives: it was well made, well acted (especially from Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson and young Kylie Rogers), well directed.
In addition, it looked like something that could have been made in the Seventies, which was obviously the intention: the computer graphics, the smoking, the Valium, the beige, the videocassettes, the robot therapist (although the exterior space shots and interior zero- gravity scenes looked a little too good – no strings to be seen!).Where it fell for me was the story.
The plot lines are all very human and Earthbound (and certainly not anything that would have been part of any movie or show from the era): the alcoholic, closeted gay Captain, the lonely little girl who can't keep her pets alive, the bitter couples in the broken, empty relationships where even affairs are just masturbation by proxy, and the infertile Assistant Captain who arrives onboard the station (although everyone keeps calling it a ship) unwittingly brings all the tensions to the surface.
The pace is slow but never drags for a second and shots hold long enough to make the intended impression.This movie is destined for a huge cult following once people discover what it is (a smart, emotional think piece) instead of what it isn't (Anchorman in space).
I think the movie could have been funny and I did smile a few times but the little girl became the main focus point for me and I found it hard to like anyone in the movie except for her and Liv Tyler.
I almost feel like suing the company that made it for wasting 93 minutes of my life :( Liv Tyler is as beautifully sad looking as always but I do not think any actor could have saved this movie.
If you do watch this after reading the reviews I would love to hear if anyone honestly enjoyed it.It has got to be in the bottom 5 worst movies I have ever seen and I have seen a lot.I hope this saves at least a couple of people from wasting some time..
It says that in the description, drama comedy, but only an insane person would feel amused by the chronic loneliness and depression of the people on board Space Station 76.
Space Station 76 is a parody of the science fiction film genre that draws much of its dark and subtle humour from its retro-futuristic surroundings and its ability to play with the cultural differences between the 1970s and the present day.
Not because the jokes fell flat or didn't work when they were stretched out into a full-length feature film, but because the film just wasn't really a comedy, as it was presented in the one and half minutes trailer.Yes, the sets are indeed well-designed (i.e. old fashioned seventies incarnations of what the future may look like) and there are a few moments that produce a wry smile from you.
However, the film is actually more of a dark drama and – dare I say it – quite depressing.Leaving the kitsch period feel aside, the film is about a space station billions of light years away from Earth.
I rented this film thinking it was a comedy that based its jokes on the clichés of yesteryear's science fiction and I got quite a dark drama about the misery of human existence at its loneliest.Therefore, I –sort of – didn't enjoy it.
(Maybe he already has?!)Worth a watch if you like slightly 'out there' movies set in space that deal more with the complexities of the human mind than lashings of boring CGI..
I grew up watching Space 1999 and was 11 when Star Wars came out in 1977 - so to me, Space Station 76 was so darn perfect I think it deserves a far, far better rating on IMDb.Ratings shouldn't be given based on what you expected from a movie but what the movie was trying to do and say – and to me, this movie was poking huge amounts of fun at not only 70s science fiction but for the 70s in general.
Almost every scene was so completely inappropriate you can't help but laugh out loud at everything, yet the acting is good and the sets and special effects are sharp and clean to make a visually appealing movie.Patrick Wilson was perfect as the uptight gay captain in denial about everything but desperately wanting, while Kali Rocha nailed it with her overbearing narcissistic character, Donna.
Matt Boomer was great as the always stoned Ted of course and you can't help but feel for Live Tyler's character as the warm and loving Jessica who tries so hard to fit in.Hats off to the writers and to director Jack Plotnick for giving us such a different movie - a fun look into an alternate modern view on 70's sci-fi - mixed with daytime soap drama
I had a great time and lots of laughs watching this movie!.
The movie does have a few bumps along the road, but overall I liked the subtle mood and the awkwardness it spreads all around.Liv Tyler is playing it as soft and understated as possible and you might not think every joke is a hit, but if you buy into this you will have a lot of fun.
In conclusion, Space Station 76 isn't perfect either as a comedy or as a drama, and I have some reservations against its unstable combination of ingredients, but I liked it pretty much and I consider it worthy of a recommendation, specially because of its ambition and experimental spirit..
It's not this one."Space Station 76" is beautifully designed and shot with perfect tributes to the 70s style of movie-making.
Now, that you have read what this movie is about, you can skip this dud, unless, you want to waste your time watching people of terrible to mediocre character in an uneventful slice of life drama (even the one huge event is anticlimactic).
By the way, Liv Tyler's looks helped me get to the end of this movie that is as empty as the lives of its characters..
You know when you go to a movie and have already decided it isn't going to be any good and then your totally blown away by how much you enjoyed it, that pretty much sums up this film.
Also there are many awkward moments in this film that I found hilarious although other reviewers found them to be a lack of acting or direction I completely disagree it feels real or at least as real as a 1970's adventure in space could be.
The movie Space Station 76 managed to suck all the fun out of the 1970s like an airlock would.
See this movie when you don't feel like Hollywood raping your senses :)Set design is great.
Being a fan of a good comedy , this movie has what it takes to give you a great ride of fun and to be honest ,Space Station 76 has a place among Galaxy Quest , Airplane and The Naked Gun .
The cast had a very good chemistry , Patrick Wilson , Liv Tyler and Matt Bomer delivered very funny performances and made their characters a joy to watch.
If you expect a proper comedy with great entertainment value and laughs, then not so good.I was expecting the latter, so I wasn't impressed with the outcome of "Space Station 76".
And they managed to capture that 1970s feeling and atmosphere quite well, both in designs of the space station, clothing and wardrobe, and characters alike, so that was also a big plus.I had expected the movie to be more funny than it turned out to be.
And I wasn't even laughing throughout the course of the movie, so that counted against the movie experience as a whole.I think that "Space Station 76" is something of an acquired taste, and thus it will not have such a great appeal to everyone in the audience.But still, I am rating it five out of ten stars, solely because of its production value, its cast and its ability to capture that groovy atmosphere.
It's been quite a while since a comedy like Space Station 76 hit the big screens , a great cast , well written plot and of course a good dose of heart just make this movie an instant classic .
It appeared as though they tried to mimic situations that you would have experienced if it were '1976' but had space station technology and I think the whole name of the movie was a play on the old 'airport' dramas of the 70's.
Actors tried a lot to make this film fun to watch, but poor thing was boring and did not have a real plot.
For me though I did not enjoy living in a depressing world where really I only liked two of the characters and neither was nearly good enough to carry the movie and that is my problem.
Space Station 76 did keep our attention to the end, and it was nice to have something different to watch besides the cookie cutter, predictable movies out there..
Space Station 76 is such a thing.The movie is a loving pastiche of scifi from the sixties and seventies, sporting some impressive retro styling and understated but modern special effects.
Like the space station itself, the story moves slowly and doesn't really end up getting anywhere surprising.
The acting is very good overall and the film is very creatively shot, at quite a slow pace to emphasise how time on a space station is quite monotonous.
LTCMDR Jessica Marlow (Liv Tyler) boards the space station and works with Captain Glenn (Patrick Wilson). |
tt0385880 | Monster House | The parents of twelve-year-old "DJ" Walters leave town for the weekend, leaving him in the care of Elizabeth "Zee". DJ has been spying on his elderly neighbor Horace Nebbercracker, who confiscates any item landing in his yard. After DJ's best friend Charles "Chowder" loses his basketball on Nebbercracker's lawn, DJ is caught by Nebbercracker trying to recover it, but the enraged owner apparently suffers a heart attack and is taken away by an ambulance. That night, DJ receives phone calls from the house with no one on the other end. Eavesdropping on Zee's boyfriend Bones, DJ hears him tell Zee about losing his kite on Nebbercracker's lawn when he was younger and that Nebbercracker supposedly ate his wife. Later, Bones sees his kite in the doorway of Mr. Nebbercracker's house, but he is consumed by the house while retrieving it.
The next morning, a girl named Jenny Bennett is selling Halloween candy. DJ and Chowder see her going to Nebbercracker's house and rush out to catch her before she is eaten by it. Jenny calls the police but is not believed.
The trio seek advice from Reginald "Skull" Skulinski, supposedly an expert on the supernatural. They learn that the house is a rare monster created when a human soul merges with a man-made structure and that it can only be killed by destroying its heart. They conclude that the heart must be the furnace and Chowder provides a cold medicine-filled dummy that should cause the house to sleep long enough for them to douse the furnace. Police Officers Landers and Lester thwart their plan and they are arrested when Landers finds the cold medicine stolen from Chowder's father's pharmacy inside the dummy. When the officers go to examine the house, it eats them and the car in which DJ, Chowder and Jenny have been shut.
When the house falls asleep, the kids begin exploring. In the basement they find a collection of toys accumulated from Nebbercracker's lawn, as well as a door that opens to a shrine containing the body of Nebbercracker's wife Constance the Giantess, encased in cement. The house realizes they are inside and attacks them. DJ, Chowder and Jenny force the house to vomit them outside by grabbing its uvula. Nebbercracker arrives home alive, revealing that Constance's spirit is within the house and that he did not eat her but instead had given her some of the happiest times in her life. As a young man, he met Constance, then an unwilling member of a circus freak show, and fell in love with her despite her obesity. After he helped her escape, they began building the house. One Halloween, as children tormented her due to her size, Constance tried chasing them away but lost her footing and fell to her death in the basement. Nebbercracker had finished the house, knowing it was what she would have wanted but, aware that Constance's spirit made the house come alive, he pretended to hate children so as to keep them away.
DJ tells Nebbercracker it is time to let Constance go, but the house overhears this. Enraged, it breaks free from its foundation and chases the group to a construction site. Nebbercracker attempts to distract the house so he can dynamite it, but the house notices and attacks him. Chowder fights it off with an excavator and DJ is given the dynamite. While Chowder distracts the house, DJ and Jenny climb to the top of a crane and DJ throws the dynamite into the chimney causing the house to explode. The trio then see Nebbercracker with Constance's ghost before she fades away. DJ apologizes to Nebbercracker for the loss of his house and wife, but Nebbercracker thanks the kids for freeing him from being trapped for 45 years. That night, children in their Halloween costumes are lined up at the site of the house, where DJ, Chowder and Jenny help return the toys to their owners. Jenny's mother picks her up and DJ and Chowder go trick-or-treating, which they previously felt they were too old for.
Those who were eaten by the house now emerge from the basement. | bleak, psychedelic, flashback | train | wikipedia | Now it seems time has changed: ten-year-old children are playing horror-video games so probably what was too scary for them in the eighties is just right and fun now.
Let's be clear - Monster House is not your typical 'feel-good' children's movie.
Natually, because he's a kid, nobody believes him, save for good friend cum resident fat-kid loser Chowder (Sam Lerner).The story's kept tight by having set a day before Halloween, and despite the children being stereotyped, Chowder actually stole the show from DJ with his at time innocent, at time crafty and sly antics, and there's a nice tango for attention between the two boys and their crush of the moment - Jenny (Spenser Locke).
Come to think of it, there isn't an artificially created "cute" character in the movie, as it adapts "real life" as best as it could, in an animated form.
The house, it seems, has a life of its own.This movie started as a script that sat unproduced for years, for want of technology and the right people to make it.
Others may exist, but it's not packed with pop culture references like the _Shrek_ movies.Directing an animated film is different in a lot of ways from directing live action, which makes it more complicated to rate.
The character interaction looked really good, better than almost any animated movie I've seen.
Where _Shrek_ emphasizes pop culture references for adult appeal, this movie targets adults' memories of childhood, effectively drawing adults into enjoying it like the kids in the audience.Credits: There are a few additional scenes after the credits begin.
"Monster House" was obviously envisioned as a 3D experience and the technical process envelopes you in the story and the world in which it takes place in a way that is so immediate and palpable.Lest you think that only the technique is worthy of praise, let me mention that the script, the performances, the direction, the score are all of the fun, adventurous spirit of all the best movies I remember from my youth.
If it was, that was a mistake because this a pretty scary film in parts - much to much for the little ones.The "edginess" isn't just the violence (a Halloween-type scary house and the comes alive and attacks people), it's most of the characters.
The worst in that attitude category is D.J.'s friend "Chowder," the kind of guy who talks you into doing things that wind up getting YOU in trouble.The best part of the film, besides the animation, is the unpredictability of the story.
It may be animated, but it feels much in the same realm as live action fare like The Goonies, Gremlins and all the other mildly scary and terrifically silly films of that time period.
Even after looking at the fascinatingly short making-of featurettes on the DVD, I still cannot fathom why so much work went into creating the animation to be just right, but not enough was put in to make it intricately detailed like other CGI-animated films.The voice talent all deliver their lines and actions very well.
Supporting turns from Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Lee, Kevin James and Jon Heder are all amusing in their own right, and were definitely interesting choices for these actors.All around, Monster House is a disappointing film culled from a very interesting idea.
I watched "Monster House" with my brother at Halloween night and it was perfect movie for that day.
Fans of Goonies will feel somewhat at home when watching this film.The side characters are your typical from-the-kid's-point-of-view grown-ups who don't quite understand, or believe, what the children are saying (babysitter, police officers, angry neighbor).
It was very close, but Monster House has the wit, the sarcasm, the excitement, and the characters that keep you interested and sometimes breathless throughout the entire film.I've seen three movies this year that have instantly because new favorites of mine overnight: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Click, and Monster House.
Director Gil Kenan and his writing team overwork the laughs, leaving you with a shaggy-dog "Goosebumps" story about a carnivorous old house and a trio of unlikely pre-teen friends who team up to take it down.DJ is a boy on the cusp of puberty, beginning to feel too old for trick- or-treating when Halloween comes along.
But trick-or-treating is very much on his mind, as he discovers a dark secret about an old house across the street: It's alive, and it's hungry!Since it's designed for a younger demographic, it's hard to complain about a mildly funny comedy that leaves me flat in the story-and-thrills department.
I think the film is set in the early 1980s, with old coin-operated video games and Olivia Newton-John on the car radio, so I felt more at home watching this than expected.I liked the banter between DJ and his pal, Chowder, likable dorks who find their friendship tested both by the house and by the appearance of the pretty-but-snobby Jenny.
I saw the 3D version of Monster House, which I recommend as THE format to see the film in.The story is pretty simple and not entirely original.
But the zest for which the characters jump into your lap (figuratively and literally) makes this a fun ride through a house of horrors.The overall animation is pretty decent, but the facial expressions are absolutely fantastic.
The lack of photo realism in other features is quickly ignored as you feel at times like you are watching a real life childhood drama unfold right in front of you.Who hasn't had a spooky house in their neighborhood that was legend?
I enjoy a lot of cartoon movies, both geared towards kids and a wider audience, but this one just didn't seem to come together for me.It wasn't really captivating enough for the adults in the group I saw it with.
Gil Kenan's directorial debut comes in as somewhat of a shock, with his excellent attention to detail and incredible sense of direction with the spook-fest that is "Monster House".The movie centers around DJ and Chowder, two pre-teen friends who suspect the house across the street is evil.
We all loved to watch scared kids taking on adults or monsters, with classics such as "Home Alone", and "Die Unendliche Geschichte (The Neverending Story)".
This movie combines both of those in order to satisfy a younger audience and create a sense of nostalgia in the older demographic.With one of the best animated scenes I've ever seen on the screen (at the end, with the dynamite being thrown), "Monster House" goes up there with "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Edward Scissorhands", and "Beetle Juice" as a Burtonesque type of film that defines childhood desire for fear.
Definitely a movie that can be seen more than just once, and the best 3D Animated Feature since "Finding Nemo", "Monster House" is a sure contender at the Academy Awards in 2007, and perhaps the most fun movie of the summer so far..
I firmly believe Monster House is the best animated film of 2006.
I would describe it as a Horror Movie for kids, so if you're a parent and you feel your children are easily freaked out or you are evil and refuse to let them watch anything fun, you may want to view it yourself first.
Monster House is kind of like one of the books never written put up on the screen with an extra dosage of some funny moments and lots of visual tricks up the animator's sleeves.
It's a family horror comedy that actually has some characters for kids to connect and root for, with a little more development past the conventions, and a host of supporting characters that are actually as funny for adults and older teens as they might be for kids.And the creativity in the animation department is some of the best I've seen in non-Pixar computer animated films so far.
When the film goes into its final act and the house then literally lifts off of its foundation after the kids, it really becomes an entertaining spectacle where cliffhanging moments are abound and there's always time for a grin.
In fact, it's really something to see how the humor in the film is not overly juvenile or predicated on excrement jokes, but more on behavior and stuff kids relate to- being talked down to, boys clumsiness around girls, and fears of what may possibly be where they'd rather not look.And making up the characters is a very good voice roster including Steve Buscemi as the old man Nebbercracker, Fred Willard & Catherine O'Hara as the parents, a nice crop of talented kid actors (Mitchell Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke), and others like Jason Lee, John Heder and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Like a good kid's horror book it delivers on some interesting bits involved in the mystery of the crux of the story, while as an animated feature it delivers on being engrossing (and fun) entertainment in its execution.
But the movie is very funny, with great animation and hilarious voices, and an excellent and worthwhile family entertainment.
All the horror and mystery is lost once the kids go indoors.7.5/10 - Outside of PIXAR, this is one of the most imaginative and entertaining animated films of recent years.
At times, I felt like I was watching real people.The one thing that spoiled the movie for me was this: Though both the policemen were stereotypical cop buffoons, the rookie cop--the only black character in the film-- was offensive.
This was definitely a fun film, but I don't recommend it to kids under ten years old or people that are easily scared.
Without getting in to a debate about the value of real animators and hand-crafted animation versus using a computer to auto-digitize the movement of physical actors, I'll just say that this performance capture stuff continues to look wholly unnecessary in Monster House, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
Enjoyable CGI Halloween tale is most likely not for young children as it's marketing may have suggested, but would sit well with boys over twelve as one of the more entertaining animated films of the year.
Coming to DVD one week before pumpkin night, Monster House is the ideal family Halloween movie at the moment.
Before sitting down to watch this animated film, I was expecting a children's tale filled with toddler-like jokes and juvenile references.
Following this introduction to a very scary old man, we are introduced to the main character DJ, who has been spying on Nebbercracker from his house across the street for weeks now, watching the old man amp up his confiscation of children's toys.Filled with voices of well-known actors, including Jason Lee as the stoner boyfriend, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as his punk rock girlfriend, "Z", Monster House turns out to be a beautifully stylized animated story.
Going for the "Toy Story" doll-like animation in this instance, Monster House pulls off its stray from realistic looking characters with its engaging animation and aesthetics.
Monster House was, well, okay, but I had to sit through a lot of nothing until the good stuff finally arrived 50 minutes into the movie!
"Monster House" boasts a top-notch crew, memorable voices that fit the characters perfectly, a great story, an ingenious backstory, and a twisty ending.
Besides the my opinion that the film should've been done in live-action instead of this...kind of animation, it's reasonable by me, to let them show a possessed house fully eating a police car, with 3 kids still screaming in the back of it.
I also thought the ending of the movie was very exaggerated.The film features voice actors such as Steve Buscemi (the old man), Mitchel Musso or Kathleen Turner.
When Nebbercracker dies, somethings seems to be happening in the old house.The motion capture animation is pretty good for that era.
I personally remember the day this movie came out and it made me think to myself this looks like a family oriented film.
These two bring the laughs with their conspiracy theories that no one believes and their antics in the industrial sight come the end may be highly unrealistic but are good fun for the target audience, which is most likely the family.However what is worth mentioning is the nature of this film.
The house's many splinters and reformations in the finale are impressive graphically also.This is a springy good fun film that brings the laughs and light hearted enjoyment for the family.It may not have the punch of other animations but as far as I can tell, it was certainly the best animation of 2006, by a long stretch..
I forgot what the third choice was.But I ended up choosing 'Monster House', and if I didn't,I probably would've regretted it.The movie itself is as alive as the house is.It's funny,scary,action-packed,and a boatload of fun.Just like any other animated film,there's also a fairly good cast.Jon Heder,Nick Cannon,Fred Willard,Maggie Gyllenhall,Jason Lee,Kevin James and Steve Buscemi did an excellent job in this movie as much as everybody else did.This is one movie that just can't be missed.With a huge cast that I just mentioned,this movie is nearly impossible to love..
Monster House takes all my loves and puts them into one, flat-out amazing animated movie.For someone who isn't a horror fan and just wants another Finding Nemo, you're really going to be disappointed here.
I was left with the sense of a lonely world where the only characters in existence at any given time those that were absolutely critical to the plot.The movie itself was decent with an average story, but the script definitely lacked the finesse or oomph of a typical animated film.
Jokes often fell flat and I found myself feeling embarrassed for the actor's at times (the cast is stellar).Overall, this movie's story, script and animation felt to me more the caliber of Jimmy Neutron, or some other TV kids show.
Way behind of the computer-animated movie race, Sony Pictures Animation launched MONSTER HOUSE in 2006, and with some professional help from thrill masters Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, it turns up pretty well and enjoyable, even if it doesn't hit the same ground as FINDING NEMO or SHREK, which set the comparisons among recent animated films.
Even when it isn't right on that level, this film is a lot of fun, and it makes for decent family entertainment.The secret juice comes from the screenplay, which is basically a horror movie for kids.
Jon Heder, A.K.A. Napoleon Dynamite, plays the aid of the young boys while Maggie Gyllanhall plays DJ's babysitter.The film may have lost the best animated feature to "Happy Feet" since the academy liked the ethnic penguins and heart morality more than the frights of this funny caper; but there is no way I'm avoiding this movie, especially on Halloween..
the special effects were pretty good in this one,, if this is the way animation is going, then i'm all in,, this was a great movie for the kids,, say 10 on up..
and i think good for adults too, this movie along with over the hedge, makes me want to see more kids movies,, especially the animation kind..
Monster House is a very good movie.
It Shows That Kids Films Can Be Dark When They Want To Be. After bad overly happily bad kids movie that have taken over the industry (Happily N'Ever After, etc.) CGI world needed something dark, something original, and Monster House was just that.Now I'm not saying that you should get the DVD for a six year-old, there are some really dark, and arguably...
Consistently entertaining, with fabulous animation, a great creepy storyline and some nicely realised characters, this is one scary movie that the whole family can enjoy.DJ lives opposite grouchy old man Nebbercracker, whose favourite pastime is scaring the local children and stealing their toys when they land on his lawn.
"Monster House" is hands down the best kids adventures movie in a loooooong time.
There have been other films like this in the past, my favorite of which is "The Sandlot", and there are moments in which "Monster House" tries to duplicate that sense of exaggeration, but it doesn't quite succeed.The technology behind the making of this movie was groundbreaking, in that it's not a traditional CG-animated film.
What the film results in is the best tale of kids against supernatural odds adventure since the classic 80s movies The Goonies and Monster Squad.
Though the story is pretty dark it was very well written, and I like the fact that all the three main characters are very well balance and the pace of the movie is interesting from first minute to the end credit.
That is a great way to spend a hour and one half.The animation is very good but occasionally a bit too dark..I like to see what is going on not have to guess.The characters likable and fun particularly the three leads: DJ Chowder and Jenny.
I saw Monster House & I have to say that even though this is intended to be a kids CGI film it has some scary scenes I think anyone who is under 9 should avoid this film until you're older or else you'll have nightmares for weeks.
Enjoy the movie & have a good time but keep it away from young kids..
All animated films should be made the way Monster House was.
Monster House is now one of my favorite animated films..
Chowder and the cops provide most of the comic relief, and by then end of a scary ride you discover there is a good story at the heart of it all.This is quite a departure from the line other digitally animated movies have taken and is well worth a look..
Musso, Lerner, and Locke immaculately breathe personality into their characters.All in all, "Monster House" is a fun movie, filled with moments of comedy, horror, suspense, and what a lot of animated movies lack nowadays - a film that can be actually enjoyed by everyone in the audience.. |
tt0160429 | The King and I | === Act 1 ===
In 1862, a strong-willed, widowed schoolteacher, Anna Leonowens, arrives in Bangkok, Siam (later known as Thailand) at the request of the King of Siam to tutor his many children. Anna's young son, Louis, fears the severe countenance of the King's prime minister, the Kralahome, but Anna refuses to be intimidated ("I Whistle a Happy Tune"). The Kralahome has come to escort them to the palace, where they are expected to live – a violation of Anna's contract, which calls for them to live in a separate house. She considers returning to Singapore aboard the vessel that brought them, but goes with her son and the Kralahome.
Several weeks pass, during which Anna and Louis are confined to their palace rooms. The King receives a gift from the king of Burma, a lovely slave girl named Tuptim, to be one of his many wives. She is escorted by Lun Tha, a scholar who has come to copy a design for a temple, and the two are secretly in love. Tuptim, left alone, declares that the King may own her, but not her heart ("My Lord and Master"). The King gives Anna her first audience. The schoolteacher is a part of his plan for the modernization of Siam; he is impressed when she already knows this. She raises the issue of her house with him, he dismisses her protests and orders her to talk with his wives. They are interested in her, and she tells them of her late husband, Tom ("Hello, Young Lovers"). The King presents her new pupils; Anna is to teach those of his children whose mothers are in favor with him – several dozen – and is to teach their mothers as well. The princes and princesses enter in procession ("March of the Royal Siamese Children"). Anna is charmed by the children, and formality breaks down after the ceremony as they crowd around her.
Anna has not given up on the house, and teaches the children proverbs and songs extolling the virtues of home life, to the King's irritation. The King has enough worries without battling the schoolteacher, and wonders why the world has become so complicated ("A Puzzlement"). The children and wives are hard at work learning English ("The Royal Bangkok Academy"). The children are surprised by a map showing how small Siam is compared with the rest of the world ("Getting to Know You"). As the crown prince, Chulalongkorn, disputes the map, the King enters a chaotic schoolroom. He orders the pupils to believe the teacher but complains to Anna about her lessons about "home". Anna stands her ground and insists on the letter of her contract, threatening to leave Siam, much to the dismay of wives and children. The King orders her to obey as "my servant"; she repudiates the term and hurries away. The King dismisses school, then leaves, uncertain of his next action. Meanwhile, Lun Tha comes upon Tuptim, and they muse about having to hide their relationship ("We Kiss in a Shadow").
In her room, Anna replays the confrontation in her mind, her anger building ("Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?"). Lady Thiang, the King's head wife, tells Anna that the King is troubled by his portrayal in the West as a barbarian, as the British are being urged to take over Siam as a protectorate. Anna is shocked by the accusations – the King is a polygamist, but he is no barbarian – but she is reluctant to see him after their argument. Lady Thiang convinces her that the King is deserving of support ("Something Wonderful"). Anna goes to him and finds him anxious for reconciliation. The King tells her that the British are sending an envoy to Bangkok to evaluate the situation. Anna "guesses" – the only guise in which the King will accept advice – that the King will receive the envoy in European style, and that the wives will be dressed in Western fashion. Tuptim has been writing a play based on a book that Anna has lent her, Uncle Tom's Cabin, that can be presented to the guests. News is brought to the King that the British are arriving much earlier than thought, and so Anna and the wives are to stay up all night to prepare. The King assembles his family for a Buddhist prayer for the success of the venture and also promises before Buddha that Anna will receive her own house "as provided in agreement, etc., etc."
=== Act 2 ===
The wives are dressed in their new European-style gowns, which they find confining ("Western People Funny"). In the rush to prepare, the question of undergarments has been overlooked, and the wives have practically nothing on underneath their gowns. When the British envoy, Sir Edward Ramsay, arrives and gazes at them through a monocle, they are panicked by the "evil eye" and lift their skirts over their heads as they flee. Sir Edward is diplomatic about the incident. When the King is called away, it emerges that Sir Edward is an old flame of Anna's, and they dance in remembrance of old times, as Edward urges her to return to British society. The King returns and irritably reminds them that dancing is for after dinner.
As final preparations for the play are made, Tuptim steals a moment to meet with Lun Tha. He tells her he has an escape plan, and she should be ready to leave after the performance ("I Have Dreamed"). Anna encounters them, and they confide in her ("Hello, Young Lovers", reprise). The play ("Small House of Uncle Thomas", narrated ballet) is presented in a Siamese ballet-inspired dance. Tuptim is the narrator, and she tells her audience of the evil King Simon of Legree and his pursuit of the runaway slave Eliza. Eliza is saved by Buddha, who miraculously freezes a river and conceals her in snow. Buddha then causes the river to melt, drowning King Simon and his hunting party. The anti-slavery message is blunt.
After the play, Sir Edward reveals that the British threat has receded, but the King is distracted by his displeasure at Tuptim's rebellious message. After Sir Edward leaves, Anna and the King express their delight at how well the evening went, and he presents her with a ring. Secret police report that Tuptim is missing. The King realizes that Anna knows something; she parries his inquiry by asking why he should care: Tuptim is just another woman to him. He is delighted; she is at last understanding the Siamese perspective. Anna tries to explain to him the Western customs of courtship and tells him what it is like for a young woman at a formal dance ("Shall We Dance?"). He demands that she teach him the dance. She does, and in that dance they experience and express a love for each other that they can never speak aloud. They are interrupted by the Kralahome. Tuptim has been captured, and a search is on for Lun Tha. The King resolves to punish Tuptim, though she denies she and Lun Tha were lovers. Anna tries to dissuade him, but he is determined that her influence shall not rule, and he takes the whip himself. He turns to lash Tuptim, but under Anna's gaze is unable to swing the whip, and hurries away. Lun Tha is found dead, and Tuptim is dragged off, swearing to kill herself; nothing more is heard about her. Anna asks the Kralahome to give her ring back to the King; both schoolteacher and minister state their wish that she had never come to Siam.
Several months pass with no contact between Anna and the King. Anna is packed and ready to board a ship leaving Siam. Chulalongkorn arrives with a letter from the King, who has been unable to resolve the conflicts within himself and is dying. Anna hurries to the King's bedside and they reconcile. The King persuades her to take back the ring and to stay and assist the next king, Chulalongkorn. The dying man tells Anna to take dictation from the prince, and instructs the boy to give orders as if he were King. The prince orders the end of the custom of kowtowing that Anna hated. The King grudgingly accepts this decision. As Chulalongkorn continues, prescribing a less arduous bow to show respect for the king, his father dies. Anna kneels by the late King, holding his hand and kissing it, as the wives and children bow or curtsey, a gesture of respect to old king and new. | romantic | train | wikipedia | The producers have attempted to bring the story down to a kid's level by eliminating key elements from the original and introducing new characters that would make Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein both turn over in their graves.
Then there is the onslaught of cute animals including a monkey, an elephant and a panther that constantly save the King by hurling mangoes at the villains.
Many of these new characters are directly stolen from Disney films, especially from `Aladdin.' If all this was not enough, we even get a scene where the King rides in a hot air balloon that is powered by a panther riding a bicycle mounted to a propeller.
Admittedly, seeing this was an animated feature I was fully expecting some liberties to be taken, but I was not expecting a rewriting of the entire story.The film's worst moments come during the musical scenes.
I suggest either the original drama >Anna and the King<, a rather adult approach with much darkness that fits the original story, or the more accessible live-action musical >The King and I<, which has the benefits of Richard Rogers' musical score.
It looks much like an attempt to capitalize upon either >Beauty and the Beast< or >Aladdin<, both infinitely better.This animated film is a disaster from the start.
The animals are excessively cute and unrealistic, including the sterotypical 'mischievous monkey' and the King's cuddly pet panther(?), not to mention some of the most unrealistic elephants that we have ever seen and the snakes that the evil Prime Minister conjures out of vines.
In the past year I saw a parody of "Titanic" on Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse, entitled "Titey," the joke being that Disney had turned the story into a big joke, with a singing ship, an evil ice berg, and sea animals that come together to rescue the poor sinking ship, helping it land safely in America.The funny part is, if those writers gave the same treatment to "The King and I" the result would have been this movie.
Do you know that Thai people love and respect our royal family, especially Prince Chulalongkorn was our King Rama V who did many good things for Thailand?
But all they talked about when the thing was over was the guy who kept losing his teeth (remember that from the original Broadway musical?), and the mango throwing monkey.
Ironically, the director did "The Fox and the Hound" and "The Black Cauldron".So yeah, a major disappointment from this film, the animation doesn't have much detail, the story has no plot and the characters had the personality of sandpaper.
However, the King's panther Rama was the only character I found likable.Well, to wrap this up, this is a really boring film, like the summary says, it should have been adapted by the real Disney, not some other company trying to imitate Disney..
I don't think this is nothing copied off of the original classic King and I but here are some subjects about it:The animation was beautiful (almost like a Disney animation film).
The characters are unfavorable.Skip this floppy animated version and watch the original King and I..
Disastrous attempt to copy the Disney formula of adding magical bad guys and silly animal sidekicks -- TO A TRUE STORY?
This clearly was an attempt to reach a new audience, a late-1990s audience that's seen years of _Aladdin_, _The Little Mermaid_, _Pocahontas_ (oddly enough, all long-lived stories that were messed with at some level in the interest of making a movie about them) and I think they connected on that level.The animation was average at best, and Quicktime-Movie-running-on-a-386-bad at worst.
Perhaps I've been spoiled by Disney features or the wonderful Fleischer material of the 1930s.The musical numbers were buried under visuals that didn't match-- I agree with the other posters who complained about the scene in which "Whistle a Happy Tune" was sung-- and some of the 1990s devices such as the cute animals and the martial arts demonstrations simply left me longing to see the original film again.But that's me.I'm renting the original movie for my kids to see which they prefer; this is more an experiment in learning what reaches them as opposed to the appalled father saying "Good Lord, what an abomination!
:-) What we can do is introduce them to quality and see if it takes.If you are reading this before seeing the movie, take all the comments in these postings in the proper spirit; don't expect a remake of something that's too wonderful to be remade properly (so why would a studio even consider bothering with a line-by-line/scene-by-scene animated "mirror" version?) but don't expect something lower than horrible.
What I see that I considered as the adult themes and contents in the 1956 version are 1.) Anna and The King (both portrayed by Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner) friendship turned into a complicated love affair.
For parents how would you explain that to your children " Ummm, The King likes to sleep around and ends up having a bunch of kids?".
When I was little kid before they even thought about the cartoon version (flashbacks, again) and remembering how much I drooled over Brynner.
You don't want your kids to have these "weird" thoughts about the characters, it is too early to think that way.
Despite that this storyline is against the history origin and a slight different remake version of both musical and live-action 1956 film adaptations until this animated remake film received lots of bad reviews, as a critic, I just felt like praising this film's animation whether it is Disney-like or not.
So if you are into animation and drawing body proportions and movements, at least this movie is enjoyable and I love this happy ending where nobody died and they turn this animated adaptation into a fairy tale with that kind of happy endings where Tuptim and the Prince lived happily ever after and got married and the King lived instead of dying of illness.I love the reflection and animation effects and as well as the 3D-like hot air balloon which I thought it looks cel-shaded computer-like animation since it moves smoothly like it was 3D computer animated and looking cel-shaded.I love all of the background settings details and they look very well rendered.If you don't like this movie, don't unless if you are into happy endings and into animation and stuff..
Now watching it, the people who made this film should have just not bothered.This 1999 version of The King and I is abominable on almost every level.
The less said about those awful animal sidekicks the better.It tries so hard to compete with the Disney films of the time without possessing any respect for the audience.
`The King And I' It's weird to me that Warner Brothers, after seeing competitors like Disney and Dreamworks raise the bar of animation so high, would sit there and be content that their films look like Saturday morning cartoon rejects.
The result turned out to be "The King and I"; and in its 1999 version, produced at Richard Rich's Rich Animation Studios in partnership with Nest Entertainment --- the creative team behind "The Swan Princess" --- there were quite serious flaws, the most important of which was unquestionably the simple truth that "The King and I" has, almost from the moment 20th Century-Fox's movie version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein legend was first released, pretty much been doomed to remain anathema among the people of Thailand, for whom the King of Siam is an historic figure worthy of being held sacrosanct.
Well, first things first, I believe that moviegoers went into this animated "King and I" expecting the awesome, unique, one-of-a-kind animation which for nearly forty years was at the heart of every Rankin/Bass Production.
It seems to me that The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, by arrangement with whom this film had been prepared, had wanted to support Mr. Rankin's dream; once the animated "King and I" flopped, unfortunately, it was clear that they could not support such a concept for any reason.
Some scenes were word-for-word from the original, and you can tell that the guy who's the voice of the king was desperately trying to sound like Yul Brynner (and failed big time).
My simplest advice for those who want their kids to see a version of "The King and I": show them Yul, they'll thank you when they're older..
Any resemblance to the original film essentially ends with a young English widow coming to Siam to become a tutor to the King's children.
The rest of the casting, alas, is on about the same level.I'm sure that kids, and parents, too, would react a lot more favorably to the classic 1956 film, with Brynner and Deborah Kerr, than they would to this ridiculous, multi-colored mess which has the audacity to call itself "The King and I." If the families of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II ever decide to sue the producers of this odious mess, I am definitely in their corner..
One of the worst animated films I have seen in a long time.
And secondly when I'm doing this review, I am not going to compare this film to the 1956 film because i have not seen that version.So after a long time, I decided, why not, let's give the king and I (1999) a try.
I know this is a kid's cartoon but come on, there could have been a better way to kill that thing.The sing alongs also don't save it and the music throughout could have been so much more.
And the thing which really bugged me throughout was the animation and change of scenes.For example in one scene, we see the main villain and this fat guy who is his assist are seen talking near a bridge.
There are many other poor animation tactics which go on about throughout this film, but I'm not going to go into it.The only two things I thought were done OK is these two moments with the main villain and the king.
Now going back to it just recently, I suddenly think it's one of the worst films I have seen in quite some time.
The musical was based on Margaret Landon's novel "Anna and the King of Siam" (1944), a work of fiction.This animated piece of c*@P is not only an insult to anyone with a brain that can read a history book, it pours mud on the work of a talented team that created the original musical.Anna Leon-Owens was a shameless self-promoter and outright liar (I read all her disrespectful error filled books).
Warner Brothers animated version of `The King and I' is nothing more than a shameless butchering of Rogers and Hammerstine's musical masterpiece.
The producers of this travesty have seen fit to bring this classic story down to a child's level with very little of the original work making it to the screen.
Much of the original has been replaced with a senseless story of a wizard and his fat henchman trying to kill the King so they can rule Siam.
With this animated film, Warner Brothers have vandalized a great musical for the sake of making a quick buck from parents who care nothing about the quality of entertainment they take their kids to see..
As someone who hasn't seen the original 1956 version of The King and I, I still think that after watching the magically confused Swan Princess, this follow-up by Richard Rich and Rankin/Bass does even not even live up to the mediocrity of The Swan Princess.
This relationship rips off Aladdin in two ways, adding too many cute animal characters such as giving a pet monkey to Anna's son just so he can give Master Little a hard time, the relationship between Chulalonghorn and the slave girl, and an extremely hammy version of Jafar called the Kralahorn, who just performs evil magic tricks using his magic migraines just for the sake of it.
I mean, aside from the casting choice of the late Miranda Richardson as Anna, and the music and the artwork, I didn't think this was a very good remake at all.Overall, this just isn't a good movie, but the songs are okay.
Just stick with the original 1946 movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, or just watch the live-action movie, "Anna and the King" that has Jodie Foster and Chow Yung-Fat as the titular characters and go buy the soundtrack, instead.But, don't even bother trying to waste your time and effort in watching this movie.
Even if you're trying to introduce your kids or younger relatives to the story of "Anna and the King".
In this colossal waste of time, Warner Brothers studios removes the dramatic sequences in this classic musical and shortens the songs, a minor trade-in, replaced by pages of useless action (amazing how the 50-year-old king can hang upside down on his toenails and still manage to save a wispy slave girl he was previously in hatred about.
It has very good music, lovely ambiance, likable characters and cute story.
It has very good music, lovely ambiance, likable characters and cute story.
It has very good music, lovely ambiance, likable characters and cute story.
This cartoon remake of the 1956 musical 'The King and I' is frankly not worth watching.
The songs are catchy and bring a sense of the original "King and I" to a cartoon.
Truthfully, the best way to enjoy this movie is if you've never seen the original 'The King and I'..
Had they simply followed the original story, this probably would have been a lovely film.
i can't stand the way people hate on this movie, the story is nice, the artwork is nice, so is the music and setting.
We had a great night watching this sweet movie and a memory that will last a lifetime.This family friendly animated film shouldn't be compared with the 1956 version.
Now there will be less movies like this.The animation was choppy and off, the voices were horrid, the dialog was so standard it killed me (try counting how many times that kid said "father" in a dramatic voice), and the "humor" was too lame even for kids.I think we should all go Fahrenheight 451 on this movie and burn them all so this story will never be viewed in its butchered form.Please do not ever see this movie, not even for free..
Unfortunately this movie only serves to reinforce the negative stereotypes and simplistic views that exist in relation to the reign of King Mongkut and this cartoon must rank as one of the worst films I have ever seen.The musical "The King And I" is historically misleading and can be perceived by some as culturally negative but at least it gave King Mongkut some admirable qualities and was of an extremely high quality.
All the good things that King Mongkut achieved for his country and the fact that he actually was a human being seems to be missing from this movie.And of course Anne Leonowens is perfect in every way and brings just what these "savages" need to be educated in this film.Plus we now have a bad guy who has magical powers with his rather stereotypical and rather offensive portrayal and a whole lot of assorted animals that can talk and so on.
Good idea to have the King's son a studly young Prince instead of another adolescent, like Anna's foppish brat Louis.
I found myself singing along with a few of the songs ('I Whistle A Happy Tune', 'Getting to Know You' and 'Shall We Dance') which I remember from my younger days.Some of the characters may have been unnecessary like Master Little, the elephant and the monkey, but its their antics that keep the young ones entertained.
Someone has his eye on the throne, the Kralahome and his plan involves Anna, as well as the unsuspecting king
Message: You do not know everything.My thoughts: I have watched this twice since we bought it recently and I like it about as much as I did when I was younger (when we borrowed it).
In the film, I also like the characters and the relationships between them, especially the prince's and servant's as well as Anna's and the king's.
The King and I definitely isn't a family-friendly animated movie at all.It's too stupid for any adults unfortunate enough to have to watch it.
Full of cultural and racial stereotypes, disgustingly cute and unrealistic animals, lame singing and an array of unlikable characters, this is one movie you won't want to sit through with your kids, believe me.
Since the producers already tried turning the story into something out of a Disney movie or Scooby-Doo episode, they could at least try to make the characters interesting!
It's almost as bad as that stupid Ferngully movie and is probably one of the worst animated movies I've seen in some time..
Anna and the King is annoying too.The movie starts when they are on the way to Siam, the the Kralahome is now an evil sorcerer with magic powers for evil and conjures up a serpent.
I have absolutely no problem with that, since we must remember that this is a movie intended for children, who can't understand many of the adult themes in the original story, like the harem, the 109 children, and the death of the king.
For a story like this to work for children, you have to have new and exciting characters, and you absolutely have to have a great villain too.
I thought the movie was just wonderful, and I loved the fact that they've used most of the music from the original.
The King and I is a classic musical that should never be remade, and not with the most offensive weapon in the industry: animal sidekicks and characters only plonked over for comic relief.
I never really liked the story of 'the king and I' because it was set with a lot of drama with a clash of cultures. |
tt0395252 | Psychonauts | === Setting ===
The story is set in fictional Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, a remote US government training facility under the guise of a children's summer camp. The area was hit centuries ago by a meteor made of psitanium (a fictional element that can grant psychic powers or strengthen existing powers), creating a huge crater. The psitanium affected the local wildlife, giving them limited psychic powers, such as bears with the ability to attack with telekinetic claws and cougars with pyrokinesis. The Native Americans of the area called psitanium "whispering rock", which they used to build arrowheads. When settlers began inhabiting the region, the psychoactive properties of the meteor slowly drove them insane. An asylum was built to house the afflicted, but within fifteen years, the asylum had more residents than the town did. The government relocated the remaining inhabitants and flooded the crater to prevent further settlement, creating what is now Lake Oblongata. The asylum still stands, but has fallen into disrepair.
The government took advantage of the psitanium deposit to set up a training camp for Psychonauts, a group of agents gifted with psychic abilities used to help defeat evil-doers. The training ground is disguised as a summer camp for young children, but in reality helps the children to hone their abilities and to train them to be Psychonauts themselves. Due to this, only those recruited by the Psychonauts are allowed into the camp.
=== Characters ===
The protagonist and playable character of the game is Razputin "Raz" Aquato, the son of a family of circus performers, who runs away from the circus to become a Psychonaut, despite his father's wishes. His family is cursed to die in water, and a large hand attempts to submerge Raz whenever he approaches any significantly deep water. When at camp, Raz meets four of the Psychonauts that run the camp: the cool and calculating Sasha Nein (voice actor Stephen Stanton), the fun-loving Milla Vodello, the regimental Agent/Coach Morceau Oleander, and the aged, Mark Twainesque Ford Cruller, said by Raz to have been the greatest leader the Psychonauts ever had, until a past psychic duel shattered Ford's psyche and left him with numerous quirky personalities and no memory of his real self (which explains why he is seen throughout the camp as a cook, ranger, admiral, etc.). Only when he is near the large concentration of Psitanium does his psyche come together enough to form his real personality. During his time at camp, Raz meets several of the other gifted children including Lili Zanotto, the daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, with whom he falls in love; and Dogen Boole, a boy who goes around with a tin foil hat to prevent his abilities from causing anyone's head to explode. Raz also meets ex-residents of the insane asylum including ex-dentist Dr. Loboto; as well as Boyd Cooper, a former milkman that holds a number of government conspiracy theories; Fred Bonaparte, an asylum inmate with dissociative identity disorder, also known as a split personality; and Linda, the gigantic lung fish that protects the asylum from campgoers.
=== Story ===
Raz, having fled from the circus, tries to sneak into the camp, but is caught by the Psychonauts. They agree to let him stay until his parents arrive, but refuse to let him take part in any activities. However, they do allow him to take part in Coach Oleander's "Basic Braining" course, which he easily passes. Impressed, Sasha invites Raz to take part in an experiment to determine the extent of his abilities. During the experiment, Raz comes across a vision of Dr. Loboto extracting Dogen's brain, but is unable to intervene. Raz eventually realizes that the vision is true, but the Psychonauts refuse to believe him. After receiving additional training from Milla, Raz learns that Dr. Loboto is working on behalf of Coach Oleander, who intends to harvest the campers' brains to power an army of psychic death tanks. Lili is soon abducted as well, and with both Sasha and Milla missing, Raz takes it upon himself to infiltrate the abandoned insane asylum where she was taken. Ford gives him a piece of bacon which he can use to contact Ford at any time, and tasks him with retrieving the stolen brains so that he can return them to the campers.
Raz frees the mutated lungfish Linda from Oleander's control, and is able to safely cross the lake. At the asylum, Raz helps the inmates overcome their illnesses, and they help him access the upper levels of the asylum, where Loboto has set up his lab. He frees Lili and restores Sasha and Milla's minds, allowing them to confront Oleander. The inmates subsequently burn down the asylum, allowing Oleander to transfer his brain to one of the tanks. Raz defeats him, but when he approaches the tank, it releases a cloud of sneezing powder, causing him to sneeze his brain out. Raz uses his telekinesis to place his brain inside the tank, merging it with Oleander's.
Inside, Raz discovers that Oleander's evil springs from his childhood fear of his father, who ran a butcher shop. At the same time, Raz's own father appears and the two join forces. However, he turns out to be an imposter, with Raz's real father using his own psychic abilities to fix his son's tangled mind. At the camp's closing ceremony, Ford presents him with a uniform and welcomes him into the Psychonauts. Raz prepares to leave camp with his father, but word arrives that the Grand Head of the Psychonauts — Lili's father, Truman Zanotto — has been kidnapped. Raz, Lili, and the Psychonauts fly off to rescue him. | brainwashing | train | wikipedia | You'd Be Crazy To Miss It. Why hasn't everyone played this game yet?
It's original, funny, intelligent and a total blast to play.
The story of Raz, a pre-adolescent psychic training to become a mental warrior at a deranged summer camp, is brilliantly conceived by madman Tim Shaffer, voiced by top-quality actors and written with a biting wit.
The worlds you visit are the minds of insane people, and pack enough innovation in each one to easily carry ten games.
From the Stratego-esquire levels of a man who thinks he's Napolean to the trippy, black-lit velvet villa of an artist with rage issues to the paranoid, topsy-turvey suburban neighborhood populated by double-agents, you'll find your greatest challenge in the game will be choosing which part you like the best.
So people, please, track this down!.
Best story/characters/writing since the golden age of Lucas Arts!.
If you grew up hooked on quirky, funny Lucas Arts adventure games like Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion/Day of the Tentacle, and so on, this game is for you.
You might not realize it, since it's disguised as an action-packed 3D platformer, but this game has the heart of any of those greats.
You spend as much time exploring, talking and finding/using items as you do smashing and burning things with your awesome psychic powers.
The dialogue is hilarious, the voice acting is superb (anyone notice that Raz is actually Zim, from Invader Zim?), and there are plenty of funny gems to be found by those who think creatively enough to find them (light a squirrel on fire for some funny lines from Raz, for example).
The only problem is the action and difficulty level is a bit inconsistent throughout: some levels are excruciatingly difficult and some are a breeze, in no particular order.
However, the overall fun and vision of the game is more than enough to keep you pressing through the more frustrating moments.
Definitely a must-play..
Best game in the last few years..
The richness of the environments and characters, and the depth of story telling will make you wish that many other games were like psychonauts.
I could go on and on about how great I think the game is, but other reviews on numerous other websites and publications have done that.
So, instead I will counter a couple of arguments that some may have against the greatness of the game.For some there may be some jumping or fighting in the game that may be a bit difficult, but a little patience or maybe a break in those situations would help.
The camera angles might bother a few, but if you don't get used to them with a little time, you can always play the PC version and control the camera with the mouse and movements with the keyboard.
There are also a number of things to collect, and for those who do not like to collect them, then you can ignore all the items that you can't find easily or find a walkthrough that tells you the location of the items.
There are walkthroughs available that only tell the locations, and nothing else, for those who feel a full walkthrough would ruin the game.
I think you only need to get about half of the items to get most of the good stuff, and after that the rest will just give you a secret cut scene, but my memory is not so great so I could be wrong about that.I think everyone should really enjoy the game once they give it a chance and go through at least 2 levels, and explore the environment and talk to the characters.Best of all, in the US, this game can probably be found for $10-25 because it has not sold as well as it should have here.
It is worth much more than that, but for that price it's worth a buy for everyone.
If you don't like it, you can give it to someone who will.There are also demos available for ps2, xbox, and PC.
I do not know how to find the demos for ps2 or xbox and it may be impossible, or not worth the expense.
However, the pc version is easily available for download, if your computer can run it.
The xbox360 controllers can provide a console-like experience for those who do not like the mouse and keyboard controls, as they can plug into the usb slot.
There are also third party adapters for almost every other console controller on the market, though your mileage may vary..
the greatest game ever made!!.
hey YOU.
yes you!
do you delight in originality, creativity, surrealism and the delightfully bizarre?
Then psychonauts is the game for you.
And don't worry if you don't, because this game is also for you!It's almost impossible to sum up psychonauts as a whole.
I don't really know why, or how..all i know that it is unequivocally the greatest game ever made.
I think the closest I can get to beginning to grasp the brilliance of psychonauts is by listing some of the events that it features, out of context: -A deep voiced turtles' brain in a psychic death tank.- -A giant mutated lungfish called Linda.- -Homicidal girl scouts.- -A giant flying theater critic that shoots adjectives like 'vulgar' and 'uninteresting'- -Fiery dream milk flung by a psychotic milkman.- -A mental projection of napoleon that likes breaking bridges and a cougar with pyrokinesis.SO WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING.
sitting here reading this review..the nerve of you!
GO OUT AND PLAY THIS GAME OR YOU WILL HAVE LIVED ONLY HALF A LIFE!.
Sticks in your head, for better or worse.
You are Raz(Steven Horvitz, excited to be there, to feel he has a purpose and isn't a burden like at home), a 10-year-old gifted boy who runs away from the circus to try to sneak into a training ground for those with similar powers to become a "Psychonaut", a spy in that realm.
It's disguised as a Summer camp, where you can, not have to, roam, listen to and/or talk with the other children...
at least a dozen, each with their own personality, conflicts, relationships including romantic ones.
He finds that there is a sinister plot occurring there that only he can stop.
Someone stole the brain of your fellow trainee.
There's also shared nightmares about a scary figure, who somewhat resembles Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Of course, this entire plot starts slow and late, only to dump a ton of exposition on you that then takes away the surprise from every upcoming development.
And this happens in the cut-scenes, except for when it doesn't.
Most of what you, yourself, do in this doesn't affect the story.After a couple of too long, boring and barely necessary tutorials, the actual levels begin.
The few there are – that would be fine if this went for one mood, instead, it goes for all that it can in those, meaning, yeah, not that many.
And while you may do a little detective work, you are helping insane people deal with their issues.
This is something that could have been done before and without you, and would not be required at all if you got for free the favors that they offer after you've been in their mind.
I mean, this is a pretty big deal.
Can we focus on that?
Anyway, that does mean that you are moving through the bizarre, absurd, creative, unique and surreal mind every time you "go in".
In one, a 50's suburban neighborhood that you move on like a series of Möbius strips, overrun by G-men, all claiming to belong, working the sewer, the road, or the like, with their suit and shades clear for anyone to see, and there are cameras hidden in lawn ornaments that every so often pop out and snap a shot, the top of every car has a radio transmission tower.
You'll find yourself inside at least one old-fashioned game, like a game of cards.
Or a board-game, where there are three layers, or sizes.
First, you look at it set up, you could grab it with a hand.
Then you get onto it and get an overview.
Finally, you're smaller than the pieces for it, and can knock on a door of a house that you could have had in your hand seconds ago.
You'll see neon, encounter dogs and wrestlers.
A few of them, you can choose which order to do them in.
They're all memorable.
They do, sadly, all overstay their welcome and lean on one mechanic too much.
It helps a little that they each have a different one.Since you've been learning acrobatics, you can grab, shimmy and climb ledges, walk or swing from tightropes, slide swiftly down lines and double-jump.
Though there are numerous elements vital to making something like this be enjoyable, the game-play is ultimately what I consider to be the single most important one.
Unfortunately, here it is...
Without it, it might as well be an interactive movie or the like.
3D, compared to 2D(which recent demos of Rayman, both Legends and Origins, does, and it's so much more comfortable.
So it can, and sometimes is, still being done like that today), makes it far harder to do the action/adventure plat-former.
And a lot of the early examples of this didn't yet know how to deal with it.
Sonic, Earthworm Jim, Prince of Persia...
this is, thankfully, far better than those.
The problem is that the added dimension opens it up, and with more to take in, the momentum comes and goes.
Or dies entirely.
The camera has big problems.
Even with the sensitivity maxed out, the mouse will sometimes move it very slowly, *too much so*, it *will not* keep up, there are even times where you have to constantly, laboriously, manually adjust it.
Worse, the Marksmanship Blast aiming is awkward, and, with this issue, not fast enough.
There are a few times where you have static views forced upon you, where the direction you go in either shifts suddenly as it pops to a different place, and/or just makes it hard for you to tell which one you'll be going in.
That hardly ever leads to your death, it's mostly in areas safe from harm.
A few places, it can't "follow you" into a small room, so you can't see anything until you leave it again.
Completely unacceptable.You'll gain psychic powers such as: telekinesis: pick up small items, enemies and the like, and throw them, such as for attacks.
It is a strange decision to force you to hold down the key...
why not allow toggling?
And you adjust the predicted path with the movement ones...why?
Levitation: it's the "running" feature, with a ball of energy under your feet.
You can use it to Float, gradually getting closer to the horizontal surface, as you inch further in one of the four directions while in the air.
You can set some things on fire.
These can either be awarded by completing certain missions or by gaining ranks.
You can assign three of these to your controller or keyboard for quick use.
All earned ones are available at any time through a selection screen.
You can't pick which ones you get.
You save up for certain things, it's not really "choice", just something to earn, which is perfectly fine, makes it more accessible.There is some creepy, disturbing and twisted material in this.
I recommend this to fans of old school entries into this already unforgiving genre.
A trippin' experience.
Psychonauts is a game that taps into our fantasies.
Although Psychonauts earned a ton of awards, the game didn't get much attention.
Here's a review of Psychonauts.Plot: The star of the game is Raz, a former circus star with psychic powers.
He breaks into a camp exclusive for psychics and wants to become a Psychonaut, an agent with psychic powers.
During his stay in the camp, his fellow campers are being kidnapped and their brains are stolen by an evil scientist.
Raz must save his fellow campers and a girl who has a crush on him named Lili from the scientist.
5/5Graphics: The graphics are very cartoonish at best.
Each mental world Raz visits, depend on the mind he enters, are colorful and dark at the same time.
Double Fine Productions did a fine job on the graphics.
5/5Sound: The voice acting is the game's best part.
Double Fine did an amazing job on picking the right voices for the characters.
Not to mention you get a laugh from the cutscenes in the game.
5/5 Gameplay: The controls is rather simple although there are a few parts in the levels that can get frustrating at times.
4/5 Majesco Games and Double Fine Productions did an amazing job on Psychonauts.
Why this game earned critical acclaim yet didn't do too well, we may never know.
Psychonauts is a cult classic worth playing.Final Review: 5/5 |
tt0106880 | Fear of a Black Hat | The film is a comedic mockumentary depicting the perspective of a filmmaker as she trails a hardcore gangsta rap group called N.W.H. ("Niggaz With Hats"), a play on the name of the popular group N.W.A In many ways, Fear of a Black Hat is similar to the satirical film about early 1980s heavy metal This is Spinal Tap.
The members of N.W.H. are:
Ice Cold (Cundieff), the main rapper and the intelligent and vulgar backbone of the group.
Tasty Taste (Larry B. Scott), the ultra-violent secondary rapper who always seems to be armed with a variety of dangerous assault weaponry. (His name is spelled "Tasty-Taste" in the credits but not in other parts of the movie.)
Tone Def (Mark Christopher Lawrence), the esoteric D.J., who is talented enough to scratch with his butt and his penis (the latter is not shown directly, but strongly and humorously implied). (His name is spelled "Tone-Def" in the credits but not in other parts of the movie.)
The film is told from the point of view of Nina Blackburn (Kasi Lemmons), a sociologist who analyzes hip hop as a form of communication for her degree. She chooses N.W.H. as the subject of her thesis and follows them around for a year. She familiarizes herself with the band members, their beliefs, and their often strange behavior.
The members wear outrageous headwear during their performances. This is explained as an act of rebellion, remembering their slave ancestors, who had to work bare-headed in the sun. According to N.W.H., hats are a symbol for resistance and revolution since their hatless ancestors were too tired from working all day in the sun to revolt. This is a typical example of the bizarre logic the group uses to explain the deeper meanings behind their otherwise crude and base music and images.
A steady source of comedy is N.W.H.'s use of over-the-top graphic language (e.g. sex, violence and rantings against the police), which detractors see as a cheap means to sell records, but in their eyes is essential to convey a "socially relevant message". They offer jaw-dropping explanations why songs such as "Booty Juice" and "Come and Pet the P.U.S.S.Y." are in fact deep and socially significant, and that detractors obviously do not truly understand the "real meaning". Throughout the movie, it is difficult to tell if the members of N.W.H. truly believe what they are saying, or are just portraying an image.
A lot of time also goes into describing N.W.H.'s feud with another rap group, the Jam Boys. The groups constantly insult and discredit each other, even sometimes resulting in brandishing weapons. At one point, N.W.H. brings to light evidence that the Jam Boys' lead rapper attended a prep school, directly threatening his street credibility.
A macabre running gag—inspired by This is Spinal Tap—involves their white managers dying under mysterious circumstances (the group originally insist that they "wasn't in town when the shit happened"). They explain to Nina that their first few managers were black—in fact, were their relatives—and that they decided switching to white managers would be better for their families and the black community.
N.W.H.'s internal matters turn sour when Ice Cold cuts down his involvement because he wants to participate in a film, and Cheryl C. (Rose Jackson), a groupie, hooks up with Tasty-Taste. Although she is clearly more interested in his money than in him, Tasty lets her take over his life. When Tasty finds Cheryl and Ice Cold in bed, N.W.H. is no more.
The group breaks up and each member launches a solo career. Ice dedicates himself to house music; Tasty brings out a diss track in which he curses Ice; and Tone Def becomes a hippie (with obvious references to "flower rappers," such as P.M. Dawn). None sees much success until they ultimately reunite for a triumphant comeback in which their differences have been set aside, at least for the time being. | satire | train | wikipedia | After a big tip of the hat to Spinal Tap, this movie is hilarious.
Quebec Rating:13+ Canadian Home Video Rating:14AFear Of A Black Hat is one of the funniest, most original comedies I have ever seen.Its basically a gangsta rap version of the film This Is Spinal Tap.Its a shame not many people have heard of this gem of a film.If you manage to find this film anywhere don't hesitate to buy it even if you don't like rap music.There are not too many comedy films that I give a perfect 10/10 to.The only ones I can think of at the moment are this film,Clerks,The World According To Garp,The 40 Year Old Virgin and Chasing Amy.This film is a hilarious stereotype of the gangsta rap culture.The movie is about a woman named Nina Blackburn who is making a documentary about the fictional rap group N.W.H(N****z with hats).They are basically the stereotype of a rap group making many controversial rap songs about killing and being a gangsta.Fear Of A Black Hat is an excellent comedic film and I recommend it even if you are not a fan of the gangsta rap scene.Its a shame this film is not in the Top 250.Runtime:88min 10/10.
Although it rips off SPINAL TAP scene-by-scene in some instances, FEAR OF A BLACK HAT offers up enough belly laughs -- some of them very large -- to make it worth a look.
That said, there are moments when this movie nails some of the hypocrisies of pop music (not just hip-hop).
This is a really funny film, especially the second, third and fourth time you watch it.
It's a pretty short film, and i definitely recommend watching it more than once, you will 'get it' more the second time.It's like spinal tap but the rap version.
It has a lot of attitude in it which can be a negative thing in rap influenced films, but it's just a total p**s take and isn't a problem because of the irony it creates.Plenty of stand-out bits, one of those types of films which you will find yourself quoting lines with your mates, and it WILL raise laughter.My personal favourite part is the 'guerrillas in the midst' section.
If you like rap or hip-hop, watch this movie, although it's funny if you don't get the references, as a straight comedy.Haven't seen much of the much hyped CB4, but what I did see didn't have the heart that this little stormer has.Haven't heard from the people involved since, which is a surprise.
The film is very similar to Spinal Tap, which is no bad thing, and I think a lot of the dialogue, while priceless in Tap is funnier here, probably because I'm more into rap than rock theses days, so my own judgment does cloud that point.The rap songs are funny as hell, and it's basically spot the reference for most of the film, not all of them are in-your-face, which means the physical comedy and the one-liners get priority over the take-offs.Great fun, one to watch twice if there ever was a movie..
Well I don't personally like rap, but I still found Fear of a Black Hat hilarious.
It was deriviative from This Is Spinal Tap, sometimes blatantly, but this film still stood on it's own as an original, intelligent, and funny satire.
I'm too old to know (or care) exactly what the difference between rap and hip-hop is.
And, being Canadian, it's likely that I've never actually seen MTV, but I'm not certain.But I thought this film was very funny when I saw it, a bright little satire.
This movie is hilarious and while the satire leans against material dated from the 80's and early 90's, if you know enough hip hop and pop culture then you'd find it funny, even today.
The movie is consistently funny from beginning to end, with many of the jokes dead panned and often subtly delivered.
I have zero interest rap and in ghetto culture, i'm white and like classic rock, however, that did not stop me from appreciating this fantastic comedy.
Its pretty much a sequel of This Is Spinal Tap in the sense that it is the same movie, just about rap instead or rock.
One of the reasons why this movies was so funny was that it makes fun of rap from a different.
Overall, it's a funny movie with many jokes about racism, sex and music culture among the more obvious themes of humor.
This is highly recommend for any fan of This is Spinal Tap. They are essentially the same movie, just about different worlds, and yes, the same jokes work in both movies..
To like this movie, you must have at least an interest in black culture and, more specifically, an interest in the rap/hip hop culture, whether positive or negative.
I myself am a 25 year old white man, and used to be more or less indifferent to 90's hip hop but quite dislike the current trend of rap (which covers a total of four subjects: Violence, racism, misogyny, and superiority to others in some way or another).
But Fear of a Black Hat (FOABH from here) takes me back to the early 90's, when all kinds of musical styles existed and singers were judged more by talent than how they dressed.
The movie is fictitous and the people are all actors, but it is filmed in a documentary style with the gimmick in mind although these characters don't really exist, people quite similar to them do, and this is the movie that makes fun of them.
The director, Rusty Cundieff (playing "Ice Cold") has a great ear for dialogue and an even better one for melody, as the film contains a dozen NWH songs, each with its own theme and almost every one of them catchy despite being parodic material.
It's also acted well, with the characters coming off as believable yet ridiculous, with their giant goofball hats (which are in fact explained in a stupid yet thought-provoking diatribe) and their silly habit of making every ostensibly crude song actually stand for something much more intelligent.
It's somehow fun to watch these tortured geniuses at work, doing their best to carve a niche in the transitional period between early 90's hip hop and the edgier stuff we know today.
However, that does give the film and unfortunate outdatedness, as some joke characters (an MC Hammer parody) and now-uncommon phrases ("Word", "Kick It") fall a little flat.
Still, I definitely found it worth a look, especially to the black community or those interested in rap/hip hop culture.
Mr. Cundieff wrote, directed, developed most of the "MTV"-like song and dance scenes, and, of course, starred in this film.
You don't have to know a thing about rap music to love this screamingly funny satire about culture clash, the media, fame, hypocrisy and a lot more.A black woman (college-educated, oh-so-serious public TV type) is filming a documentary on a three-man rap group from the streets.
We watch the astonished faces of our rappers as they listen to his ludicrous slang, which dates back to Malcolm X's time.NWH even puts out a Christmas album called `Ho, Ho, Ho's.' A rival rap group dogs their rise to fame, each outfit trying to destroy the other.
The concert audiences are pimply white youth who ape the group's moves, clothing and speech mannerisms and for whom the rappers can barely disguise their utter contempt.Relating these details in no way spoils the fun, for it's the telling of the tale and the facial expressions of those to whom all of this happens that make the movie.No matter what your age or background, you'll be howling out loud through many parts of this parody.
Having seen both "Fear of a Black Hat" and "This is Spinal Tap", I can honestly state that while similar, both movies are truly must see.
its too bad that no one knows anything about this movie, and it gets old telling people it's rap's version of spinal tap.
and you know, im sorry i dont have any better comments, but damnit, go get the movie and watch it, and then make all your friends watch it too, just like im gonna..
Chances are, you'll think this movie is incredibly stupid the first time you watch it.
I picked up the movie with no cover and not even knowing what it was, but when I watched it I laughed so hard.
You've got to love the satire of rap groups (obviously NWA), certain rappers (Eazy E, Flava Flav, Ice Cube), and the humor of the three members of NWH.
If you know and like 90's 'gangster' rap, you'll be watching and laughing with this movie for a long time.
a group of my friends and i got together and watched "this is spinal tap," immediately followed by this movie.
as any of the other comments will tell you, the movies are almost exactly similar, although the jokes all work a second time in the rap genre, which was due for some good self-referential humor.
the one thing i would note is the humor in black hat is much more heavy-handed over all when compared to spinal tap (although i suppose it doesn't get more blatantly comical as christopher guest's character in that movie), which is probably why some of the commenters here found this to be funnier.
regardless, a fun and witty movie, and one geared more to the mtv generation, so give this a chance if you liked tap..
Rap parody in the tradition of Spinal Tap, but far outclassing CB4.
More like Spinal Tap than anything else, the film is clever from the start.
If you really want a good laugh and you like hip hop and are a little familiar with some old-school performers, definitley rent this movie.
A knowledge of many of your more popular Hip Hop/Rap performers greatly enchances the enjoyment of this movie.
There are so many little 'inside' jokes that you could sit for hours trying to figure out on who they were based upon, such as Vanilla Sherbert and my personal favorite, Tone Def's spirtual P.M. Dawn like 'awakening,' harkening his music video "I'm Only Human." Overall, it's too bad this movie doesn't get more press than the overhyped "Friday.".
This movie, Fear of a Black Hat, is an amazing comedy!
This movie, a Mock-u-mentary of the Rap scene, follows around the rap group N.W.H. or Niggas with Hats on thier rollercoster ride tour that has them running from the cops, fighting censorship (and the white man), Finding new managers (after losing all of them to gun fire) and climbing the Rap charts.
Through trouble with women, egos, cops and whitey, this group gets to the top of the gangster rap world, as this movie goes to the top of mocumentaries.
I know everybodies favorite mocumentary is This is Spinal Tap, for very good reason, however I think that if in the right mood, this movie is simply better.
The laughs never end, even for someone not into the rap culture.I'm a white guy, that has no interest in rap music, culture or anything else associated with it, however I love this movie.
Rusty Cundeif, who wrote the screenplay, songs and starred in it showed great potential and it is a shame that I haven't seen him since Fear of a Black Hat.
However, I have seen him one more time than you have, and is that, that I recommend Fear of a Black Hat to you for quick laughs.Remember, "Don't shoot to you see the whites!....of their eyes?
Fear of a Black Hat offers more inside jokes and more subtle humor and at the same time more poopoo humor than any other of the genre.
i first saw this movie as a hip hop fan and only got a few of the jokes.
both the movie and the soundtrack are record and video library staples for any true hip hop head..
Rap's Spinal Tap. If rap is not your thing, forget about this movie as it relies heavily on jokes and references derived from the rap/hip-hop culture.
However if you can tell your Ice Cube's from your Ice T's then Fear Of A Black Hat is an amusing satirical look at the rap music industry.The movie adopts a documentary style formula as seen in movies like Spinal Tap and CB4.
Three hip-hop wannabes manage to stumble their way into becoming gangsta rap superstars and have to deal with the pressures of women, managers, political indifference, a criminal who they ripped their image off, record labels and ultimately each other.While there are no outstanding performances like Chris Rock's character in CB4, Fear Of A Black Hat works in that it plays on the various character stereotypes in a humorous style while integrating them within the documentary framework.
I, on the other hand, being Asian (and thus belonging to neither group), had a great time viewing this satire of rap culture and its egos/trappings/values/pseudo-philosophies.
The songs are too funny to be believed.This film is one of the best pseudo-documentaries to come along, including "A Mighty Wind".
Fear of a black hat is a hilarious spoof of Hip-Hop culture.
It is just as funny as This Is Spinal Tap, if not funnier.
I first saw this movie about 4 years ago and i was expecting something funny, similar to CB4.
I will admit, you probably will despise this movie if you know nothing about rap music.
But if you are a rap fan, even a casual one, you will love the inside jokes and references.
FEAR OF A BLACK HAT (3 outta 5 stars)Nice try at making a spoof documentary (a la Spinal Tap) but directed at the world of "gangsta rap".
Of course, I laughed at "Jike Spingleton" but you almost need to be a hardcore movie buff to get the joke.Plus, the thing about the song parodies is...
It's basically meant to be Spinal Tap with a hip hop theme, but it fails miserably.
Recently in a discussion with other fans of hip-hop music, this film came up and was roundly lauded by those that had seen it as being hilarious, smart, cutting and a "classic" (albeit that that final word tends to get thrown around by fans of this genre so much that it really means nothing).
The plot therefore follows the group coming up, falling apart and then being put back together again, but it isn't really the plot that matters here.What matters is that the film is a comedy set in the rap world of the early 90's and as such it has plenty of artists and aspects of the culture to make fun of.
In terms of his direction I had no issues but to be honest it did feel like he must have watched Spinal Tap every single day before shooting, so similar was the style.
Overall Fear of a Black Hat is a broad spoof of hip-hop culture but one that doesn't seem to know what it wants to do.
It owes so much to Spinal Tap but yet is not as funny; it apes hip-hop culture but yet cannot work out if it is doing it affectionately or with an edge, so ends up doing neither.
Mildly amusing but too much like "Spinal Tap".
It's obvious that the makers of "Fear Of The Black Hat" had a HipHop-version of "This Is Spinal Tap!" in mind.
What's worse is that a lot of jokes are directly lifted from "Spinal Tap".
Great movie if you remember the 80's rap culture.
"Fear of a Black Hat" was unjustly ignored on its release, and, surprisingly, is just as funny and clever today as it was then.
It takes a few plot points from the immortal "Spinal Tap" - girlfriend troubles, problems with the album cover, an acrimonious break up and subsequent reunion - but this doesn't stop the acting from being great, the song parodies from being spot-on, and the dialogue from being incredibly funny.
I would recommend even non-rap fans to watch this movie.
The cast really pulls off a serious yet ridiculously funny performance.I had know idea what this movie was about, but after the first 5 min.
and when vanilla sherbert got his ass kicked, just like the record company executive is also hilarious and having they're managers getting shot every time too.people who didn't enjoy this movie probably didn't get it or were complete idiots, my opinion.
While some similarities exist, the humor is different, and the movie seems more like a real documentary (maybe because we don't recognize a single actor in this thing, even the guy who played "Lamar" from "Revenge of the Nerds").
THIS movie it's insane hilarious and all around brilliant from begining to end non stop laughter if only all movies were this funny a must see movie you've got to see this movie for yourself and then see it again you'll love the music video's all of them are great!
and and why do people compare this movie to that stupid spinal tap movie this movie unlike that one is actually funny you'll love tasty Taste and all his insanity and the music vidoes O boy the music vidoes LOL!
This film is a lost gem, a dead-on satire "mockumentary" of the early 90's Hip Hop scene, when MC Hammer had just began to fade away into that good night.
I first saw this movie when it came out in 1994 and just watched it recently and it is STILL funny.
This movie makes fun of all of that in a way that seems like it's an actually documentary.
Still, on it's own, without hip hop knowledge, it is still a funny funny movie.
This, in my opinion is equally as funny and in some ways, better than Spinal Tap. As Spinal Tap is to heavy metal, Fear of A Black Planet is to Rap. And the songs are off the hook also. |
tt0035446 | To Be or Not to Be | Before the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the stars of a theater company in Warsaw are the "ham" actor Josef Tura (Jack Benny) and his beautiful wife, Maria (Carole Lombard). As part of the company's rehearsal of "Gestapo", a play satirizing the Nazis, one of the actors, Bronski (Tom Dugan), takes to the street to prove that he looks like Hitler in his costume and makeup. People gawk at the appearance of the Nazi dictator in Warsaw, until a young girl asks for the autograph of "Mr. Bronski."
That night, when the company is performing Shakespeare's Hamlet, with Tura in the title role, Bronski commiserates with his friend and colleague, Greenberg (Felix Bressart), about being limited to being spear carriers. Greenberg, who is implicitly Jewish (although the words "Jew" or "Judaism" are never said in the film), reveals that it has always been his dream to perform Shylock in Merchant of Venice, especially the famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech, which he proceeds to recite.
Meanwhile, Maria has received a bouquet of flowers from the handsome young pilot Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack). She arranges to meet him, telling Sobinski to come to her dressing room when Tura begins his "To be or not to be..." speech, so they can be sure of privacy. The young man walks out, very obviously, when Tura begins his monologue, causing the highly-strung actor great distress. Shortly thereafter, the company is ordered by a government representative to cancel their production of "Gestapo" out of fear it would offend the Germans and worsen tensions between the two nations.
The next night, after a brief (and chaste) assignation, Sobinski again walks out during "To be or not to be", freshly infuriating Tura. Sobinski returns backstage to confess his love to Maria, assuming that she will leave her husband and the stage to be with him. Before she can correct his assumption, news breaks out that Germany has invaded Poland. Sobinski leaves to join the fight, and the actors huddle in the basement of the theater as Warsaw is bombed.
Hitler conquers Poland and the Polish division of the British Royal Air Force is fighting to free its mother country. Lt. Sobinski and other young pilots of the division sing together, with the Polish resistance leader Professor Siletsky (Stanley Ridges) as their guest. Siletsky hints he will return to Warsaw soon and the men jump to give him messages for their relatives but Sobinski is suspicious when he gives Siletsky a message for Maria Tura and he doesn't know who the famous actress is. When Sobinski reports the incident to higher authorities, they realize that Siletsky now has a list of the names and addresses of relatives of Polish airmen in the RAF, against whom reprisals can be taken.
Sobinski is sent to Warsaw to warn the resistance but Siletsky gets there first. The flier manages to reach Maria, who passes on the message to the underground. Immediately after, she is stopped by two soldiers who have been ordered by Siletsky to bring her to him so he can deliver Sobinski's message and determine what "To be or not to be" means to her. Siletsky invites Maria to dinner, hoping to recruit her as a spy, as well as to sample her charms. She pretends to be interested and goes home to dress up.
Just before she arrives at her apartment, Tura returns and finds Sobinski in his bed and his bathrobe. Maria and Sobinski try to figure out what to do about Siletsky, while Tura tries to figure out what is going on with his wife and the pilot. In the end, Tura proclaims that he will kill Siletsky. Later that evening, Maria returns to Siletsky's room and pretends to be attracted to him. Just as they kiss, there is a knock at the door. A Nazi officer – actually one of the members of the acting company – summons Siletsky to "Gestapo headquarters", which is the theatre, hastily disguised with props and costumes from their play.
Tura pretends to be Col. Ehrhardt of the Gestapo and Siletsky gives him the report containing the names and addresses of the families of the Polish pilots. He also reveals that Sobinski gave him a message for Maria, and that "To be or not to be" was the signal for their rendezvous. Tura reacts in an extremely jealous way and declares he will have Maria arrested. Noting this overreaction, Siletsky quickly sees that he has been duped, pulls a gun on Tura and tries to escape but is shot and killed by Sobinski.
Tura returns to the hotel disguised as Siletsky in a fake beard and glasses to destroy the copy of the information about the Polish resistance that Siletsky has in his trunk and to confront Maria about her affair. Unfortunately, he is met at the hotel by the real Col. Ehrhardt's adjutant, Capt. Schultz (Henry Victor), and taken to meet Ehrhardt (Sig Ruman). Tura manages to pass himself off as Siletsky, defuses the information by naming recently executed prisoners as the leaders of the resistance and learns that Hitler himself will visit Warsaw the next day.
The next day, the real Siletsky's body is discovered in the theater. Ehrhardt sends for Maria to tell her but she is unable to warn Tura in time and he arranges another meeting with Ehrhardt, again posing as Siletsky. When Tura arrives, Ehrhardt sends him into a room with Siletsky's dead body, hoping to frighten him into a confession.
Thinking quickly, Tura shaves off Siletsky's beard and then attaches a spare fake beard that he was carrying in his pocket. He then calls Ehrhardt into the room and manipulates him into pulling Siletsky's now-fake beard off. This appears to prove that the real Siletsky was actually the imposter. But just as Tura is about to make his escape, the other actors, sent by Maria and again in Nazi costume, storm into Ehrhardt's office, yank off Tura's false beard and pretend to drag him away to prison. This gets Tura out of Gestapo headquarters but now he cannot leave the country on the plane Ehrhardt had arranged for him and it is only a matter of time before the ruse is discovered.
The company comes up with a bold plan; when the Nazis stage a show at the theater to honor Hitler. Sobinski, Tura, Bronski and the other actors sneak in dressed as Nazis. The actors hide until Hitler arrives and takes his seat. As the Nazis are singing the Deutschlandlied (the German national anthem) inside, Greenberg suddenly appears and rushes the box. This distracts the Führer's guards long enough for Bronski wearing a Hitler moustache, to emerge unnoticed from hiding, surrounded by his entourage of actors dressed as Nazi officers.
Playing the head of Hitler's guard, Tura demands to know what Greenberg wants and the actor finally gets his chance to deliver Shylock's famous speech from The Merchant of Venice. He ends with a ringing "if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?!" and Tura orders his "officers" to take Greenberg away. He also recommends that Bronski/Hitler leave Poland immediately and all the actors march out, get in Hitler's cars and drive away.
Back at her apartment, Maria is waiting for the actors to pick her up. They intend to leave on Hitler's plane but Col. Ehrhardt shows up and tries to seduce her. Ehrhardt is amazed when the door opens and Bronski walks in disguised as Hitler. Bronski simply turns and walks out in silence but Ehrhardt immediately thinks that Maria is having an affair with Hitler and he has just been caught trying to steal the Führer's mistress. Maria dashes after Bronski calling, "Mein Führer, Mein Führer!"
The actors take off in the plane and easily dispose of the Nazi pilots. Sobinski flies to Scotland, where the actors are interviewed by the press. Asked what reward he would like for his service to the Allies, Tura hesitates in a show of false modesty, but Maria quickly responds for him, "He wants to play Hamlet". Tura is now once again on stage as Hamlet and reaches the moment of "To be or not to be." He sees Sobinski in the audience as he begins the speech but both are amazed when a new young officer gets up and noisily heads backstage. | comedy, satire, flashback | train | wikipedia | There are no cheesy clean characters or cringe-worthy lines: this is a firework of fast, witty dialogue with an edge and the sexiest, cleverest (and most morally ambiguous) female protagonist I have ever seen in a film before the "New Hollywod" era.Even the structure and the way the story evolves are very modern; there are flashbacks and twists and turns that might be very common in contemporary films but must have seemed almost "avant-garde" at the time.The biggest fun, of course, is how Lubitsch takes the pi** out of Hitler's blind, fanatic followers.
This black classic comedy well produced by Alexander Korda deals about the marriage Joseph and Maria Tura(Jack Benny, Carole Lombard), they along with a troupe actors spontaneously become involved with the Polish resistance.
Meanwhile, during the representation of playwright 'Hamlet'by William Shakespeare, a spectator, the lieutenant Stanislaw(Robert Stack), gets up his seat and goes to dressing room of the star...Unforgettable characters, lots of laughs, one of the best films of the cinema history and the best of Lubitsch, a real cinema classic.
The film was remade in an inferior musical version by Alan Johnson(1983)with marriage in real life, Mel Brooks(role of Jack Benny)-Anne Bancroft(Carole Lombard) and Charles Durning (Col.Ehrhardt)..
Set in Warsaw, just before and then during the initial German occupation which itself triggered World War 2, it starts in a relatively light-hearted manner as we're introduced to an acting troupe headed by husband and wife team Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, he the hammish, self-confident leading man, she the toy-boy-chasing leading lady.
When these foibles are adroitly woven into the plot at a climactic stage later in the film you appreciate how well written and crafted the movie is.I've never seen Jack Benny in any other feature and only know him for his deadpan humour on American TV much later than this but he's great here as the cuckolded husband pressed into action by the Polish resistance, struggling to balance his personal life with the National Good.
There are only a couple of misfiring jokes like when Lombard complicity moans "Heil Hitler" when receiving a kiss from the Polish traitor or the too obvious "Friends, Romans and countrymen" line from Benny but there are far more hits than misses for sure.For me this film could have worked as a drama without the comedy and as a comedy without the drama.
This cinematic satire, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, contains some excellent acting--especially by its leads, Jack Benny and Carole Lombard.
Lubitsch certainly earns, again, our respect for his directorial skills.But regardless of the talents on display in "To Be or Not To Be", this is a film that should be seen for its place in history.Just two years before its release, Chaplin gave the world the wonderful film "The Great Dictator", a tour de force spoof of Hitler.
Realising too late that Professor Siletsky is a double agent taking addresses to the Nazi's, Lt Sobinski alerts Tura who is forced to play several roles to try and outwit the Nazi's and protect the underground resistance.Despite having heard it mentioned (and avoided the remake) I had still never seen this film until earlier today.
The whole support cast, whether Polish actor or German commander, all play very well managing to bring both wit and pathos to the film.Overall a film that is not as uncomfortable to watch as I suspected it might have been, in fact one that is downright hilarious at times and has all the sharpness and wit that I want in a comedy.
Jack Benny plays his role with just the right amount of exaggeration for it to work perfectly, and he, Carole Lombard, and the rest of the cast help Ernst Lubitsch to tell a lively yet worthwhile tale.
Nobody realized that his performance as Joseph Tura would be his best one, and that within two years he'd make his final starring fiasco in THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT.Benny and Lombard proved to work well together as the egotistical, but oddly loving couple of theater hams.
In fact the actors making up the Tura company are all good, including Lionel Atwill (who briefly is seen playing Claudius to Benny's Hamlet), Felix Bressart as Greenberg (who dreams of doing the Shylock speech from THE MERCHANT OF VENICE), Tom Dugan as Bronski (who hopes to play Hitler on the stage), Charles Halton as Dubosch (the stage manager, and the head of the Warsaw underground), and Maude Eburne as Lombard's cynical maid Anna.
Referring to Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) playing Hamlet on stage, Colonel Ehrhardt (Sig Ruman) states, "What he did to Shakespeare we are doing to Poland." Only someone with the comic genius of Ernst Lubitsch could compare the Thespian rape of Shakespeare with the physical rape of a country and make it work.Jack Benny, although one of the most popular entertainers of all time, never got his just deserts for his acting abilities.
The rest of the cast, including newcomer Robert Stack, keep up the pace and give all the support needed to make Lubitsch's film a winner, in particular the histrionics of Sig Ruman, the definitive Nazi stooge, later parodied in the popular TV series "Hogan's Heroes."The script which Lubitsch himself helped put together blossoms with hilarious one-liners such as "So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt?" To read a few of the most famous ones, see IMDb quotes for the film.
This leads Joseph to think he is a failure as Hamlet until later in the film he learns that the young man, Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack), is leaving each time for a rendezvous with Joseph's wife, Maria.
Though this was somewhat controversial when first released because some, including Jack Benny's own father, misunderstood the satire, the film is possibly even more funny and relevant today than during World War II when the Nazi menace was for real.
The film is a good comedy that seems to has kept some of its freshness intact.The film works because of the great contribution of Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, who sadly, died before the film had its premiere.
They play the Turas, a Polish theatrical couple that foresee the Nazi invasion of their country.In fact, Jack Benny, a man associated as a comedian, first on radio, then on television, was an actor with an uncanny sense of timing.
However, the nice surprise about the movie was the acting of Jack Benny in the starring role (along with the wonderful Carole Lombard).
(Lord-Robert Stack's almost 10 years Younger than me in that film...) You also get to see how good Carole Lombard was, and it's sad she was dead before the movie was out.If you have ever wondered about just how good an actor Jack Benny was, check this out.
There is a certain sense of melancholy I feel when I watch this 1942 classic Ernst Lubitsch movie, as it represents the last appearance of the luminous Carole Lombard, surely the most breathtaking and high-spirited of actresses during Hollywood's golden era.
She and co-star Jack Benny play Maria and Joseph Tura, the egocentric stars of a Polish acting troupe who are caught in the 1939 Nazi invasion of Warsaw.
As a world-class flirt, she is carrying on with a handsome young pilot named Stanislav Sobinski, and their trysts begin once he hears his cue to get up from his theater seat, Hamlet's famous opening line to his soliloquy as spoken by an increasingly perturbed Joseph.The romantic triangle quickly takes a backseat to an espionage thriller involving a German spy named Professor Siletsky, who holds the names of members of the Polish underground.
While it sounds like a piece of wartime propaganda, the film actually becomes more farcical even as people are getting killed.As Joseph, Benny has never been better, conveying both self-absorption and cunning expertly, and the script by Edwin Justus Mayer and an uncredited Lubitsch gives him a number of great one-liners.
I watched this film recently and thought id leave a brief comment,i found this original version better than the remake although the one with Mel Brooks is good as well.What i like about this Jack Benny version is that the humour is never forced,you can see the sincerity in the actors as although they are playing for laughs they are also saddened by the dark humour in their scripts,this film was probably Ernst Lubritsch's way of drawing the publics attention to what was really going on during that period in Warsaw,Chaplin did the same thing when he made the Great Dictator.Sometimes the best way to get your point across to people is through comedy as the horrors that were really going on during this time were being very played down by the press and the government and yet the public had to be made aware in some way.I found this a very intelligent comedy,in that its funny when it wants to be and yet makes sure you see its serious nature.And on the other hand making fun of your enemy is a great way of getting back at them.Great film a real pity that it was Carole Lombards last..
Charles Chaplin was put on a death list by Hitler for lampooning him in "The Great Dictator" in 1940, and while Ernst Lubitsch's film isn't quite as scathing as Chaplin's, I still have to think that so openly mocking the Gestapo while the war was still raging took a lot of guts for everyone involved.This isn't necessarily a laugh out loud comedy; there are no really big laughs to be had.
Of course, the most praise must go to Jack Benny, who seems so utterly comfortable on screen, but Carole Lombard is as sexy and engaging as ever, even if she has quite a bit less to do.Very funny, very entertaining, and probably a must see from the period of war-time cinema.Grade: A.
Then there is this terrific cast, Jack Benny who needed only this one film to achieve immortality, beautiful Carol Lombard who had the task of playing the faithful wife to the great actor Joseph Tura and at the same time being just believably enough attracted to this guy who is able to drop a couple of tons of bombs.
This movie about a company of Polish actors during the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 does have laughs (Hitler's "Heil myself!") and it is intricately and cleverly plotted and plays well as an intrigue.
Jack Benny and Carole Lombard are great but I will always have to say my favorite person in the movie was Sig Ruman.
The film opens a troupe of Polish actors rehearsing a play satirizing the Nazis in August, 1939, a month before the invasion, and it was highly topical at the time.Lombard is simply radiant in her last film, and finds the right restraint and touch between comedy and cooing out double entendres.
Director Lubitsch, known for sophisticated comedies, was a refugee from Hitter Germany and obviously relished the idea of making fun of the Nazis on screen but the public at this stage was in no mood for fun and the film, unlike the big success of Chaplin's earlier Dictator, was a flop at the box-office despite the star appeal of Benny and Lombard.In retrospect it can be seen as a World War II Hollywood landmark that is funnier now than it was then.
While not as dramatic or filled with memorable lines and patriotic songs, To Be or Not To Be, like Casablanca, the film features two main Hollywood stars, Carole Lombard and Jack Benny and a love triangle in which romance must be subordinate to a greater cause.
Bronski is playing a secondary role to the famous Polish actor Josef Tura, played by Jack Benny, then a radio star whose trademark straight face and deadpan humor marks the film.Tura's wife Maria, also a popular Polish actress, is played by Carole Lombard who was to meet a shocking death in a plane crash in January, 1942 shortly after the film was completed.
Friedman saying that "The studio bosses were always—even at this point—afraid of thrusting Jews into the spotlight." Whatever the reason, To Be or Not to Be is marked with the genius of one man, the great Jewish director Ernst Lubitsch who said, "What I have satirized in this picture are the Nazis and their ridiculous ideology," and that the tone and temper of the film "cannot leave any doubt in the spectator's mind what my point of view and attitude are toward these acts of horror." While the film is a broad and biting satire, from the beginning of production in November 1941 to its completion on December 24th, however, events made sure that To Be or Not to Be, as well as Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator, was no longer a laughing matter..
All you really need to know about this film is that it stars Jack Benny and the sublime Carole Lombard and is directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch.
Husband and wife Carole Lombard (Maria) and Jack Benny (Joseph) are the leading lights in a Polish Theatre Company during the outbreak of World War 2.
Maria (Carole Lombard) and Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) are cast as the leading roles.
The acting is, of course, excellent, with each actor/actress giving off performances that make it seem as if the role were tailor-made for them (which appears to be the case for Jack Benny).After viewing this film, it is surprising to see that it is often excluded from many "Greatest Comedies of All-Time" lists, and may be overlooked.
The Turas, an indifferent acting couple (Benny and Lombard) are playing in Hamlet, and Lombard has an ardent admirer in flyer Robert Stack.Once the war begins the film takes flight into a fairly funny interpretation of mistaken identities and ham acting.
#49 on AFI's 100 Funniest Movies list.Jack Benny and Carole Lombard (her last film) star as the leaders of a Polish acting troupe that works to foil the Nazis during World War II in occupied Warsaw.
Ernst Lubitsch directed this satirical WWII comedy that is set in Nazi occupied Poland, where an acting troupe led by Joseph Tura(played by Jack Benny) is performing Shakespeare.
A theatre group led by popular stage actress Carole Lombard (as Maria Tura) and her hammy husband Jack Benny (as Joseph Tura) rehearse their funny Nazi play "Gestapo" – eventually, they're ordered to cancel the comedy due to the risk of offending Adolph Hitler, the German dictator then invading countries and disposing of their Jewish citizens in concentration camps.
Laughter is still the best medicine.********* To Be or Not to Be (2/15/42) Ernst Lubitsch ~ Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Sig Ruman.
Lubtisch's filmmaking and comic timing moves like a precise slab of butter (if that's a weird analogy), smooth and on point all the time.It follows a Polish theater company that see a the Germans invading, bombing their town, and the two stars of the company played by Jack Benny and Carole Lumbard, embroiled in a plot with a Nazi-leaning professor and even going up to Hitler himself.
This is meant to be a piece of world war two theatricality that can and does endure because it deals with showmanship, actor ego (from Benny with his Hamlet to the side characters trying to get Shylock just right) and playing a character as it's main focus (if there's any modern film that owes It's debt to Lubitsch and how people put on ruses in such high stakes it's Inglouious Basterds, down to a climax in a theater full of Nazis).And as funny as Jack Benny is, especially when his character reacts to that dear of a bomber pilot who has the hots for Carole Lombard, I think Lombard really makes this even better than expected.
To make a comedy in 1941 about Nazis in Poland--complete with references to concentration camps--during the midst of the most violent war the world had ever seen strikes me as being an exceptionally daring adventure to have undertaken.This could easily have been a disaster but sharp writing and the hilarious performances of Jack Benny as a hammy/Hamlety actor, Sig Ruman as the quintessential bumbling Nazi officer, and Carole Lombard as the leading lady stuck in the middle elevate it to the sublime.This is a movie for anyone who appreciates smart, funny movie making from the era of classic cinema..
Today, we can laugh at "Mr. Benny playing a comedy scene with a Gestapo corpse." But it works best if you understand the times, The War. What most people today know about World War II they learned from watching movies.
Husband and wife, Joseph (Jack Benny) and Maria Tura (Carole Lombard), are theater stars.
Lombard is in this a lot but she's not near as good as Jack Benny.This film is about 90% comedy and 10% serious.
The comedy To Be or Not to Be is directed by Ernst Lubitsch and stars Carole Lombard and Jack Benny.
JACK BENNY and CAROLE LOMBARD are ideally cast as a ham actor and his zany actress wife in TO BE OR NOT TO BE, a story of Poland facing the Nazi invasion and how a theater troupe gets to do some real acting by fooling the Nazi authorities.The real comedy highlight of the film is SIG RUMAN as Col. Ehrhardt, foolishly thinking that Benny is a loyal German involved in spying activities for the Fuhrer and afraid of showing any disloyalty to Hitler by telling Earhardt a joke poking fun at the Fuhrer.
That he does - and a lot more -in "To Be or Not to Be," a 1942 film about the Lunt and Fontanne (Benny and Carole Lombard) of Poland, Josef and Maria Tura, as they go up against the Nazis.
It stars Jack Benny and Carol Lombard as Joseph and Maria Tura - a married couple and stage performers living in occupied Poland during WWII. |
tt2678354 | WPC 56 | === Series 1 ===
Set in 1956, the series follows WPC 56 Gina Dawson through the trials of being the first female officer to serve in her home town of Brinford in Birmingham. Chief Inspector Roger Nelson gives her a small office, previously a storage room, and has her making tea, doing paperwork, dealing with children and women. She is told not to distract the men, who might seek to protect her in dangerous situations, so that they can deal with the important police work. She finds that she has to work hard to be taken seriously by her male colleagues, and is shocked by some of the methods employed by Sergeant Sidney Fenton and the blind eye turned by the rest of the officers in order to keep the Chief Inspector in the dark.
Dawson lives at home with her parents, Joe and Brenda Dawson, and has a boyfriend, Frank Marshall.
The first series revolves around two missing boys and a serial attacker, and the relationships of the officers and their families.
=== Series 2 ===
Detective Inspector Jack Burns leaves the police to look after his sick wife and his daughters. He is replaced by a Londoner, Detective Inspector Max Harper. Inspector Nelson and Desk Sergeant Pratt are replaced by Briggs and Swift. Police Constable Eddie Coulson is on honeymoon with Cathy Sinclair. His father, now Assistant Chief Constable Coulson, has sexual designs on WPC Dawson. Sergeant Fenton has a daughter and is on friendly terms with the local brothel madam, Rosie Turner, and the crooked boxing promoter Lenny Powell. Cathy Sinclair is replaced by Susie Nightingale as the station secretary.
The second series revolves around a councillor's dead body and his missing girlfriend Rebecca Jones.
=== Series 3 ===
WPC Gina Dawson, having been cleared of all blame in a shooting, moves to the Metropolitan Police. Assistant Chief Constable Coulson reneges on his promise to Inspector Briggs that he will retire early after sexually molesting Dawson.
WPC Annie Taylor, whose father is a retired Brinford police sergeant, replaces Dawson. She lives with her parents and knows how to handle her fellow officers, including Sergeant Fenton.
Fenton returns to duty, after being shot, his confidence dented; which he tries to regain using Constable Perkins.
Detective Inspector Harry Sawyer, a Jewish officer who is estranged from his mother, replaces DI Max Harper.
The third series revolves round the shooting of a retired Brigadier and events at a secure hospital and the relationships of Inspector Briggs, his wife Charlotte, homosexual Carl Saunders and Coulson's desire to take control of the station and undermine those that know of his past misdemeanours. | murder | train | wikipedia | Z Cars is on...
Put the kettle on, love!.
The beautiful Jennie Jacques plays the lead role of WPC Gina Dawson.
Although the series revolves around her there are many intelligently woven threads in the plot that give all the other players a good chunk of airtime, too.
None of them disappoint, either.
Things wind up nicely after five episodes but there's still a little wriggle room for another series and I, for one, hope that their is.After all the time and trouble that the producers, cast and crew went to, to get this right I'm surprised that this was aired just after lunch during the week where probably not many people got the chance to see it.
That was an extremely irresponsible decision by the faceless suits at the beeb who think they know something about television.The story is well paced and intelligently laid out.
The details, language and props were first rate and appropriate.
The cast, photography and script were also all top notch.
This is intelligent television drama...
something the Americans are becoming good at and which we Brits have rather lost our way on.Much, much better than that dreadful garbage, Prime suspect..
No more WPC 56?.
I've just read on WPC 56 official Social networking page, that there's no more WPC56?
Yet the 3rd series was the BEST by far?!
Wow BBC heads, you are not keeping up!The new WPC Annie Taylor is amazing!
Why would the BBC take this off?The programme has improved ten fold with the new WPC & the amazing new, thrilling story lines, it so deserves/ed an evening slot!
Seasons 1 & 2 were (although good) no where near as strong as season 3.
and was like starting over a brand new programme.
Claudia Jessie, a much stronger actor which impacted on the character's strength!
SHAME ON YOU BBC for taking off this amazing show?!
I bet you are keeping Doctors though?
no offence, I see that Claudia Jessie got nominated best storyline in the soap awards in Doctors?
might be a clue there BBC?Unbelievable!.
Sad and wrong there is no series 4.
WPC 56 (and particularly season 3) is or was essential viewing!
An innovative crime show like this should NOT be taken off the TV, especially in it's infancy!
And even more particularly since season 3 with the new WPC (Annie Taylor) took over and brought it to a new level!!!!
What the heck is wrong with the BBC?
Who's ever decision it is, or was to take it off is a real shame!
and they need their head's checking!
I really hope one of the other channels take it over, I am sure it would probably do better on ITV anyhow!I get a feeling that the new controller or boss who decides whether programmes stay or go are a bit of a SNOB, if something doesn't come from London then it's just not good enough.
The Midlands is a fantastic place, especially to film with it's great history, locations and it's wonderful art and culture, something to be proud of!
It's not all about London and Manchester you know!
It should be about the great story's and talent!Get it back on the TV!
Us fans should have a say!.
Great series.
We really enjoyed this series.
We thought that the plotting was very good and riveting.
The acting was pretty lifelike, and we felt that the series captured the 50's environment very well.
We can remember the drabness of this era very well and we thought that the series captured this very well, even better than in "Call The Midwife" which gives a much glossier view.Why oh why was it shown in the early afternoon though.
Possibly not suitable for a pre9.00pm showing, but we thought it would make a great replacement for the much missed "The BIll".Please BBC give us another series, but at a better viewing time, where it can get a lot more viewers, than those of us who can watch in the afternoon, and even then we had to record it to playback at tea-time.
Well worth seeking out.
There are some real Drama gems hidden away on daytime TV and WPC56 is certainly one of them.
Why it's not on (or at least repeated) at a later time I'll never know.Well written and performed it tracks the career of one of the first female police officers back in the 50's.The show certainly looks the part in terms of set and costumes and the one a day style of episode screening only makes the cliffhangers that little bit more gripping.Maybe in their wisdom the BBC will recommission the show for a third series or even better show it in an early evening slot.
It would not look out of place against some of the other,bigger name Dramas..
These series has one distraction, Jennie Jacques Eyes.
Jennie Jacques portrays all the ambitions, fears & acceptances of young women in 1956 England.
I let myself go when watching the case solving, but I forget the plot when the camera is focused on her.
I literally have to shake my head at times to follow the story.I really like the scenes where she's not on camera.
But from the first 5 minutes of episode one, she's the portrayed character I want to see next.Not her fault, but Jennie Jacques' eyes are too magnetic.
That said, the little known supporting cast are drawn from the deep well of British acting talent.
This was Britain in 1956.That I found Jennie Jacques' beauty distracting should not deter others from giving this a first viewing.
She did what the writers & director dictated, & her performance is worthy of high praise.I mark this down because of formulaic writing, but I mark it up because of the ensemble performances.
This is series worthy of watching..
Interesting but disappointing.
As a police officer in the 50's I was interested but disappointed by this new series.
Senior police officers do not walk about with their hand in their pockets being churlish to other police officers.
Remember most were ex military in the 50's.
Those who wore helmets did not wear the chin strap under their chins but resting on them.
Whistle chains were always worn, by men, in the top left hand pocket, so they could undo their jackets without undoing their chains.
Guns were not that readily available for any PC.
Corrupt sergeants existed but not as openly as suggested.
The TV series "SCOTT & BAILEY" have most of these things down pat, and the interviewing is well acted.
This series is streets ahead of "WPC 56".
By the way "PRIME SUSPECT" was also an excellent series.
Factual?
I don't know, but good entertainment..
Is there a season 4?
This show has gotten better with age and new characters.
Season one and 2 were OK, but season 3 beat all of them with the new Annie Taylor.The crimes getting more interesting.
I like it a lot!
So why not an evening slot?
Hey person in control, we'd like to see season 4 in the evening prime time please.
It would be a real shame if it ends here with this new lot!
This season was also so funny!I see S3 is now on DVD too.
I will be getting a copy of this and look forward of more of this fantastic show.
Hurry up!
(there just aren't enough episodesThank you!.
Come on BBC1 where is Season 4?.
Please can the BBC tell us when season 4 is coming to our screens?This show BELONGS up there with all the other top BBC drama's Holby City, Casualty, Bergerac (when it was around) Happy Valley, Call the Midwife and many others that stand out for me and a lot of other viewers!
Why has it not been brought to evening slots?
of course we have the advantage of iplayer and catch up, but it's good enough, if not BETTER than some of the programs I have just mentioned above!
Why tease us with a re run and not give us any more?
Season 3 just got better!
and so doesn't make sense to not have a new and/or continuing series!
It's the BEST police program on tele right now!
and as it's a different era, makes it more appealing.10/10 for me!.
Good premise, Poor writing.
Right off the bat, the show's premise presents several creative venues to pursue.
You have a woman officer in a male dominant profession, allowing premise for critique of workplace sexism, assault, gender discrimination, and oppression.
You can also tie with racial and socioeconomic issues and create a golden show.
This is where the first season starts, showing a lot of promise.
But it quickly turns to cliches of personal relationships for the women officer.
It is sad to see such a good premise being wasted in form of a one-dimensional character who is defined by her love life and the men in her life.
The second season onward, this show is no different from any other gender-normative writing.
I wish the writers rethink why they wanted to make the show in the first place.
Personal lives are interesting, but it shouldn't define the character alone.
Her ambitions, passions, inner struggles all could be explored, but weren't.
Perhaps get more women writers and producers..
Predictable, but the acting, plots, and details make up for that.
The negative of the show is that much of it is predictable.
The powerful men have to act macho and the woman is not respected as an equal.
The woman has much better instincts as a copper than the men who've been on the police force for years.
The worst of the coppers is, predictably, almost a 2-dimensional character, at least through the 2 seasons I've seen so far.The positives include that there are some sensitive male characters who give Gina a chance.
The supporting cast is excellent.
The plots are interesting and appropriate to the times.
And the attention to detail (sexism, racism, brutality, repressed sexuality, clothing, sets, hair styles, makeup, music, dialog) makes me almost believe it really is 1956 on the set.Having lived through the 1950s (age 11 in 1956) I can attest that much of what we see on this show was very much like this.
In many work places women were considered to be either eye-candy or efficient old maids who had no life outside of their employment, This continued well into the 60s until the women's movement had some clout.
It would have been even more so for Gina who would have been about 10 years older than I was in 1956.Gina's character has to be independent enough to take on a nontraditional job, tough enough to be a cop, yet still have a sensitive side.
I think Jennie Jacques manages to pull it off well..
Precious TV series to take some break....
The series is about Gina Dawson's, who is one of the first WPCs(Woman Police Constable), life as female police officer at precinct where dominated by male in West Midlands.
Naturally She faces some difficulties as a woman because time is 1950s and it is the peak of the sexism and also awaking of the male protest.
WPC 56's genre contains both drama and comedy and also beauty of the Jennie Jacques.
There is an aspect, a thing thing that I can distinguish WPC 56 than other TV series.
İt is not about the story telling or acting performance.
Even I do like the both of them, there is an original shade in TV series.
Both TV series focuses the female police officer's life and her life that is made difficult by her family, colleagues and dominant culture ideology of her community at that years, WPC 56 shows us and it take us an journey that how conditions of woman in business are in first.
Also it offers us a compression about woman in the field that dominated by male between past and present.
Consequently it is a great series to witness an era and discover how the woman rights and woman in business life comes far from past to present.
I hope that there are more TV shows like WPC 56.
I like that kind of series that there is real cause to makes it.
So I rate it 8/10 because it deserves that.
Acting, storytelling, scenario and reflection of an era when tells struggle of women are very fascinating..
Absolutely unbelievably dreadful.
I purchased two seasons of this series on DVD expecting it to be an intelligently written and directed period drama.
I could not have been more wrong!
Words fail me to describe how absolutely awful this series is.
The writing is monumentally crude and heavy-handed - imagine an episode of a third-rate soap opera, and then, if you can, think of something many, many times dumber and cruder than that.
Just wallopingly dumb and over-done.
And then there's absolutely no sign that anything was done in the direction to try to introduce any subtlety or intelligence.
With writing and direction like that, it's really not fair to even try to judge the actors - I'd imagine with better material most of them would be thoroughly professional.
I really just could not believe how absolutely dreadful this was.
The production values are OK - they spent some money on costumes and props.
could the writers and directors really be this bad?
Or are they just cynics who believe that only dreadful, crude, heavy-handed trash will succeed with the public?
I don't know.
But seriously, don't expect anything in the way of competence or finesse from this series.
It is beyond dreadful..
WPC 56 Rocks Around The Clock.
I love this series.
of course, i'm old ...
i was 10 in 1956 (& in USA).
the attitudes of the men toward women is especially well done, here.
i did spot one little mistake ...
in the Briggs' bedroom, there's a cube-shaped box of tissues--i remember only rectangular tissue boxes during that era; although, i think i remember the cute little square ones appearing in the 1960s.
BRITBOX is showing only 3 seasons and i think there are more--if there's more, please, bring 'em on!
i want more, more, more.
thank you BBC..
Shame on you BBC for not doing more series of this.
At last I found something the BBC had on that made paying the License Fee worth while, then low & behold after series three we don't get to see anymore..
I don't know who you employ to make these decisions but shame on you getting rid of this..
Only thing worth watching in years , god knows what "Trash" you will be giving us to watch now.
Season 3 best.
I watched season 1 and 2 and thought they were OK but felt that season 3 was the best!All the actors in the new or latest season are really excellent!
And the story-lines better than before.
I would TOTALLY disagree with a couple of comments who say the writing is bad etc.
This is totally untrue, maybe in S1 & S2 the story lines weren't as strong as in S3, this I would agree with.
The strength in S3 far beats the other seasons, far superior in acting overall I would say.I much prefer Annie Taylor's character to Gina Dawson's!
It really brought the to life!Enjoying the repeats.
WPC 56 is one of the best police shows out there.
My husband and I love this series!
Can't wait to see the next season! |
tt0133363 | Los amantes del Círculo Polar | The film is circular in plot as well as in a number of other ways (for example, the names of its main characters, Otto and Ana, are both palindromes). The film is centered around an incestuous love relationship between step-siblings. The two meet one day after school, when Ana's father dies, and her mother marries his father. Ana believes that Otto is the reincarnation of her father, but eventually the two of them fall in love. For a number of reasons, they are eventually separated, and Otto becomes a pilot flying between Spain and the Arctic Circle. Ana moves to the same area to leave behind her past and past lovers, and tries to get in touch with him again.
The movie plot is about two step-siblings who know each other since they were children. As they grow up, they find out that their love is not just a family love. They want to have a relationship like real couples have, even though they know it is prohibited they found a place where they can see each other at night. As time passes by their parents get divorced and they get separated. Ana's mother moves abroad, and Ana travels to Finland from where she persuades Otto to travel north to look for her. The deaths and lives of the characters are made more confusing through anachronisms and plot details.
The movie ends on an ambiguous note: in one version, Ana and Otto are reunited, while in the other Ana dies in a car accident. It is unclear which of the endings is real. | romantic, philosophical, haunting, flashback | train | wikipedia | The next scenes, where we can see them as secret lovers hiding from the parents are so beautiful that the last one hour, when Otto leaves Ana and works as a pilot and they don't meet for years, is one of the most sorrowful one hour in the film history.
But for some of us, who are in contact with a different way of making films, this one excels at the visual poetry from the very start.And from a cinematographer's point of view, as a real jewel in filmmaking.
Medem demands his audience to think (remember Abre los Ojos).It's really sad to think that linear and flat plots that only demand to sit and watch are what most people see as good films.
And anything that can do that, and do it using the language of dreams in such a way that makes love more lucid if it can do that, you'll want to see it, handle it, co-invent with it turn it over in your mind, a golden woven solid of wires as geometric urges.And it is so much richer if you know the story between the filmmaker and his father to whom this is dedicated.
The connections are so intricate and complex, the visual storytelling so compelling, I was just blown away by this film, and I felt the rest of the audience was right there with me.If you've seen and liked THE LOVER you'll like this-- it's one of those slow, languid, dreamy and beautiful movies about a true love that lasts beyond all circumstances.
"Lovers of the Artic Circle (Los Amantes del Círculo Polar)" was basically "Next Stop Wonderland" crossed with "Map of the Human Heart" about a couple who fall in love as children and continue star-crossed throughout their lives.
In this circle of love and life, strange things occur that they see from different perspectives.This film is the sort of foreign art-house cinema that will make some viewers pull their hair or fall asleep with boredom, so maybe be careful if you are the type of viewer more at home with Porky's rather than anything cerebral; but for everyone else this strange yet engaging film is well worth a look.
This doesn't help the heart of the film though, and at times I did find it very cold and uninvolving the characters weren't really real enough and I found the coincidences to actually stop the story being moving and occasionally did make it feel gimmicky.
It is not really their fault because the film is more interested in the ironies of the circling life and coincidences rather than getting to the heart of the characters they try hard but this is not a film to watch for strong acting performances.Overall this is a good film but one that may leave many viewers cold and unimpressed by the gimmicks; however many others will be won over by the clever delivery that is filled with mini circles within circles all within the overall palindrome of the total product.
One of the most valuable films I've seen in a long time, rich in all the parts with space perfectly aligned to contemplate; ideally this means for me a still point that grounds us in some latent emptiness, usually an image or images of some purity, here a midnight sun, and arranged on top of that a universe in concentric cycles, each one a kind of life, that turn with motions invested by us, love, desire, hate, whatever we put into life, each turn a kind of fate that we have set in motion.There is all of that here, life as we also know it, with the mechanisms that control it, structured to palindrome from one end to the other like the names of the participants.At the surface we have a kind of Kieslowskian construct of sliding narratives and melancholy lushness, expressed with a capacity for spontaneous magic that was in the 80's the turf of Raoul Ruiz; we have lives full of tragic detail, powered by invisible fates that trick, break, seduce, create the yearnings of a lifetime, mirror up and down, fates because we only have these eyes to look at the world, and look once as we pass through, though recalling many times over in our journey, so everything must have a deeply cosmic import.
Paper planes are sent flying through the window, and they all come crashing after a short flight; but now and then, one of these fleeting gestures can sling together entire lives.Now peel away time: it is a story of a boy and girl falling love, mirrored many times over, in youth through old age.
Medem shot this film after getting divorced, because it was the first time he experienced heartbreak and he wanted to write a movie about the love as the most powerful force, something that never ends and it's forever between two people .
It is a thought-provoking film dealing with a story of solitary people , as a strange , unsettling young , well played by Fele Martinez , and his lover , subsequently suffering a sad separation , being rivetingly performed by Najwa Nimri .
No question that Medem has style, not to mention an interest in breaking up the film's narrative which is quite intriguing.Seeing all the action not only through the eyes of the tempestuous Otto and then through the viewpoint of the more patient Ana (so we not only see the reality of situations but also the imagined fantasies beyond them) is a process that works but which actually takes a bit of getting used to.Ultimately though there is a nagging feeling about whether this really was a story worth telling..
It's not about lust, its about love in the purest sense i.e. about searching and finding a soul mate.Although the movie bears some resemblance with some of the movies I've already seen, for instance the trilogy 'Three Colours' and the contents is not without comparison with Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' I'd still proclaim the amalgam of great acting, beautiful camera that's in some scenes on the verge of absolute perfection (I mean in danger of having no flaw at all) and poetically told story from 2 angles (well in my opinion 3, since I'd consider Polar Circle's part a third angle) a true work of genius and I rate it 10/10..
In a wellspring of seeming coincidence two lovers are united.This movie was the most fabulous "love story" I have ever witnessed/ it culminates in a circular ending that qualifies the beginning and leaves questions answered and yet answers all questions.
One of the Most Beautiful Films About Love You'll Ever See. It's hard not to rave about this wonderfully written masterpiece."Los Amantes del Círculo Polar" stars Fele Martínez (who was in famous movies like "Tesis", "Abre los Ojos", and "La Mala educación") and the heartbreakingly beautiful Najwa Nimri (who made her star-turn in "Lucía y el sexo") as Otto and Ana who fall in love with one another as children and try to carry this love through their whole lives.
Great performances, a stunningly beautiful cinematography, and Medem's masterful direction make "Los Amantes del Círculo Polar" one of the most enjoyable Spanish movies ever.If you like this one, I also recommend "Reconstruction" and the movies by Krzysztof Kieslowski..
Los Amantes is a stronger film, the protagonists are far more believable and engrossing, also because the fated aspect of their relationship is set up clearly from the start and there's a feeling of inevitability that manages to support the whole artifice of the plot structural symmetry.The lead actors are very good at portraying the fragile, adolescent beauty of their story, and the supporting roles add touches of realism where needed.
In some ways the theme of fated love stories reminds me a bit of Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs series of films, but it is a lot less heavy and more enjoyable.
In The Lovers Of The Arctic Circle (Julio Medem's would be masterpiece) that's exactly what we see happen.Watching this movie is like watching two people use up a fountain pen they're going to desperately need for a memo, on doodles and frivolities, so that by the time they get around to WRITING the memo they can barely get two sentences down on paper before the ink runs out completely.The movie's title -The Lovers Of The Arctic Circle- leads us to believe that the big denouement (when it happens) is going to happen in the Arctic Circle.Yet Finland barely gets a slice here, and the denouement is not some sublime experience...It's more like a heartbreaking disappointment.In many ways it's like a fairy tale with the happy ending at the beginning:Once upon a time there were two children named Ana and Otto who met, fell in love, and we're able to be together because their parents also met, fell in love and got married.As teens they became lovers, and were able to live together, and keep their romance a secret.Everything's wonderful, everything's perfect.
Otto can't cope with it, and deserts Ana, shattering both their lives.They need to get back together, of course, but this never really happens, as all the material they needed for this reunion has been thoroughly used up already.So that instead of their ardent passion being crowned with glory, we get a reunion that's nothing but a dream, a woman hit by a truck; her helpless lover's face reflected in her dying eyes with not so much as a word spoken between them.You can't think of this movie without thinking of Sleepless In Seattle which succeeded in all the ways Julio Medem's opus failed.In Sleepless In Seattle we see two people rising to embrace their own destinies.
And we know their going to stay together.In Lovers Of The Arctic Circle we see two people who are given a destiny that's like a gorgeous painting...then watch as they systematically destroy it:Through a love note initiating a sexual relationship that wasn't ready to take place.Through a grief-driven abandonment severing a connection they will never find again.This is a story which starts out very well, but is ruined the moment Otto's hand touches Ana's thigh, and we see all the tension bleed out in the scenes that follow.As the two of them neck shamelessly while they're supposed to be doing their homework.
When Dylan Thomas wrote (fragments): "The ball I threw while playing in the park has not yet reached the ground
Though lovers may be lost, love shall not and death shall have no dominion
Doctor Julio Medem's Los Amantes del Circulo Polar (Lovers of the Polar Circle) is one of the best movies ever
Chance, fate, law of attraction...everything is never as exactly as we wish...But quite often, we come to see clearly the most beautiful moments of our lives, just only when those moments have come to be the past
To summarize the movie in a romantic manner, I wrote this little poem from Ana's perspective: "My darling, I was running madly in love looking for you, and though I never made it -to the other side of the street, I did manage to see your face: the most beautiful image my eyes ever saw
please look carefully in my eyes; there You Are
Forever!" Signed: Ana. Bravisimo Doctor Medem!
NO SPOILERS -A delightful film about fate, about our choices in life, about the power of our emotions.The story of the lives of two lovers that are brought together by fate, or not?
Any film buffs willing to watch a foreign subtitled movie please see if your local Blockbuster has Julio Medem's LOVERS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE.
"Lovers of the Arctic Circle" tells the love story of Ana and Otto from childhood into adult life with a carefully crafted precision which makes a simple romantic tale an inordinately complex jigsaw puzzle.
Told through various perspectives which shifts between the two protagonists point-of-view and a brilliant circular narrative reminiscent of those used in the films of Krzysztof Kieslowski (1941-1996), this distinctly directed Spanish-French co-production draws two merging studies of character while examining themes such as coming-of-age, family relations, destiny, grief and love.Julio Medem's partly autobiographical story about the ambiguous nature of coincidence and love has a distinct visual style and a shifting atmosphere which is reinforced by cinematographer Gonzalo F.
This will leave you wondering and stunned at the end.It shows that the life goes full circle and full of surprises at every moment denying the fact of reasonability.Two people madly in love with each other will drive you crazy in every frame of the movie.
THe story is told to us form tow points of view (Ana and Otto) at the same time, which can result a little confusing at first (but it is VERY well done).
This DVD feature pays off especially for the appreciation of Spanish writer-director Julio Medem's creative storytelling in "Lovers of the Arctic Circle." His approach is likened to a visual Web, presenting to the viewer the back and forth links/viewpoints between Otto and Ana, their thoughts/narration, love/feeling towards each other, and the surrounding/peripheral relatives and coincidental individuals in their encounters.
Amid such coincidences, however improbable they might seem, tender adolescent love matures between comings and goings Madrid Roveniemi (Finland), as well as what may appear to be incoherent use of flashbacks and flash-forwards seemingly haphazardly, but in effect works a tremendously appropriate tool in developing the story, as told alternately between Otto and Ana.The intricate architecture of the film might make following the story-line something like a bit of guesswork in the early stages; but an intelligent viewer will soon cotton on to the disjointed sequences and even end up admiring the technique for being somewhat original.
Lovers of the Arctic Circle is a Spanish film about two lovers, Otto and Ana, who meet by chance as kids, split as adults, only to have one more chance at love in the end.
It's a movie about coincidences and circles involved in someone's life and unfolds like a good Spanish book.
I wasn't sure if it was a movie that could hold my attention at 3 a.m., but this one sure did thanks to a quick editing style and a fast paced love story with some wonderful transitions that put to good use the visual medium of film.
Otto and Ana end up meeting here.The film was full of twists and turns.
Some movies are created to captivate while others accomplish this just by the way they are directed, Julio Medem's "Lovers of the Articc Circle" is one of these films.
Ana finally comes to the realization that she wants to feel love for Otto and they become lovers.
Tragedy,coincidence and fate play major roles as well in this beautifully crafted and well acted film."Lovers" is about two children,Ana and Otto,who meet as eight year olds and are drawn together by love and a series of coincidences as lifelong soulmates.
Played by three sets of actors throughout the various stages of life-development,Otto and Ana meet while running in the same direction but for entirely different reasons.This is significant as it signals a film-long theme of viewing major events of one's life from two entirely different perspectives.
This is the story about Otto and Ana, two children that meet at the school, whose life is full of coincidences.
The film has nothing to do with Spain's history, or anything like that, it's just a love story, told following a personal poetic style, that's all.
The former believes that love stories like in his film don't exist, but that it's good to think they do.
THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW...This is second Julio Medem film that I have seen, it is very similar in style to Lucia y el sexo, but Lovers of the artic circle touched me more, it had more of an effect on me for some reason.
I have seen this movie five times and none of those the story has lost its magic, the chance of love between Otto and Ana turns out to be a whole odyssey that leads us to think about fate that so much importance and influence has in our life.
The exciting about this tale is that this is something that could happen to anyone in his life because love itself is an enormous coincidence between two human beings: coincide in time and space, and set in each other.The plot posed by Julio Medem is shocking, surround and intriguing, anyone as a viewer is trapped by everything that happens along the entire life of both characters and is moved by the tragic outcome of the lovers in the title's Arctic Circle, ending sealed by the destination, such as Romeo would say in the history of Shakespeare, makes them become in simple toys of life.Unfortunately the film has some technical details that tarnished the mastery of story and remain the value of certain scenes, some examples are when Otto is pilot or the sleigh accident.
CONTAINS SPOILER: Julio Medem's Lovers of the Arctic Circle not only have the word `circle' in the title, and not only mentions circles several times throughout the film, but moves in a cyclic manner.
When Otto is flying to the Arctic Circle to see Ana after several years of being apart, he says to himself that his life is a giant circle, but it just isn't connected yet.When the film ends, we are left with what seems like an ending from one of those `choose your own adventure' books.
Lovers of the Artic Circle by Julio Medem could easily been left thought of as a unique film of love, life, coincidences, and destiny.
The film contains many aspects of live and uses this circle of life theme if you will in telling of coincidence, fate, love, and finally death.
Therefore, by this unique point of view between the eyes of Ana and Otto, this open ending leaves one to wonder what the film is really trying to explain about these circles in life with love, fate, and death. |
tt0029162 | Lost Horizon | It is 1935. Before returning to England to become the new Foreign Secretary, writer, soldier, and diplomat Robert Conway (Ronald Colman) has one last task in China: to rescue 90 white Westerners in the city of Baskul. He flies out with the last few evacuees, just ahead of armed revolutionaries.
Unbeknownst to the passengers, the pilot has been replaced and their aircraft hijacked. It eventually runs out of fuel and crashes deep in the Himalayan Mountains, killing their abductor. The group is rescued by Chang (H.B. Warner) and his men and taken to Shangri-La, an idyllic valley sheltered from the bitter cold. The contented inhabitants are led by the mysterious High Lama (Sam Jaffe).
Initially anxious to return to civilization, most of the newcomers grow to love Shangri-La, including paleontologist Alexander Lovett (Edward Everett Horton), swindler Henry Barnard (Thomas Mitchell), and bitter, terminally-ill Gloria Stone (Isabel Jewell), who miraculously seems to be recovering. Conway is particularly enchanted, especially when he meets Sondra (Jane Wyatt), who has grown up in Shangri-La. However, Conway's younger brother George (John Howard), and Maria (Margo), another beautiful young woman they find there, are determined to leave.
Conway eventually has an audience with the High Lama and learns that his arrival was no accident. The founder of Shangri-La is said to be hundreds of years old, preserved, like the other residents, by the magical properties of the paradise he has created, but is finally dying and needs someone wise and knowledgeable in the ways of the modern world to keep it safe. Having read Conway's writings, Sondra believed he was the one; the Lama had agreed with her and arranged for Conway's abduction. The old man names Conway as his successor and then peacefully passes away.
George refuses to believe the Lama's fantastic story and is supported by Maria. Uncertain and torn between love and loyalty, Conway reluctantly gives in to his brother and they leave, taking Maria with them, despite being warned that she is much older than she appears. After several days of grueling travel, she becomes exhausted and falls face down in the snow. When they turn Maria over, they discover that she had become extremely old and died, as her departure from Shangri-La had restored her to her true age. Horrified, George loses his sanity and jumps to his death. The Sherpa porters accompanying them were earlier swept away by an avalanche, triggered by one of them who carelessly fires a handgun.
Conway continues on and eventually meets up with a search party sent to find him, although the ordeal has caused him to lose his memory of Shangri-La. On the voyage back to England, he remembers everything; he tells his story and then jumps ship. The searchers track him back to the Himalayas, but are unable to follow him any further. Conway manages to return to Shangri-La. | violence, fantasy, romantic | train | wikipedia | With elaborate set designs, excellent performances by Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, and Edward Everett Horton, `Lost Horizon' is a story of survival and ultimately finding a way home, that cannot be forgotten.
Incredible detail went into the creation of Shangri-La. With its large sets, beautiful costume design, the film takes on an epic proportion only rivaled by the grand designs of such Biblical epics as `Ben-Hur,' and `The Ten Commandments.' Truly, director Capra wanted to create an image that audiences would be astounded by
and he truly succeeded.One can't help but admire the characters-they are all a bit naïve, but all intriguing in their own ways.
The concept of Shangri-La, a place where people work and live in peaceful harmony, is as relevant today as it was in the post-World War I era that James Hilton wrote 'Lost Horizon', where the world was still in turmoil following a devastating war and another was on its way.In these days of war, humanitarian devastation and disease, how many people are there who dream of getting away from it all and living out their lives in a remote paradise just like Shangri-La?
All the actors are commendable in their portrayals (though some characters are different to those in the original novel) and their interaction with each other add a real sparkle to the movie.'Lost Horizon' is a beautiful adaptation of James Hilton's masterpiece and captures the very feeling of the novel and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has ever dreamed of escaping from the hectic world in which we live..
Hilton took Conway, his brother George, Professor Edward Everett Horton, suspiciously quiet businessman Thomas Mitchell, and consumptive Isabel Elsom to an oasis (possibly the oasis) on that troubled old earth - Shangri La, or "the valley of the Blue Moon") where contentment and peace reigned and people could live, if not forever, far longer and more happily than in say 1937 Germany, Britain, France, Russia, Italy, the U.S., or Japan.On the whole Capra catches the spirit of the novel - his sets were dismissed as being far to simplistic, but as simplicity is the hallmark of life at Shangri-La the critics seemed to miss the point.
As a matter of fact, his sets (in a temperate valley in the Himalayas - a real impossibility) are more acceptable than the idiocies of the future world in the contemporary science fiction film THINGS TO COME, where H.G.Wells believes we should live in cities built in caves.The acting is very good, particularly Sam Jaffe's ancient High Lama (always shot in shadows).
Howard does not have a British accent, but he does show the adoration of the younger brother for his famous sibling, and the growing anger and contempt he develops when brother Robert fails to plan for their leaving this prison they were dragged to - note how he wants to return with a bomber to destroy Shangri-La. It is one of the two roles in major films that John Howard is remembered for, the other being "George Kittridge", the erstwhile fiancé of Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, who is pushed aside by both Cary Grant and James Stewart.As it is one of Howard's best roles, it is nice that when the film was restored (as well as possible) in the 1980s, Howard (one of the three surviving cast members) was able to appreciate it - many of the missing sequences were his scenes.
Now we are fortunate to have this 1999 restoration spearheaded by UCLA film archivist Robert Gitt to match as closely as possible to Frank Capra's original 132-minute running time.Similar to what was done with George Cukor's "A Star Is Born", "Lost Horizon" is presented with its complete soundtrack, but missing footage had to be found through other sources, even 16-mm prints recorded from TV broadcasts, and in a few scenes, production stills were sadly the only option to fill in the gaps.
H.B. Warner plays Chang with the requisite serenity of his vague, mysterious character; and Jane Wyatt - two decades before playing the perfect suburban wife and mother in "Father Knows Best" - is surprisingly saucy as Sondra, the young schoolteacher who has Conway brought to Shangri-La. She even has a brief nude swimming scene.
However, for all its flaws, the movie has some really stunning camera-work by Joseph Walker, surprisingly masterful special effects (for a near-poverty row studio like Columbia), Dmitri Tiomkin's stirring musical score and a powerful sense of mysticism that gives the film a genuine soul.
Edward Everett Horton was again great in a seemingly bubbling, comic role and Sam Jaffe, later the professor in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" gives a memorable performance as the High Lama, establisher of Shangri-La, the perfect world high above in the Himalayas.
Lost Horizon sees what was for the time a rare marriage between burgeoning picture scope, in what was "poverty row" studio Columbia's most expensive production to date, and poignant intimacy in the source novel by James Hilton.Thank goodness for director Frank Capra, who seemed really able to balance this sort of thing.
British diplomat Ronald Colman and brother John Howard crash a plane with several civilians including Thomas Mitchell deep in the Himalayas and find Shangri-La. The place is literally heaven on Earth, but is it really what it seems?
Good and definitely interesting, "Lost Horizon" remains one of Capra's lesser-known films that still packs a punch 65 years later.
Robert feels obligated to go with them, but a terrible truth about staying there will be learned, as Robert vows to later return to Shangri-La, no matter how long it takes...Moving and appealing film is beautifully directed and acted, showing us a wonderful place that anyone would want to stay in, making Conway's desperate fight to return there quite compelling.
Frank Capra classic about a group of British citizens, led by diplomat Robert Conway (Ronald Colman), who flee a rebellion in China only to have their plane crash in the Himalayas.
The rest of the wonderful cast includes John Howard, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, H.B. Warner, Isabel Jewell, and Thomas Mitchell (the first of four movies he did with Capra).
But the thing about most of Frank Capra's films, and why he is probably my favorite director ever, was that he believed in telling uplifting, optimistic stories about us helping each other overcome our baser nature; that good can triumph over evil and there are such things as happy endings.
The film delivers a good deal of life lessons, and Shangri-La really does look like a great place to live.
The aging High Lama, Sam Jaffe and his assistant H.B. Warner think that Colman is the kind of man they want to succeed Jaffe who has passed his 200 year.Supporting Colman are Frank Capra regulars Edward Everett Horton and Thomas Mitchell.
It's so nice to be able to see something resembling the original vision Capra had for this story, the wonders of science gives us a cracking restoration to enjoy at our want.Robert Conway is a British diplomat who helps a group of people (one his younger brother) escape from a Chinese revolution in a passenger plane, all doesn't go to plan, tho, as the plane has been skyjacked and is heading into the Himalayas, and Tibet.
I got a real feeling of cold and danger in those mountains.Certainly there is some material that is dated or otherwise a bit jarring to the modern sensibility; white people are taken to be more important than any other people with a breathtaking assurance, and the "ethereal" performance by Sam Jaffe is a bit much for my taste, but when watching a movie one adjusts to the world of the movie or has a bad time.I thought Bob's brother George was very annoying.
Ronald Colman finds "Lost Horizon," the 1937 film beautifully and masterfully directed by Frank Capra and also starring Jane Wyman, John Howard, Edward Everett Horton, Thomas Mitchell, Margo, H.B. Warner, Isabell Jewell, and Sam Jaffe.Growing up I have two vivid memories - one is the horrific musical version of this film (remember "The World is a Circle"?) - which I saw in a theater, God help me.
She makes Conway doubt what the High Lama and Chang have told him, so Conway agrees to accompany George and Maria and forsake Shangri-la.This is a fascinating film, absolutely enormous in scope, that has been restored to 132 minutes with some difficulty.
There are many thrilling scenes: the opening of the movie, the refueling scene, the walk to Shangri-la, and the trek away from Shangri-la just to mention a few - as well as scenes of great beauty and poignancy, particularly the scene when a heartbroken Conway leaves the paradise on an evening when the citizens, carrying candles, have a procession (this might be part of the High Lama's funeral, which was cut from the film).
Perhaps in Capra's original, long disastrous version, we get more of an idea.70 years later, "Lost Horizon" is a sad reminder that a) they don't make movies like this anymore; b) the world hasn't changed much and is still in the sorry state it was in 1937; and c) there isn't any lost horizon - because we never found one..
The mountains which block the horizon from Shangri-La may symbolize the loss of our baser impulses, what some would call original sin.It feels a bit like Robert Conway, the celebrated soldier and diplomat in the story, has earned his place in paradise.
Acting is adequate.Though the film tells a great outdoor adventure story, the real value of "Lost Horizon" lies in its deep spiritual themes, as expressed by Chang and the High Lama.
Frank Capra directed "Lost Horizon" the film version of the famous novel written by James Hilton.
"Lost Horizon" was restored in 1973 (coincidentally on the same year when the awful musical version was released) and some parts of the film, I mean, some of the images were lost, never found, or they were so deteriorated by the time that still photographs of the actors were used as replacement, with the soundtrack/sound playing naturally.
Although I've complained about the musical remake and people are not very fond of remakes these days I think that this story needs a bigger audience and the only way to get it is by making another film, but it's got to be similar than Capra's version and more appealing to a world audience.This is a perfect movie for a Sunday afternoon or calm days.
Lovett, the rogue trader Henry Barnard and the sick and bitter Gloria Stone.They soon notice the plane is skyjacked and it crashes in a remote area in Tibet.They notice they have found Shangri-la, an utopistic paradise that's not on the map.You don't find illness there, no war or any type of dispute.They didn't get there by accident.They were brought there on purpose, as they soon find out.The place is led by a nearly 200- year old lama.Robert becomes fascinated by the place and wants to stay, and so do the others, except for brother George.Robert also meets the enchanting Sondra there.Lost Horizon from 1937 is based on James Hilton's novel, which I haven't read and it's directed by Frank Capra.Of Capra's works this is not my favorite.But it still is a mighty fascinating look inside this utopian world that doesn't exist.Ronald Colman is brilliant as Robert Conway.And so is John Howard playing George Conway.Jane Wyatt gives a delightful performance as Sondra Bizet.H.B. Warner plays Chang and he's great.Sam Jaffe is terrific as the High Lama.Edward Everett Horton is very good as Lovett, also known as 'Lovey'.He's called that by Henry Barnard, who's brilliantly played by Thomas Mitchell.Isabel Jewell is wonderful as Gloria Stone.Margo is great as Maria, who spends time with George and wants to leave with him.The movie has a lot of good stuff.I recommend you visit Shangri-la and see how you like it..
Lost Horizon (1937) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Frank Capra's fantasy about a group of people whose plane is hijacked and they're taken to the mysterious Shangri-La. Once there, explorer Robert Conway (Ronald Colman) tries to figure out if it's true that no one here grows old and that everything can be accomplished simply through peace and kindness.
The characters in the film represent a wide range of human spiritual development, and the differences in the way they each respond to being in 'Shangri-La', including each person's changes or 'journey' during their time there, are quite instructive.Secondly, and more esoterically, there is the matter of the relationship between 'Lost Horizon's 'Shangri-La' and what is known in the Ageless Wisdom as 'Shamballa'.
There are some sweet, romantic scenes between Wyatt and Colman, and the two make quite an attractive pair.It seems to me this film was deeply personal to director Frank Capra, and outlines his philosophy and deepest feelings about life, which you may find mirroring quite a bit of Leo Tolstoy in his later years.
It's one that is easy to be cynical about or to criticize, but there is a great deal of depth here, and dammit, maybe that's what the world needs, more idealists.The film is certainly not perfect, and among other things, I wish Chang (H.B. Warner) and the High Lama (Sam Jaffe) had been played by Asian-Americans.
(Yep. It sure sounds easy enough, but, hey, it can get mighty tough slugging at times) In spite of its glaring flaws and ludicrous improbabilities, Lost Horizon, in the long run, was, surprisingly enough, quite a thoughtful movie in many ways.Even though it preached of serene happiness, the virtues of avoiding excesses, and the basic principles of Christianity, its earnest message seemed both sincere and genuine.Usually films which include obvious undertones of Christianity as the basis of its story don't go over very well with me.
Had about a half-hour's worth of this fairy tale been edited out of the final product, then I think that this would have helped things immensely.One of Lost Horizon's most notable performances was that of Ronald Coleman who played the Robert Conway character.This is definitely one of those films that one must experience for themselves in order to make a fair and honest judgement of its content..
If Director Frank Capra couldn't put together a Better Movie than this from a 6 Hour Initial Cut, there's Trouble in Motion Picture Paradise.It is Heady and at Times Inspirational, Moving and Interesting in a Few Spots but Overall this is Overrated and Over Praised, and that is Probably More of and Insight into the Hopes and Dreams of the Audience than the Excellence of the Film.
In "Lost Horizon," a change of pace for director Frank Capra, a charter plane carrying a group of character actors crashes somewhere over Asia, and they stumble their way into the forgotten city of Shangri-La, tucked cosily away amid the snowy mountains, where the cadaverous H.B. Warner prowls around in bare feet and a kimono.
Shangri-La seems like an ideal place to while away one's hours, not the least because of its groovy art-deco production design, but before long everyone starts to get bored with how nice and bland the inhabitants are, and creeped out by Warner's ability to materialize out of nowhere at the most inopportune moments (he's definitely what "Seinfeld's" Elaine would call a sidler)."Lost Horizon" is actually sort of poky and dull, and I was fairly disinterested in what happened to the characters by the time the movie was over.
In 1954 I saw the complete 1937 lost horizon.The theater owner in our little town was British.While in London area in 37, he acquired one of the original uncut prints.It ran over 138 minutes and had a boat scene which is not even in the sound tracks.I know this for certain as I have the stills from that seen.Now to the meat of the film..A popular explorer by the name of Baird Spalding,discovered the entrance eastern most,,to the valley of the blue moon.Whether Hilton knew Spalding or not,is unknown to me.The valley ran to the west,and culminated below shangra la,as the story goes.In a subdued volcanic area the lushness of a paradise flourished.I don,t want to sound too strange here,but satellite survey would have seen it years ago if this area was fixed.I don,t believe it is bound by most of what we understand as a mapable location.I have personally seen evidence of this condition,but on a vastly smaller scale..My observation was with witness.Upper India and tibet have been the subject of many unbelievable things,and I believe the inspiration for this movie to be but one of those things.In new movies the closest thing to paradise for me was rivindel in fellowship of the rings.I hope you all find your shangra la,but you will probably have to work at it,,good luck..........
(The Remake is also not as bad as some people think) In 1942, the film was re-released as The Lost Horizon of Shangri-La. A lengthy drunken speech delivered by Robert Conway, in which he cynically mocks war and diplomacy, had already been deleted in the general release version.
Too bad the third act fails, and the "Shangri-la" scenes weren't filmed in color.******* Lost Horizon (3/2/37) Frank Capra ~ Ronald Colman, John Howard, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton.
1st watched 1/22/2000 - (Dir-Frank Capra): Interesting movie about man's search for(but more specifically one man's stumble into) Utopia here known as Shangri-La.Very thought provoking with a few scenes at the end involving the "real" world not played out very well.Restored version 132 minutes w/ still shots..
Capra's cinematography of the "Tibetan" landscape is beautiful, the sets are amazing for that period, and Ronald Colman's performance is nothing short of charming.Basically, the film is good for two things: First, it's an amazing, warm-fuzzy movie for all those needing a logic-free escape into paradise.
"Lost Horizon" (1937) directed by Frank Capra put the reign of Shangri-la on the map, with an airplane catastrophe in which the act of filming it barely seems as if it was a known documentary of the March of Time. |
tt0373584 | Odd Job Jack | The eponymous character, Jack Ryder, graduates from university with a degree in sociology and becomes a temporary employee at an agency called Odd Jobs which specializes in filling difficult and unusual positions. Each episode ends with Jack adding a chapter to a book which he is writing about his experiences on his laptop.
When not working, Jack often hangs with his eccentric friends, Leopold "Leo" Trench, an agoraphobic computer hacker who, like one of the characters in McKellar's earlier comedy series, Twitch City, is unable to leave his apartment but nonetheless leads a complex and bizarre life, and Bobby Lee, an Asian kid who works in the family store by day, and is a club disc-jockey and masked hero by night.
Jack also spends some time at the beginning and end of each episode at the agency where he attempts to develop a rapport with Betty Styles, the female assignment "associate" while under electronic surveillance from the gruff, imperious, and decidedly unpleasant, manager/owner (Mr. Fister) who is often involved in some way in the bizarre conspiracies, sordid sexual escapades, and crimes which lurk behind the workaday appearances of Jack's assignments.
Mr. Fister never appears in season three, but makes a final appearance in season four, while at the conclusion of season three Betty, after stealing the company jet to rescue Jack from African kidnappers, runs away to a distant country. Instead Jack is greeted in each season four episode with a new assignment associate, each with a personality defect. The first season also featured Jacques, a French Canadian doppelgänger to Jack who serves as an office nemesis.
=== Season One ===
Among the unusual situations in which Jack finds employment during the show's first season are mortuary worker; rodent wrangler on the set of a James Bond-like movie produced entirely with rodents; tree-planter in Bigfoot country; waiter in a chi-chi restaurant where something is definitely not right in the kitchen; security guard in a high-tech firm; Eighties-style business executive in a take-over firm; and Christian theme-park employee. None of these assignments are as straightforward as they seem. Jack's co-workers and employers can only be described as contentedly psychotic.
In the rodent wrangler episode, McKellar plays and parodies himself as a stereotypical vain, role-hungry and superficial actor, as well as voicing the anti-hero, Jack, and is the subject of a self-deprecatory episode based on Being John Malkovich in which a tunnel is dug from Jack's kitchen into McKellar the actor's ego.
There are also a number of sly allusions in the episode to McKellar's movies, including The Red Violin (1998) and Highway 61 (1991). | absurd, psychedelic, humor, violence | train | wikipedia | One of the few watchable shows on The Comedy Network. Don McKellar is fantastic and in this show he is Jack, a guy who is always being given jobs that always end up driving him crazy or being completely screwed up by him. He has two friends, one more or less normal one and one who is a complete computer geek who hates leaving his house. He also has a huge crush on the job placement girl who is always giving him his new careers. This isn't a great show but it is also far from terrible. I give it a six out of ten. It is a shame that makes it one of the best shows on The Comedy Network but it is unfortunately true, they can't seem to make a decent show more than once every five or ten years. Hopefully Odd Job Jack is a step in the right direction. Puppets Who Kill was also a decent show but they took it off the air for some reason.. Fun!. I really enjoyed this animated show. Don McKellar is very good at comedy, the animation was on the low end but unique and fun, and it was a fun "adult oriented" comedy series. |
tt0257568 | Kangaroo Jack | In 1982 New York, a boy named Charlie Carbone (Robert Reid) is about to become the stepson of a mobster named Salvatore Maggio (Christopher Walken). On that same day, he meets his new best friend Louis Booker (Shawn Smith), who saves him from drowning after the mobster's apprentice, Frankie Lombardo (Brian Casey), who was recently released from juvenile hall, tried to drown Charlie.
Twenty years later, in 2002, Charlie (Jerry O'Connell) is a boy next door who has his own beauty salon, and Louis (Anthony Anderson) is still his best friend, but Sal's henchmen take a majority of the profit leaving Charlie very little for improvements. After they botch the job of hiding some stolen goods, resulting in some of Sal's men getting arrested, Sal gives Charlie and Louis one more chance. Under instructions from Frankie (Michael Shannon), they have to deliver a package to Australia to a man named Mr. Smith. Frankie also tells them that should they run into trouble, they should call Mr. Smith at the phone number he gives them. Unknown to Charlie and Louis, Sal tells his Capo that he is "cancelling their return trip."
Once on the plane Louis opens the package, to find $50,000 in cash.
Upon landing they rent a car. On their way to Mr. Smith, they accidentally run over a kangaroo. Thinking it's dead, Louis puts his "lucky jacket" on the kangaroo and with Charlie's sunglasses for a joke, as they think the kangaroo looks like Jackie Legs, one of Sal's henchmen. The kangaroo then regains consciousness and hops away with one problem; the $50,000 was in the jacket. Charlie and Louis get into the rented LandCruiser and try to grab the money from the jacket on the kangaroo, but the ensuing chase ends with the duo running into a field of termite mounds and crashing into a pile of rocks. At a nearby pub, Louis manages to call Mr. Smith (Marton Csokas) and tell him about their situation. Mr. Smith tells Louis that they had better have his money when he meets them. He plans to find them himself.
Back in New York City, Salvatore gets a call from Mr. Smith saying that Charlie and Louis haven't arrived yet. Salvatore sends Frankie and some men to Australia to investigate.
Meanwhile, one of the attempts to reclaim the money strands Charlie and Louis in the desert. They meet and get help from a woman named Jessie (Estella Warren). They then track the kangaroo at a nearby valley.
Mr. Smith and his henchmen arrive soon after and capture the trio. Charlie and Louis outsmart them, only to find Frankie has tracked them and is prepared to kill them.
After getting the money back from the kangaroo, they learn from Frankie that Sal really sent them to Australia to pay for their own execution. Out of nowhere, police arrive and arrest Frankie, Mr. Smith and their henchmen and Charlie reclaims Louis's lucky jacket from the kangaroo.
One year later, in 2003, Charlie and Jessie are married and sell their new shampoo, having used the payoff money to start up a line of hair care products. Frankie and his men have been imprisoned for life, which Sal has failed at avoiding. Louis is Charlie's advertising partner. As for the kangaroo (called "Kangaroo Jack"), he is still happily hopping around the outback. | comedy, stupid, violence, humor, action, romantic, entertaining | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0069783 | Beyond Atlantis | A man brings a woman named Syrene (Leigh Christian) to an island, and she pays him with some pearls. The inhabitants of the island appear to be inbred, with oversized eyes, and they kill an intruder that they find. Back on the mainland, the fisherman Manuel the Barracuda (Vic Diaz), pays East Eddie (Sid Haig), who runs the piers, with some pearls. Eddie shows them to Logan (Ashley), a local hustler, and they decide to find the source of the pearls. Logan meets Vic Mathias (Patrick Wayne), who has a boat, and strikes a deal with him to use the boat to look for the pearls. Dr. Katherine Vernon (Lenore Stevens) overhears this and talks to Logan, who agrees to meet her the next day. At a museum, Dr. Vernon tells Logan she wants to find the pearls solely for their scientific value. The party sets off for the island, confronting Manuel the Barracuda and finding the location. The group encounters Syrene and her people, who can live both on land and in the sea, and she agrees to show the party where the pearls are, but Syrene and her father Nereus (George Nader), want to mate Syrene with one of the group, specifically, Vic. She leads them to beds of pearls and the first mate is mysteriously killed. Vic wants to leave, but Logan and Eddie want to make one more dive. Syrene enraptures Vic and they mate. Nereus decides that the group must die, and Vic, Logan, Eddie and the crew have to fight their way back to their boat. Katherine is jumped by Syrene, but Syrene is killed, thus ending any chance for the race of sea people to continue. They all march into the sea as Logan takes a blanket of pearls from Syrene's funeral pyre. Manuel arrives and tries to double-cross the surviving pearl hunters. A fight breaks out and the case of pearls falls overboard, with Logan trying to convince Eddie and Vic that they can find the pearls. | cult | train | wikipedia | Pure Cheesy Fun!.
Manuel, (The last Vic Diaz) is a fisherman who wants to trade in his pearls for cash.
He goes to a pimp named Fast Eddie (Sid Haig) and gets 500 pesos in return.
Fast Eddie, sees a fortune in the pearls and decides to get some men together to get some more of the pearls.
He takes with him, Logan, a scuba driver, Vic (Patrick Wayne, John Wayne's son) and lady Doctor.Fast Eddie and his crew beat up Manuel to find out where he got the pearls.
He tells them that he got them from a lady as payment for taking her to an island.
Fast Eddie and his crew go to the island and find tribe of people that appear to be half fish half human.
They have weird raised eyeballs that look like ping-pong balls with black dots painted on them.
They are led by a name, Neraus and his beautiful daughter who runs around the whole film in a skimpy bikini.Neraus orders his daughter mate with one of the people who have come to the island for the pearls, as it's vital to the tribe.
She helps Eddie and his crew find pearls, but so she can keep them long enough on the island so she can mate.Beyond Atlantis is a very fun film as its 100% pure cheese.
I laughed a lot and had a good time watching it.
I'm a huge fan of Sid Haig, the actor who has made tons of great drive-in fare.
It's always fun to see him.
This film is only for fans of trashy campy films.
Others beware..
A Pimp, A Hustler, A Diver And A Scientist Walk onto an Island....And It Is Lightweight,Trashy, Drive In Fun. A fisherman (the always amusing Vic Diaz) heads to the big city to sell some rare pearls to the local pimp/dealer/criminal of all trades East Eddie(trash cinema king Sid Haig).
Smelling more money where that came from, Eddie rounds up a crew for an expedition to the source of the gems.
Fence Logan (John Ashley), scuba diver Vic (Patrick Wayne) and a lovely lady scientist Katherine (Lenore Stevens, who is quite beautiful) head off in search of this island for fame, career advancement(Katherine) and a small fortune in pearls (everyone else).The island is populated by some laughably bug eyed villagers(their "eyes" are masks/headdresses that look like they belong in a primary school Halloween parade) ruled over by the slinky blonde Syrene (Leigh Christian)who spends the entire film amply filling a brief bikini.
They are accommodating of the outsiders initially, because they need Syrene to mate with one of them to insure the survival of the fish/half mer people/whatever.Folks get greedy, natives get suspicious and betrayal, mayhem and general silliness ensues.The underwater photography is of better quality than you'd expect, both female leads are attractive in skimpy sunwear, John Ashley is kept to a minimum of stinking up the joint, and Sid Haig gives us his usual delightful scene stealing.In addition, for a PG film, "Beyond Atlantis" manages to hit a lot of exploitation touch points ( abundant skin showing, a Syrene vs.
Katherine catfight, some piranha action, explosions, a giggle inducing underwater "mating" scene and Sig Haig's sleazy heavy delivering goofy machismo camp with style).Lightweight and by no means a classic with a rather unsatisfying ending, "Beyond Atlantis" is still a fun little trifle of the drive in era, and worth watch if you have a few hours to spare..
Hey, a GOOD movie from Eddie Romero!.
To say that you've seen an Eddie Romero film that's actually enjoyable for its merits than its inconsistencies is a lot like saying you've seen an Andy Milligan film that's just okay.
Anyway, BEYOND ATLANTIS is a fond memory from the good old days of late night television viewing...
before the tube was taken over by relentless ads for salad spinners.From MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND to BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA, Romero's films are sweaty hybrids of 1940's RKO B-adventure programmers, tinny melodrama and 1970's exploitation elements.
Regardless of how bad his films get (and you can't get much worse than BRIDES OF BLOOD), they are still curiously affecting.This entertaining, well-shot adventure-fantasy concerns some cut-throats looking for undersea treasure being protected by amphibian-like humanoids (featuring the lovely Leigh Christian).
The movie is genuinely well-made, with a surprisingly energetic shootout finale, and some interestingly surreal moments, like when the troublesome brood is suddenly surrounded by the amphibian people (who wear these interesting crustacean-like things on their heads).
Plus, there's a few unintentional giggles when one of the men mates with the mermaid girl underwater.
In all, a totally engaging movie.
I'm glad it has resurfaced in the DVD world-- it will be fun to see this again after so many years..
Enjoyable entre of the "Blood Island" series.
This was a very enjoyable film, combination of horror, action, plot and some comedy.
Sid Haig was very memorable as East Eddie.
Had some of the better lines to deliver.
John Ashley made the transition from teen star to producer and Patrick Wayne was the perfect choice for the square-jawed hero.
Leigh Christian was ....hmmmmm...
and the final film appearance of George Nader...too bad the other entries "Womanhunt","Beast Of The Yellow Night",and "Black Mamba" couldn't put together the same formula..
Fun Filipino fantasy action romp.
A motley group of folks go to a remote tropical island in search of a fortune in pearls.
The group encounters an ancient tribe of primitive people who need a male from the group to mate with beautiful blonde Syrene (the extremely fetching Leigh Christian, who spends the entire film cavorting about in a skimpy bikini) in order to preserve their bloodline.
Director Eddie Romero keeps the enjoyable story moving along at a snappy pace, maintains an engaging breezy tone throughout, and stages the exciting last reel action with rip-roaring aplomb.
The solid cast of reliable B-pic regulars helps a lot: Patrick Wayne as nice guy diver Vic Mathias, John Ashley as two-bit conniving con man Logan, Lenore Stevens as foxy scientist Kathy Vernon, George Nader as imposing ruler Nereus, and Vic Diaz as amiable fisherman Manuel.
However, Sid Haig easily steals the show with his delightfully energetic portrayal of smooth pimp East Eddie.
Justo Paulino's bright cinematography provides an attractive sparkling look and boasts lots of impressive underwater photography.
The inbred natives with their googly Ping-Pong ball eyes are a real goofy sight to behold.
Entertaining drive-in fare..
Dumb.
Turkey of a film.
A Filipino fantasy film about the quest for pearls on a secret island where a bunch of bug eyed islanders (when you see them you'll start laughing and want to turn it off) are ruled by a beautiful blond who looks normal.The cast includes Patrick Wayne and Sid Haig and is so silly and stupid that its almost enjoyable.Almost.Its a trash film that you'll either love of hate.
I'm going to bet on hate, which is a shame since the cast is good and the crew behind the camera is responsible for the Blood Island films as well as many other good exploitation films.
If you get a chance to see this, take a pass, there are better films out there.3 out of 10 |
tt0128378 | Ogniem i mieczem | Despite some deviations, the book's historical framework is genuine and the fictional story is woven into real events. Many characters are historical figures, including Jeremi Wiśniowiecki and Bohdan Khmelnytsky (Polish: Bohdan Chmielnicki). Sienkiewicz researched memoirs and chronicles of the Polish nobility, or szlachta, for details on life in 17th-century Poland. The book was written, according to the author, "to lift up the heart" of the Polish nation in the unhappy period following the failed January Uprising during the era of the partitions of Poland. Thus it often favors epic plots and heroic scenes over historical accuracy. Nonetheless, Sienkiewicz's vivid language made it one of the most popular books about that particular place and era.
=== Chapters I–VIII ===
Jan Skrzetuski (Yan Skshetuski), lieutenant of the armoured regiment of Prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki (Yeremi Vishnyevetski), gives assistance to Bohdan Zenobi Chmielnicki (first posing as Abdank) as his party are returning from a mission to the Khan through the Wilderness. At Czyhryn (Pol. Czehryń) the next day, Skrzetuski learns that Chmielnicki was escaping to the Sitch. In a tavern he throws Czapliński (Chaplinski), a voluble under–starosta (and Chmielnicki's deadly enemy), out through the door. It is here that he also becomes acquainted with Zagłoba and the Lithuanian Podbipięta (Podbipienta), who wishes to join the service of Prince Jeremi in order to fulfil his family vow of cutting off the heads of three infidels, all at the same time with one blow.
On their way to Lubni, the party comes to the assistance of two women, one of whom is Helena Kurcewicz (Kurtsevich), returning to her aunt’s home that really belongs to her. Jan’s party are invited back to Rozlogi where Jan meets Bohun, a Cossack, adopted as a sixth son by the old princess (Helena's aunt). Bohun wants to pick a quarrel but is sent away and Jan is able to declare his love for Helena. Skrzetuski realizes the girl is being mistreated and denied her rights so gets the princess to promise Helena to him instead of Bohun or he will have Prince Jeremi help her recover home. The lieutenant finally arrives at Lubni and tells his comrades about his mission to the Crimea. Prince Jeremi returns and entertainments are laid on. To while away the time, Skrzetuski fences with his friend, Michał Wołodyjowski (Volodyovski), and receives a response to his letter sent to Helena via Rzędzian (Jendzian), his assistant.
Revolution is now afoot. The prince decides to send an envoy, in a group led by Pan (Sir) Bychowiec (Bykhovets), to the Sitch to find out about Chmielnicki. Jan persuades him to let him go in his place as he wants to see Helena and receives permission from the prince. He meets Helena once more at Rozlogi and then sets out for Czyhryn. Here, he meets Zaćwilichowski (Zatsvilikhovski), an old colonel, who says he expects revolt in the Ukraine. He also re-encounters Zagłoba who tells him that he has befriended Bohun. Further on his travels he decides to send Rzędzian with a message to Helena to flee the impending hordes. His party encounters some Cossacks and Tartars and a fight breaks out in which Jan’s soldiers are slaughtered and he severely wounded. The alliance between the Cossacks and Tartars had been brokered by Chmielnicki, who understood that Cossacks, while having an excellent infantry, could not hope to match the Polish cavalry, the best in Europe. By combining Cossack infantry with Tartar cavalry, the uprising had balanced military force and a chance to beat the Polish army.
=== Chapters IX–XV ===
Jan is taken to Hassan Basha to the Sitch. The messages to the friends in the court are discovered and two, Barabasz (Barabash) and Tatarczuk (Tatarchuk), are murdered by the Brotherhood of Cossacks. Tuhaj-bej (Tugay Bey), the Tartar leader, is given Jan as a ransom captive and news arrives that the Great Hetman, Mikołaj Potocki (Pototski), has sent his son Stefan (Stephen) with his army against the Brotherhood, so Chmielnicki is chosen as their leader. The Zaporojians and Tartars march out of the Sitch to meet the Poles marching from Czyhryn. Chmielnicki avoids besieging Kudak. Krzeszowski (Krechovski), a Cossack, is sent to support Potocki but is won over by talks with Chmielnicki and massacres the German mercenaries who refuse to support his betrayal. At Żółte Wody (Zhovti Vody) the Polish hussars become bogged down in the soft mud and cannot attack on the second day of the battle, so Chmielnicki wins it and another at Kruta Bałka (Krutaya Balka).
=== Chapters XVI–XXVII ===
Chmielnicki frees Jan to parley with the Prince. Skrzetuski passes through a devastated landscape to Czyhryn and then to Rozlogi, where he discovers that Helena has disappeared. He mistakenly believes that Helena has been spirited away by Bohun. In reality, after capturing Rzędzian and discovering Skrzetuski’s plan to marry Helena, Bohun went immediately to Rozlogi to wed her. However, Zagłoba, who accompanied him, spirited her away after Bohun was wounded by Mikołaj (Nicholas), one of the old Princess' sons. Instead of heading for Lubni, they headed for Czerkasy but are caught between Bohun’s force and Chmielnicki’s advancing army. To disguise themselves Zagłoba pounces on an old blind minstrel and a young boy and steals their clothes. At a village named Demianówka (Demianovka), Zagłoba persuades the villagers to flee to Chmielnicki's force taking himself and Helena with them. Zagłoba eventually decides the safest place is on the right bank of the Dnieper and, just as they are crossing, Bohun's Cossacks appear at the river's bank but it is too late to stop the runaways.
Prince Jeremi's army arrives at Rozlogi and Skrzetuski is reunited with Wiśniowiecki. After returning to Lubni, preparations are made to march and Lubni is abandoned to its fate. They end up marching through the forests to Czernihów (Chernigov) where Chmielnicki attempts to burn the wood. They eventually cross the Dnieper and go through the Pripet Marshes, and reach the region of revolt where they wreak revenge on the Cossacks. The Brotherhood meet to determine how to respond and eventually Maksim Krzywonos (Krivonos) agrees to lead a 60,000 army to Machnówka (Makhnovka) to fight the Prince. His son besieges the castle but the Prince’s hussars eventually crush the rebels.
=== Chapters XXVIII–XLV ===
Skrzetuski is dispatched to persuade some German infantry to the Prince Jeremi’s side but they refuse. On his way back he attacks an outlaw camp and finds Zagłoba amongst them; he tells Jan Helena is safe in the castle in Bar. The Polish army passes Konstantynów (Konstantinoff) and halts at Rosołowce (Rosolovtsi) where they are now joined by the German infantry fleeing from Chmielnicki. Krzywonos arrives with his forces, the battle starts with single hand-to-hand combat, and Krzywonos is eventually defeated. Rzędzian is reunited with his master.
The King dies and a disputed succession takes place. Jeremi and his army rest at the castle of Zbaraż (Zbaraj) where, after much internal struggle, the Prince announces he will submit to the commanders appointed by the Commonwealth. Bohun captures Helena at Bar and hides her with a witch, Horpyna, at Horpyna's house. Helena threatens to stab herself when Bohun speaks to her about marriage, having tried to do so when she was captured at Bar. Skrzetuski and his colleagues go out to crush marauding bands. He is forced to split his force, putting parts of it under the command of Podbipięta, Wołodyjowski, and Zagłoba. Zagłoba is captured with his men by Bohun's Cossacks after they get drunk at a peasant wedding, but they are freed by Wołodyjowski and his troops.
The four Polish officers return to Jarmolińce (Yarmolintsi) and Zagłoba reveals that he overheard during his captivity that Helena is hidden somewhere between Jampol (Yampol) and Jahorlik (Yagorlik). Wierszułł (Vershul) arrives and reveals that the Poles, under Prince Dominik Zasławski, have been ignominiously defeated. They make for Lwów (Lviv), where Prince Jeremi is elected leader of the Commonwealth forces, and continue to Zamość (Zamost) and afterwards to Warsaw with his wife, Princess Gryzelda (Griselda). Wołodyjowski gets into a quarrel with Charłamp (Kharlamp) over Anusia Borzobohata. Kazimierz (Kazimir) and his brother Karol (Karl) are disputing the election, and the former is elected King. Zagłoba and Wołodyjowski also meet Bohun, travelling as an envoy, and Michał Wołodyjowski leaves him for dead in a duel.
=== XLVI–LVII ===
Chmielnicki's army is besieging Zamość but withdraws for peace negotiations. Zagłoba and Wołodyjowski now head to the castle and Wierszułł tells them that Skrzetuski is looking for Helena, travelling with some Armenian merchants to Jampol. A commission led by voivode Adam Kisiel (Kisel) is sent by the Commonwealth to negotiate with Chmielnicki, which Skrzetuski joins. The commission is rudely received by the Cossack hetman at Perejasław (Pereyaslav), despite giving him a baton from the King. Chmielnicki is pleased to see Jan and promises him 200 Cossack horsemen to accompany him to Kijów (Kiev) and beyond.
An armistice is concluded but Cossack attacks continue. Skrzetuski is told during his search that Helena was murdered in a monastery with some nuns. He ends up with Prince Korecki at Korets, where he lies ill. Rzędzian reappears and tells Zagłoba that Helena is actually hidden in a ravine at Waładynka river (Valadinka), to which he was sent by Bohun after Bohun was wounded by Kurcewicz. Wołodyjowski, Zagłoba and Rzędzian make for Waładynka, where they kill the witch and her servant Czeremis (Cheremis), and rescue Helena. Using Bohun’s baton, they make for Zbaraż. Just before reaching it, they are pursued by Tartar horsemen. Rzędzian escapes with Helena into a wood, while the two officers make a last stand, only to be rescued by Kuszel (Kushel) and Roztworowski (Roztvorovski) with two thousand horsemen. All of the Crown forces in the Ukraine are assembled at Zbaraż, including Skrzetuski,and Jeremi finally arrives. At last, battle can take place between him and Chmielnicki.
In the ensuing fighting outside Zbaraż, Zagłoba is nearly captured by the Cossack leader Burłaj (Burlai), but instead kills his pursuer. The Cossacks are defeated, but Chmielnicki convinces the Khan to keep fighting by appealing to his pride.
=== LVIII–LXIII ===
The valiant Polish force continues to hold out against the Cossacks and Tartars. Huge assault towers are burnt to the ground by a sally led by Skrzetuski; in the action the Polish soldiers are nearly taken but are saved by the hussars. Chmielnicki summons Zaćwilichowski for negotiations but his monstrous demands are rejected by Prince Jeremi, so the fighting continues. Hunger sets in, and Longin decides to steal through the enemy’s lines to tell the king of the army's flight. However, he is discovered after stumbling into some Tartar horse-herders and is killed by Tartar arrows after a last stand. His naked body is hung from an assault machine, which the Poles storm to cut him down so he can be given a military funeral.
Skrzetuski goes next and, working his way through the swamp, finally makes it through the tabor to Toporów (Toporov) and King Jan Kazimierz, who resolves to rescue Zabraż. Skrzetuski falls seriously ill from his ordeal, but is nursed by Rzędzian, who tells him Helena is safe. The victorious Polish army returns to Toporów and Skrzetuski and his colleagues ride out to meet the lady of Sandomierz (Sandomir), in whose carriage Helena is travelling. Returning home, the whole happy party stops for a picnic at Grabowa (Grabovo) castle, which has been burnt, and Skrzetuski and his loved one are happily cheered by the soldiers. | romantic | train | wikipedia | I first saw Ogniem I Mieczem in Poland in 2000, where I was working and learning Polish.
That is true that one has to know Polish well enough to perceive this magnificent epic drama, but at the same time this film was broad-casted in Russia, my homeland, dubbed into Russian, and many people watched it and loved it very much.
I agree that you have probably to be Polish to understand this film, but this is not a must.
All you need is some basic knowledge of the Polish Russian Ukrainian history of the 17th century.
Jerzy Hoffman is a real master of the historical movies; he had already achieved great popularity with Potop and Pan Wolodyjowski, two other films based as Ogniem I Mieczem on the novels of the Nobel Prize Winner Henryk Sienkiewicz.
The battle scenes are simply second to none, and you feel all that pain and suffering of people fighting there.
Isabella Scorupco is an excellent choice for the main female part (the love story in the movie is very touching and likewise very tragic), while Zbiegniew Zamachowski is great playing a small but brave feigner and loyal soldier.
The famous Polish actor Marek Kondrat is there in a very small but highly emotional role of the king Jan Kazimierz, weak and powerless ruler whose heart aches for his Motherland.
And it's impossible to forget another Ukrainian actress, Ruslana Pysanka in the role of the witch Horpyna her performance is blood-chilling and at the same time very entertaining.
The nature scenes are another plus of this film; you cannot but admire the wide open plains, slow waters, deep forests and snowy mountains all shown with real gusto.
Music adds another dimension, this mix of Russian, Polish and Ukrainian folk tunes serves its duty it trills you, holds you all the time and stays in your ears long after the movie ended.
I was thrilled after having watched this epic for the 1st time, and this feeling remains in me even after numerous re-runs.
What I really love in this film is the main message that Mr. Hoffman made clear a civil war is terrible, no aim and no word may justify this entire bloody massacre.
The final scene when we learn that all this heroic struggle of the Poles was in fact in vain is deeply touching and I can understand all those who were weeping while watching.
This movie is a splendid work of art of the big master, having lost none of its emotional message with the run of time.
As a movie based on a book that is a staple of Polish reading, it is bound to attract its adherents and detractors.
But overall it has enough merit to it to warrant at least a single viewing.The story is set in the 17th century, during a period of strife on the eastern fringes of Polish territory, in today's Ukraine.
The main plot centers around a rebellion of Cossacks against the oppression of Polish landowners, in the greater setting of a conflict between Poland, Muscovy and the Tartars.The book was written from a Polish standpoint, so there is some obvious favoritism shown, but the main characters are not one dimensional.
The political intricacies may be a bit confusing, but at its heart this movie is a love triangle, so as long as you focus on that, you can follow along.The main reason to watch this movie is visual.
The performances by the main characters are wonderful, ranging from comedy to romance to drama to action.The movie has a bit of something for everyone.
If you like romance, the lead characters are not too hard on the eyes, and their passionate feelings come across the screen quite strongly.
There is a very strong comedy element as well, but you might have to understand Polish to appreciate it fully.The special effects in this movie leave a bit to be desired.
It certainly is a bloody, and at times gory film, but really no worse than a lot of recent US offerings.If I was to use a US movie as a thematic comparison, Last of the Mohicans might be a good choice, with the hero looking for his love in a wild and savage environment.Overall I would recommend this movie to fans of historical films.
If you love war epics, great sword work, and quirky characters, this movie is unbelievably good.
The film's length wore on me at times, but I loved those characters so much that I almost didn't want the film to end.
If you don't like bloodshed, then don't watch a freakin' war movie.
Ogniem i Mieczem has amazed me!Indeed with such "small budget"(9 million dollars even for Polish cinema,europe is big) well Hoffman made a impressing historical movie.
Nice battle scenes,costumes,landscapes,the characters are interesting especially villain and you can learn a lot from Polish-Ukrainian history.
Some will say that expected more...maybe true but remember..it is not 60 or 100 million budget movie with famous stars...it is european,pure polish production and has nothing to be jealous from hollywood.
of course plot can be weak in some parts but is not always easy to copy from a book,in detail and perfection especially Sienkiewicz ones.
I recommend this movie,am happy to see historical european productions with other perspective and not in american way.
Decent adventure movie, with a bit of history.
But I think, it is a decent piece of adventure movie, which by the way, can also teach a bit about Poland's and Ukraine's history.
There is one great thing, that Hoffman did - he modernized original Sienkiewicz's book, which was written in 1884 in very different circumstances.
At that time, Poland was not existent country for almost 100 years, and the goal of Sienkiewicz's Trilogy was to raise Polish morale.
That's why the Cossacks in the book are just enemies, evil and cruel, and their cause is not just, while the Poles (and loyal Ukrainians, like Prince Jeremi Wisniowiecki) are good, less cruel, and their cruelty is justified.
Hoffman made a movie for modern times instead, when Poland and Ukraine are independent neighbors and they have to cooperate and built friendship among citizens (I must add here, that last local slaughters between citizens of two nations took part during World War II).
Of course, the movie still remains Polish-centric, but it also shows Cossacks as people, who had they cause as well - what was guaranteed by engaging the Ukrainian actor (Bohdan Stupka) as Khmelnytsky.Of the cast, Zbigniew Zamachowski as a fencing master Michal Wolodyjowski is disappointing, but I think he must have been under pressure of comparisons with highly praised Tadeusz Lomnicki, who played this character in earlier other two parts.
It forced me to read the whole source trilogy (Ogniem i mieczem, Potop, Pan Wolodyjowski) by Henryk Sienkiewicz.
But, not released in English, based on a super-nationalistic plot of dubious historic value, the movie was only going to appeal to a Polish audience, which it certainly did.
Some said that Hoffman's Ukrainian wife had too much influence.)The music is the lasting star of the movie.
Mostly for Polish viewers, some basic knowledge of 17th century Poland may be helpful if you want to understand the movie.
It's about the rebellion of Ukrainian Cossacks against their lords - Polish nobility (it was before tsars conquered Ukraine).
movie about love with elements of history and war.
The movie is based on the book of a great Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz called " Ogniem i mieczem".
There are some parts where the blood is present, if you know a little bit about history, you know that back then people used different tools than guns to kill so don't be surprised.
Film does not promote violence or nothing else but sex which many Hollywood movies do.
Also, you do not have to know Polish history to watch this movie.
It tells a story and knowledge about Polish history is not prerequisite require to to be able to watch this movie and understand it.
Additionally, many great Polish actors play main characters.
Everyone in Poland have been waiting for this movie for a long, long time.
Jerzy Hoffman made a really great movie.
I agree that not every actress(read: Izabella Skorupka-this is her Polish name) was good in her role but thanks God we wouldn't have to watch many scenes with her.
But if we look at this work of art from the other side we can see many fantastic Polish actors like: Daniel Olbrychski(who played in every part of the Trilogy), Michal Zebrowski, Krzysztof Kowalewski or Andrzej Seweryn.
Granted that I saw this movie in a Sydney cinema packed with Poles (including my Polish wife sitting next to me), the number of weeping expats at the final credits suggested that I needed at least some Polish blood to fully appreciate the experience.
Objectively, O i M is a handsomely mounted costume piece with good attention to military details and minor roles (Pan Zagloba in particular), but is let down by lack of polish (no pun intended) and a number of unintentionally hilarious touches such as Scorupco's mile-long plaits and Daniel Olbrychski chewing the scenery at every opportunity.
A really great movie about love, war, and patriotism..
Jerzy Hoffman did a great job of tying together the hardships of love and war.
I recommend this movie to anyone to anyone who enjoys anything from action to romance (and even comedy!).
My only complaint: a long running time and the jokes aren't as funny in English as they are in Polish..
I'm actually Chinese but I found a huge interest in Polish history and I found this film, I decided to watch it.
This film was historically accurate which I love since I have a strong interest in history.
After watching this I guess I'll have to move onto other famous Polish films, I can definitely see all the work and effort put in for a movie that was made more than a decade ago.
A beautiful film with the flavor of old historical movies.
Fights and love story, costumes and soft nuances, conversations in Ukrainean and music.
This film is for people who know a lot about the history for Poland.
There was excess death scenes, blood, that were not needed in this movie.
This is a great example of Hollywood movies.
There are great battles and a lot about the history of Poland.
Many people have to read the book that the film is based on first, then they'll get the whole picture..
I know the story and I read the book by Henryk Sienkiewicz and I really enjoyed it but I don't think that the movie could retell that epic story in a good way, especially the atmosphere and historical backgrounds.
There also was a problem of historic introduction, in Germany you don't get to know a little thing about eastern European history so my friend who I watched that movie with me was really confused about cossacks and tartans and all those people whom he never really heard of.
And didn't knew anything about their relation to Poland or the rest of Europe - so especially this part gave that movie a big minus.
Is good to see a European movie which is directed perfectly, a spectacle with many action scenes, excellent actors and three hours in it's running time, is good to.
Story of battles between Cossacs and Polish in 15th century and a love story put there in the middle.
One of the biggest disappointments in polish movie history.
Hoffman, the director, is well-known in polish cinema for such movies like "Pan Wolodyjowski" or Oscar-nominated "Potop".These two movies were based on book by polish novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz.
And producers of course, this movie was the most expensive movie in polish history (now the first is "Quo Vadis").
"Braveheart" or even others Hoffman's movies,, are childish (polish army consist of ten horses).
If you want to see polish historical movie, go better for older Hoffman's work..
I watched this movie after a friend told me that this was the most expensive movie in the Polish history.
Probably that is true, but the movie does not look like a piece of art.Although the movie does not specifically targets Polish viewers, others would hardly watch it - I bet few people would spend three hours trying to tie up numerous lines altogether.
The movie has two key lines - a war between Polish nobles and Ukrainian Cossacks and a love story between one of the Polish officers and girl, that he met.The movie does not look like an action nor as an entertainment.
But for the historical movie, it came out to be very straightforward - the characters are either too good or deadly evil and completely dump.
Eventually he somehow managed to do that, but .is that a historical movie or a show from the Worldwide Wrestling Federation all-star cast?Of course I should say that most of the actors were really good.
The explosions are just huge fireballs, looking like something from a poor WW2 action movie.
It is recommended to read up on the historical background before watching, as anyone not familiar with Eastern European 17th century history will soon find him/herself confused.
Being Polish, I was excited to finally see this film.
This movie has very little to do with actual history and is, as one might expect, since it's a book by Sinkiewicz, ridiculously one-sided.
Good Poles, bad Cossacks (Ukrainians).
But why would a movie be made now, when what's needed for both countries (Poland and Ukraine) is an attempt to show common history from neutral perspective?
The most awaited movie in Polish movies history.
The most professional marketing action previous to the Polish movie.
Hoffman has dreamed of directing the movie for 20 years and his dream is fulfilled at last.
One of my All-Time Top 10 Movies.
When Jerzy Hoffman completed the filming of this, the first of the stories in Henryk Sienkiewicz's epic Trilogy, he was actually completing a 30-year labor of love.
(This allowed Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski to appear in this film as the father of the character he portrayed in "Pan Wolodyjowki", the finale of the saga, in 1969.
I believe he is the only actor to have appeared in all three parts.) After seeing all four films ("The Deluge" is so long that, on film as in the novel, it was split into two parts), I was inspired to read the books, and enjoyed them immensely.Maybe it's because I saw it first, or appreciate the more modern production values, or like the story better, but this is my favorite of the films.
It instantly became one of my all-time favorite movies.If you love the tales of Alexander Dumas, then this film is definitely for you.
It has swashbuckling "all for one and one for all" heroes, a beautiful princess, sword fights and battles, two delightful comic relief sidekicks (although one comes across far better in the book), a vivid and colorful assortment of characters (and what faces!), a lovely score...
A great film epic from Poland, based on a famous novel by Nobel laureate Henryk Sienwiewicz, taking the 17th Century Ukrainian uprising by Bogdan Khmelnitsky against the Polish Commonwealth as a background, with Poles, Ukrainians and Tatars fighting against each other.
My knowledge of Polish history is weak, so I cannot tell how faithful this movie is to the real events it depicts, but as an epic it never fails to entertain.
Since this is a Polish film, Poles come naturally the best.
Some may complain that the Ukrainian Cossacks are depicted as ignorant brutes, but they are nonetheless great fun to watch.
Though this was one of the most expensive films in Polish history, it took just small change to made in comparison with similarly themed Western movies, and the results for the money are impressive.
An amazing epic, fastpaced and suspenseful, the tale of the fights between Polish, Cossack and Tartar armies, in the 17th century Polish kingdom, OIM was given a sexy twist as well.The sexually stunning Izabella Scorupco is the orphan Helena; Michal Zebrwoski is the stud; Stupka is the Cossack Hatman; Olbrychski, a Polish star, plays TuhajBey. The named Izabellathe most conspicuous person in the moviefor obvious reasonsshe's not only extremely sexy, but glamorous as well.Some shockingly violent scenes give the movie a healthy realism.The intricacies and details of the plot ask for some previous familiarizing with the novel.The Polish cinema belongs to the league of the best five European cinemas (with the French, Russian, Italian and English)..
Polish Master Hoffman puts the likes of Peter Jackson to shame, making THE most gorgeous definitive swashbuckling epic for a mere $8 million.
Old master director Jerzy Hoffman makes $8 million look like Peter Jackson's $800 million, and then some.
It is a tale of love, honor, passion, and two men's fight for a woman, to the backdrop of civil war that began in much the same way.The year is 1647.
At the center of the conflict is lovely Ukrainian maiden Helena, who although promised by her family to the dark and passionate Cossack Bohun, falls for and chooses our handsome Polish knight Jan. Bohun learns of this, and in a murderous rage slaughters her relatives, then pursues her across war-torn Ukraine.
Between gorgeous massive battle scenes in excellent period costume, Jan and his sidekicks clash over and over with the tragically obsessed Bohun for Helena, find her, lose her, regain her, and are themselves imprisoned, released, escaped, and ransomed, in a film full of daring escapes, edge-of-your-seat duels, shootouts, and all manner of other swashbuckling staples, with even a bit of wholesome cross-dressing involved.Our hero Jan is aided by his old friend and sometime rival Michal Wolodyjowski, called the Little Knight, the diminutive first sword of Poland.
A must watch, even if you've never been partial to the genre, and possibly your new favorite movie ever if you like this sort of stuff! |
tt0092744 | Cheerleader Camp | Cheerleader Alison (Betsy Russell) dreams of giving a performance in an empty stadium during which she exclaims, "I need love," after being rejected by both of her parents. A menacing laugh is heard as her arms are slashed, causing Alison to wake up with a start, revealing that she had fallen asleep in the backseat of a car which is carrying her and her cheering teammates to a remote cheerleader camp called Camp Hurrah to compete in a contest, led by the icy Miss Tipton (Vickie Benson). At the camp, Alison rooms with the mascot, Cory (Lucinda Dickey), who is often ridiculed by the cheerleaders, and Alison's boyfriend, Brent (Leif Garrett) immediately begins flirting with a blonde cheerleader named Suzy. The girls go to the river where they sunbathe, and are spied on by Tim (Travis McKenna), who is a member of Alison's cheering team. Also watching them is Sheriff Poucher (Jeff Prettyman), who gets interrupted by the camp handyman, Pop (George Buck Flower).
The next morning, Alison finds Suzy in her cabin with her wrists cut, dead of an apparent suicide. The next day, Alison goes into the kitchen walk-in refrigerator in search of a drink and discovers Suzy's corpse on a shelf. The police are called, and Miss Tipton explains to Sheriff Poucher that, in order to protect her job, she didn't want to report Suzy's death until the program was finished. The Sheriff assures Tipton that he will take care of the matter, and the deal is sealed by the pair having sex, an act which is caught on video by Tim. As the result of a prank, the sex tape is broadcast the next day instead of a video of the camp's cheer routines.
In the meantime, Brent has begun to flirt with teammate Pam, garnering Alison's concern. Alison has a nightmare in which she cheers along with a group of mascots as Brent has sex with Pam. At the river the next day, Brent and Pam leave to have sex. They argue, however, and he leaves Pam in the woods where she is murdered with garden shears by an unseen killer. That evening, Alison has a dream in which she kills Pam. The next day at the competition, Alison worries that she may have hurt Pam in a fit of rage and not remembered it. She mentions this to Cory who assures her that she slept through the night.
It is now the day of the competition and Pam is nowhere to be found. Cory competes in the mascot dance contest, but is denied the win by Tipton. During the team's improvised routine, Tim falls offstage, knocking Pop to the ground in the process, prompting the handyman to declare, "I hope you die!" During the Camp Queen competition, Theresa, who has become increasingly worried about Pam, slips away to find her. Cory and Brent follow separately into the woods to look for Pam and Theresa, and Miss Tipton sends Pop to search for her as well. Theresa finds Pam's body in the woods, and is chased down by a van before getting splattered against a tree.
In the meantime, Alison and Bonnie compete for title of Queen, which Bonnie wins. Tim has managed to impress a cheerleader from another team and takes her outside to have sex with her. He returns almost immediately with his hand covered in blood and reveals that he has found Theresa's body. Brent announces at the party that there is a killer on the loose, prompting the cheerleaders to panic and flee in their cars. Miss Tipton stumbles drunkenly into the woods to search for Pam, but she is soon hacked in the back by the killer. Alison, Cory, Bonnie, Tim, and Brent try to drive away, only to discover that their car has been tampered with, rendering it undriveable.
The four hear gunshots in the woods, causing them to run separate directions; Alison returns to the van followed by Brent, Bonnie, and Cory, who claims someone attacked her in the woods. Brent retrieves Timmy's video camera in the woods, where they watch Timmy being killed on tape. The four set a booby trap using a bear trap in the tool shed, which inadvertently kills the Sheriff. They then encounter Pop, armed with a shotgun; Cory who believing Pop to be the killer, shoots him with a revolver. Back at the camp, Cory and Bonnie go to call the police, leaving Brent alone with Alison. He attempts to have sex with her, but she resists. Cory stumbles in, saying she can't find Bonnie; Brent goes to look for her and Cory tells Alison she thinks Brent may be the killer. Armed with the revolver, Cory sends Alison to shoot Brent. They find him standing over Bonnie's corpse and Alison shoots him. When the police arrive, they charge a distraught Allison with the murders. Cory supports this, claiming that Alison would have done anything to be number one. In the ambulance, Alison insists she only killed Brent, but the detective says that Cory blamed all the murders on her. Alison screams as she is taken away while Cory, dressed in a cheerleading uniform, cheers in front of the camp in the morning. | violence, cult, comedy, murder, adult comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0215208 | Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace | Supreme Chancellor Valorum, leader of the Galactic Republic, dispatches Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to negotiate with the Trade Federation leadership to end a blockade of battleships around the planet Naboo. Darth Sidious, a Sith Lord and the Trade Federation's secret adviser, orders Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray to kill the Jedi and invade Naboo with an army of battle droids. The Jedi escape and flee to Naboo. During the invasion, Qui-Gon saves a Gungan outcast, Jar Jar Binks, from being run over and killed by a droid tank. Indebted to Qui-Gon, Jar Jar leads the Jedi to an underwater Gungan city. The Jedi unsuccessfully try to persuade the Gungan leader, Boss Nass, into helping the people of Naboo, though they are able to obtain transportation to Theed, the capital city on the surface. They rescue Queen Amidala, the ruler of the Naboo people, and escape the planet on her royal starship, which is damaged as they pass the Federation blockade.
Amidala's ship is unable to sustain its hyperdrive and lands for repairs on the desert planet Tatooine. Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, astromech droid R2-D2, and Amidala (in disguise as the handmaiden Padmé) visit the settlement of Mos Espa to buy new parts at a junk shop. They meet the shop's owner Watto and his nine-year-old slave, Anakin Skywalker, who is a gifted pilot and engineer and has created a protocol droid called C-3PO. Qui-Gon senses a strong presence of the Force within Anakin and is convinced that he is the "chosen one" of Jedi prophecy who will bring balance to the Force. Qui-Gon wagers Anakin's freedom with Watto in a Podrace, which Anakin wins. Anakin joins the group to be trained as a Jedi, leaving his mother Shmi behind. En route to their starship, Qui-Gon encounters Darth Maul, Darth Sidious's apprentice, who was sent to capture Amidala. A duel ensues, but Qui-Gon quickly disengages and escapes on board the starship.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escort Amidala to the Republic capital planet of Coruscant so that she can plead her people's case to Chancellor Valorum and the Galactic Senate. Qui-Gon asks the Jedi Council for permission to train Anakin as a Jedi, but the Council refuses, concerned that Anakin is vulnerable to the dark side. Undaunted, Qui-Gon vows to train Anakin himself. Meanwhile, Naboo's Senator Palpatine persuades Amidala to make a vote of no confidence in Valorum to elect a more capable chancellor to resolve the crisis on Naboo. Though she is successful in pushing for the vote, Amidala grows frustrated with the corruption in the Senate and decides to return to Naboo. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are ordered by the Jedi Council to accompany the queen to Naboo, as well as to confirm the return of the Sith, whom they believe to be extinct.
On Naboo, Padmé reveals herself to the Gungans as Queen Amidala and persuades them into an alliance against the Trade Federation. Jar Jar leads his people in a battle against the droid army while Padmé leads the hunt for Viceroy Gunray in Theed. During a battle in a starship hangar to free Naboo pilots, Anakin takes shelter in a vacant starfighter and inadvertently triggers its autopilot, joining the battle against the Federation droid control ship in space. Anakin blunders into the hangar of the droid control ship and destroys the ship from within before escaping, deactivating the droid army. Meanwhile, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan battle Darth Maul, who mortally wounds Qui-Gon before being bisected by Obi-Wan. As he dies, Qui-Gon asks Obi-Wan to train Anakin. Subsequently, Palpatine is elected as the new Supreme Chancellor and Gunray is arrested. The Jedi Council promotes Obi-Wan to the rank of Jedi Knight and reluctantly accepts Anakin as Obi-Wan's apprentice. At a festive ceremony, Padmé presents a gift of appreciation and friendship to the Gungans. | revenge, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1465487 | L'arnacoeur | The bulk of the story takes place in Monaco. Charming attractive Alex (Romain Duris), his sister Mélanie (Julie Ferrier), and her husband Marc (François Damiens), operate a unique business for concerned third-party clients—breaking up relationships, but only where the woman is "not knowingly unhappy." The trio concoct elaborate, custom, and sometimes expensive ruses to deceive the women. After each woman has fallen for his act, Alex tells her she has made him come alive again, but that it is too late for him. The women presumably leave their relationships to seek men who make them feel the way Alex has.
They are hired by a wealthy man (Jacques Frantz), who is a florist and gangster, to prevent the wedding of his daughter Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) to a wealthy Englishman of whom he does not approve, Jonathan (Andrew Lincoln). The main problem is that they only have ten days to do so before the wedding. The task is further complicated because, after doing a lot of research, the couple appear to be truly in love and absolutely perfect for each other. They also could not find the usual "flaws" in the couple that they use to cause break-ups. So, at first, Alex turns down the job, but, massively in debt to a loan shark through his own lavish spending on the business, he is pressured into putting aside his honourable principles to complete the seemingly impossible task with only five days until the wedding.
Alex becomes Juliette's 'bodyguard' in order to gain close and constant access to her. While on the job, Alex finds out things that Juliette likes and pretends to like these things as well to impress her; some of these things include the movie Dirty Dancing, Roquefort cheese and the music of George Michael. Eventually the two develop feelings for each other but the early arrival of Jonathan disrupts Alex's access to Juliette. The night before the wedding, Juliette is restless, and she and Alex sneak out and have a wonderful time, including recreating the 'climactic lift' scene from Dirty Dancing, and early the next morning Juliette confesses her feelings for him. Alex begins his usual script but, realising he cannot be with her after how he has deceived her, abruptly changes it and says she should get married.
The next day, as the group leave the hotel, Marc inadvertently drops Juliette's case file in front of her. Seeing the surveillance photos and her background information, she realizes her father has hired Alex to try to stop the wedding. At the airport Mélanie, after carefully observing the 'goings on' the last several days, chides Alex for walking away from real love to return to an empty life of fake seduction. He runs toward the wedding from the airport.
Meanwhile, Juliette's father tells her that while Jonathan is a decent man, she will be bored with him. As they are walking down the aisle, he tells her that Alex refused to take any payment for the contract. Before reaching the end of the aisle, Juliette turns and runs away from the ceremony to find Alex. The two meet and kiss after Alex confesses that he hates Roquefort and George Michael and had never seen Dirty Dancing, is broke and sleeps in his office, but he needs to see her every day.
As the end credits roll, back at the 'non-wedding', it is revealed that the loan shark to whom Alex owes money actually works for Juliette's father, while Juliette's scheming friend Sophie flirts with Jonathan. Later, Mélanie and Marc alone attempt another 'seduction', but Marc doesn't quite have Alex's charm to pull it off successfully. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0061420 | The Born Losers | Billy Jack is introduced as an enigmatic, half-Indian Vietnam War veteran who shuns society, taking refuge in the peaceful solitude of the California Central Coast mountains. His troubles begin when he descends from this unspoiled setting and drives into a small beach town named Big Rock (Morro Bay). A minor traffic accident in which a motorist hits a motorcyclist results in a savage beating by members of the Born Losers Motorcycle Club. The horrified bystanders (including Laughlin's wife, Delores Taylor, and their two children in cameo roles) are too afraid to help or be involved in any way. Billy Jack jumps into the fray and rescues the man by himself. At this point the police arrive and arrest Billy for using a rifle to stop the fight. (The irony here is that, unknown to Billy, the motorist is the one who starts the fight by inexplicably insulting one of the bikers.)
The police throw Billy in jail and the judge fines him heavily for discharging a rifle in public. He is treated with suspicion and hostility by the police. Meanwhile, the marauding bikers terrorize the town, rape four teenage girls (Jane Russell plays the mother of one of the girls), and threaten anyone slated to testify against them. One of the girls, played by Susan Foster, later recants, saying she willingly gave herself to the biker gang. (Foster would go on to play a larger supporting role in Billy Jack.)
Co-scriptwriter Elizabeth James plays Vicky Barrington, a bikini-clad damsel-in-distress who is twice abducted and abused by the gang. The second time, she and Billy are kidnapped together. After Billy is brutally beaten, Vicky agrees to become the gang's sexually compliant "biker mama" if they release Billy. At the police station, Billy is unable to get help from the police or the local residents and must return to the gang's lair to rescue Vicky by himself.
Billy, armed with a Springfield rifle, captures the gang, shoots the leader (Jeremy Slate) between the eyes, and forces some of the others to take Vicky, who's been badly beaten, to the hospital. As the police finally arrive, Billy abruptly rides away on one of the gang's motorcycles.
The anti-authority sentiment continues up to the end when a police deputy accidentally shoots Billy in the back, mistaking him for a fleeing gang member. He is later found, nearly dead, lying by the shore of a lake. He is placed on a stretcher and is flown to the hospital in a helicopter as Vicky and the sheriff give him a salute. | cult, violence | train | wikipedia | But they don't have a champion like Tom Laughlin (in his first appearance as Billy Jack) who manages to get Vicky out of danger (at least for a while) and subsequently falls in love with her.
"Born Losers" has a great score by "Wild Angels" composer (and future Lieutenant Governor of California) Mike Curb, good acting by a large cast, and a fine cameo appearance by Jane Russell as the trashy mother of one of the victimized girls.
While most people are familiar with Tom Laughlin's half Native American/half Anglo cult figure Billy Jack through THE LEGEND OF BILLY JACK, many don't know that the character originally appeared in this flick, an off-kilter biker flick about a group of psycho cyclists who terrorize a small California town over Spring Break and zero in on a young college co-ed whom they raped and don't want to testify against them.
Still, if you want to catch a glimpse of Billy Jack's debut or like to study sixties film styles, take a look at this one.
And for the era in which the film was made, there was no better hero than the charismatic loner, half-breed Billy Jack, played with serene gusto by Tom Laughlin.
The film makes the point that bad parenting and ineptness in traditional law enforcement foster an environment conducive to delinquency.Interestingly, although this is the first Billy Jack film, Laughlin played a similar role ten years earlier, in a movie called "The Delinquents" (1957).
Tom Laughlin's 1967 film The Born Losers is not what it appears to be; good-guy defeats out-law biker gang and saves young rape victims.
After the amazing success of Billy Jack, it was re-released and showed a pretty-profit.A strong supporting cast of "B" movie legends-Elizabeth James, Jerome Slate, Robert Tessier, Jack Starrett along with a "faded" Jane Russell, make Born Losers one of the more outstanding independent movies of the 1960s.Born Losers is a Born Winner..
Sprinkle in ten minutes of Billy kicking big donkey, and you have the formula.Tom Laughlin knew a winner when he saw one and would use the main elements of this film in all of his future Billy Jack movies.
Loner Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin), just returned from Viet Nam, pits himself against a vicious motorcycle gang who are terrorizing a California town, protecting a rape victim and standing alone when even the police are reluctant to act.This is one of the best of its kind.
In-your-face violence for its time, only a little martial-arts action (compared to the later BJ films) but all the ingredients are on hand for a character who is destined to become an American screen icon.The nattering nabobs can kavetch about bad acting until their faces turn blue---Billy Jack is what he is, and Laughlin plays him to perfection.
Tessier, a military vet and stunt man, was also the stunt adviser for the film.Classic hero defending his girl against despicable bad guys makes for ONE TERRIFIC MOVIE.
I can only imagine the reactions when they discovered their favorite movie channel was showing 2 hours of mayhem, featuring brutal violence and gang rapes as a motorcycle gang, "The Born Losers" terrorize a California town in this 1967 classic of the biker flick genre.
However, the most compelling character in BL isn't Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack, but screen veteran Jeremy Slate as Danny Carmody, the leader of the biker gang.
Slate actually brings a touch of humor (like wearing goofy white sunglasses that look like they were ripped off an old lady) to an otherwise repulsive thug and in my book does a superior of more believable job of playing a biker gang boss than Brando did in "The Wild One." Also notable is the great Jane Russell, in a small part as a washed out alcoholic mom of a girl who fell in the bikers.
For some reason, I remember this as being the target of jokes and sneers when it was new.Making sure to avoid prejudice, wanting to see it myself and know for sure, I recorded it when it premiered on Turner Classic Movies so I could watch in the right mood.What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be.To the best of my weakening memory, I don't believe I've ever seen Tom Laughlin and now I wonder why.First, he was a really good-looking guy, and he was a very pleasant personality on screen.
(2008, second viewing) p.s. the movie isn't going to appeal to everyone, but it's coming from a good place compared to a lot of exploitation films.
For example this time around I noticed that the film can be seen as an anti-Western -- as opposed to the stereotypical concept of a white man rescuing the white virgins from the "indians", here we have an ostensibly Native American hero rescuing the white women from white bikers (bikes and jeeps standing in for horses and stagecoaches in the traditional Western iconography of course)..
Even though the acting wasn't all that much better in the other Billy Jack movies, they at least had cohesive plotlines with characters that we actually cared about (and one had a hit song, to boot!)..
Instead of having Billy Jack defending his beloved hippie friends like he did in later films, a group of sadistic evil bikers invade a small town and Mr. Jack is the only one who can stop them.
The Beginning of the Billy Jack Era. This was the start of the Billy Jack Legacy as this movie hit the theaters on August 18 1967 starring Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack, Elizabeth James as Vicky Barrington, and Jeremy Slate as Daniel Carmody.
Although many reviews of Billy Jack series complain about uneven slant to the left there is a very strong message in this film about the effects of over-liberalism of the law, as it pertains to the protection of the evil bikers.
This movie, something of a prequel to Billy Jack, starts off looking like a typical cheap biker film of the era, but somehow despite the poor performances and non-existent plot, manages to entertain on some levels.
Since Billy is the closest thing resembling a sympathetic character in the film, other than a girl victimized by the bikers, the viewer accepts his tough-guy approach to dealing with the biker gang.
This movie tries to portray Billy as a lone hope hero in a world gone wrong where few intervene on behalf of their fellow human being, and it comes off as being ridiculous in some ways, however despite that fact and Tom Loughlin's lacklustre performance as Billy, the character still exudes the quiet confidence of a western or kung-fu hero.
This was in 1960.Some of the bikers were real Hell's Angels and many local California residents played smaller roles.A great start for Tom Laughlin in the Billy Jack series.
So, I think a more involved Billy would have helped THIS movie - I kept waiting for Laughlin to perform, even if it's just to TALK more about his (Jack's) philosophies on life.The other interest is Jane Russell, in a supporting role.
Tom Laughlin's first film as Billy Jack, ex-Green Beret-turned-rancher living in Northern California who is continually mocked for his Indian blood and gentle manner.
Here, Billy Jack gets involved in taking on a hard-partying gang of bikers who have raped a group of girls only after the local police force prove to be completely useless.
Laughlin, who directed the film under the pseudonym T.C. Frank and wrote much of the screenplay, isn't as laconic (or iconic) as he would become in the sequels--he allows Billy Jack to be human, at times vulnerable and benign, and Laughlin as an actor has never appeared so boyish (his sheepish grin, when it appears, is utterly charming).
While fighting a band of bikers who terrorize a small beach community, Billy Jack finds time to fall in love with the incredibly beautiful Vicky.
Billy Jack was a movie which came out in 1971 starring Tom Laughlin who played an ex-military, Native American pacifist who used his feet (he was a martial artist) to right the wrongs imposed by the status quo.
Being his first outing as star, co-writer (his wife also did writing duties) & director, some things had to give & Billy Jack as a character seemed out of place or would just pop in out of nowhere ran contrary to the forward movement of the biker gang's onslaught & mayhem.
THE BORN LOSERS wasn't supposed to happen but thank God it did since BILLY JACK is one of the most embarrassing counter-culture action flicks ever made...Tom Laughlin in the title role as a part Indian do-gooder who defends a ridiculously "progressive" high school full of teens and preteens, singing corny protest songs off-key with beyond-novice acting disabilities, and a dated, obvious push for an older guy trying way too hard to relate to that era's flaky and spacey counter-culture youth...So it's much better, more universal and exploitation-entertaining that he defend three older, legally sexy college coeds who get raped by a gang of scruffy bikers while Billy Jack is, for most of THE BORN LOSERS, a quiet, ambiguous sort of Lonely Man character, taking his time to defend not only the girls, but himself...The plot's straight out of just about any cliché mafia movie where the feds need to hide/protect their witness...Local cops and parents are caught up in a vain attempt to keep the girls safe from the gang, who appear like wraiths in family rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, motels and around every corner in the typically semi-rural small town prone for this kind of violent takeover.
And in 1967, Biker was not just a person, but a Genre....A lot of rustic time's spent in a (seemingly non-public) pool hall where the brutes hang around like semi-retired, well-fed barbarians, featuring cult actors William Wellman Jr. as an apprehensive second-in-command beatnik type; Jeremy Slate as the bold chief spokesman; future Burt Reynolds stock villain Bob Tessier as one of several henchman; and smiling scene-stealer Jeff Cooper as a cocky good looking "kid," wielding somewhat clunky white man karate he'd later develop in Bruce Lee's posthumous pet-project CIRCLE OF IRON.
But he's no match for director Tom Laughlin's Billy, or, in another sense, the film's co-writer and resilient ingenue, Elizabeth James...As pretty Vicky Barrington, she's pretty much the buried-lead here, and Billy doesn't have to do much to keep her safe: Intrepid and smooth, with an almost too natural/comfortable non-acting acting style, she's a modern woman without being pushy or preachy...And is particularly effective in scenes playing mind games within the gang's grungy liar: in one scene, remaining composed while stripped to her bra and panties...By the time Billy Jack's got her back, after the gang raids his rogue's-own Vietnam vets' trailer Mel Gibson would later famously reside in in LETHAL WEAPON, it's now two against this fiendish band of marauders, who actually stand out from other sixties-cinema bikers: a little more human than banal-cliché, even while being extremely inhumane.Critics ranging from Leonard Maltin to Roger Ebert bashed the ironic choice of our hero striving for peace while kicking ass (i.e.
Tom Laughlin directed and starred as the eponymous Billy Jack, a native American character who is at odds with a vicious motorcycle gang.
The gang kidnaps Vicky from Deputy Fred and then she's rescued by Billy Jack.The acting is generally bad in this movie.
I really like Tom Laughlin and his followup film Billy Jack inspired me as a teenager in 1971.
In most situations, the two main characters ("Billy Jack" and the girl he's protecting) do whatever act would be most stupid at that time.
The legend of Billy Jack all started from this movie, "The Born Losers".
One of the First and Better Biker Movies
Introduced Billy Jack.
It was the Bikers, Sex, Violence, and Counter-Culture elements.Billy Jack did help as a Center between Law Enforcement and the Bad Bikers and was a Semi-Interesting, if Stiff and Solemn Stud, and it was Laughlin's attempt to make Him a Hero, and He Was in this "Sleeper".But it was all of the other Strange and New Attractions in the Movie that made it a Box Office Phenom.
Worth a Watch for it helped Begin the Biker Cycle, and did Introduce Billy Jack, who, for Better or Worse did become a Pop Culture Icon.Note...The Wild One (1952) is considered the first Biker Movie, it starred Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin..
You know, I was really-Really-REALLY (!!) hoping that Born Losers was going to be a helluva lot better than it was.Yes. I'm very hip to the fact that this "product-of-its-time" (1967) was, in fact, an independent endeavor and filmed on a mere $360,000 budget - But, all the same, it basically wimped out about 70% of the time with its bargain-basement everything (from acting to dialogue to violence to philosophy).Co-written by its ambitious director and star, Tom Laughlin, apparently this film's underlying message was supposed to be geared to promoting peace, tolerance and understanding.
With shades of 1954's "The Wild One" hanging, like a tired cliché, over much of the action, Born Losers focuses in on the belligerent, in-your-face activities of the swastika-waving "Born To Lose" biker bad-boys who get their thrills terrorizing the folks of sunny Big Rock, California, and raping their virginal daughters for an added emphasis on entertainment.Naturally, our peace-lovin' hero, Billy Jack gets his toes stepped on once too often by these "Born To Lose" kids and that, in turn, provokes an inevitable climax of pure kick-ass retribution.This film predates "Easy Rider" by 2 years.
This movie shows how the main characteran ex Green Beret named Billy Jack,stands up to a vicious motorcycle gang.
He saves the heroine of the film from the psycho motorcycle gang.A very good movie that I first saw in the late sixties.This was the beginning of BillyJack.See it if you get thechance.
Tom Laughlin created an interesting character here, although he doesn't really have the physical complexion of a Native American, and is the most civilized and essential part of this film.There is a cameo scene with Jane Russell as the traumatized mother (her daughter has been raped by the gang).
I'm watching THE BORN LOSERS, the first Billy Jack movie.
Tom Laughlin directed and stars as Billy Jack, a former Green Beret and jaded Vietnam war veteran who is trying to live peacefully in a small California town that is overrun with a dangerous motorcycle gang that terrorizes residents.
That Billy ends up shooting the gang leader between the eyes (he DID warn him, though) is so anti-heroic that it rather spoils the film in some ways.Some of the camera work in BORN LOSERS borders on amateurish, the FAR side of amateurish that is.
Among the bikers rape victims is also Vicky Barrington, Elizabeth James, who was just riding through town on her motorcycle with nothing but a florescent white bikini on.
This was only because the movie was made before it's star writer and director Tom Laughlin got too philosophical and sermonizing,in his screenplays, due to the amazing financial success of the Billy Jack films, which gave Laughlin complete control in making them, that followed it.
This made it a much better film then the three later Billy Jack movies that besides their confusingly mystic and American Indian philosophy themes also had so many sub-plots, which "The Born Losers" didn't, that you got lost watching them long before they were finally over..
(the following may contains minor spoilers)i liked this first of four Billy Jack films.it's a simple story about one man who tries to fight injustice,usually(and reluctantly) with his feet and hands.in this film,the enemy happens to be a gang called The Born Losers(hence the title)who have been terrorize the neighbourhood and victimizing people.the film is well paced with some good fight sequences.the acting is also decent enough,for the most part although there are a couple of over actors in the bunch.overall,the movie is entertaining enough,although it sends mixed messages about violence and if it actually solves problems.anyway,for me,The Born Losers is an 8/10.
The exploits of these motorcycle gangs is the subject of this intense, shocking film.Actor and Director Tom Laughlin stars as Billy Jack, a half-white, half-Indian hero who saves the day at the end of the film.
The showdown between Billy Jack and the gang is straight out of a Western, except this time it's set in late 60's California.
This film is for men, though it's interestingly written by a woman, obviously friends with Director Tom Laughlin who stars as Billy Jack.
The over-the-top dialog and acting are part of what makes it so entertaining.Billy Jack, part Indian--if you can't tell that the man is Indian because of his cowboy hat and jeans, the movie points it out often--and part ex-Green Beret, single-handedly takes on the motorcycle gang who is terrorizing the seaside town of "Big Rock." Who can't say that the character of Billy Jack is a pop icon that will be remembered years from now?
"Billy Jack" (Tom Laughlin) is a former soldier who served with the Green Berets in Vietnam and has come back home to California to start a new life.
Similarly, "Vicky Barrington" (Elizabeth James) is on her way to meet her father when she also runs into this same motorcycle gang after which both she and Billy Jack realize that their lives are about to become closely intertwined.
Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that this was an enjoyable "biker film" which resulted in at least 3 "Billy Jack" sequels.
Elizabeth James, aka "Vicky," was a real "hottie." She was smooching all over Billy Jack at the end of the film.
This movie while not as good as it's follow up Billy Jack which may not really be a follow up at all, is still a great film for the time it was made in and the price it took to complete. |
tt0144618 | The Spirit of Christmas | While on a school field trip to a candy factory, Butters spots actor Tom Cruise working there, packing fudge into boxes. Stan, who previously told Cruise that his acting is not as good as others' in "Trapped in the Closet", accidentally insults him again by calling him a "fudge packer", as Cruise claims to be fly fishing. Cruise then recruits 200 other celebrities who have been ridiculed by the town of South Park to bring a class action lawsuit against the town. Stan returns to the factory with his father Randy to try to apologize and convince Cruise to drop the suit, but also finds it difficult not to call him a fudge packer as well since he was literally packing fudge while they spoke. An angry Cruise agrees to do so, but only if they can help Cruise meet Muhammad. This causes an uproar because depictions of Muhammad are forbidden, and the townsfolk fear that forcing Muhammad to appear in public will drive Muslim radicals to bomb the town. Stan and Kyle go to the Super Best Friends, a squad of superhero-like religious figures (Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha, Moses, Krishna, Laozi, Joseph Smith) of which Muhammad is a member, to request he return with them to South Park. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Cruise and the other celebrities only want Muhammad for his "goo", as Rob Reiner, previously shown to be filled with "goo" in "Butt Out", has invented a machine to transfer Muhammad's "goo" to the celebrities, which they believe will make them immune to ridicule, just like Muhammad.
By this time, Cartman arrives with "Mitch Connor", a face painted on his hand as one-half of a ventriloquist act. Previously, Connor had successfully impersonated actress Jennifer Lopez in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", and now Cartman and Connor return to the Lopez imitation in order to get involved in the lawsuit along with the other celebrities. Connor soon secretly convinces Cartman that they should steal Muhammad's goo for themselves to sell on the black market for more than the lawsuit could offer. Meanwhile, Kyle and Stan convince the Super Best Friends to let Muhammad come to town, but only if he stays in the back of a U-Haul truck and is not seen. When the townspeople realize they must bring Muhammad to Cruise's limo, they allegedly put him inside a bear mascot outfit. South Park is about to give Muhammad to the celebrities when the exchange is interrupted by a bomb planted by the Ginger Kids, a group of fair-skinned, red-haired children who are tired of being made fun of for their physical appearance. The Gingers want Muhammad for themselves, hoping to use his goo for their own means. They threaten to blow up the town if Muhammad is not turned over to them.
The people of South Park decide to turn Muhammad over to the Gingers, fearing the violence that will befall their town if they do not. The celebrities are angered by this change in events, but refuse to resort to violence for fear of ruining their careers. Instead, the celebrities decide to awaken the rebuilt Mecha-Streisand, a giant mechanical monster form of Barbra Streisand, who previously terrorized the town of South Park before being destroyed. The celebrities hope to use Mecha-Streisand to force South Park to accept their demands. Meanwhile, due to the chain of events, Cartman decides Connor's scheme has become too complicated and tries to quit, but Connor convinces him to stay involved by revealing that the townspeople of South Park have lied to Cartman about his true father. Although they previously claimed his hermaphroditic mother was also his father, Connor insists this is a lie. Cartman confronts his school teacher Mr. Garrison and Garrison's old hand puppet Mr. Hat, who admits to Cartman there was indeed a cover-up. Mecha-Streisand roars threateningly and continues her reign of destruction as the episode ends. | cult, psychedelic, satire | train | wikipedia | Must see for South Park fans!!.
This is pretty funny considering it looks and sounds terrible.
It's really interesting to see how Trey Parker and Matt Stone started out with South Park, and they created a very demented and vulgar short film.
Within this short, we see a switch of characters: the fat kid, better known as Cartman on the TV series, is named Kenny and is the first to get killed.
The hood-wearing kid, who is known as Kenny on the TV series, is the second killed and is not given a name.
And the other two (Stan and Kyle) also remain nameless in this short.
You'll never look at snowmen wearing top hats the same ever again..
Jurassic South Park.
This is interesting for the way it shows a very early, very rough version of the show.
The four principals are there, though not quite the same way we know them now.
Collectors will love watching it, though the 1995 remake is funnier..
Great Vintage from the "archives".
This is the very first, early draft of what would become 'South Park'.
This is the work of film students in their last year of university/college, and frankly, I like this little short.
because it's such a classic, I never even knew about this until 10 minutes ago.Trey and Matt soon would discover that this little short film will have a sequel to it, in which that will spawn them a TV show, two years later.
It's bad quality, but it's 1992, so don't complain.
But if you want to be reminded of your child-hood memories, then watch this.
A nice 10/10 for originality.
You think it starts out as your regular Christmas special or educational Christmas cartoon short, but as soon they put the magic hat on the snowman, everything goes nuts, and you see the true nature of what South Park is today.
Again, 10/10 for originality..
Memorable short.
For fans of South Park, this is a real treat.
We see what was to become of the 4 boys back in 1991.
Very rough, very raw, and very scrappy (Matt and Trey did everything on this, like how they did on the 1995 version).
It sucks.
This first foray into South Park completely stunk.
Perhaps it was tarnished because I saw the hilarious Jesus vs Santa Spirit of Christmas first.
The only cool thing about this short was that Kenny and Cartman were switched.
The fat Cartman we know and love was Kenny (he also didn't talk).
I was shocked when Frosty smoked Cartman, he died and I heard "Ohmygod, they killed Kenny!".
Neither Kenny nor Cartman spoke (that I remember), and I'm glad Matt and Trey made the changes that did to make Jesus vs Santa break that "sequel is worst than the original" rule in film.Miss this one, cause you ain't missing much..
Nearly 25 Years Later: The Patriarch of South Park.
I usually do not like South Park, but without this cartoon, South Park would not exist.
It showed all of the qualities that made South Park so vulgar, dark, funny and snowy.
It all began as a spoof of Frosty the Snowman in which, the snowman became a monster.
It also showed people that the true meaning of Christmas was all about Jesus Christ's birth.
It was well made when it comes to stop- motion.
Never say bad words in front of Jesus.
The quotes were well written, even on a pretty low budget.
The satire about the holidays gave birth to all subsequent South Park media.
Three years after the groundbreaking short, there was an even more controversial cartoon about Jesus vs Santa and characterized the characters even further.
Two years later, South Park aired on TV.
Two years later, a movie was released.
Without the short, there would be no South Park whatsoever..
Snowman, Santa and Jesus in only 4 minutes.
The 1992 short film "The Spirit of Christmas" is basically a South Park episode (with a slightly different animation style) packed into 4 minutes.
The four boys accidentally create an evil snowman with tentacles who promptly kills one of them, then transforms into Santa and when the kids ask Santa for help, he kills the second.
So the kids go see Jesus.
And luckily, Jesus is not the evil snowman in disguise, but kills the villain.This was the first time Trey Parker and Matt Stone entered the very long-living world of South Park.
The show is at its 18th season now already and this short film here was made 5 years before everything started (and 7 years before the movie).
The characters have quite a few differences compared to what they were in another short film by Parker/Stone also called "The Spirit of Christmas" from 1995 and the show later one.
Kenny gets actually killed here, a running gag for a very long time in the show, but he has Cartman's outfit and the clothes are different in general.
Also, you can see the mouth of the character that looks like Kenny (but isn't).
What is not different is the moral lesson at the end told by one of the boys.
This idea was also taken up for the show and appears at the end of almost every episode..
South Park Begins!.
Rated NR(would be Rated R for Language and Some Violence) Most of us know the animated television show South Park which started in 1997 and is still going on.The show that parodies today's issues.Well South Park first started with two animated short films about Christmas.Back in 1992 when South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were in college together they made a short film for film class called The Spirit Of Christmas.It is also known as Jesus Vs Frosty.You can find this and the other Spirit Of Christmas short film on youtube.There are some big differences between this and the TV series.First of all the two boys who are Stan and Kyle are not named and look a bit different.Second Cartman is called Kenny in this short and the Kenny from the series is not named.*MINOR SPOILERS HERE*Both Kenny(aka Cartman) and the Kenny from the series get killed.*END OF SPOILERS*.The short is four minutes long and has a basic plot.The four South Park kids make a snowman and put a magic hat on the snowman.However the snowman turns evil and kills one of the boys.He then pretends to be Santa Claus and kills another boy.Now they must stop him by asking a favor from Jesus.Jesus saves the day.The 1995 Spirit Of Christmas short is better than this one but this one is still fairly funny and good.Bad quality though.Runtime:4min 9/10 |
tt0096344 | The Unnamable | In the late 18th century, in the Winthrop house, something within it is screaming and banging at the walls of its confines. Joshua Winthrop, the owner of the house, rushes through the poorly lit corridors of the house before unlocking a heavily locked door. He begins talking to the creature inside to calm her down but she then kills him.
Randolph Carter regales two of his university buddies, Howard and Joel, with ghost stories. Randolph points out that they are sitting in the graveyard surrounding the haunted house of his tales (which happens to be within the limits of observation). The story that Randolph had been telling them was of Joshua Winthrop and his demon daughter, Alyda Winthrop. Joel comes up with the idea to stay there overnight. Randolph and Howard go back to the university, leaving Joel alone in the house.
Soon a group of students decide to go there, two young lads fresh from the university football team, Bruce Weeks and John Babcock, and a couple of girls that they want to score with: one of which Howard is in love with, Wendy Barnes, and the other, Tanya Heller, is "in love" with Howard. They go there and get set up in a room to tell each other ghost stories. Meanwhile Howard chases after Randolph to tell him that Joel never came back from the house, prompting Randolph to swing into action saying "I'll get the flashlights" with some degree of authority and urgency, despite not being too bothered about the missing student prior to that.
Alyda Winthrop, the creature, begins stalking the four, planning to kill them as she killed her father and Joel. Soon Joel's decapitated corpse is found hanging upside down, his blood dripping onto a plate of some sort, along with his head, that rolls across the floor to look at a half naked Wendy. Soon Randolph and Howard arrive at the house and Randolph discovers that the door has locked of its own accord upon their entry, which he thinks to be magic. Howard runs off to the aid of Wendy and Tanya, while Randolph decides to study The Necronomicon. In it he finds a spell to unlock the door. He goes outside and enters the ground under a tree via the tomb of Joshua Winthrop. This tree, with the aid of Randolph and the book, snatches Alyda from the house in the climax of the film, leaving Howard and Tanya the only two alive and in the desperately terrifying vicinity of the female demon.
Howard and Tanya flee from the house and run to a safe distance, but a hand comes up from the ground and begins pulling Howard down. It is Randolph coming up from the catacombs beneath having fended off the skeleton guardians. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0029161 | Lonesome Ghosts | The Ajax Ghost Exterminators - Mickey, Donald and Goofy - are hired by telephone to drive out four ghosts from a haunted house that has long been abandoned. Unbeknownst to them, they were hired by the ghosts themselves, who are bored because nobody has visited the house they had long been haunting for a long time (either because none of the locals were scared or they had scared them all away, as one ghost puts it: "Guess we're too good!"). They wish to play tricks on the living, and do so through a series of inventive, annoying pranks. The exterminators arrive and knock on the front door, which falls down. When they announce themselves, but there is nobody to receive them. Mickey decides they should get to work anyway. When entering, the door lifts up and throws them inside before putting itself back in place. After hearing the ghost's laughter, the three split up to hunt the ghosts individually. The exterminators are toyed with at every turn; The ghost knocks Mickey on the head and puts his fingers in his gun and it explodes. Mickey is driven upstairs and tries to open a door, which falls down and the ghosts (forming a marching band) come out of the fallen door and go into another. Mickey opens the door which causes a splash of water. Donald, meanwhile, is whacked with a wooden board and is scared away by the sounds of banging chains and dishes. Goofy, in a bedroom, becomes tangled in a dresser and stabs his own rear with a pin, mistaking his blue pants for a ghost and is shoved down into the basement. In the end, the three exterminators accidentally become covered in molasses and flour, making them look like ghosts and consequently scaring the actual ghosts out of the house in a panic. The ghost hunters stand victorious, having driven the spirits out of the house, although not exactly certain how. Donald smugly assumes the ghosts fled in capitulation to their superior tactics.
Goofy says, while warily looking around him: "I'm brave! But I'm careful." Donald observes, "So you can't take it, you big sissies!", and Goofy quips, "I ain't scared of no ghosts!" (weakly boasting while hiding from a ghost-engineered scare). | haunting | train | wikipedia | null |
tt2616818 | Graduation Day | During a high school track meet at Midvale High School, track runner Laura Ramstead (Ruth Ann Llorens) is pushed by the crowd and her demanding coach. Apparently, Laura collapses after crossing the finish line after completing a 100 meter race in 30 seconds, and is announced to be dead upon examination.
Days later, Laura's older sister Anne Ramstead (Patch Mackenzie) returns from the US Navy to visit her mother (Beverly Dixon) and her grumpy stepfather Ronald (Hal Boker) in town. After being dropped off from a truck driver, she notices a girl named Paula running into a wooded area, who is then killed by an assailant wearing black gloves and having a stopwatch. At the school, the assailant steals a photo of the track team and crosses out Paula's face after circling Laura's face. Meanwhile, Anne arrives home, planning to leave after graduation day, and discusses with her mother about Laura's demise. After, Anne unpacks her belongings upstairs including a gray sweatshirt and a pair of black gloves.
Track member Sally (Denise Cheshire) is walking through the woods and encounters Anne, who is heading for the auditorium as a special guest for a graduation rehearsal. Later, Anne goes to visit Kevin (E. Danny Murphy), who was Laura's boyfriend. Kevin shows Anne a photo album of Laura, and Anne gives Kevin one of Laura's track medals in which he thanks her for. Track team mean girl Dolores (Linnea Quigley) seduces a teacher in the music room. The next day, an unfocused Sally goes to the locker room after trying to concentrate with her gym bar routine, where she is killed by the assailant wearing a fencing mask and ends the stopwatch after 30 seconds. Later, Principal Gugilone (Michael Pataki) slices an apple with a knife, where he puts it in his desk drawer containing a stopwatch and various knives. Inside the school, Anne speaks to Coach Michaels, who is frustrated on being blamed for Laura's death, when in reality a blood clot in her heart killed her.
Soon, the masked killer begins to murder many of the track members and students, causing a concern for parents to contact Principal Gugilone about the missing children and resulting an investigation from Inspector Halliday (Carmine Argenziano). While Dolores is chased through the woods during a local festival at night. No one is able to hear her screams for help over the festival's loud music and she is eventually beheaded by the murderer.
Halliday speaks to an angry Michaels, in which the coach responds that he was fired due to bad publicity and being accused. In the locker room, two bullies named Doris (Vanna White) and Joanne (Karen Abbott) discover Sally's body in a locker, prompting Michaels as well as Kevin to the area. Kevin suddenly accuses Michaels as the killer, resulting a fight and Michaels subduing Kevin before fleeing. In the woods, Kevin catches up to Michaels, where he reveals himself as the killer and turns hostile on Michaels. During the struggle, Halliday shoots Michaels instead of Kevin, assuming the coach was the killer. Kevin then lies to how Michaels was going to kill him. Sometime later, Anne investigates Kevin's house upon the discovery of Laura's corpse in his room, giving chase as the murderous Kevin follows her. While fighting in the track field much to her horror, Anne discovers Dolores's decapitated head. Kevin is ultimately pushed into spikes by Anne and seemingly kills him.
After giving her statement to the police, a traumatized Anne returns home that night and hallucinates an undead Kevin in her room, when it reality is just her drunk stepfather Ronald. The next morning, Anne impassively says goodbye and leaves the town on a bus while the Graduation Day banner remains hung over the main street. In an post-credits scene, the killer's hand ends the stopwatch at 30 seconds. | prank | train | wikipedia | Absolutely no positives to be found here.
Attempting to monitor their graduating class, a group of teens accidentally kill a fellow student and decide to hide the body in order to carry on with their lives only for someone to approach them about revealing the crime and forcing them to stop the blackmailer.This is one of the most putrid and worthless barely-horror efforts around.
There's an abundance of flaws here that on it's own are incredibly detrimental on their own but all cobbled together just simply destroying this one, beginning with the people involved in the whole affair.
This is yet another of an endless series of films involving friends who are the prototypical rich, self-centered arrogant jerks who view everything else as expendable so long as nothing interferes in their pursuit of partying and having a good time, which makes the film so difficult to get into because it pegs them as those kinds of people from the very start and doesn't expend any pretenses about them as anything otherwise which really makes them so hard to care for that this one starts off being so incredibly boring that even with the characters being enjoyable the pace is so stilted there's little to like here anyway.
It takes well over twenty minutes before the initial accident to occur that starts them on their main path here that there's a decided lack of action for quite a while into this one that it really stumbles over the first half.
Since it's all focused on hammering home those qualities for the group with their school antics and the party, this is just insanely boring with nothing interesting going on for an extended period of time so that it has to simply rush through the final hour of time since this barely runs over an hour.
That's another big flaw here for this one, where it just doesn't last long enough to really allow the full depth of it's story to be expanded upon when it doesn't have the time to do this.
That leaves this one with such a little chance of actually doing anything that there's little opportunity to bulk that up with utterly bland efforts to build this up.
There's also the rather detrimental factor here that involves this one being a found-footage effort in that there's so many of the same utterly horrendous and problematic flaws found in these kinds of efforts coming back up again, with the scattering focus keeping the action next-to-impossible to make out when it should've been enhancing the scenes instead, the rattling zooms and shaking visuals are headache-inducing rather than complimentary to what's happening and the constant need to keep filming in spite of their own personal safety as several of these scenes are shot from the perspective of someone who really shouldn't be videotaping the sequence which all comes together to be quite distracting in the long run.
On top of all these other problems, the ending here does come off as even worse here for what it sets-up against the rest of the film,and completely undermines everything that came before.
Even the plot makes no sense as for why this particular entity carries out the revenge as it does as the fact that the twist revealed here makes for a rather puzzling effort with barely anything worthwhile about what happened beforehand making sense with the way this ends on.
Along with the fact that this one rips off so many other films that it doesn't offer up anything original on it's own merits, all of these issues make up detrimental flaws on their own but all together make for a truly worthless effort.Rated R: Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, Mild Violence and drug use..
4.5 Stars.
A group of friends are documenting their senior year of high school and when a tragedy strikes, they do some stupid teenage stuff that comes back haunt them after graduation day.This is a low budget, found footage movie that has a lot of differences but feels a lot like "I Know What You Did Last Summer." The actors seem young and inexperienced but I thought some of the may have shown some future potential.Giving that it is found footage format, it is filmed fairly well.
The story has a twist that holds out for almost the entire time but when it reveals itself, I gotta say that I liked it.
My honest opinion is that it is what saves the film and makes it worthwhile.My takeaway is that it isn't absolutely awful and it is one of the better low budget films but it does leave something to be desired..
Great twist.
It was a great twist even though I knew it was coming towards the end.
I just wish he didn't die at the end.Great found footage film!.
Found Footage.
Note: i am writing this review as i watch it for the first time.Honestly, I'm getting tired of these "found footage" films especially when they open it up like any old horror film by showing the perpetual ending at the beginning and then cutting to the beginning.
Another problem: the video quality is good.
Granted it takes place in 2013 but all the "found footage" films I've seen usually had poor quality due to damage, or what not to the camera.
There's more than one camera used in this and apparently they are found in immaculate condition.
Doesn't say much for the level of horror supposedly included in the film, does it?
Also, they're using hand-held cameras?
Even in 2013 people mainly just used their phones -- I know I did.The beginning plays like any recent horror film in concern to high schoolers: teens joking around, hanging around and apparently filming everything in the process.
Oh, and constant closeups of the female anatomy, including a short insignificant (with some slow motion) montage of such.Then we cut to a party.
Slow motion, snap shots, music over any other sound.
The beginning, the very beginning, showed a kid in distress.
If we're watching the footage, why would it be edited to be a film?
Separating the fact it is a film.
Meaning, it plays out as a film but it's found footage that also plays out like a film.
Get it?More female anatomy shown at the party (why I am not saying "nudity" is because they're all wearing clothes).
So, they go outside, get half undressed and start jumping off a cliff into the ocean and one girl doesn't want to jump so they force her to jump and yes!
something bad happens to her and it turns into another horror film called "I Know What You Did Last Summer".
So unoriginal!
Oh, and the killer looks like the guy from the first Scream movie.
Another stupid scene is the fact one of the guy's with a camera apparently videotapes himself while he's asleep.
While having sex, I get but while you're just sleeping?
Come on!Who videotapes every second of their life?
Also, if they got a crime on tape, as they did, wouldn't they erase that?
Apparently not in this movie.
I mean, they talk about what they did throughout them filming themselves.
They're either the stupidest people in the world or the filmmakers think we are.I didn't care about any of the characters.
They committed a horrible crime, and got away with it.
So...them all dying (non-horrifically) was okay with me.
I didn't care about any of them.
I was hoping they all died (not saying they did since I'm reviewing this as I watch it but the beginning kind of gives that away).The quality of the film was good, too good for this type of film.
The acting (except from the victim's brother) was good, for the most part.
The film itself was uneventful.
I'm more into this review than the movie.
That's how boring the movie is.Now, to the ending: I'm just going to say that you're going to have to see it for yourself.
It's so high school.
So adolescent.
While getting to it there are many problems (as I've listed above) getting to the ending, the ending does explain some (not all) the inconsistencies, and the plot stealing, and what the true horror of the film is, yet then again...Overall: 4/10..
Awesome Movie.
Certain people on the reviews are reading way to much into the movie a more of a critic rather than watching it as if they are just an average person going to the movies and seeing it...
Why does it matter to know that back in 2013 that they should have rather been using their phones to record these things rather than a camera?
who the hell cares just enjoy the movie i for one thought it was good ESPECIALLY the ending!
(Spoiler alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)Them playing a joke as to throwing the girl off the cliff and then playing a big ass prank on the guy but then at the end he kills himself because of him not knowing that it was all a prank.
that was a genius!
How could you not think this was good.
Stop thinking so hard about it being similar to other movie or them using video cameras rather than their phone and just enjoy it. |
tt1996310 | Lore | The return of the Nazi officer father towards the end of World War II upsets the family household in Southern Germany. They pack in a rush, kill the family dog and flee their stately home to hide-out in a secluded cabin in a clearing in the woods in the Black Forest. Lore's mother carefully wraps a porcelain figurine of a deer to take with them.
Lore's father leaves for destinations unknown and with the news of the death of Adolf Hitler, her mother is aware of the fact she will be arrested too, and goes off to a camp voluntarily, abandoning her five children and leaving Lore in charge with instructions to go to her grandmother Omi's house in Husum near Hamburg. Before leaving, Lore's mother gives her all of her jewellery and some money for the train tickets. After the neighbors are no longer willing to sell them any food, Günther is caught stealing so Lore decides it's time to leave. Unfortunately the trains are no longer running so they have to leave all their belongings behind and start their 900 km journey on foot.
The children arrive at the ruins of an abandoned house and Lore discovers the dead body of a woman. She goes into the house to look for her brother Günther and stumbles upon a young man sleeping. The next day they arrive at a church and Lore pays a woman to breast-feed her baby brother Peter. They again run into the young man from the day before.
News and photos of the atrocities committed at the Nazi concentration camps are posted on a wall in the center of the nearby village for all to see. Lore looks at the photos intently and recognizes her father in Nazi officer's uniform.
That evening, they move on to stay the night in a school. They encounter the same young man on his own who later makes a sexual advance on Lore but is rebuffed. The next day he follows them out of the town as they continue on their journey. Arriving at a farm, Lore gives a gold bracelet and her mother's gold ring to an old woman in exchange for food. Lore finds the body of a dead man who shot himself and steals his watch. The old woman begs Lore to leave the baby behind so others will give them food, but she refuses and they leave.
While walking, Lore again runs into the same man. She keeps on walking and he follows them. A truck with American soldiers drives up and stops. When asked for identification, the young man says his name is "Thomas" and shows the soldiers his Jewish identification papers and says he is Lore's brother. We see he has a serial number from a concentration camp tattooed on the inside of his forearm. The Americans give them a lift. The next day Lore falls ill and Thomas provides food for all of them. While bathing, Liesel questions why Lore doesn't like Thomas. Later Lore approaches Thomas, takes his hand and has him fondle her. When he lays his head against her legs she pushes him away.
The following day while walking in the forest, Lore buries the picture of her father and the picture of him at the concentration camp. They continue walking and reach a river they cannot cross. Thomas offers to go across with Peter. Lore says he'll go across and leave the rest of them. Lore goes down a hill and finds a man with a row-boat. She asks him for help but he is not interested. She then sees Thomas on the road behind the man, so she allows the man to make sexual advances on her to distract him. Thomas hits the man over the head with a rock and kills him. Lore is visibly shaken. They take the man's boat and cross the river, but while climbing the river bank Lore is guilt-stricken and backs into the river with Peter, the baby, in her arms. Thomas pulls them both out and takes Peter from Lore's arms and hands him to Liesel.
Upon reaching the English sector, they are denied passage and must remain in the Russian sector. Lore asks Thomas if he told the soldiers what they did, and he pulls her back from the guards. They decide they will cross into the English sector at night so they can catch one of the trains that are running there. After walking at night in the forest they pitch camp. When they smell somebody cooking, Thomas tells them to stay put and goes off to investigate. A restless Günther sees a man returning and, believing it to be Thomas, runs towards him but is shot and killed by Russians. Thomas then threatens he will leave them behind unless they keep moving on with him.
During an argument with Lore, Thomas says he can't help them anymore and that they can take the train and reach their destination safely. Lore is afraid he will leave them and in her anger and frustration calls him a filthy Jew. She cries and breaks down, so he decides to stay. They manage to board a train but are stopped by soldiers that ask for their papers. Thomas finds he is missing his wallet with his identity papers so he steps off the train to avoid getting caught.
During the final leg of the trip along the muddy tidal plains of the western coast of the Jutland Peninsula, Jürgen confesses that he actually stole Thomas' wallet so he wouldn't abandon them and that the papers weren't his anyway, but belonged to someone else called Thomas Weil, who Thomas had been impersonating.
The four remaining siblings finally arrive at Omi's house. She takes them in, feeds them and lectures them to not ever be ashamed of their parents. She mistakes Jürgen for Günther, and they tell her Günther died in the Russian sector.
Lore goes to her bedroom, which was her mother's when she was a child, and places her mother's porcelain figurine of the deer on the dresser, next to a collection of similar figurines.
Lore finds it difficult to adjust and refuses to cheerfully dance to American music with Liesel in the kitchen. She goes for a walk in the woods and looks at the identity papers and family pictures of Thomas Weil in Thomas's wallet.
Back at the house, they are sitting at the dining table when Jürgen impulsively grabs a piece of bread. Omi scolds him for not waiting to be served by the housekeeper and asks him whether he has ever learned anything at all. Lore is angered by her grandmother's authoritarianism so, siding with her brother, she also grabs a piece of bread without asking, bites into it and intentionally knocks over her glass of milk, pushes the milk off the table into the palm of her hand and drinks the milk. Omi excuses her from the table. Lore goes back to her room, throws the porcelain figurines off the dresser onto the floor and crushes them one by one with her heel. | realism, horror, murder | train | wikipedia | Lore (2012)A gorgeous, depressing, rare film about a family of Germans who need to survive the chaos and poverty of the end of World War II.
Finding original stories related to the European theatre of World War Two is difficult, however this film brings an engaging and refreshing lens to the period.The film focuses on the events at the end of World War II including the death of Adolf Hitler, the tracking down of the perpetrators of the Holocaust, the aftermath of camp survivors, and the territorial carve up of Germany.
And that was no little thing, something many are not aware or perhaps do not acknowledge.As for the film, following the end of the war and specially the death of the one many Germans had come to think of as a saviour there is a sense of hopelessness and devastation.In the family that the focus is placed, the mother has to entrust the safety and wellbeing of her children to her teenage daughter Lore.
Set in Germany at the end of the Second World War, this film takes up where others like Downfall leave off and asks questions about how the erstwhile beneficiaries of Nazi rule cope with their new world.
Only the oldest, Lore, is really capable of comprehension and it is through her eyes that the film is focused, as she slowly realises just how much her parents are implicated in the horrors of the Nazi regime, and, as an extension of this, herself and the whole German people.
The most interesting and thought provoking films about the Nazi time seem to come out of German speaking countries fifty or sixty years after the fact and I was surprised to read that it was actually an Australian film and the director was Australian, but from the credits I learned that it was cooperation.
When instead of the final victory the ultimate disaster happened ,they were just not willing to let the dream go.The lead character Lore goes on a difficult journey from teenager to adult when she is suddenly forced to be the head of the family of five children struggling their way through the ruined Germany from South to North through the different zones now occupied by the US, Russia, Britain and France.
However, this film does not just take a dispassionate look from the viewpoint of historian's or news print, rather because of the wonderful direction of Cate Shortland, this movie moves completely away from ordinary story telling into the far less examined area of psychological change.Superficially this story is about a family of young children who are forced because of Germany's WW II defeat to make their way from the Black Forrest to their grandmother's home near Hamburg in northern Germany.
The drama is carried by this eldest child, Saskia Rosendahl, to whom many of the film's incidents occur.Moviegoers might be struck by the close-ups used by the director; most of the movie's shots are taken at that range and viewers may not like the method.
It tells the story about a fourteen-year-old girl named Hannelore Dressler and her four younger siblings who lives in Germany during the mid-1940s with their mother Mutti and their father Vati who are Nazi sympathizers.
After hearing an announcement on the radio about the death of Adolf Hitler, Vati and Mutti decides to turn themselves in to the allied forces and Mutti tells her eldest daughter that she has to escape with her siblings and find a way to get to Hamburg.Distinctly and subtly directed by Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland who made her directorial debut "Somersault" (2004) eight years ago, this finely paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the protagonist's point of view, draws an incisive and instantly intriguing portrayal of a refugee's long journey with her sister and three brothers through a country stricken by poverty and chaos after the collapse of it's fascist regime and her relationship with a young man named Thomas whom is also on the run.
While notable for its naturalistic and poignantly atmospheric milieu depictions, masterful cinematography by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, sterling production design by production designers Jochen Dehn and Silke Fischer, fine costume design by costume designer Stefanie Bieker and use of colors, this character-driven and narrative-driven voyage depicts an in-depth study of character and contains a great score by German-born British composer Max Richter.This historic, humane, tangible and non-judgmental coming-of-age drama which was chosen as Australia's official submission to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013 and where adulthood sneaks up on an adolescent girl and has her confronted with her inherent believes, examines themes like family relations, quilt, war, survival, national crises, sexual awakening and loss of innocence, is set in Germany during the end of the Second World War and impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, esoteric characters, cinematic poetry and visual grace, fine editing by film editor Veronika Jenet and the memorable and prominent acting performances by German actress Saskia Rosendahl in her debut feature film role and German actor Kai Malina.
Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) and her four younger siblings are abandoned as their Nazi- supporting parents are forced to flee the Allied forces.
As they travel on foot to their grandmother's house in Hamburg, the children encounter a young Jewish refuge, Thomas, on whom they are forced to rely for both food and safe passage through Ally-occupied lands.
As she is exposed to the lies of their parents, and begins to develop feelings for one whom she has been taught to hate, Lore is forced to come to terms with a belief system that is quickly unraveling.It's the children that have to do all the heavy lifting in the film dramatically, and they carry their weight, and then some.
Although "Lore" relates a story from the second world war, it reveals the point of view of those we do not often consider: children of a high-ranking Nazi official.
The acting is great, especially the young cast who all give very emotionally mature performances.The film walks a line between an accurately detailed portrayal of an historical past, and a personal and emotional journey of an individual (namely Lore played beautifully by Saskia Rosendahl).
The inner struggle and conflicting emotions of Lore regarding the Nazis and her parents role in the system are boiled down to three short scenes (without spoken words) and could have been a great story as well....
I have watched so many war films dealing with just about all conceivable sides of this most unbelievable tragic moment of insanity in the our human time-line.Some are great (Come and See, Stalingrad) some are sentimental (Schindler's List, Private Ryan) but Lore is so original I am jaw dropped.All actors were simply amazing, cinematography was just stunning.
Other factors that made me believe that "Lore" is accurately describing the post WW2 scene:The many suicides in the country that took place.The brain washing of the young and the influence Hitler had on the youth in Germany.The dichotomy of the German psyche with the differing views of those that believed in the regime and those that did not.There is great character development the lead character "Lore" was first rate.
Suddenly, she has to leave her familiar surroundings and try to get the family to Hamburg, where their grandmother lives.Saskia Rosendahl, who plays Lore, is a capable young actor, and she handles the challenges of the part very well.
And, of course, like many Germans, she had bought into Nazi propaganda, and expected the Final Victory right up until the end.The children straggle along through the countryside, with few people befriending them other than a mysterious man named Thomas (Kai-Peter Malina).
We can only speculate, although Shortland gives us some clues about Lore at the end of the film.We saw this movie at the Little Theatre, in Rochester, NY.
All I know is that so much of the film is left to the interpretation of the viewer and had I not read a brief summary on IMDb, I would have felt lost.The idea of a girl slowly coming to realize the evil of her country and parents IS intriguing—and in the documentary Hitler's Children you see interviews with surviving family members of many of the worst Nazi butchers of the war.
"When your life is a lie, who can you trust?"Lore is an Australian film set in Germany during the end of World War II.
I have seen many films focusing on World War II and the horrible traumas that the Jews have faced, but never had I stopped to think about what might have happened to the children of Nazi Generals and soldiers.
The film enlightens us as we experience this young girl's eye-opening journey as she discovers that everything that her parents have taught her has been a lie.World War II is over and the allies have taken over Germany.
Along the way they find help from the least expected person, a young Jewish man named Thomas who claims to have survived the deadly prison camps.This film wasn't nominated for best foreign film in last year's Academy Award, but after seeing some of the nominated films I have to disagree with their choice.
You can't look at this film as simply a survival story because if you do so you will be disappointed with the ending, but if you understand where these kids are coming from and how their world of privilege and comfort begins to unravel and shatter before their very eyes you will be satisfied with the way Shortland decided to end this film based on Rachel Seiffert's novel, "The Dark Room." Lore is a disturbing but touching film and one that's worth watching.
A story told from the Germans perspective about young brothers and sisters who were strayed during the devastated Germany by the war.
There's a lot in the movie to understand about the human affection while hating somebody from the eye of a teen.The story follows just after the Nazi Germany was defeated in the second world war where the country was divided into 4 parts.
A 14 year old Lore leads her family with younger siblings to their grandmother's house after their Nazi parents were captured by the invaders.
The story unfolds slowly and not always clearly, so this is not a film that will appeal to everyone, but it is a powerful and thought-provoking work that deserves a wide audience.The Hannelore of the title is a German girl in her early teens who, at the very end of the Second World War, finds herself abandoned by her Nazi parents and left with four younger siblings, one a baby, with instructions to take them to her grandmother's place, a long way across an utterly devastated land.
In her first film role, Saskia Rosendahl is amazing as a young person who, on a frightening journey, has to endure not just considerable physical deprivations but profound challenges to perceptions of her parents, her country and those evil Jews..
Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) is the teenage daughter of hard-line Nazis whose parents leave to go into hiding as the Allies tighten their net around Germany.
As the children set out for the weeks long walk towards their Grandmother's house in Hamburg they are followed by a young man called Thomas (Kai Malina) who occasionally helps them but turns out to be a Jew, recently freed from a camp.Lore is a compelling coming of age drama and a fresh story set in a micro world around a much farmed era of film making.Lore is fascinating as the central character, whose age is never stated but we assume to be around sixteen.
Lore slowly begins to realize as she struggles to get food and encounters first American and later Russian soldiers that perhaps the final victory won't be coming but her indoctrinated ideology remains steadfast.The film could be seen as an allegory for belief in ones or ones country's superiority over others.
It is essentially about collective punishment, since a teenager girls (Lore) needs to become surrogate mother to her young siblings, who face starvation in post war Germany.
A family of five children, left alone from their parents, is forced to travel through Germany searching for their grandma and some peace.It ain't easy to make a movie so weak about the WWII aftermath, but Lore try his best.
The young characters are confused and confusing, the cinematography serve the only purpose to bask itself in close up and flares and everything, despite the argument, is beautiful and equal, just like a commercial.The director had a good story to tell - from an unoriginal point of view I must say - but she ends portraying only the doubts of a Nazi teenager.
Lore is a drama set during the holocaust, but with a different perspective: instead of it focusing on, for example, Jews in a concentration camp, or on the Nazi officers, this is about the children of an SS officer who, along with their mother, gets interred.
Excellent photography with beautiful German landscapes against razed to the ground houses and desperate hungry countrymen, blond lovely kids that suffer the cruelty of Americans that kill all the children and Russians that shoot children, a Jew ( he has a number tattooed ) who brutally kills an innocent German in cold blood with a rock, the same Jew who says lies while Lore does it only to give courage to her siblings, her coward not-so-German looking father who, according to her mother's words, wasn't so brave to do something else (what ?) instead of trying to save them, Hitler etc in pictures as images needed to be buried possibly for future use, conversations in a train about concentration camp photos that were probably fake and many more, are simple misdemeanors.
Saskia Rosendahl is Lore, a strong willed teenage German girl, who, due to the circumstances of the end of World War II must travel with a young sister, two little boy brothers, and an infant brother, after her mother and father leave them rather abruptly at the beginning of the film.
I've just finished watching 'Lore', and found it to be a deeply moving story, beautifully shot on film (which is becoming a rarity), with a breathtaking performance by the lead, Saskia Rosendahl.I wasn't planning on coming on here to write a review, but after reading other people's views and comments, I was quite stunned to see one reviewer giving it only one star out of ten, claiming it to be 'Holocaust Denial: Trash!'.
It is the dynamic between Lore and her parents that I think is a key element to this film, and it has to do with how young people become genocidal, and what might make them break with their psychological training.
In the amazing scene toward the end of the film when the grandmother (also -- surprise -- a strict authoritarian parent) chastises Lore's surviving younger brother for eating without the proper table manners, Lore finally makes a break with her upbringing.
Based on the novel "The Dark Room" by Rachel Seiffert, the German/Australian co-production "Lore" takes a look at post-World War II Europe from an unusual vantage point - not that of Hitler's countless victims but of his many rank-and-file supporters (one might say adorers) in the days immediately following his downfall.
Lore (played by the remarkable Saskia Rosendahl) is a young woman who is forced to flee with her parents and four younger siblings into the Black Forest when the Americans "invade" their country, arresting Nazis and Nazi-sympathizers and liberating the concentration camps.
This anti-Semitic philosophy is really put to the test when Lore and her siblings encounter Thomas (Kai Malina), a young Jewish man who claims to have spent time in a concentration camp and who helps the family in their struggles.The writers clearly know that the audience, craving reassurance amid all the moral chaos, would like the characters' actions to be guided by an adherence to at least some type of moral code, yet the movie, aiming for a much more insightful and honest depiction of human nature, stubbornly refuses to cater to that desire.
Director / co-screenwriter Cate Shortland and Saskia Rosendahl as Lore brilliantly show her teetering at the edge of whether she should associate with Thomas, as an assumed Jew, or feel sexually excited by him and his touch, just as, in her fascination for the various corpses, she challenges upbringing that she should not have curiosity, and should not harm others or steal.This fractured sense of belonging in and relating to a world that is no longer the same Germany, but even split into three zones that they have to negotiate, is there in the cinematography of the characters, with part of a face here, maybe not in focus, a focus that varies through the shot to lead to a disjunction, or a conflict between the scene and the figure in it.
It is about a German family of 5 children forced to fend for themselves as their Nazi father and mother are taken to some sort of camp.
Before the mother goes, voluntarily to avoid death, she gives the oldest whatever money she had, and a few other valuables, instructing her "If I am not back in 3 days travel to Hamburg and find your grandmother."Young actress Saskia Rosendahl, about 18 during filming, is Hannelore, but just called "Lore".
Lore and her four brothers and sisters are forced to embark on a very dangerous journey across a devastated Germany during the second world war.
Left orphans after their parents were sent to concentration camps, the five must rely on a mysterious person in order to survive the harsh conditions they're about to face on their way to a distant Hamburg, where their grandmother lived.It's a very dramatic movie which describes in detail the cruel life that German people were living. |
tt2101570 | In the Blood | In 2002, Ava, a 14 year old girl from Bridgeport, Connecticut, is woken up in the middle of the night and sees her drug lord father murdered by two masked intruders, before grabbing a shotgun and gunning down the two assailants. Twelve years later, after a rough life and recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, Ava marries the affluent Derek Grant in Arlington, the two having met while attending Narcotics Anonymous gatherings. After the ceremony, the newlyweds fly off for their honeymoon to a Caribbean island where Derek's family owns a summer home. One evening, the couple befriends a young local named Manny who invites them to a nightclub where Ava gets into a violent fight with several patrons following an encounter with local criminal Big Biz. The next morning, Manny invites Ava and Derek to ride "El Vuidador" ("The Widowmaker") a mile-long zip-line in the rainforest. Once there, Ava, who's afraid of heights, declines to go down the line, but Derek does and his harness snaps while descending, making him fall to the ground. Ava finds him in the forest, unconscious and severely injured, but alive. Unable to ride in the ambulance with her husband, she eventually reaches the hospital, where staff deny that Derek was brought in. After realizing that none of the island's other clinics and medical facilities have admitted her husband, Ava goes to the police to declare him missing. Stranded in a foreign land, faced with inaction from the local authorities and suspicion from her father-in-law, Ava tries to piece together what happened and find her husband, whatever it takes. | revenge, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0076789 | Sweet Revenge | The plot, reminiscent of the Alfred Hitchcock film Strangers on a Train, focuses on two disparate characters. Conservative Henry Bell has been eased out of his job by condescending Bruce Tick, while wealthy and wildly eccentric Karen Knightly has been abandoned by her lover Anthony Staxton-Billing, who opted to return to his wife Imogen. Both are intent on committing suicide by leaping from the Tower Bridge in London. When neither succeeds, they strike a bargain whereby each agrees to exact revenge on behalf of the other, although Henry is less enthusiastic about the plan.
Karen, disguised as a frumpy office temp, finds employment as an assistant to Tick and quickly derails his marriage by leading his wife Hilary to believe he's involved in an extramarital affair. Henry, meanwhile, is finding it difficult to keep his end of the bargain, since he has fallen in love with Imogen, the object of Karen's revenge. Instead of planning her demise, he begins an affair with the beguiling woman. Henry learns that Anthony left Karen not for Imogen, but for beautician Daphne Teal, and he begins to suspect Karen is more of a villain than a victim. The woman proves to be a formidable foe when she realizes Henry may renege on their deal.
Adding to the humorous complications are Karen's oddball brother Oliver, who delights in racing through the interior of their rural mansion on his motor scooter; elderly and slightly befuddled housekeeper Winnie; and Daphne's very inept daughter Norma, who's being groomed to take over the household chores so Winnie finally can retire. | romantic | train | wikipedia | One Of The Most Highly Misunderstood Films.
Some film critics labeled this film a bomb.
I feel, however, the only thing exploding with such rash comments are their lack of true experience in and with the real, down and dirty, world.Upon exiting the theater to find their cars stolen, do these critics even wonder about the innate nature of the person who has absconded with their vehicles.Stockard Channing enters the role and world of a dedicated car thief with such deft character acting, that many of the true criminal element were (reportedly) able to bond with her.
And for that reason alone, the viewer has to watch this film with their focus solely limited to the character being depicted.
Disregard everything else in the film with the notable exception of her motive, methods and single minded determination to achieve one single soul driving goal.Listening to Channing spew out the dialect of the seasoned criminal with such convincing force and believability, one might easily suspect she had at one time actually been such a person who lived in such an environment.
Most definitely, one would never guess she had attended the socially acclaimed Radcliff College.
If character acting is what acting is all about, then Ms. Channing is one hell of an actress.This highly underrated cinematic character study is well worth the renting for the true film buff..
Entertaining and well-acted and MIA.
Haven't seen Sweet Revenge since the early 80s.
I remember finding it very entertaining, and was really drawn into the two lead characters: The thief and the investigator.
Perhaps the premise is thin, all the effort just for a car, but surely many people have obsessions with cars.
I know people who seem to love their car more than their spouse.Stockard Channing was amazing, as was Sam Waterston.
I'd love to see it again.Sadly this movie is not available on VHS/DVD nor on cable.
Any interest in reviving it for a discount renter have probably gotten thwarted by the fact there are 6 other movies by this exact name listed on IMDb, so just knowing which Sweet Revenge one is talking about is tough.
The 1984 movie of the same name plays on cable all the time, but never this 1977 title.
Like other movies from the slightly pre-VCR-boom era that I'd like to see again, including 'A Man, a Woman, and a Bank' and 'The Manitou' (which was bad/silly but worth a rewatch), it may not pass this way again.If you should actually come across it, it's worth checking out.
(And then let me know where the heck you found it!).
Fine little 70's curio.
Having known specialists in 'midnight auto' Ms. Channings portrayal of an obsessed car thief rings very true-to-life.
To anyone else watching this movie the mechanics of the trade must have been an eye-opener.
Of course, every car nut worth his (or her) salt has probably lusted after a Ferrari 246 Dino; but not to the degree that's reflected in Ms. Channings single-minded pursuit of that modern classic automobile.At the time "All American Girl" was released I was living in Sea-Tac WA, the primary film setting.
No effort made in trying to create a fictional locale.
There was plenty of local press coverage and the movie may have even premiered there (?) Just about every frame contains shots of both the beauty and grittiness of the place and the characters inhabiting the world of grand-theft-auto (a perfect tonic BTW, for that Roger Corman/Ron Howard film on the same topic).Not that I found the movie a 'downer'.
Far from it.
There's plenty of humor supplied by Ms. Channing, presaging later roles on film and TV.
Her character's various changes in disguise as she alternately sells and steals a Porsche 356 in order to get up the scratch for the ultimate score are just too funny.Making a film like "Sweet Revenge" could probably not come close to happening these days.
The age of the Anti-Hero is long gone.
One should be glad that it was released when it was.
There's nothing else around quite like it.Also recommended, "Gone in 60 Seconds" (the original)..
The Porsch 356 was sold the 2nd or 3rd time at my houseboat.
Looking for a copy of the movie to see if my wife was actually in the movie or a second.
Sweet Revenge was filmed at our houseboat and I was a little irate because I couldn't get home from work.
Stockard Channing used our bathroom to freshen up and signed her name in lipstick on the mirror; which I thought was a little presumptuous.
My wife was watching the production with her hair in curlers which the director liked and wanted to keep her in the film, but since we were going out that night she skipped the last couple of takes.
We always wondered if she was in the print or not.
We couldn't really tell from the showing.
I would sure like to see it one more time.
I thought the funniest scene was transposition of the police siren with the ice cream loudspeaker.
Otherwise, I agree the plot was a little thin..
Stockard Channing: She's Just That Damned Good!.
If you're looking for a movie with meaning, this isn't it.
But, if you're looking for about 2 hours of car-stealing fun, this is the movie for you.
The plot is easy to follow (she steals cars to buy her dream car) and the acting is wonderful.
I'm surprised at how much chemistry Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston have together (of course, you could put Stockard Channing opposite a hot dog and she would have find a way to make the scene work.) I'd never heard of this movie before and didn't know what to expect.
I was pleasantly surprised by it.
I wonder why this film wasn't considered good when it came out.
It really isn't a bad little film.
If you need only one reason to see this movie, watch it to see the development of Stockard Channing's acting technique.
This woman should have a mantle full of Academy Awards.
She slips into Vurrla and her different aliases so easily that you wonder (at least I did) if she has some type of personality disorder.
I don't mean that in a cruel way, but her transformation into the character is so complete that you forget you're watching Stockard Channing playing a character and feel as if you're peeping in on Vurrla.
When you're so engrossed in a movie that you forget that you're watching a movie, that is the hallmark of a great acting (think Olivier in "Othello" or Davis in "The Little Foxes)..
Stockard Channing indie.
Vurrla Kowsky (Stockard Channing) has an eye for a new Ferrari Dino.
She's a car thief and gets pulled over.
Her public defender Philip Le Clerq (Sam Waterston) assumes that she's a victim of circumstances and tries to reform her.
In reality, she gave a false identity and constantly lies to him.
She has many aliases and is an unrepentant thief.
Philip follows her back to her rundown boarded up place.
Only her car radio stealing best friend Edmund knows her real name.
Sweet Revenge is her car's name.
Philip tries to help her despite continuously being lied to.This little-seen Stockard Channing indie is a nice showcase for her.
The film works best when she's paired with Waterston.
It really should be a film about the two of them.
The film stagnates without them together even when she does some crazy stuff.
Their back and forth injects a fun chemistry into the movie..
The Free-Spirited Sociopath.
Stockard Channing is a young woman who decides to steal the same car again and again, so she can get her dream ride.
Sam Waterston is her court-appointed lawyer -- of course -- who finds her low-rent free spirit irresistibly challenging.This is the 1970s, and in the aftermath of the 1960s, the free spirit, bursting from the bonds of conventionality, is no longer seen as a personal choice, of how an individual kook's defiance of convention can make her happier and give those near to her a new and valid view of the world.
We don't get Katherine Hepburn gushing about Cary Grant: "You've got no faith in Johnny, have you, Julia?
His little dream may fall flat, you think.
Oh, I've got all the faith in the world in Johnny.
Whatever he does is all right with me.
If he wants to dream for a while, he can dream for a while, and if he wants to come back and sell peanuts, oh, how I'll believe in those peanuts!" The downside is no longer just the people making bad choices; we get to see the elderly couple talking about how much they love their son, and imagine how they feel when they find out what has actually.
Choices have consequences for other people..
Stockard Channing isn't easy to root for.
In this made-for-television flick, Stockard Channing plays a no-good, selfish, pathological liar with a rap sheet longer than her arm.
Her current fixation is stealing cars, so that she can sell them and hopefully get enough money to actually buy a Ferrari.
Beyond that, she has absolutely no life plan.
She's not thinking of getting a legitimate job, an apartment or house, a quality boyfriend, or even a bath.
What a great heroine to root for.For some reason that never becomes clear, her young, trusting public defender—played by Sam Waterston, who else?—tells the judge to be lenient because she's a good kid and just needs a little guidance.
He continually sticks up for her and tries to help her, even though she proves time and again she has neither the interest nor the tools to fully accept his help.
She's incredibly unlikable, and it's very frustrating to watch her drag Sam down with her, especially for fans who know him on Law & Order.
Unless you really love Stockard Channing—I don't; she's just too angry-looking all the time—you'll probably want to load up on your Jack McCoy fix the way nature intended, with a Law & Order marathon..
A Forgotten Oddity.
A young woman with a long rap sheet who steals cars for a living is befriended by a public defender who tries to steer her straight.
But her goal is to steal and subsequently sell enough cars (sometimes the same car more than once) to buy a new Ferrari.Just like everyone else, I had never heard of this film until it was shown on Turner Classic Movies.
And I can understand why it faded away.
There is little that stands out about it, and the two stars are not anywhere near A-list (with all due respect).
So it makes sense that this would be buried.But it is not a bad movie by any means, and a fun film.
Since it was apparently made by MGM, I would suspect the rights to distribute it are fairly cheap right now (2017) and it might be the kind of title that a specialty Blu-ray label would pick up..
Another obscure gem..
Yes, this film involves fancy cars, but don't expect any crazy rides, well, maybe just one in the end, and even that is pretty short.'Sweet revenge' tells the tale of a young woman who wants to live life her own way, and owning a particular sports car epitomizes this.
Even though it is ultimately a material goal, the irresistibly charming Stockard Channing convinced me that Vurrla Kowsky has her heart in the right place.
The tale is ultimately a bleak one, but thanks to Channing and the apt hands of Jerry Schatzberg, there is a glimmer of positivity shining all the way through.
Well, maybe not for fancy-car lovers - this should count a warning for them; watch at your own risk!Another thoroughly enjoyable film from the '70s, with lingo, characters and colours to match.
Not what you're probably expecting.
I have a good feeling that most (if not all) the few people who saw this movie during its brief theatrical release felt ripped off.
Despite having the title "Sweet Revenge", and involving a female car thief, there is almost nothing that could be labelled exploitation.
The title refers to a character's car with that name instead of a character's ambition.
Also, there is no sex, just two (brief) scenes of nudity, and the only action there is turns out to be a car chase that lasts only forty or so seconds.
As it turns out, the movie is more of a character study than having a B movie spirit.
Despite being disappointed that the movie wasn't typical drive-in fodder, I was open to the movie being a serious drama...
as long as it was good.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
It's a real slow-moving story, for one thing, and the constant spinning of its wheels eventually grows tiresome and had me wishing that the characters would just get on with it.
Also, the central character played by Stockard Channing is neither sympathetic nor an interesting flawed character.
It's hard to figure out what's going on in this character's head.
In the end, the movie's only seeming worth is to answer why Hollywood movie studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer was having a real tough time connecting with audiences in the 1970s.
Though the question as to why someone thought that Stockard Channing doing a nude scene was a good idea remains unanswered. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.