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tt0179458 | Savage Vengance | Katie Carter (Dallender) is an aspiring model from Missouri who works as a waitress in a New York City restaurant. Desperate to update her modeling portfolio, she answers an advertisement offering a free photography session. She then meets three Bulgarian brothers, photographer Ivan (Absolom) and his assistants Nikolai, known as "Nicky" (Aleksiev), and Georgy (Baharov), who becomes infatuated with Katie. She leaves the photo shoot after disagreeing with Ivan about a topless shot. Georgy later arrives at Katie's apartment and apologizes regarding the incident. Katie accepts his apology and is given a flash drive containing her photos. Before leaving, Georgy states that she can keep the pictures for her privacy, upload, or use the photos as she chooses.
Later that night, Katie wakes up to find Georgy filming her and shoots him with an electroshock gun. Although Katie tries to escape, Georgy binds, gags, and sodomizes her. Katie's neighbor, Jayson, arrives and tries to stop the rape but Georgy stabs and kills him. Georgy panics and calls both his brothers. Nikolai and Ivan later arrive and clean up all evidence of the crime. Ivan then force-feeds Katie ketamine, rendering her unconscious.
Katie wakes and finds herself naked and handcuffed to a pipe in an old basement. The brothers relentlessly rape and torture her. She overpowers Georgy and escapes, but discovers that she is now in an unknown city. When she approaches Bulgarian police, she is taken into safe custody by Detective Kiril (Zlaterev), who informs her that she has been abducted to Bulgaria. After an interview, Detective Kiril hands her over to Ana (Stockley), who claims to be from a rape crisis center but is really Nikolai and Georgy's mother. Katie is returned to the basement and Valko (Silverleaf), a friend of the family's father, electroshocks her genitals then brutally rapes her, leaving her bloodied. Ivan then beats her.
Katie is then placed in a box with her crucifix necklace and Valko's electroshock gun and buried alive. The ground beneath the makeshift coffin breaks and she falls into the sewer system below. Naked and hungry, Katie steals from a nearby church and is soon caught by priest Father Dimov (Pelka), who recognizes her as a rape survivor. He gives her food, clothing, and a Bible. Katie approaches the U.S. Embassy, but leaves before going inside. Back at the church, Dimov offers support. As Katie goes back to the sewers, she leaves her Bible open for Dimov to read. After reading the passage "vengeance is mine", Dimov realizes that Katie seeks revenge against her rapists.
Katie first steals money from Ana's house and buys clothes, weapons, and supplies. She lures Georgy into the sewers, captures him and hangs him by his arms on the wall. She tortures him with a large switchblade and smears fecal matter into his wounds to cause infection, then leaves him to a slow and painful death. Meanwhile, Dimov has contacted Kiril, who realizes that Katie is still in trouble. Both men aim to stop Katie from committing crimes to her rapists and to persuade her that she would have legal justice. At a nightclub, Katie laces Nikolai's drink with ecstasy. He runs to the bathroom where she drowns him in an unflushed toilet. The next day, Valko sees Katie during a church service and chases after her into the basement where Katie strikes him with a rock. When he regains consciousness, he is strapped to a metal bed frame. Katie electroshocks his genitals with a stun stick, puts a large plumber's snake into his mouth, turns it on and it snakes its way down into his throat. She then attaches electrical cables to the bed and rooter and electrocutes him.
Ana finds her house has been burgled. Later, Katie pushes Ana into the sewers and binds her in a box and forces her to watch Georgy die. Ivan realizes that Katie has escaped; she captures him, ties him to a table and tortures him by crushing his testicles before killing him. Kiril hears Ivan and Ana's screams and follows them to the sewers. During the torture, Ivan reveals that Ana is his stepmother, who herself was raped by her future husband, Ivan's father. Nikolai and Georgy were products of Ana's rapes. Katie understands Ana's sadistic nature and begins to torture Ana and Ivan, but at that moment Kiril arrives and holds his gun up to Katie. Ivan grabs and begins to strangle Katie, but Kiril shoots Ivan in the head, allowing Katie to escape. Ana, the sole survivor is arrested by Kiril for her part in her family's crimes. Katie arrives at the U.S. Embassy and the film ends. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0040847 | The Stupor Salesman | Slug McSlug, a notorious criminal (and anthropomorphic dog), is chased by police after successfully robbing the Last National Bank. He reaches his country hideout, where he is promptly visited by an uninvited Daffy Duck, who is a door-to-door salesman of a variety of items. McSlug slams the door in Daffy's face, but Daffy doggedly persists in his efforts to sell something to McSlug, raising the ire of the wanted criminal. McSlug hammers a fake foot by Daffy, who zaps McSlug with a joy buzzer. McSlug threatens to shoot Daffy but Daffy uses a tonic that makes the gun limp. Daffy is evicted, but brings McSlug more confusion when he gets back inside via helicopter ("Just a little device to gain entrance to where one is not exactly welcome."). Daffy saws a hole and uses an elevator to gain entry and tells McSlug that he's not leaving until he sells something. McSlug asks for brass knuckles and when he gets them, the bank robber prepares to punch Daffy, only to shatter them and hit his fist on an iron. McSlug opens fire on Daffy with a machine gun, who conveniently is wearing a sample of his company's bullet-proof vests. "Guaranteed to get your money back if it fails to work!" says Daffy. When Daffy turns on the gas of McSlug's stove to demonstrate the igniting power of his sample lighter, McSlug literally throws Daffy out and tries the lighter himself, which blows the hideout and McSlug sky-high. The victorious Daffy yells toward the sky: "Hey, bub! You need a house to go with this doorknob!" | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | A Perfect Story For Our Never-Accept-No-For-An-Answer Duck!.
Daffy Duck, as a persistent door-to-door salesman trying to crack a tough case - sell something to a hard-nosed bank-robber trying to hide out in a remote wooded area - is pretty original premise and cartoon.
This really is wacky and a very good Daffy Duck effort.The scenes in here are so implausible and humorous that there is no sense trying to explain them.
It's just outrageous material, which is perfect for a character like Daffy.
Suffice to say, "Slug McSlug" the notorious bank robber, meets his match with a salesman who can't take "no" for an answer.Very nice visuals enhanced my viewing pleasure of this cartoon.
I think the period from 1940-1954 produced the nicest-looking Looney Tunes with great color and soft lines..
One excellent Daffy Duck cartoon.
I am a big fan of Looney Tunes, and Daffy Duck with his manic, witty and likable persona is one of my favourite Looney Tunes characters.
The Stupor Salesman is not among his best, but it is a most excellent cartoon regardless.
The animation is colourful and clean and the music is as lively as ever.
And the cartoon is further advantaged by crisp pacing, a good story, witty writing and very funny(if slightly standard and slapsticky) sight gags especially the eyes-in-the-dark one.
Daffy is as manic and as likable as ever, and Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations are once again spot on.
The final gag didn't quite work for me feeling a little predictable, other than that The Stupor Salesman is great.
9/10 Bethany Cox. Interesting cartoon, one of the better Daffy Duck cartoons..
I first watched this cartoon quite some time ago and forgot almost all of it.
I have just viewed it again and is much better than I remembered.
Despite it being full of predictable slapstick, Daffy here is crazily hilarious and there are some quite witty/slapstick gags.
Some parts of the cartoon are a little disappointing, which I cannot reveal without giving the main plot away.
Overall, the aspects of this cartoon that I liked were: Some of the animation, the idea of the the plot, Daffy Duck himself, Daffy Duck's determination in the cartoon, some of the products that Daffy tries to sell.In "The Stupor Salesman", we see a bank robber stealing from The Last National Bank (I'm sure there is a joke here of some kind which I am not totally getting).
We then see policemen trying to search for the bank robber and radio presenters through radios alerting his robbery.
The robber arrives safely back at his house in the middle of the woods and Daffy Duck, a very determined and practised salesman, arrives at the robber's house and tries to sell him some of his various products.
The robber keeps threatening Daffy and refusing everything he sells, but in no way is Daffy getting the hint...A very amusing Daffy Duck cartoon.
It is not a gem, but it certainly is not mediocre either!
Definitely worth watching for every Daffy Duck fan, particularly for those who like him in his transition from craziness to greediness, as in this cartoon.
Enjoy "The Stupor Salesman"!
sometimes it's best not to buy anything.
While "The Stupor Salesman" looks like the sort of cartoon that they used to fill time between the really great ones, it still provides it's fair share of laughs.
When a bank robber hides out in a cabin, door-to-door vendor Daffy Duck - with a suitcase containing every product imaginable - tries to sell him something.
Despite the fact that the guy repeatedly throws Daffy out and even tries to kill him, Daffy apparently never realizing how dangerous the guy is.
I know that Daffy is supposed to be a nut, but shouldn't even he be a little more tuned in than that?
Life goes on.
I did like some of the gags that they pulled here, especially at the end.
In my view, this cartoon gives a slight look at Daffy's evolving greedy side, as he intends to sell at any cost (although that may be a loose connection).
The only other time that I know of that Arthur Davis directed Daffy was in 1947's "Mexican Joyride"..
"Here it comes, gabby.".
Criminal Slug McSlug (what a great name) retreats to his cabin hideout in the woods after holding up a bank.
He doesn't get to rest for long before he's visited by obnoxious door-to-door salesman Daffy Duck, who forces his way into the cabin and attempts to sell Slug anything he can.
Funny short from Arthur Davis with some good gags.
The mirror bit was a minor joke but probably my favorite.
Lovely animation in this one.
Beautiful colors with well-drawn characters and backgrounds.
Lively music from Carl Stalling.
Great voice work from the incomparable Mel Blanc.
Wonderful final gag.
Not the best Daffy cartoon but a very good one..
Pretty much what you'd expect.
Nothing too original here, with Slug being a less-than-able foil for Daffy.
The assorted sales pitches are standard, and there are only two genuinely good bits: the eyes-in-the-dark gag, and Slug's camouflage for his hideout.
Where's Porky when you need him?.
"Now, let's face it, chum!
I'm not leaving till I sell you something!".
"The Stupor Salesman" is a great Daffy Duck cartoon directed by Arthur Davis.
The plot is simple: as a determined salesman of household appliances, Daffy is hell-bent on stirring a burly bulldog's interest in his products, all the while oblivious to the fact that the dog is a wanted gangster hiding out from the police.
Interesting to note that Daffy in this film is not the fall guy that he usually is in other pictures.My favorite moments from "The Stupor Salesman"?
The gangster's gun melts after Daffy shines it.
Daffy laughs hysterically when giving the bulldog a buzzer handshake.
Daffy's helicopter crashes through the roof.
Daffy slaps his mirror reflection on the head.Just about the only weakness in "The Stupor Salesman" is the very last joke.
Other than that, it's a worthwhile cartoon.
Find it on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 Disc 1..
The most resilient salesman.
"The Stupor Salesman" is one of many 7-minute cartoons by Warner Bros and this one here was made a couple years after World War II, so it will soon have its 70th anniversary.
Slug McSlug, who is not a slug in the sense of snail but a dog instead, robs a bank and drives to his hideout.
Minutes later, a relentless salesman appears and tries selling all kinds of stuff to Mr. McSlug.
Luckily for Daffy, the salesman, Bugs is nowhere nearby in this one and that is why Daffy is never the one losing, even if the bad guy tries to shoot him from start to finish.
If I didn't know better, I would think Duffy is a most skilled secret agent here sent to drive the bad guy to insanity or surrender.
Impressive stuff how he copes with all the situations in here.
In the end, the entire hideout is gone.
But other than that, it is not too funny a watch despite Mel Blanc's convincing voice acting once again.
I give this one a thumbs down..
"Hey, Bub, you need a house to go with this .
doorknob," ART OF THE DEAL prototype Daffy Duck tells "Slug McSlug" at the end of THE STUPOR SALESMAN, a Looney Tune from the 1940s.
Warnologists will see at a glance that Slug McSlug personifies America's Tea Party.
His first act here is to increase the U.S. income disparity by "redistributing" our collective wealth deposited by we working stiffs at McSlug's robbery target, "Last National Bank." Deciding to fight fire with fire, the state police deliver THE STUPOR SALESMAN, Daffy Duck (Warner's original stand-in for John Wayne, representing Donald Trump this time), to McSlug's driveway.
Daffy\Donald totes around a copy of a book titled AGGRESSIVE SELLING, during his trek across America, and refuses to take "No!" for an answer.
"I'm not leaving until I sell you something!" Daffy threatens McSlug.
Each of Daffy's products (or ideas) proves wackier than the last, gradually destroying McSlug's "Prepper"-styled hideout (America).
Totally oblivious to the havoc that he's wreaking, Daffy's too busy tooting his own horn to have any inkling of situational awareness.
He ends up turning on the gas, repeatedly flicking a lighter, and then telling McSlug to find another home (or Homeland) to go with the surviving doorknob. |
tt0058977 | Blindfold | A patient being psychoanalyzed by Dr. Bartholomew Snow is a government scientist who evidently has had a mental breakdown. General Pratt, a national security chief, hides the patient, Arthur Vicenti, in a remote place known only as "Base X," forcing Dr. Snow to wear a blindfold whenever he is taken there.
Enemy agents want to know what Vicenti knows, so he is in danger. The patient's sister, beautiful Vicky Vicenti, mistakenly believes that Dr. Snow is the one who abducted him. When she has the doctor arrested, Snow tells both the authorities and the press that he and Vicky are actually having a lovers' quarrel and are engaged to be married.
A man named Fitzpatrick turns up and claims to Dr. Snow that it is actually General Pratt himself who is the enemy agent. Unable to find the general, Dr. Snow tries to recreate sounds he heard while blindfolded to trace his way back to Base X.
He does so, only to find that Fitzpatrick has taken both Vicenti and Pratt captive. But soldiers arrive in airboats and place Fitzpatrick under arrest, leaving Vicky to consider whether she would like her make-believe engagement to Dr. Snow to be real. | brainwashing | train | wikipedia | This is a pleasant mystery thriller with some light comedic moments and as such is typical of a lot of movies made in the same period of the middle to late sixties, most with one word titles such as this one has.
Partly inspired by the popularity of the stylish "Charade" of a few years earlier, and more obviously influenced by Hitchcock, this is a mixed group of films with often middle aged or lesser known actors in the lead.
He plays a psychiatrist with the wonderfully slick, Hollywoodish name of Bartholomew Snow, who gets in trouble up to his ears and, more to the point, eyeballs, when one of his patients turns out to be a prominent scientist who's being trailed some rather unsavory characters.Hudson's ably supported by the luscious Claudia Cardinale, and the two make a very attractive couple.
Also good is the late Jack Warden in a key role, and Guy Stockwell as a man who stutters.
There's really no need to go much further into the plot except to say if one is in the mood for stylish, anodyne entertainment, this is a good one to catch.
It has good credentials, too: directed by Philip Dunne, from a Lucille Fletcher story, photographed by the legendary Joe MacDonald.
This thriller/comedy never reaches great heights but is solidly entertaining throughout and that is more of an achievement then one might give it credit for.
To be sure, the plot elements and romantic element of two people who can't stand each other for most of the film but eventually fall in love has been done a million times before in various films over the years.But usually, films containing these elements come across as hackneyed, tiresome and dreary in some shape or form but Blindfold never feels like that and is consistently good fun throughout its journey.
Credit for that must go to Hudson and Cardinale who work well as a team and Hudson is especially effective in the film's more comic moments.
Jack Warden is reliably effective in his supporting role.While Blindfold is no classic on any level the solid entertainment it provides is something Hollywood consistently struggles to achieve to this day in films created for that purpose.If you want to see a really bad example of this genre, see the abysmal pseudo-hip caper comedy A Fine Pair starring Hudson and Cardinale again which is a disaster on all levels..
I've seen this mystery/comedy on one of the cable channels, a few years ago.
I believe it's a Universal picture, and it may be one of those movies that the studio hasn't gotten around to putting out on VHS or DVD.
It's not bad as a film, and I hope that it comes out on digital in the years ahead.Rock Hudson is his usual self in this film, playing his typical cool guy/nice guy self in trying to figure out who the good guys/villains are.
Strongly influenced by Alfred HItchcock's spy thrillers ("north by northwest" " the man who knew too much"...etc) ,"Blindfold " shares with them the same vagueness as far as the political stakes are concerned.
There are villains who kidnapped a scientist ,period.Sometimes ,the viewer does not know who the villains are anymore.And the movie shows some humor ,when it seems everything is unauthorized and when the cop lies down on the psychiatrist's coach.Besides the movie is proof positive that mules are clever .Claudia Cardinale keeps her slightly hoarse voice (apart from Italian,she is also fluent in French) and her pairing with Hudson is odd,but why not?The movie is never dull and although it is far-fetched to a fault -Hudson finding the way back to the House - it's good entertainment .But if you have not seen Hudson's precedent movie -one of his favorites- " Seconds"(Frankenheimer) ,made the same year,you'd better choose that one..
The older movies shown now are picked by the same people who have money in new movies, so they won't show good competition.
This one had Rock Hudson playing a likable psychiatrist who becomes involved in espionage, treating a man who is a high level security risk.
He is taken to the location several times, always blindfolded, and later, he must retrace his steps when he realizes something has gone wrong.
A beautiful girl also has an interest in finding this location, and she builds a relationship with Rock, who does a great acting job of a heterosexual.
There are lots of interesting bits, especially with the transportation the pair use in the swamp, "Henry".
Enjoyable, and has all the classic attributes great movies have, without a lot of fanfare and big all star cast (although there are a few fairly big names).
Good fun entertainment by Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale.
As always Jack Warden does a nice job in a support role.
When Hudson is kidnapped he makes note of the things he hears on the way to the kidnappers hideout.
To this day this movie stands out in my mind because of them noting the geese sounding like people at a party.
Blindfold is a clever and entertaining film with an interesting moral to it about some folk's paranoid obsession with security.
As lead Rock Hudson plays a psychiatrist he's in a perfect position to diagnose the problem.
Can he find a cure though when security is compromised?Hudson's practice includes some of New York's society bigwigs and he's quite the lady's man within that set.
But one day he gets a call from a general in civilian attire played by Jack Warden who wants him to treat a former patient of his who is now a government scientist and who has had a nervous breakdown.
But we can't let the Commies or anyone else know about it.So Hudson is flown a couple hours to an old mansion where Alejandro Rey is being held and he does his psychiatrist thing and he's blindfolded as well.
Two other people are concerned, Claudia Cardinale as Rey's sister who is telling the world about her brother's kidnapping and in point of fact he was.
And there's the stuttering Guy Stockwell who convinces Hudson that Warden is a fake.A great deal of the film is spent with poor Hudson trying to get answers to questions with no one 'authorized' to tell him.
That you see the film for.Blindfold is a delightful comedy and suspense film in the Hitchcock tradition.
As is the mark of a good film, supporting the charming leads is a flawless cast of memorable performances.
Besides those I've already mentioned there is Anne Seymour as Hudson's secretary, Brad Dexter as a thick as a brick NYPD detective, Vito Scotti and Angela Clarke as Cardinale and Rey's parents and a mule named Henry who gives the plot a kick in the right direction.For fans of Rock Hudson and those who will be after seeing Blindfold..
I saw this movie many years ago and yet I have never forgot it.
If it comes out on DVD I will probably buy it since Rock Hudson, Claudia Cardinale, and Jack Warden did good characterizations.
The movie moves along and has some interesting moments like when Rock Hudson tries to relocate the place he was taken blindfolded.
Interesting how geese and people laughing sound similar.
Claudia Cardinale is the only possible reason to watch this film.
She is absolutely gorgeous.The film is all over the place not knowing whether to be deadly serious or slapstick.Kidnap and murder on the one hand, then Rock Hudson fighting the bad guys with a canoe stuck on his head and then fending them off with a fire extinguisher whilst sat on a rocking horse.
It made Henry "the ornery Mule" look the most dignified character and the most intelligent too.But the mere sight of Miss Cardinale!.
It was entertaining and though not deep you always sensed that all was not what it appeared to be and there would be a sting in the "tale".Being blindfolded would never seem to portend a good omen a would always be an indication of undergoing a pretty serious experience though it's a way of you not seeing too much so that it may possibly portend eventual survival .Seeing blindfolded men these days seem to be a prelude for having your head sawn off whilst still alive, a la Iraq, so there is always in this situation which carries a serious thread even it is interwoven with a comic touch and a dry sense of humour as is this film and the film is a success: an accomplished weave of dynamic and contrasting interplay of humour and seriousness: walking that particular tightrope is an act were you can easily fall off long before you reach the finish at the other end: too much rope for some films but this one skips there easily..
Rock Hudson (Dr Bartholomew Snow) is a psychologist who is approached by Jack Warden (the General) to treat important scientist Alejandro Rey (Arthur Vincenti) who has been recently taken to a secret location for matters of National importance.
This means that Dr Rock can only be transported to his patient while blindfolded so that he is kept unaware as to the scientist's hiding place.
Claudia Cardinale plays the missing scientist's sister who suspects Dr Rock of being involved in her brother's kidnapping but then teams up with him to track down the scientist.
All Dr Rock has to go on are the sounds that he has heard on the several journeys that he has made to him.
Dr Rock and Claudia Cardinale set out on their adventure but there are others on the trail - stuttering Guy Stockwell (Mr Fitzpatrick) and bumble-brained detective Brad Dexter (Harrigan).I'm not sure what is so important about this scientist or why people are suddenly interested in capturing him.
The film's premise is that if he falls into the wrong hands, the enemy will be able to unlock his brain.
He seems like an unpleasant sort of fellow so the most effective cure would be to tell him to snap out of it or he's going into the swampy waters with the quicksands and alligators.Another dodgy part of the film which isn't dwelt upon is the rather unhealthy past-time of Claudia's uncle Vito Scotti (Michaelangelo) who makes mannequins of her and dresses them up in underwear!
I think that's the crime that needs investigating not the silly scientist storyline.Rock Hudson keeps us watching as the story unfolds but the film is nothing special.
The cast are all fine, apart from the curiosity that is Claudia Cardinale's diction.
She also has a funny moment when she steps out of a van into a swamp.Another stupid part of the story comes during a swamp chase sequence where Rock and Claudia get out of a predicament by using 2 mannequin lookalikes of Rock Hudson!!
Of course, they must have been carrying them around with them throughout the whole swamp chase sequence but the audience just never noticed.It's a comedy-thriller where everyone functions according to plan and clever use is made of the sound of geese.
It's true - they sound like people laughing at a party.
That along with Claudia looking like my mum and the boy John Megna (Mario) playing Chinese Chequers.
I've never seen Chinese Chequers in a film before..
In the footsteps of Cary and Eva. When Alfred Hitchcock made "North by Northwest", it was so successful that the studios wanted him to make another movie in the same style.
However Hitchcock wanted to move on saying, "Style is merely self-plagiarism".Nevertheless, Hollywood loved the ingredients in "North by Northwest" and attempted many variations on the theme: "Charade", "Arabesque", "Caprice" and "Blindfold", which got as close as any.Psychiatrist and playboy, Dr Bartholomew Snow, is enlisted by national security chief, General Pratt (Jack Warden), to help the recovery of Arthur Vicenti, a top scientist suffering from a mental breakdown.
Vicenti is in danger from an organisation that kidnaps and sells scientists to the highest bidder.Snow, who never loses his sangfroid for a moment, is blindfolded and taken to a secret location for his meetings with Vincenti, but returns to his practice in New York so that nothing appears out of the ordinary.
When Vicenti's sister, showgirl Vicky Vicenti, comes looking for her brother, she and Snow become involved along with enemy agents of varying degrees of intelligence.Eventually it all ends up in the Florida Everglades with alligators, airboats, quicksand and Rock and Claudia in a clinch at the fadeout.By this stage of his career, Rock Hudson was as smooth as Cary Grant, but how sexy was Claudia Cardinale in "Blindfold"?
Claudia Cardinale was never likely to be first choice for Shakespeare, but she was such a stunning presence that it didn't matter if she wasn't totally projecting the Stanislavski Method.Although Rock could give powerful performances, he just about phoned this one in.
However it's really all he needed to do and he had great comedic timing; I love his reaction when his secretary catches him in his office playing with Vicky's knee.
There is a stupid fight scene with Rock using a fire extinguisher, but the clever sequence where he retraces the route when he was blindfolded makes up for it.For those who liked "North by Northwest", "Blindfold" blended the same basic ingredients well..
Aside from all too few location scenes of Manhattan in 1964, the movie "Blindfold" is a low-budget affair that wastes the acting talents of all involved in this movie.
One scene stands out for me, as Rock Hudson's character is talking to the general, played by Jack Warden.
Just a studio set, Universal wouldn't spring for filming in a mock up of a real plane or even in a real small plane.
As usual throughout this movie, director Philip Dunne does an abysmal job staging the scene.
What is surprising to me is that Joseph MacDonald, the director of photography, does such as bad job lighting up this scene and most of the movie outside of the scenes in Central Park.
I still can't figure out why everyone made such a big deal about kidnapping the scientist, there is no explanation of what he was working on.
Beautiful Claudia Cardinale wanders about the movie looking upset.
In a chase scene at the end through a swamp, she wears a tight blouse that the director makes sure never gets wet, don't want to show too much of her assets.
The one word that describes this movie is "tired." No one wanted to do more then turn out about ten reels of film.
Flat lighting, cheap sets, badly edited chase scenes and dull characters.
Rock Hudson as a famous psychiatrist who has a problem with his girlfriend?
This movie was a good way for Hudson to prepare for his later career on his series "McMillan & Wife," where cheap production values, bad lighting and shoddy writing were the norm for that 1970s series.Except for the fine actors in this movie, I can't think of one positive thing to say about "Blindfold.".
The original poster of this film read in big characters: "Behind the blindfold is the greatest security trap ever devised!" These formulaic promotional campaigns can kill a movie, as in this case, an above average comedy drama that today is almost forgotten.
Better than one could expect, considering that Philip Dunne as a filmmaker was not among the best visual stylists from New York, "Blindfold" benefits from his talent for words and structure.
He was a very good scriptwriter and for this comedy he wrote a fine script with clever dialogue (with the collaboration of theater instructor and writer W.H. Menger) for an above average mystery thriller based on a novel by Lucille Fletcher, the author of the famous radio plays "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "The Hitch Hiker".
Rock Hudson might not have been as solid an actor as others who in the early 60s were in similar films (as Cary Grant in "Charade" or Gregory Peck in "Arabesque" and "Mirage"), but he excelled in romantic comedies and there's a good amount of elements from this sub-genre in "Blindfold", sharing screen time and space with Claudia Cardinale, who also knew how to be very funny.
As a matter of fact I prefer Hudson paired with beautiful brunette leading ladies of European origin (Gina Lollobrigida, Paula Prentiss, Leslie Caron, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Simmons and Claudia) than with Doris Day or Julie Andrews.
This comedy thriller needs to be seen to be believed.
It's half mystery/half Three Stooges, and a stunning look at Central Park in the mid 1960's.
Rock Hudson is a noted psychiatrist, approached by Jack Warden in the middle of the park, and asked to assist him with a former patient.
But there's more to it than meets the patient's closed file, as we find out when the former patient (Alejandro Rey) tries to strangle him, and later when a hot tempered dancer (Claudia Cardinale) arranges for a rather abrupt encounter with him along the Central Park bridal path, overlooked by the Dakota.The encounter reveals to Hudson that more is going on than he was initially lead to believe, but Hudson manages to keep one step ahead of her, eventually breaking the ice until Warden demands that he breaks it off with her.
The many paths and bridges of Central Park almost become like characters, and much of it remains unchanged.
But a good movie set in a popular city needs much more than just location to make a good film, and much of that involves not only the scenery but the farce as well.
One sequence in the middle of a long gone storage house near the reservoir actually has Hudson swinging around with a canoe over his shoulders, ultimately spraying his enemies with paint.
There's some fun supporting performances by well known character players, especially Anne Seymour as an Eve Arden like secretary who obviously tells boss Hudson how to run his office. |
tt1031280 | Splinter | The film opens on a sleepy gas station, where the slack-jawed pump attendant (Charles Baker) is attacked by a seemingly rabid animal. Through a series of glimpses the attendant's body begins to contort after the attack. Meanwhile, a young couple, Seth Belzer (Paulo Costanzo) and Polly Watt (Jill Wagner), retreat to the wilderness for a romantic camping trip in the ancient forests of Oklahoma, but their plans are shattered when they are car-jacked by an escaped convict, Dennis Farell (Shea Whigham), and his drug-addict girlfriend, Lacey Belisle (Rachel Kerbs). As the foursome travel the back roads together, they get a flat tire when they run over a small splinter infected animal on the road. Finding shelter at the now abandoned gas station, they fend off larger incarnations of a parasite as it infects more victims.
Soon after their arrival at the gas station, Lacey discovers the infected still-living body of the attendant from the opening scene. Lacey is attacked and dies instantly, but her corpse slowly reanimates and becomes a new creature, which attacks the remaining survivors. While fighting this creature, the three remaining discover that severed pieces of the infected victims are capable of attacking on their own. Sheriff Terry Frankel (Laurel Whitsett) arrives on the scene and attempts to arrest Dennis, but she is ripped in half by Lacey's corpse. The creature takes the top half of the officer's body to the roof and slowly bonds with it, creating a larger creature. Seth formulates a plan to call for help using the cop's radio left behind when her body was ripped in half. However, during the execution of this plan, the newly rebuilt creature attacks and takes the lower half of the cop. The trio hides in the gas station's walk-in refrigerator when a section of its arm manages to get in and attack them. It is then discovered that Dennis has been infected, as his left arm violently twists and twitches on its own. Seth and Polly amputate his arm to prevent the infection from spreading. Dennis later explains that he had been pricked by a splinter from a creature they encountered on the road. Seth also discovers that the creatures are actually just a mold or fungus taking control of the corpses they infect and consuming the blood, and, because it is a simple creature, they hunt based on temperature, attacking the warmest thing they can find.
By lowering his body temperature with bags of ice, Seth is able to sneak past the creature to the police car, while Polly and Farell distract it with fireworks. Seth makes it to the police car, but discovers that, without the keys, the car, and the police radio inside, are useless. Meanwhile, Seth's body temperature has risen, forcing Dennis to leave the gas station in order to lure the creature away from him. As a result, the creature manages to enter the gas station and Dennis and Polly are forced to hide in the freezer. Meanwhile, the discarded fireworks ignite the trail of flammable liquid left earlier and the gas station catches on fire. Seth is able to retrieve a shotgun from the police car and helps Polly and Dennis escape. Dennis offers to keep the creature at bay while Seth and Polly escape, and is infected in the process. He shoots one of the gas pumps with the shotgun and the creature is engulfed in flames. When the smoke clears, the creature is dead, but Dennis is still infected. Seth and Polly approach Dennis, who gives them a key to a bank account, telling them to give it to the wife of a man he shot and paralyzed who later died. Dennis shoots directly into a stack of propane tanks, incinerating himself, the gas station, and any remaining infected corpses.
Seth and Polly walk off into the sunrise, but the final scene reveals that there are other infected creature corpses lying dormant in the woods. | violence | train | wikipedia | Apparently "Splinter" is an independent film, but it doesn't deserve to be lumped in the same category as the hundreds of "low budget" horror movies out there that are hardly more than a few friends with a camcorder and some ketchup packets.
The three main actors are great, and the characters are likable.This movie isn't going to change the genre or make anyone's Top 10 list, but it's definitely one of the more entertaining horror films I've seen in the last couple of years.
A young couple and an ex-con are holed up in a gas station while strange monsters prowl outside.This is a good example of what can be done with some good acting, a decent script and an idea for a horror film that won't cost too much to make.
It's definitely watchable, even if the characters sometimes do some odd things.There is a lot left unexplained, which seems OK within the context of the movie; the answers you don't get sort of enhance the story you watched.
A young couple Seth Belzer and Polly Watt retreat to the wilderness for a romantic camping weekend,but their idyll is shattered when they are car-jacked by an escaped convict and his drug-addicted girlfriend, Dennis Farell and Lacey Belisleon,on the run from the police.As the foursome travel the back roads together they find themselves in deeper trouble than any of them could have imagined-a blood-crazed,parasitic creature that absorbs the corpses of its victims has laid claim to the woods and the two couples are now in its sights.Finding shelter at an abandoned gas station,they must use their wits and every weapon at their disposal to stave off the onslaught,not only from the insatiable creature,but also each other.The premise of "Splinter" is very simple and quite suspenseful.The film is obviously influenced by John Carpenter's classic "The Thing" and offers plenty of gore.The special effects are pretty good:during most of the creature shots,it looks as if there's a real corpse on screen.The use of hand-held camera is the main drawback of the film.It is obnoxious and should be slightly toned down.Still "Splinter" is a competent indie horror flick with enough grue to satisfy genre fans.7 out of 10..
It reminded me of The Thing, of course, only that it had no Kurt Russell and that it was placed in some old US forest where "logging sucks".If it weren't for the really weak cast (the only one supporting the movie was Jill Wagner) and the fact that a fungus of this infectiousness would have quickly overrun the entire forest and continued until the world ended, it would have been a gem.Bottom line: grab a beer, watch it when you feel like doing nothing, it won't disappoint..
Splinter is a truly creepy movie which has a perfect atmosphere and which is full of positive elements.The best element from this movie is the excellent screenplay,which makes a detailed character development and which proposes a fascinating menace in its monster,showing an ambiguous origin and devastating effects.I also liked the way in which it is shown the relationship between the characters very much,because it evolutes on an unpredictable but realistic way.In other words,the suspense is provoked on a natural way,and that makes the spectator to feel a delicious suspense,because it is impossible to predict what can happen next.Something many independent filmmakers do,is developing the story on an only location,because that lets them to exploit their low-budget,avoiding costs on technical team.However,not all of them count with the necessary creativity to conciliate their economical attitude with an interesting story.Fortunately,Splinter is one of that cases because its economical manufacture is perfect for creating the desolated atmosphere the movie requires.The performances are above the average of what we are accustomed to see on the straight-to-DVD movies.Director Toby Wilkins made a brilliant work,because he brought a relentless rhythm and precision,at the same time he could create a perfect atmosphere,he could bring the correct style to the movie and he could extract very competent performances from his small cast.It would be very interesting to see his next projects.The only fail I found on this movie is that some special effects could have been a little bit more polished.In spite of that,I liked Splinter very much.This is one of that gems from the fantastic cinema which occasionally appear,so I recommend it with confidence.This is an excellent horror movie which brought me an intense and enormously entertaining time..
It's characters are pretty well rounded and believable and they do sensible things in an attempt to survive the menace.But, as with many recent productions - every time the action gets going and every time the creature attacks - the camera goes into such chaotic movement that you can't even tell what's going on.
It could have been good, but it isn't..It doesn't matter in the slightest that the film never explains the precise nature of its threat—we don't necessarily need to know that in order to enjoy what is occurring—but for a film such as this to be truly effective, the viewer at least needs to be able to SEE what is going on; sadly, for much of the movie, it's nigh on impossible to follow what is happening to whom thanks to the dreadful wobbly-cam/rapid editing techniques employed by director Toby Wilkins.The picture is all over the shop whenever anything potentially exciting happens, robbing the action of any tension and rendering shocks ineffective.
I suspect that the use of such erratic camera-work was used to disguise sub-par effects, but all it does is make the whole affair extremely frustrating to watch.Wilkins does at least get one thing right—he puts his lovely lead actress Jill Wagner in a tight vest for the duration—but even the ever-present eye-candy doesn't prevent this from feeling like a wasted opportunity..
The story is loose, well paced and benefits from a good and well-thought-out idea, the monster is appropriately effective and the direction, script, performances and characters(the antagonist especially is very interesting and original, which was really refreshing in itself) are all good.
I have alway passed on this movie because of the name of the movie, as i did not read anything about it and i thinking it be something like hostel, which i do not like that much, so i decided to read the reviews and it seem to have had some good reviews on this movie, so i had to check it out.Boyfriend and Girlfriend are going camping and then are kidnapped by another couple who are on the run and end up killing animal and they have to stop at a Gas station and they see a man covered in blood and big splinters all over his body, they hide in the Gas station, while this thing is outside.This is a great movie, i didn't think i would like it, it had nice amount of gore in this movie and they some funny one lines in this movie too and it did remind me bit of feast.This movie did have small cast and the acting from them is fantastic.9 out of 10.
However the director somehow failed to notice that every time they called action their cameraman was in the middle of a fit.The movie basically goes like this: Shake shake shake.Oh someone died back there.Shake shake shake plot shake shake shake.It's a real shame as the creature looked quite cool but you never really see it for long enough to appreciate this.
Nothing wrong with having influences (especially when you're stealing from the best) but the other ideas in this are so weak and lacking that I frequently wondered why someone would bother to write a script if all they can achieve is to copy the key ideas of a better one and then try to b.s their way through the rest of it.I feel as if I should be saying 'the budget is so low, it's practically set at a gas station'.
Which gives you some idea of how narrow the story's scope is.Infective monster splinters sounds like an excuse for some neat fx make-up but the actual results are pretty pathetic, looking pretty much like whatever generic zombie effect you care to imagine but with a few spines thrown in.I wasn't expecting much but even so, the quality of the acting isn't far about porn and the stillborn attempts at tension and drama were stillborn.As if all this wasn't bad enough the quality of the film is really low, it has this nasty yellow-ish hue to it that makes everything look even cheaper.In summary I hated it.
It's entirely possible that Splinter was made for horror b-movie horror enthusiasts who are going to revel in all of the elements that I've listed, but honestly can't think of a single positive thing to say about it.Not long after seeing this I watched a Korean horror called G.P. 506 which also revolved around an infective virus that overcomes its hosts.
Basically, this movie has the same effect as watching static for 82 minutes, it's a complete waste of time, it does not encourage the slightest brain activity...As for the acting, script, production etc, all I can say is that the 'quality' of this film is consistent, it's bad!
Complex plot but very well developed, good path and amazingly performed by the actors.The acting is great, on all characters, the story develops up to the climax and leaves the audience glued to the chair..Since the beginning with the kidnapping until they get into the gas station, all is finely developed and exposed while giving more insight on the "evil" which is the main actor of the movie, just will say that if you love horror movies, you must watch this one.
Smart little horror this, what it lacks in story originality it more than makes up for elsewhere.Young lovers Seth (Paulo Costanzo) and Polly (Jill Wagner) find their attempts at a romantic camping trip usurped by their inadequacies in the great outdoors.
Mercifully free of characters doing the dumb things that are so inherent in this splinter (hrr hrr hrr) of horror, Wilkins' film is consistently effective in what it wants to achieve.The effects are kept to a minimum and the only real complaint is that for every attack by the creature we are subjected to shakycam.
I was actually shocked when i saw this movie...from the time i picked it up to the time i turned it on i expected to see a low budget gore fest with buckets of blood, terrible acting, and absolutely no story.
This movie deserves a 10 by simply by the fact that you will most likely go into it expecting a cheesy gore fest with gallon after gallon of blood but will come out of it glad that you didn't waste your time watching the same thing many people have done over and over..
I'm sure it was because of budget reasons and they didn't want you to get a look at a mediocre make-up job or whatever, but I would have suggested focusing in on certain parts, like a drooling mouth/head with darting blind eyes, or any type of quick focus on any grotesque body part instead of full body shots in motion.With decent acting, a pretty sweet creature and a nice setting, Splinter more than makes up for any lack of clear focus on the creature or the sub-par writing.
Overall, it plays out like a Stephen King story that pays homage to a number of well known horror films like The Mist, Evil Dead 2, and The Thing.We start out with Dennis (Shea Wigham, who is probably best known for playing Eli in Boardwalk Empire) and Lacey- a couple of meth heads on the lamb.On their way to Mexico, they stop to carjack a young couple- Polly and Seth- whom they take hostage.Shortly after this occurs, though, they run over a mysterious biological organism that pops their tire and mangles their radiator.They are forced to pull into a gas station, only to find that it is unattended.
It actually ends up looking quite similar to the creature from The Thing.While by no means original, this film can be valued for being an entertaining pastiche, if anything.
A Must-See. Trapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict (Shea Whigham) must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.This film features really cool effects, allegedly without the need for CGI.
But perhaps even more internal is the parasite, sort of creating a three-tiered layer of terror."Splinter" won six awards at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival: Best Editing, Best Score, Best Special Effects, Best Make-Up, Best Directing and Best Picture.
Overall, with decent performances by the cast, along with some violent and disgusting scenes, and scenes that, literally, get under your skin, this is all you ever wanted in a low budget monster movie.
This is a really great movie that combine elements of monster mayhem (one of the most original I've ever seen), zombie action and good old fashioned morality play (including transgression, redemption and sacrifice).
With excellent performances by all four of the main cast members, Jill Wagner ("Teen Wolf"), Paulo Costanzo ("Royal Pains"), Shea Whigham ("Boardwalk Empire") and Rachel Kerbs, "Splinter" easily rises above the usual monster-flick fare by injecting actual performance into the execution of a great story.Huge kudos to great direction from Toby Wilkins, who went on to direct "The Grudge 3" and episodes of "Teen Wolf." This man needs to get some new horror projects going, because this film shows he potentially has that elusive talent that helped rise men like John Carpenter, Sean S.
If you like Monster movies/Body horror this is one to check out.The acting is solid.
I am a huge fan of innovative horror films, often low budget B-Movies, that utilize the best from their budget and story while turning out an entertaining flick (i.e. Evil Dead).This movie had everything going for it.
From what I saw from this movie, the effects looked good enough to linger each scene and let it effect the viewer.So, I love the setup, thought the characters were well acted and love the monster.
Splinter is one of the best horror/hostage/science fiction/creature feature movies in a very long time.
So-so horror flick with echoes of B-movies past a pastiche of "Tremors" meets "Feast" by way of"Night of the Living Dead" concerns a group of stangers holed up in a gasoline convenience store by a nasty, voracious parasitic porcupine-like monster that has moments of originality but ultimately is betrayed by its editing (too many quick cuts so you never get a good look at the creature is damn well frustrating).
That allows the nerd to show his brains and come up with a solution.Splinter surprised me in a how good of a low budget horror movie it was.
All things considered, the acting was actually reasonably good, the special effects made the most of the limited budget in my opinion and it was enjoyably silly.I would not usually give this type of film more than 5 stars as for me they don't bring enough to the table to warrant the extra star.
Horror films are not nice movies, but some including Splinter have nice endings, and many have last shots of a dead body, with a tiny twitch.
Given that its virtually impossible to make a horror movie of any kind without borrowing heavily from a zillion other films, just watch SPLINTER understanding its an ordinary "Betty Crocker" recipe so lets just see if the cook gets it right.
The monster(s), while not truly original, are somewhat unique and can keep you on edge as you wait to see what it/they do next.Not bad, not great, much better than a lot of "horror" movies I have seen.
"Splinter", however, took me right back to the late 1990's where horror movies were great.The story is somewhat of a mix between Carpenter's "The Thing" and "Cabin Fever".
Because it is building heavily on fear, paranoia and thrills.The creature effects were actually quite good, and when you saw body parts twisting in unnatural directions, accompanied by bones breaking, you can't help but curl your toes, or enjoy the whole scene (if you are a gorehound like I am)."Splinter" is pretty good entertainment and will take you back to the good old horror movies of the 1990's.
Anyways it didn't ruin the movie for me because sometime those types f things add to the experience of watching low budget horror.
Splinter is an interesting little horror film that is entertaining throughout it's short 80 minutes but it suffers from some very bad camera work.
Basically, Splinter is nothing new, but if you like your horror/monster movies short, sweet and violent, then this one is definitely better than most of the rest..
Only 81 minutes short, but better for it,the movie does not drag & its not padded out it gets right on with the story which is pretty simple, with the usual horror fayre,car trouble, isolated, trying to keep the evil out, desperation, but its carried out very well, with no over the top screaming, phony scares, untimely kissing/sex scenes, etc, plot wise, you've seen bits of it all before in various movies, Wrong turn, The Thing, Night of the living dead, spring to mind, but it moves along apace & keeps you interested and drags you in, good gore effects, (excellent use of breeze blocks)decent acting, if you like a bit of gory horror with no complications, just sit back, put brain in neutral & enjoy..
Splinter definitely surprised me, simply because it turned out to be a very effective, entertaining and powerful horror film.The acting in the film is pretty good, definitely above average for a film of this genre.
This is a very good horror film to watch.
Splinter is a great example of horror movies done right. |
tt1754920 | Yeh Saali Zindagi | Arun (Irrfan Khan) is a Chartered Accountant who works for Mr. Mehta (Saurabh Shukla) and helps him run his illegal business. Arun is in love with Priti (Chitrangada Singh), but she falls for Shyam (Vipul Gupta), who was introduced to her by Arun.
After Badey, a gangster of Delhi (Yashpal Sharma), falls out of favour of Minister Verma (Anil Sharma), he is sent to jail and humiliated and beaten everyday on orders of the Minister. Satbir (Sushant Singh) is a dishonest cop who works for Badey and helps him in the jail. Kuldeep (Arunoday Singh), who is also in jail with Badey is released and goes to his wife Shanti (Aditi Rao Hydari). Badey's brother, Chhotey (Prashant Narayanan) and his gang of members, Kuldeep, Tony, Chacha, Guddu and others plan Badey's release by kidnapping Verma's to be son-in-law, Shyam and daughter, Anjali (Madhvi Singh). Things do not go as planned and they end up kidnapping Shyam and his girlfriend Priti. To ensure Shyam's safety, Priti agrees to liaise between Verma and the gangsters, not knowing that Arun had been following them since the abduction. She meets Anjali, Verma and Shyam's father Singhania (Nasser Abdullah). However, Mr. Verma, who comes to know about Shyam's affair with Priti refuses to negotiate Badey's release. Arun, in the meantime, transfers illegal and hawala money into the bank accounts of Verma's son and threatens him with leaking this information to media if he does not ensure Badey's release. However, it comes to light that Chhotey wants to get Badey out only to get details of his bank accounts and plans to kill him. Learning of this, Badey gives the details of his foreign bank accounts to Kuldeep.
Upon being rescued from the prison, Chhotey unexpectedly comes from Georgia and meets Badey. In the meantime, police reach the spot and in the cross fire, Badey escapes from Chhotey and is helped by Kuldeep and his gang. However, he gets shot in the back and later commits suicide. With Badey dead and Chhotey looking for him, Kuldeep decides to leave the country and asks Shyam's father for a ransom of ₹ 15 crores. Priti, under the guise of calling Mr. Singhania, calls Arun. Arun reaches the spot and tells Priti that he transferred ₹ 170 million into her account which should be used by her to free Shyam and herself and live a happy life. Priti, now realizes that she actually loves Arun.
Priti brings the money to a port from where Kuldeep plans to escape. Chhotey also reaches there, but Satbir double crosses him and Kuldeep kills Chhotey to avenge the murder of his father. However, one of the bullets hits a railing and ricochets and hits Arun. The gangsters leave the spot and Priti confesses to Arun that she loves him. | neo noir | train | wikipedia | With its many unpredictable twists and twirls and a climax that some might take with a pinch of salt, This movie is a delightfully different film that attempts to break all set formulas and leave you with a smile on the face in the end.Worth watching..
Sudhir Mishra has been making movies for some time now...
Sudhir Mishra's Yeh Saali Zindagi initially made waves for its cast, then its slightly derogative title and lastly its 22 kisses.
'Yeh Saali Zindagi' is a restless satire of the underskirts of Delhi,full of dilemma and heart With entertaining narration.Irfan Khan shows his acting skills once again by effortlessly portraying the emotions and confusions of a witty(at the same time heard-hearted) man with oceanly passion for a girl,whom he consider the women of his life.Aditi Rao Hydari (of Delhi 6 fame)introduces us to her sensual and womanly side in this dark movie and is brilliant and eye-catching.Arunodoy Singh as a tough,but cool and love-making man showers the taste of aspirations and wrong calculations.Chitrangda Singh excels as a fighting temptation and is full of feminine energy.Director Sudhir Mishra explores the not-so-smooth side of the north,their culture and enties love n crime into a single entity.Film uses a lot of profane language and swear words and has about 7 steamy scenes;the reason the film being rated 'A'.Music by Nishat khan(a well renowned sitar player) is quite good and mast.The songs like Dil Dar-Ba-Dar n Ishq Tere Jalwe is quite soothing to the rustic darkness of the movie.Verdict:In a whole the film will keep you entertained and will reveal the darker side of this life as in previous films of t director,in a darker way.
When I watch gangster capers like Yeh Saali Zindagi, I am never quite sure how to go about reviewing the movie without giving away the essence of it.
But they make up for the lack of a depth with their movie-making style – and packing the script with quirky characters Which Yeh Saali Zindagi has by bucketloads.
Holding the end of the rope is his boss, Saurabh Shukla – who doesn't think much of the womankind and their wily ways – and nor does he care about his promises to his employees.The opening scene of the movie might be a bit of a shock to some – given the coarse and vulgar language in it.
Sudhir Misra's writing and editing is crisp – so you have to follow the movie carefully to understand the twists and turns of the script.
Because the dialogues in Yeh Saali Zindagi are really profane – and all the fun is lost if you don't understand the dirty jokes – of which there are plenty The humour is irreverent (and of course very rustic).
There are mandatory backstories for most characters – and jumps between them quite abrupt – hence requires full concentration.Essentially there are two stories running in parallel in the movie – Irrfan & Chitrangada's love track and Arunoday & Aditi Rao's marriage track.
Both of them are quite the revelation – Arunoday showcasing his good physique and acting and Aditi Rao coming across as quite smouldering despite her cute Nauheed-Cyrusi-looks.
In fact there is a constant sexual tension between her and Arunoday, resulting in about a dozen slaps and two dozen liplocks in the movie But Chitrangada Singh takes all the male attention as the sultry and smoking-hot singer Priti.
The difference is that Yeh Saali Zindagi has a busload of other weirdos – gangster brothers Bade & Chhote, corrupt cop Satbeer and the motley group of henchmen.This is not Sudhir Misra's most serious movie by a mile – but the director seems to be having fun here.
But if you keep up with it, Yeh Saali Zindagi will reward you will a tumultuous thrilling ride packed with a lot of fun.You can read more of my reviews at http://bombaycinephile.blogspot.com.
This is a path-breaking film for him, as it made money at the ticket window.I enjoyed 'Yeh Saali Zindagi'.
The second hour gets confusing at times, but a satisfying climax leaves you happy.Mishra's direction is quite good.
YEH SAALI ZINDAG is an illustration of modern society and has each elements of a cult film.Sudhir Mishra is one of the finest directors, making effort to augment the magnitude of films.
Most of the characters in this bizarre crime film have colorful nicknames and profoundly profane.There are very few movies made where the director obviously did not let one FRAME onto the screen without a reason, and YEH SAALI ZINDAGI is one of them.
Nothing happens on screen without it having an effect on the plot.I think Guy Ritchie's "Lock Stock and Two smoking barrels", "Snatch" & "Rock N Rolla" are the foundation of YEH SAALI ZINDAGI.Irfan is simply outstanding – an actor of very high capability.
Yeh Saali Zindagi is one of the films which i have watched many many times.
an ensemble cast with likes of Irrfan, Yashpal Sharma, Saurabh Shukla, Prashant Narayanan, Sushant Singh and Chitrangada Singh, it gives ample chance to all of them and newcomers Arunoday and Aditi Rao also don't disappoint at all.
A total justice to the title of the movie "Yeh Saali Zindagi".
Yeh Saali Zindagi, by far, is the most 'entertaining' film directed by Sudhir Mishra.
Dark, devious and different, Yeh Saali Zindagi is brain-and-brawn drama The film, just like life, is replete with unexpected twists and never ceases to amaze!
This is the first time in my life that I have tried to encourage those who have not watched this movie to go for it (I have matured as a cinema enthusiast a bit late) and go for it soon enough.
After all the director is the one who wrote the story of one of the legendary comedy movies of all time in Bollywood -- 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron'.
Watched "Yeh saali Zindagi" First day-First show, with friends.
It is director Sudhir Mishra's first entertainment movie.
YEH SAALI ZINDAGI starts off straight away with a bloody sequence which clearly gives you an idea that the veteran film-maker is back.
But the good thing is that the film keeps on moving so fast on a tight and well written script that one doesn't get enough spare moments to think about it in details.
Frankly speaking, its Sudhir Mishra's one of the top 3 movies, in which he gets full support both from his script as well as his star cast very effectively.
But what I basically loved the most about YEH SAALI ZINDAGI is that in totality its actually a highly intense love story of a one side lover who even after knowing the fact that he is in love with a real bitch, still goes on to risk his everything for her unconditionally.The movie has a brilliant first half which starts making its impact slowly, keeps progressing at a brisk speed and then pulls the viewers completely in before the intermission.Apart from its superbly written script and its performances, there are three other things which majorly work in favour of the movie as a whole.
Above all Sudhir Mishra does deserve all his praises this time since its not an easy task to come up with an impressive movie based on such a complex kind of script with several story angles.Yet along with the above mentioned merits, I found some weak points too in the film which could have been avoided by the director as it seems.
Firstly, I felt that abusive and the foul language used in the movie was a bit over the limit which often looked like being deliberately forced into the dialogues with a purpose (That means you are not supposed to watch it with your family).
Instead the director simply could have shown anyone bending down and the bullet hitting its target.Talking about the great performances in the film, I immensely enjoyed watching Irfan Khan as the lonely lover who even has the guts to watch his girl romancing another rich boy right in front of him.
Among these veterans do also watch out for a scene in which a kid very innocently explains the spell of anger in his own amusing way.Summing up, YEH SAALI ZINDAGI is a strong and bold movie which moves away from the usual path of a song and dance bollywood film.
Since '1:40 Ki Last Local' (the last black comedy from Hindi cinema that made me laugh out loud numerous times), I haven't seen anything as funny, creative, clever and wicked of the same genre in Hindi films until 'Yeh Saali Zindagi' came along.
It's a fresh and a very much needed change from the silly better-forgotten so-called comedies that Bollywood has overloaded the audience with.'Yeh Saali Zindagi' is a thrill to watch.
The writing is terrific and it produces some memorably hilarious dialogues.Sudhir Mishra grabs the viewer's attention from the very beginning with an opening sequence where we see a bleeding and disoriented and delirious Irfan Khan being comforted by the ravishingly hot Chitrangda Singh.The execution is first rate.
Arunoday Singh, Sushant Singh, Yashpal Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari, Saurabh Shukla and especially Prashant Narayanan provide excellent support.The only little flaw are the kiss/love scenes of Kuldeep and Shanti.
They do look more passionate than the usual love scenes in Bollywood films but they lacked spontaneity and felt choreographed.Ticklish and wickedly energetic, 'Yeh Saali Zindagi' is refreshing entertainment.
By calling itself 'Yeh Saali Zindagi', the film projects itself as a new age bollywood flick with an attitude.
One is about Arun (Irfan Khan) an accounting whiz who is hopelessly in love with a Priti (Chitrangada Singh) who sings in hotels for a livelihood.
On the other hand, there is Kuldeep (Arunoday Singh) who seeks domestic bliss from wife Shati (Aditi Rao Hydari) but can't part ways with a well paying life of crime.Things get complicated when a jailed former henchman of the Minister arranges a kidnap that goes wrong.
Contrived as its characters and twists may seem, you give up trying to make sense of it and enjoy the flow.Despite it having a good amount of bloodshed, the film is not violent.
It is where directors like Sudhir Mishra make up for it by bringing in too many characters, especially quirky ones, forced twists and raw dialog.
Yeh Saali Zindagi is another one that tries to be all Hollywood in style and story.
Its not a family movie thats a clear fact but is it a good film?
Acting, Direction, Script, Dialogues, Music, there is not a single thing that is average in this movie.
Irfan Khan shines as always, that man is a powerhouse when it comes to acting and he proves himself again in this movie.
I laughed so hard when irfan khan tells him to leave India as soon as possible and saurab after disconnecting the call takes his stuff in a hurry, starts to walk away and then suddenly comes back, dial again and ask "saalay tu ne ye kia kiyun?" it was priceless.Arunoday Singh, Wow that man really impresses with his 100% natural performance, I never took notice of this guy in his previous film, But here he proves that he can act and is here to stay.
Great acting.Both the girls did their part good too, aditi rao had a smaller part but she looked and acted good.Overall this movie is a must watch.
FILM REVIEW: YEH SAALI ZINDAGI (2011)It is a refreshing, quirky, roller coaster ride, a hilarious take on life, loaded with crime, deceit and wry, black humor.
All Actors are perfectly cast but above all it is writer director Sudhir Mishra's film who is again in his best form..
Sorry to disappoint you folks , but actually the movie is not so romantic as I made it out to be ........But the Irfan-Chitrangada plot is the most important one in a movie having many sub-plots.............And a movie full of confusion......The hots are provided by newcomer Anita Rao , who kisses Arunodaya Singh with abandon , and looks so lovely , so delicate ......her skin seems so white , so soft .......a lot of people in the theater were wishing to be in Arunodaya's place !!Now enough of daydreaming , and back to reviewing.......The story unfolds in delhi and its environs, and director Sudhir Mishra does manage to get a grip on the confusion , while the movie goes on with generous dose of real-time uncensored abusing delhi-north Indian style , and doses of shooting and killing .........All the characters ( and believe me , there are too many ), and even the minor ruffians ,are introduced by their screen names coming on screen , giving the movie a whacky feel as it moves from delhi to georgia in the former soviet union to climaxing in mumbai ................where Irfan is still waiting for darling chits to say those words he's been waiting for all his life......verdict -- alls well that ends well ( amen to that ).
He has a meaty role and does a good job Aditi Rao Hyderi is awesome, she played a cameo in Delhi 6 before but again she is shown introduced, she does a good job, recently she was seen in ROCKSTAR Amongst rest Yashpal Sharma, Sushant Singh are admirable as usual, Prashant Narayanan does get a shorter role but he is superb as always as Chote.
A few days earlier:Being told by a gangster (Metha) who he had spent several months helping to make some pretty shady "business" deals succeed,that he was going back on his promise and not giving him a penny from any of the deals that they had made together.Arun decides that he needs to get the most attention possible over Metha's backstabbing.This leads Arun to hanging on a ledge,and almost accidentally killing himself!,until a group of friends arrive in the nick of time,and stop him from becoming a piece of road kill.Giving in to Arun's display of insanity,Metha sets up a meeting where he tells Arun again that he will not give him a single penny.With the meeting crumbling right before his eyes,Arun beings to think about the first ever time he had experienced "love at first sight",when he had seen a singer called Priti perform during a night on the town from long ago with Metha.Impressivly pulling back the meeting from breaking point and making it into a successful stalemate,Arun decides to celebrate his achievement by giving his lover-in waiting a call.Expecting to hear excitement over his surprise phone call,Arun is angered to discover that Priti seems to have become romantically involved with a man called Shyam Singhania (whose secretly seeing,(and is engaged) to a daughter of a powerful politician.)Deciding to pay a surprise visit,Arun heads for Shyam's house to show that he wont give up without a fight to win Priti's heart.Getting himself all prepared to open his car door,walk up and finally knock on Singhania's door.Arun,is stopped dead in his tracks,when a rag-tag group of gangsters, (who do not know of Priti's presence in the house) suddenly break into Shyam's house,to kidnap Singhania,and the politician's daughter in order to demand a potentially damaging ransom
View on the film:From the opening credits that would make Saul Bass loudly applaud,co- writer/ (along with Manu Rishi Chadha and Swanand Kirkire) director Sudhir Mishra displays a stunning level of skill,which makes each of the (originally separate) plot lines ones that can be enjoyed separately,and also as a whole.Mishra cleverly interlocks the plot lines into a terrific Neo-Noir style Thriller,from the first scenes in the film featuring Arun (played by a brilliantly smart and sneaky Irrfan Khan) having a meeting with Metha, (the enjoyably moody Saurabh Shukla)the first thing which completely grabbed my attention was the writers fantastically gritty dialogue that mixes wonderfully sharp moments of swearing,with a grim Film Noir narration and a terrific group of "outlaw" gangsters.During my viewing of this excellent movie,I originally started to get a bit fearful that this (potentially) great film may be about to fall apart at any moment!,due to Mishra introducing each of the characters in an extremely fast pace that only allows a broad outline to be initially made.Impressivly,Mishra makes sure that the film's thread's never become too tangled,with the after effect of the kidnapping allowing the writers to show the full desperation and confusion that all of the characters are experiencing as a result of the kidnapping and hidden desires.Along with the terrific twisting & turning screenplay,Mishra's brilliant,creatively stylised directing, (with highlights being scenes such as the gangsters tense invasion of Shyam's house,and a weirdly funny "missed bullet".)helps to create an amazing setting for his wonderfully intense and disturbed characters..
Yeh "PULP" Zindagi When Sudhir Mishra goes Tarantino's way ---> The result : A twisty turvy haphazard love story crisscrossed by mafia along with lots of pun and lots of humor yielding Clip.
Yeh Saali Zindagi is a real Pulp movie, where there is a story inside the story and flashback inside flashback.
Sudhir Mishra was too good in penning them down and then turning the characters on the celluloid .
When I saw the posters of the movie on BEST buses I thought I knew that yeh saali zindagi was a stereotypically bollywood with no substance.
Couple of good reviews later I went to watch it.Yeh saali zindagi doesn't have much of an interesting story but the cast more than makes up for it.
Irfan Khan's constant commentary is fresh but the constant use of the phrase yeh saali zindagi gets a little irritating.
The harsh language may be an issue for some but it works with the plot.Arunoday makes his presence felt in spite of the fact that the movie is mostly about irfan khan.
The constant chemistry between his character kuldeep and aditi rao's shanti leads to one of the best kisses in Indian cinema (Emran Hashmi can now find a tutor in arunoday).Chitrangda Lights up the screen with every scene she is in. |
tt0038669 | The Killers | The Killers is an adaptation of a short story by Ernest Hemingway. The story is divided into three scenes. The first and third scenes were directed by Beiku and Tarkovsky, the second by Gordon.
The first scene shows Nick Adams (Yuli Fait) observing two gangsters (Valentin Vinogradov and Boris Novikov) in black coats and black hats entering a small-town diner where Adams is eating. They tell the owner, George (Aleksandr Gordon), that they are searching for the boxer Ole Andreson and that they want to kill him. They tie up Nick Adams and the cook, and wait for Ole Andreson to appear. Three customers enter the restaurant and are sent away by George. One of the customers is played by Tarkovsky, who whistles Lullaby of Birdland.
The second scene shows Nick Adams visiting Ole Andreson (Vasiliy Shukshin) in his hide-out, a small room. He warns Andreson about the two gangsters, but Andreson is resigned to his fate and unwilling to flee.
The third scene shows Adams returning to the diner and informing the owner of Andreson's decision. | realism, murder, bleak, violence, atmospheric, flashback | train | wikipedia | Along with Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity," this is the one that established what film noir was all about.Robert Siodmak's classic thriller, along with "Criss Cross" are two of his best pieces of work, proof positive that crime dramas could rise above the mundane and the clichéd.Based on one of Hemingway's Nick Adams short stories, it tells the intriguing tale of two hit men who show up in a small town (the film moves it from the Midwest to New Jersey), where they take over a diner and tell its terrified occupants they intend to murder a nobody of a gas station attendant when he comes in for dinner.
That's where the short story ends, but the script by Anthony Veiller picks it up from there, pursuing the fascinating story of what makes a man give up on life to the point where he passively waits for a pair of gunmen to show up and blow him to smithereens.The protagonist,called the Swede, is a guy who isn't a criminal by nature, just a guy who fell upon hard times, but sees a way out by committing one more crime.
And we cannot forget Charles McGraw and William Conrad as two of the most frightening cold blooded killers in film history.Siodmak does a great job in the director's chair in this Mark Hellinger (The Roaring Twenties) produced drama, but it is cinematographer Woody Bredell who steals the show.
This is a beautifully made improvisation on a Hemingway story that screenwriters Tony Veiller, John Huston and Richard Brooks, along with director Robert Siodmak, have somehow turned into baroque film noir.
It works so well because it's excellently written, photographed (by Woody Bredell), and acted (by Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien and Albert Dekker, among many others), and consists of flashbacks, and in some cases flashbacks within flashbacks, as its labyrinthine plot, full of double crosses and unexpected turns, drives the film with a relentless urgency that in the end has less to do with psychology than the workings of fate.
Using Ernest Hemingway's short story as the foundation for the film, Siodmak and cinematographer Elwood Bredell create a dark, brooding and brilliant looking character study of Ole "The Swede" Andersen (Burt Lancaster), a quiet unassuming man who is hunted and shot by two killers who enter the small town he inhabits.
This movie is told through really smart flashbacks.'The Killers' begins with two hit men arriving in a small town with only one objective: kill 'Swede' Anderson (Burt Lancaster).
Humor combined with drama like the dialogue in the opening scene makes you think about it later on and it doesn't just leave your mind three minutes later.The gritty film noir style and filming is quite clear in this movie.
You can scan thru many publications and they will tell you that Robert Siodmark's adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's story The Killers is quintessential noir, and whilst I haven't seen enough of the perceived classics to make a sound judgement, I do understand why this one ranks so high.Perfectly directed by Siodmark because it is washed with a moody ambiance that befits the script, the main players in the piece are bang on form to realise the mood and sombre tempo that makes the film a winner.
We then follow Edmond O'Brien's insurance investigator Jim Reardon as (thru a series of flashbacks) he reconstructs Swede's life and what caused his demise.The story encompasses one of film noir's most well known femme fatales in Ava Gardner's foxy Kitty Collins, and it's certainly the film's driving force as we observe her part in Swede's life, for better or worse as it were, but ultimately it's the classy framing of the film that marks it out as essential viewing.
As though consciously in support of this assertion, Robert Siodmak's 'The Killers (1946)' – expanded from a 1927 short story by Ernest Hermingway – plays out precisely like a noirish retelling of Welles' film.
After enigmatic ex-boxer Swede Andersen (Burt Lancaster) is gunned down by hired assassins in a small American town, insurance investigator Jim Reardon (Edmond O'Brien) decides to piece together the man's past using fragmented testimony from those who once knew him.
An archetypal noir, 'The Killers' caps an excellent year for Siodmak, who also released the Freudian psycho-thriller 'The Dark Mirror (1946).''The Killers' opens with a thrilling prologue that sees two hired thugs (William Conrad and B-noir stalwart Charles McGraw) harass the patrons at a small-town diner on their way to assassinate Swede Andersen.
Veiller, whose work before WWII was dominated by romantic dramas, comedies and light mysteries like 'The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936),' appears to have been hardened by his work on Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" propaganda series, and the dark, cynical post-War tone he brings to Swede's tragic story is an ideal representation of the noir spirit.Burt Lancaster shows promise in his screen debut, though the film's narrative structure does keep the audience distant from his character, an issue that Welles somehow avoided in 'Citizen Kane.' As the resident femme fatale, Ava Gardner never quite inspires the collective hatred garnered by Barbara Stanwyck in 'Double Indemnity (1944)' or Jane Greer in 'Out of the Past (1947),' but perhaps that speaks to her charms – that, despite her betrayal, we're still unwilling to treat her with due contempt.
Good-guy Edmond O'Brien cheerfully and voyeuristically experiences the wretched life of a gangster through the intermediary flashback device – he ends the film with a cocky grin, like an audience-member emerging from a screening of the latest gangster thriller.
The famous 20-minute opening that has two contract killers, Max (William Conrad) and Al (Charles McGraw), arrive at a small-town diner looking for a man named the 'Swede' (Lancaster), is now one of the most widely celebrated scenes in noir, going against type by having it's (anti)hero killed before the film has really begun.
As Ole 'Swede' Anderson lies dead, life insurance investigator Jim Riordan (Edmond O'Brien) takes a special interest in the case, interviewing friends and ex-colleagues that leads back to sultry femme fatale Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner) and a $250,000 heist.While it ticks all the traditional film noir boxes, the main aspect that makes The Killers stick out amongst many other noirs of the period is the cinematography, which is straight out of the school of German Expressionism (German-born director Robert Siodmak would have grown up with the likes of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Metropolis (1927)).
The film starts with two killers taking over a diner, waiting for a local known as "Swede" (played by Burt Lancaster in a breakthrough role) that they've come to kill.
Around the gem of a short story, the film makers added a backstory explaining the Swede's actions (or lack thereof) including crime, a femme fatale (played by the gorgeous Ava Gardner), a robbery, and a conflict about stolen money.
Unfortunately, the film spends most of its time following the actions of an insurance investigator played by Edmond O'Brien, who just cannot command the screen as well as Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner can.
Most of the story is told in flashback as an insurance salesman (Edmund O'Brien), who is the real star of the film turns detective in trying to find out why "Swede Anderson" (Lancaster) had been murdered.
But "The Killers" deserves its reputation as one of the best examples of the genre.The film is based on one of the only pieces of writing Ernest Hemingway wrote that I actually liked, a short story in which a man in a diner overhears two hit men talking about a murder.
What is remarkable about The Killers is how it takes a very good and remarkably powerful short story and expands further on it, one of the few Hemingway adaptations to be just as good as its source material and at times be even better than it.This said it is a fabulous film too on its own terms, and is quintessential film noir, audacious, taut, exciting and suspenseful when it could have been overblown, overwrought or dull if done wrongly.
This viewer for one was riveted throughout and never found herself confused.Strong acting also helps, with Burt Lancaster thoroughly convincing in his first starring role, his best moments in fact are stunning, and Ava Gardner in the femme fatale role is wonderfully beautiful, classy and mysterious.
The Swede was a washed up boxer who got mixed up with some bad people and Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner).Killing off Burt Lancaster right at the start takes away some of the tension.
Inspired by Ernest Hemingway short story "The Killers" turned out to be quintessential film noir and marvel for any lover of the genre - everything happens in half shadows, there is exciting crime story, bad guys (well, almost everybody here is a bad guy), detectives and policemen, sexy femme fatal and enough twists and turns to keep you glued to the screen until the end.Very young Burt Lancaster is the main protagonist here - typical film noir character, a good guy who somehow gets involved in bad company - and he dies at the very beginning of the movie.
There is a lot of strong supporting characters, notably Vince Barnett (ex prison cell mate) and stunning Ava Gardner as gangster moll who double crosses everybody and watches Lancaster like a black spider..
A complicated plot was a common feature of films noirs, and "The Killers" exhibits some other characteristics frequently associated with the genre, such as the stark black-and-white cinematography of director Robert Siodmak, or the glamorous femme fatale, here played by Ava Gardner.
We see the dead man, Pete 'The Swede' Lund played by Burt Lancaster killed in his bed in a small town, Brentwood, New Jersey.
This is a key scene in the movie and sets the film up with beautiful deep-focus cinematography and killer dialogue.As Reardon discovers more about Lund's life, for essentially this is a biopic of The Swede, we learn what he does through flashback scenes.
The rest of the film follows insurance investigator Edmond O'Brien (Jim Reardon) as he unravels the life that 'The Swede' led in an attempt to find out why he was killed.
Maybe that's how things worked in the gay community back in those days but Burt needed to come away from that scene and he doesn't pull it off in those first scenes with Ava.Overall, the film is very good with an excellent cast and many memorable scenes thanks to the cast, lighting and direction, eg, the whole opening section that lasts for a quarter of an hour.
Two hit men arrive at a small town diner.They are looking for Ola Anderson, also known as "the Swede".They don't find him there but they do find him from a boarding house.Anderson's life was insured so Investigator Jim Reardon is assigned to look into the murder for his company.We learn in flashbacks why Ola met the fate he met.We learn about his boxing past, we learn about a robbery that took place a few years earlier.And we learn about Kitty Collins.Robert Siodmak's The Killers (1946) is based on Ernest Hemingway's story.It's a real good crime drama mixed with film-noir and romance.Burt Lancaster is a perfect man to play to play "Swede" Anderson.Ava Gardner, the classic beauty shines as Kitty Collins.Edmond O'Brien plays Jim Reardon with style.Sam Levene is great in the role of Lt. Sam Lubinsky, the childhood friend of Ola.Big man William Conrad plays Max, the other half of the killers.This is Conrad's, who I got to know as a kid from the show Jake and the Fatman, first credited role.This movie has got some style.It's got some classy dialogue and everything is just there.I recommend it..
Although Hemingway's story on which the film claims to be based apparently ends at the point when Swede (Burt Lancaster) is informed of their arrival, co-writers Anthony Veiller, Richard Brooks and John Huston maintain the sparse, bleak style of this opening sequence to fashion an intriguing Noir classic that is fully deserving of its status.The cast alone is reason enough to watch the film; in addition to Lancaster, Conrad and McGraw we have Edmond O'Brien (in the days before he started getting hefty) as a dogged insurance investigator determined to find out why Swede was murdered, and why he accepted his fate so passively, Albert Dekker as the sleazy crime boss who masterminds a fateful robbery that ultimately changes the lives of all involved for the worse, Ava Gardener as one of film history's most insidious femme fatales, and Sam Levene as a police detective friend of Swede's who helps O'Brien's investigator crack the case.A finely honed Lancaster commands the screen, although he enjoys less screen time than the not-so-toned O'Brien.
What they did was take the framework of the short story and expand on it with a look at the background of "Swede Andersen" and why he was killed.The film's opening scenes are the most memorable and are essential film noir for those interested in that genre.
The femme fatale requirement is filled by AVA GARDNER as Kitty, a role any glamor girl from the '40s could have played (Veronica Lake, Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr), but Gardner has a striking film presence and, like Lancaster, is cast in a role that could have been tailor-made for her kind of sensuality.Hemingway has been treated with overblown stories on screen (FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, A FAREWELL TO ARMS), but his short story has been turned into a tight, taut and very suspenseful film that should please anyone interested in the film noir of the '40s.Trivia note: Hemingway himself said that of all the films Hollywood made from his stories, this was the only one that he was very proud of..
So comes this first adaptation of a short story he wrote called 'the Killers', about two hit men who come into town, kill a man, and then the investigation-side comes in to see how 'the Swede' (Lancaster) came into this predicament.
The story is rather complex as it goes through its flashbacks within flashbacks, of a certain boxer, err 'Swede', and a dame and the insurance investigator trying to put it all together.It's a credit to Siodmak that what I remember most are big scenes and moments; I love when the two killers first go into the little diner in the town, it's a very striking scene with some dark humor and genuine grit.
Well done film noir piece tells the story of an ex fighter called the Swede, who is gunned down in his room, even though he knows the killers are coming and does nothing to stop it, saying, he once did something wrong.
Things come full circle and he does play a older version of "Swede" in his Atlantic City character.This is more of an ensemble piece than a Burt Lancaster film and the entire supporting cast is A-Grade (most notably O'Brien).
Hit men and detectives make up the rest of the characters, and while there are twists and turns and flashbacks, it almost feels like it's spoofing itself.I found it most similar to another Burt Lancaster movie, Criss Cross, and it's not as good as the really memorable film noirs like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice.
It's hard to believe that anyone could be so gullible in the cynical 90's, but the combination of Ava Gardner plus the IQ of the typical boxer, as portrayed by Burt Lancaster, is sufficient to make a believer of you.Now to read again "The Killers" and find out how close to the actual story both films were..
Hit men kill an unresisting victim (Burt Lancaster), and investigator Reardon (Edmond O'Brien) uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner).The Siodmak brothers never get enough respect.
This was the second of three high tension crime thrillers produced for the studio by Mark Hellinger - the other two being "Brute Force" (1947) and "Naked City" (1948)A brooding Burt Lancaster, in his first starring role, plays ex prizefighter Ole Anderson known as the "Swede" who has buried himself in the unknown town of Brentwood where he works at a filling station.
Burt Lancaster is a great actor, but his "Swede" is essentially "walking dead." And, Ava Gardner, while beautiful, gives very little to humanize her character.(One aside: Every time I have ever seen Burt in a movie, I always think of the word immaculate.
Robert Siodmak's best known movie is an excellent thriller which marked the debut of screen legend Burt Lancaster and also launched the career of Ava Gardner.
The first 15 minutes of this film are based on Ernest Hemingway's short story, in which 2 killers turn up at a remote town to murder a gas station attendant called The Swede.
Using flashbacks it provides the back story that leads to the Swede's death and introduces us to an insurance investigator, named Riordan, (Edmund O'Brien) who serves as our narrator.Like most old noirs, the pace lulls in the middle section.
Once out he gets involved with a robbery and it looks as if he double crossed his associates and took the $250,000 stolen
a certain motive for murder; Reardon isn't so sure though and continues digging.This film gripped me from the start; the two killers' behaviour in the diner is genuinely threatening; there is a real sense of menace and when they kill The Swede it is a real shock
after all he is played by Burt Lancaster who gets top billing!
Lancaster does a solid enough job as The Swede but the real star of the show is Edmond O'Brien who plays Reardon; the character who's investigation drives the story.
Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner, at the start of their Hollywood careers, shine out against the noir background of The Killers like the stars they became.
For lovers of film noir, "The Killers" is a highpoint in the affair.This was Burt Lancaster's first movie and is fascinating for that fact alone. |
tt0109162 | Asterix in America | Upon learning that his army has once again been defeated by the one remaining village in Gaul that has yet to be conquered by the Romans, Julius Caesar, angry at how embarrassing this makes him appear before Rome's senators, begins thinking up of a new plan to defeat them once and for all. Knowing that the village's strength lies in the magic potion it uses, brewed by Druid Getafix, Caesar assigns Lucullus, a loyal patrician, to the task of capturing Getafix and throwing him off the edge of the world, in the hopes of weakening the village.
In Gaul, an accident during another fight over the state of Unhygienix's fish, leaves the village with barely enough magic potion to protect them. Realising he will need to brew more, Getafix sends Asterix and Obelix out to sea to catch fresh fish, a vital ingredient of the potion, while he and Dogmatix head out into the nearby forest to gather the necessary herbs for it. However, Lucullus takes advantage of the situation, capturing the pair and transporting them to a Roman galley bound for the "world's edge". When Asterix and Obelix spot the galley and the captured druid on it, they quickly go in pursuit, sinking a pirate ship in the process, before losing sight of the Romans when a violent storm blows them off course. However, their hope of rescuing Getafix are restored, when a dolphin appears to guide them back to the Romans, after reuniting them with Dogmatix shortly after he had been dropped overboard by Lucullus. As evening begins to approach, the galley arrives before the North American coastline which the Romans mistakenly believe to be the world's edge. Discovering that the Gauls are back on their tail, Lucullus has Getafix launched quickly by catapult towards the coast, and is amused when Asterix and Obelix wreck their boat while making landfall. Returning to Rome with the good news, Caesar quickly begins moving men to Gaul to lay siege to the village, until its remaining magic potion runs out.
Unbeknown to Caesar and Lucullus, Asterix and Obelix find themselves venturing out into North America, whereupon they begin to explore the land for Getafix. However, night soon falls, and the pair decide to make camp until the morning, whereupon Obelix manages to capture some of the indigenous turkeys (which he refers to as a "gobble-gobble"). The next morning, while Obelix is out of the camp hunting for breakfast, Asterix is captured by Native Americans and taken to their village, where he soon finds himself tied to a pole alongside Getafix and menaced by the Natives and their Medicine Man. Obelix, whose hunt saw him catching a Native American and mistakenly thinking he is a disguised Roman, quickly learns his friend is missing after finding his discarded helmet, and quickly begins searching for him with Dogmatix's help. During his search, Obelix manages to save Minihooha, the daughter of the Native American's chief, from a stampede of bison, who bring him back to her village just in the nick of time to save his friends from harm. After impressing the chief with his strength by besting his champion, Asterix and Getafix are released and the group are welcomed into the village, much to the annoyance of the Medicine Man, who is further humiliated when Getafix proves to be a superior magician. That night, after a party, the medicine man pretends to offer peace, but instead gives all three hallucinogens in a pipe, which knocks them all out.
In the morning, Asterix finds Obelix suffering from hallucinations after inhaling too much of the drug, along with discovering that Getafix was taken prisoner by the Medicine Man. In the Medicine Man's cave, Getafix refuses to hand over the recipe of the magic potion, before lying about the ingredients used in it. When the Medicine Man painfully discovers the deception, he quickly prepares to punish him, before releasing a grizzly bear against Asterix, after he had been guided to the cave by Dogmatix. Defeating the bear and its keeper, Asterix returns to the village, where Minihooha helps to cure Obelix of his condition with a huge meal. The natives soon give the group a canoe to return home, which Obelix paddles tirelessly across the ocean. Returning to Gaul, they quickly find their village devastated, and all but Cacofonix gone, the village's bard left tied up. Learning from him that Caesar has captured the villagers and plans to take them back to Rome, Asterix and Obelix — disguised as legionaries — take gourds of fresh potion to their friends imprisoned at the nearby camp of Compendium. Thus empowered, the Gauls free themselves, and begin trashing the camp. While Caesar escapes disguised as a wine barrel and returns to Rome, Lucullus is consumed alive by Caesar's pet panther. The Gauls, victorious, return to their village and soon listen to Obelix tell them of their adventures as they hold a feast to celebrate. | romantic, historical fiction | train | wikipedia | Good animation but has no wit or character of the books.
Knowing that the Druid Getafix is only one of the mighty Gauls capable of brewing the magic potion, the Romans plan to kidnap him and throw him over the edge of the world (the world, of course being flat).
The Romans carry out their plan but are pursued by Asterix and Obelix.
However when the edge of the world comes Asterix and Obelix don't find death they find America and must search for Getafix before their village runs low on potion and is overrun.In terms of story, this film takes one of the weak Asterix books and deviates from it big mistake!
The Asterix books are generally so good that to try and improve or change them for film is a bad move.
The story is OK for kids though even faithful it's pretty simple however what it loses is the wit of the books.
There are a few good lines early on, but most of this is slapstick that doesn't please anyone but young kids.The animation is great compared to other Asterix films this uses some nice visual tricks, the best being the opening shot of the globe that turns out to be flat and only Europe!
The voices are also pretty good Craig Charles is a pretty good Asterix once you get used to his scouse accent.
Howard Lewis is not a great Obelix but at least he isn't playing him like a fool.
However Christopher Biggins is poor and the support characters are weak.
Surprisingly for a mid-90's film, this is full of racist stereotypes from rubber lipped blacks, to `ging-gang-gooley' speaking Indians.The poor characterization also infects the main characters for example the relationship between Asterix and Obelix is usually affectionate but here they bicker all the time and don't come across as friends.Overall this film gets the animation just right and the voices are pretty good.
It's just a real shame that the film then gets the characters, the story and the comedy very wrong.
Still, it's good enough for kids..
The weakest of the animated Asterix-films.
Somehow it just has never quiet worked out to translate the "Asterix"-comics to the big screen.
For one, the graphic novels always had an appeal for both young and old.
More than being your average, "funny comic-book adventures", "Asterix" contained insight and informative, valuable facts on cultural references, language and history.
Not all of those would reveal themselves to the adolescent reader, but appealed to the older crowd (generally the parents).
Indeed, I dare say that the Latin which most of kids from my times learned came straight out of "Asterix".The cartoons on the other hand, perhaps with exception of the first two films, "Asterix the Gaul" and "Asterix and Cleopatra" (that caught the essence of the first album) and the psychedelic "Twelve Tasks of Asterix", clearly catered to an adolescent audience.
Combining various story lines from the comics, the wit and cultural and political references were mostly been replaced with juvenile jokes and slapstick.Generally most of the Asterix-films are an amalgamation of various comics.
In the case of "Asterix conquers America" the story sticks pretty close to "Asterix and the Big Crossing" (but excluding the meetings between the two Gauls with the "actual" discoverers of America, namely a bunch of Danish Vikings).
The visuals are okay if you prefer computer-animations over hand-drawings (which I don't), but lack the richness in details that was typical in the graphic novels.
However, the gags and jokes are so infantile and predicable, that I doubt it will raise many laughs even during a screening of some children's channel.
If you never liked the cartoons, give it a miss and stick to the comics.
If you enjoyed the early cartoons, it still is one of the weakest of the whole series.To those who criticize that there are some genitalia visible in the film, I'll let you in on a secret: We all have them, we've all seen them and very little ill has come from this fact.
Only dirty minds think dirty things.3 from 10 points.
good movie.
i have seen it when i was 6 years old and I'm 16 now and i still love this movie also the part Astrix sings :) its real funny and good movie :) i love Asterix and Obelix and this 1 i real love bu and has allot of funny parts and animation's is very good and.this movie is soooo good u don't even now i love this movie its very funny and have's on the end a soft spot that obelix need too leave from the idians and u will see what i mean if u wachts it and its very funny movie i love the movie don't no real what too say about it but if u have the chance just watches it ;):) so i give it a 10 maybe not all of u too that but its a good funny movie about Asterix and Obelix just shame that is dost had come for comics :( so in totally good movie funny moments and a very good animation's en the songs in the movie is very very good and believe me i now it this movie is good wy it never comons on DVD don't ask wy but have fun with this movie and remebere ASTERIX AND OBELIX RULZ.
Fun!
(for a Saturday afternoon).
Well that's a film for kids, that is clear!
However, that not means that Asterix in America is boring.
The story is simple, but results convincing and entertains, which is its intention.
The quality of the draws is not very good (I didn't expect them to be good, either) but the film doesn't try to result impressive.
The only intention of the film is to make some laughs and to pass a good time, and, if you are not very exigent and you try to relax and smile, it is very possible that you enjoy this film.
Of course it is not a masterpiece, but it has any intention of being it!
Just relax and try not to be very critic, nothing more....
Fun Film.
Asterix (Craig Charles of Red Dwarf Fame) and Obelix are on a Journey to America to save their beloved druid Getafix.Along the way he encounters all kinds of trouble from Indians to Animals.
Some other great visuals, accompanied by a Great Soundtrack this is a Fun Film.
Great Stuff..
Asterix' charm killed off by a cheap attempt to copy Disney....
"Asterix Conquers America"?
Yeah right, I'm not sure that playing the Disney card will help Asterix to conquer America.
Way to go, dear writers, if that's the first Asterix movie an American watches, be sure it'll be the last, too.Indeed, you'll have more fun in any five minutes you take from "Asterix and Cleopatra" or "The Twelve Tasks" than one hour of this film.
And lacking fun, or wit, is the one weakness an Asterix film can't afford.
The most blatant case was the first "Asterix the Gaul" that took itself a bit seriously at the beginning, but give it a break, it was the first.
This one had six movies to take inspiration from, four decades of existence, characters rooted in French Pop-Culture and more than anything, 25 albums, from which to copy paste any script.And they still screwed it up, by adapting a book, but what a loose adaptation.
The film is based on an adventure written by René Goscinny where our two heroes accidentally land in America after a misleading fishing trip (when you tell Obelix to throw the net, be sure you asked him to attach it first).
The discovery of a new territory, weird but edible gobble-gobble creatures and then the first interactions (or attempts to) with the Natives was a source of countless gags and subtle anachronisms, culminating (that's the word) with a wonderful visual reference to the Statue of Liberty.
And it even had a great third act in Viking territory.
Some Asterix films borrowed plots from many books, but there was enough potential in "The Great Crossing".But somewhere the writers only took America as a setting, a plot parenthesis in a rather dull and empty plot.
Was it just because they really meant to conquer the American market?
Or they knew Disney's "Pocahontas" will create a new interest toward Native-related films and bring some extra viewers?
There's nothing substantial in the way the Natives participate to the story, which isn't saying much since the story, itself, is rather weak.
Basically, the Romans kidnap the Druid Getafix because he's the one who makes the magic potion.
If you pay attention, this is exactly the same set-up than the last Asterix "The Big Fight", the film even recycles the same characters and a few images, but that's not an issue, the problem is with the set-up.The film starts in the most incongruous way, with a view on space and a progressive close-up on Earth, shown as flat as a pizza, to illustrate how the Ancients conceived the form of our planet.
It's integral to the plot since, instead of putting the Druid in jail, they want to throw him at the end of the Earth.
But as much as the pizza joke was funny, the film insisted so much on the Italian stereotypes that it proves one thing: either the writers never read an Asterix story or the film was mostly targeted for a German audience.
After six films, never had a centurion spoke like Tony from "Lady and the Tramp" or punctuated his sentences with 'bella' and 'al dente'.
That was annoying but the worst was still the big-lipped villain.
Did they try to make a new Stromboli?
He looked nothing like a character Uderzo (of Italian background) would draw.
I don't know if I'm the only one, but the sight of that guy really turned me off.To the story now, we have the obligatory fish-fight scene to introduce the Gallic village, fish isn't fresh but Getafix needs some for the magic potion.
He sends Asterix and Obelix, gets kidnapped, but don't worry, less than ten minutes after, they'll all find themselves together in the fishing boat, landing in future America.
What follows is a series of cute moments, so dry in gags, that you really don't know where this is going.
The film turns into Disney-like stuff, Gauls meet Natives, even love, discover customs and sing together (and what songs!).
Since the film had to fill the second act, they needed a secondary villain, the Chief sorcerer filled the box, he poisons Obelix who turns crazy (and we've got to wait for him to be cured) then kidnaps the druid and asks him to make the magic potion.
The next scene is revealing of the writers' amateurship.Getafix gives the sorcerer the recipe, naturally, he fooled him, the sorcerer hits a rock and hurts his hand.
So, no growing barber or crazy effects, he didn't even think of making him sleep, he just made him angry, so angry he pulls a knife, then Getafix cries for help, well shouldn't have he anticipated that before?
Basically, he did something unfunny that didn't even make sense.
And this is symptomatic of the movie, you shouldn't try to focus on the plot very much, just follow the story and enjoy perhaps its one redeeming quality.
Thankfully, the drawers gratified our eyes with the sexiest animated Native girl, the only superlative the film deserves.
Seriously, she looks like Naomi Campbell and makes Pocahontas looks like her raccoon.This girl was like the only significant Native of female persuasion, and no one would complain, with her vertiginous cleavage and a body honored by a few subliminal shots.
Speaking of my experience, I was in my teen years when I first saw the film and I never expected a character from an Asterix film to turn me on, well, I guess that compensated for the big-lipped fatso.
The Native girl, finally cures Obelix from his brief amnesia and says our friends goodbye, during a farewell song that tries too much again, what did they expect?
An Oscar nomination?
Anyway, our heroes come back to Gaul, and basically, the third act is just the climactic sequence of "The Big Fight"
a big fight.
Great.
If that adventure proved them the Earth wasn't flat, this is sure how the film fell..
Passable and bemusing seventh renditíon of the famous comic books from the imaginative Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.
Asterix and Obelix are once more called upon to lay waste the Roman Legionnaires lifted from the wonderful drawings and sympathetic text by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's comic books .
It is 50 bc and the Roman have just invaded Gaul and Julius Caesar has beset the region .
But one little village of plucky Gauls faces off the invaders by whatever means , and especially with aid of a replete magic cauldron brewed by the powerful druid, and giving an extreme strenght .
Again our friends in action , from the Gaul wars the French Village of Asterix and Obelix is still holding out supplier Getafix's recipe for their magic potion , when he is kidnapped , catapult them over the edge of the flat Earth , straight into the pipe-smoking clutches of Native Americans.The ordinary fórmula for this seventh installment is still basically the same : the usual battles between The Gaul people and Roman military , along with a good-natured punch-up ,heavy rescue-adventure with Roman puns for adults .
Of course , there appears the unfortunate pirates in distress , as always .The animation and drawings are pretty nice and while it is low on the musical count it all rushes by too fast to notice .
There is also some marvelous scenes when Asterix , Obelix singing and dancing along with the Indian tribe .
Apart from some questionable editing and the use of slightly watered-down colors the movie stays true to original characters .
Youngsters no doubt enjoy it , but true buffs may prefer to stick with the pun-ridden booksThis aceptable outing was preceded by several cartoon movies , such as : ¨Asterix the Gaul¨ (1967) , ¨The Twelve Tasks of Asterix¨ (1976) , ¨Asterix in Britain¨ (1986) , ¨Asterix and the big fight¨(1989) ,¨Asterix in America¨(1998) , ¨Asterix and the Vikings¨(2006) .
And various live-action movies as : ¨Asterix vs.
Caesar¨ directed by Claude Zidi with Christian Clavier , Gerard Depardieu , Robert Benigni , Laetitia Casta , Arielle Dombasle .
¨Asterix and Cleopatra¨ by Alain Chabat with Monica Belucci , Jamel Debbouze , Claude Rich , Marina Fois , Gérard Darmon .
¨Asterix and the Olympic Games¨ by Frederic Forrestier with Clovis Cornillac , Santiago Segura, Monica Cruz , Jean Pierre Castaldi and Janel Debouzze .
¨Astérix and Obélix : On Her Majesty's Secret Service¨ (2012) by Laurent Tirard with Gérard Depardieu , Edouard Baer, Guillaume Gallienne , Vincent Lacoste , Catherine Deneuve , Charlotte Le Bonn.
And subsequently two 3D entries : ¨The Mansions of the Gods¨ (2014) in computer generator that dealt with a Caesar's plan to absorb the villagers into Roman culture by having an estate built next to the village to start a new Roman colony and ¨Asterix and the secret of the magic potion¨(2018) by Alexandre Astier and Louis Clichy .
The film will appeal to Asterix and Obelix fans , it's a funny entertaining for kids , grown-ups and nostalgics ..
Average Asterix.
I remember watching this flick as a kid, so last night I took a trip down memory lane by watching it on Youtube.The first two acts were great, but the third one sucks.
The finale was rushed.
Normally the climax of a film is meant to action packed and entertaining.
Here, it just flies by and you don't care.
I didn't buy the relationship between Obelix and the Indian girl.
The scene where they say goodbye is meant to be sad, but we feel nothing because we only had one scene of them together.
Maybe if they had more scenes, that goodbye scene would work properly.Craig Charles is miscast as Asterix.
When you see Asterix, do you think to yourself "Dave Lister should play him"?The guy playing Obelix works though.
But the star of the movie is Christopher Biggins' villain.
He's such a kiss ass, yet his plan works.
And Chris had fun camping it up.I liked the Oxford/Camberidge joke and the Romans forming into a pie and slicing a piece.
That joke was well done.The CGI sucks and it's not a film that'll grab you.
It doesn't leave you with the urge to watch it again.
Worth watching if you like Asterix, but its not as good as The Twelve Tasks Of Asterix which is my fave Asterix movie..
For Children?.
Although I had never heard of the character "Asterix", I decided to chance the classic cartoon.
Upon watching, and reading the synopsis of the film, I clearly understood the "effect" it reasonably portrayed.
However, I also realized that within this film, there is clearly a nude scene of male genitalia!
(The man had his pants down.
*Also noted in a recent post in the message board.*) I myself was just as surprised.
As an adult, I laugh at "hidden jokes" a lot of cartoons insinuate and even word around what should be "adult humor".
However, this is flat out unrighteous!
They may have gotten away with that in the 70s, but "new age" cartoons can only give fart jokes and bare-bum shots!
(Including their resort to subliminal messages for the older generations watching along.) Rated 2/5 due to the distasteful display of a crotch-shot, but short framed enough that most (luckily) don't catch-- sorry kids. |
tt0066601 | Zabriskie Point | In a room at a university campus in 1970, white and black students argue about an impending student strike. Mark (Mark Frechette) leaves the meeting after saying he is "willing to die, but not of boredom" for the cause, which draws criticism from the young white radicals. Following a mass arrest at the campus protest, Mark visits a police station hoping to bail his roommate out of jail. He is told to wait but goes to the lock-up area, asks further about bail for his roommate, is rebuffed, calls out to the arrested students and faculty and is arrested. He gives his name as Karl Marx, which a duty officer types as "Carl Marx". After he is released from jail, Mark and another friend buy firearms from a Los Angeles gun shop, saying they need them for "self-defense" to "protect our women."
In a downtown Los Angeles office building, successful real estate executive Lee Allen (Rod Taylor) reviews a television commercial for Sunny Dunes, a new resort-like real estate development in the desert. Instead of actors or models, the slickly produced commercial features casually dressed, smiling mannequins. In the next scene Allen talks with his associate (G. D. Spradlin) about the greater Los Angeles area's very rapid growth as the two drive through crowded streets.
Mark goes to a bloody campus confrontation between students and police. Some students are tear-gassed and at least one is shot. As Mark reaches for a gun in his boot, a Los Angeles policeman is seen being fatally shot, although it is unclear by whom. Mark flees the campus and rides a city bus to suburban Hawthorne where, after failing to buy a sandwich on credit from a local blue-collar delicatessen, he walks to HawthorneMunicipal Airport, steals a small Cessna 210 aircraft and flies into the desert.
Meanwhile, Daria (Daria Halprin), "a sweet, pot-smoking post-teenybopper of decent inclinations", is driving across the desert towards Phoenix in a 1950s-era Buick automobile to meet her boss, Lee, who may or may not also be her lover. Along the way Daria is searching for a man, who works with "emotionally disturbed" children from Los Angeles. She finds the young boys near a roadhouse in the Mojave desert but they tease, taunt, and grab at her, boldly asking for "a piece of ass", to which she asks in reply, "are you sure you'd know what to do with it?"
Daria flees in her car. While filling its radiator with water, she is spied from the air by Mark, who buzzes her car and then flies only 15 feet over Daria as she lies face down in the sand. He throws a T-shirt out of the window of the aircraft for her to pick up. Daria goes from upset to curious and smiling during this sequence.
They later meet at the desert shack of an old man, where Mark asks her for a lift so he can buy gasoline for the aircraft. The two then wander to Zabriskie Point, where they make love and the site's geological formations seem to come alive in a dusty orgy.
Later, a California highway patrolman suspiciously questions Daria. Hidden behind a portable toilet meant for tourists, Mark takes aim at the policeman but Daria stands between the two of them to block this, apparently saving the policeman's life before he drives away. Daria asks Mark if he was the one who killed the cop in Los Angeles. He states that he wanted to, but someone else shot the officer first and that he "never got off a shot".
Getting back to the stolen aircraft, they paint it with politically charged slogans and psychedelic colors. Daria pleads with Mark to travel with her and leave the aircraft but Mark is intent on returning and taking the risks that it involves. He flies back to Los Angeles and lands the plane at the airport in Hawthorne. The police (along with some radio and television reporters) are waiting for him. and patrol cars chase the aircraft down the runway. Rather than stopping, Mark tries to turn the taxiing aircraft around across the grass and is shot to death by one of the policemen.
Daria learns about Mark's death on the car radio. She drives to Lee's lavish desert home, "a desert Berchtesgaden" set high on a rock outcropping near Phoenix, where she sees three affluent women sunning themselves and chatting by the swimming pool. She grieves for Mark by drenching herself in the house's architectural waterfall. Lee is deeply immersed in a business meeting having to do with the complex and financially risky Sunny Dunes development. Taking a break, he spots Daria in the house and happily greets her. She goes downstairs alone and finds the guest room that has been set aside for her but after briefly opening the door, she shuts it again.
Upon the sight of a young Native American housekeeper in the hallway, Daria leaves without a further word. She drives off but stops to get out of the car and look back at the house, leaving her own imagination seeing it repeatedly blown apart in billows of orange flame and household items. | avant garde, murder, anti war, cult, violence, psychedelic, romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0028358 | Things to Come | In the British city of "Everytown", businessman John Cabal (Raymond Massey) cannot enjoy Christmas Day, 1940, with the news everywhere of possible war. His guest, Harding (Maurice Braddell), shares his worries, while his other friend, the over-optimistic Pippa Passworthy (Edward Chapman), believes it will not come to pass, but if it does, it will accelerate technological progress. An aerial bombing raid on the city that night results in general mobilisation and then global war.
Cabal, now piloting a biplane, shoots down a one-man enemy bomber. He lands and pulls his badly injured enemy (John Clements) from the wreckage. As they dwell on the madness of war, they have to put on their gas masks, as poison gas drifts in their direction. When a little girl runs towards them, the wounded man insists she take his mask, saying he is done for anyway. Cabal takes the girl to his aeroplane, pausing to leave the doomed man a revolver. The man dwells on the irony that he may have gassed the child's family and yet he has saved her. A gun shot is then heard.
The war continues into the 1960s, long enough for the people of the world to have forgotten why they are fighting. Humanity enters a new Dark Age. The world is in ruins and there is little technology left, apart from the firearms used to wage war. In 1966 a biological weapon called the "wandering sickness" is used by the unnamed enemy in a final desperate bid for victory. Dr. Harding and his daughter struggle to find a cure, but with little equipment it is hopeless. The plague kills half of humanity and extinguishes the last vestiges of central government.
By 1970 a local warlord called Rudolf, but known as the "Boss" or "Chief" (Ralph Richardson) has risen to power in southern England and eradicated the sickness by killing the infected. He dreams of conquering the "hill people" to obtain coal and shale to render into oil so his biplanes can fly again.
On May Day 1970, a sleek, futuristic aeroplane lands outside of what remains of Everytown. The sole pilot, John Cabal, emerges and proclaims that the last surviving band of "engineers and mechanics" have formed a civilisation of airmen called "Wings Over the World". They are based in Basra, Iraq and have renounced war and outlawed independent nations. The Boss takes the pilot prisoner and forces him to work for Gordon, a mechanic struggling to keep the Boss's remaining aeroplanes flying. Together, they manage to repair one of them. When Gordon takes it up for a test flight, he leaves to alert Cabal's friends.
Gigantic flying wing aircraft arrive over Everytown and saturate its ruins and population with sleeping gas globes. The Boss orders his biplanes to attack, but they prove to be ineffective. The people awaken shortly thereafter to find themselves under the control of the airmen of Wings Over the World and the Boss dead from a fatal reaction to the sleeping gas. Cabal observes, "Dead, and his old world dead with him ... and with a new world beginning".
A montage follows, showing decades of technological progress, beginning with Cabal explaining plans for global consolidation by Wings Over the World. By 2036, mankind lives in modern underground cities, including the new Everytown.
All is not well, however. The sculptor Theotocopulos (Cedric Hardwicke) incites the populace to demand a "rest" from all the rush of progress, symbolised by the coming first manned flight around the Moon. The modern-day Luddites are opposed by Oswald Cabal, the head of the governing council and grandson of John Cabal. Oswald Cabal's daughter Catherine (Pearl Argyle) and Maurice Passworthy (Kenneth Villiers) insist on manning the capsule. When a mob later forms and rushes to destroy the space gun, used to propel the projectile toward the Moon, Cabal launches it ahead of schedule.
Later, after the projectile is just a tiny light in the immense night sky, Oswald Cabal delivers a stirring philosophical monologue about what is to come for mankind to his troubled and questioning friend, Raymond Passworthy (Chapman), the father of Maurice. He speaks passionately to progress and humanity's unending quest for knowledge and advancement as it journeys out into immensity of space to conquer the stars and beyond. He concludes with the rhetorical questions, "All the universe or nothingness? Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be? ..." | anti war, philosophical | train | wikipedia | If the Chrysler Building really were a rocket ship and could fly past the moon and stars and comets of art deco friezes...if we could look into those naive mindsets, whose visions of man's destiny were being energized by the discoveries of relativity, atomic energy and deep space...we might indeed embrace the images of "Things to Come".Some of the scenes may strike us a corny - as might those of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" - but they are no cornier in their context than those in "2001, a Space Odyssey" or, for that matter, "Starship Troopers".
The film shows the destructive nature of war and how is will catapult us back to a state of barbarism, warlords, and another Black Death-like plague called the "wandering Sickness." However, because man clings to science, man will rise above all this and create a new, modern society free of warfare.
"Things to come" along with "Metropolis" is the must have for any Sci-Fi buff, representing the foundation of this genre, that is to flourish in 50's and 70's, with ideas and effects that originated in these two films, which set the marker in Science Fiction to this day.
However it is one of the most futuristic movies of all times, since it predicted many events of the near and far future, such as World War II and the way it will be fought, that only German military in those days was prepared for, globalization in the shape of scientific community called Wings Over the World that is imposing it's rule to indigent and retrograde nations that are "not in sync" with world order (like John Cabal said to The Boss, "we don't approve of sovereign and independent countries"), technical achievements of the future (LCD screens and architecture, which for the truth of the matter came earlier than 2036, but still..), use of helicopters which in 1936 were only experimental aircraft, and general opinion that the scientific progress is in reverse equation to human happiness.H.G. Wells was dreamer and a prophet of Jules Verne size, and his dreams are put to the screen many times, but very few of them carry the look and the feel of "Things to come", if you love Science Fiction this is an alphabet movie.
Visually it is a wonder to behold, but the script allows too many intellectual speeches about war and progress.This gets very corny when the actors are given to recite a lot of high minded messages at all times.Raymond Massey and Cedric Hardwicke,both great actors,come off as quite a pair of fanatics.
In many ways, the sets look highly reminiscent of the "modern cities" featured at the 1939 WORLD'S FAIR.I think the movie is also interesting because it seems torn by the question "are people really THAT stupid or are we destined for greatness?" The end result seems to be a little of both!
Were almost 80 years past the point that Wells wrote The Shape Of Things To Come on which this film is based and no closer to the world he describes than before, in some ways farther away.Though such well known players as Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, and Cedric Hardwicke are in the cast, they're more caricatures than real characters.
While this film stands the test of time as a science fiction classic, its importance may not lie in its depiction of future wars, pestilence, and rebuilding.
In reality, intellectual cinema has been achieved more often in the decadent West's commercial movie business: most notably by Kubrick in "2001" and, 32 years earlier, by Korda and HG Wells in "Things to Come".Don't look to this flick for well-rounded characters, a coherent A-to-B storyline or naturalistic dialogue and body language.
In the long montage of rebuilding Everytown, laser cutting technology and computers are implied: the movie was released the year Alan Turing's famous paper on computable numbers was written.More than "The Private Life of Henry VIII", "Things to Come" stands for Korda's rescue job on the British sound film.
His character almost comes across as the new Christ sent to save the world from its own destruction with the new religion of science.This is a good piece of cinema history whose themes are still relevant today even if its vision of the future missed the mark..
I consider Things To Come (1936) essential viewing for anyone who's at all interested in the history of Science Fiction on celluloid.Yes - At times Things To Come may be a bit slow and noticeably dated, but all is easily forgiven once the viewer is treated to the spectacle of its impressive "art deco" set designs and the awesome fleet of futuristic aircraft.Global war takes place in 1940 where the battle is long, dragging on for decades.
With nothing being manufactured anymore, society breaks down into primitive, localized communities.Following a devastating plague in 1966, which almost wipes out everyone on the planet, slowly, but surely an organization called "Wings Over The World" is formed with the sole purpose of rebuilding civilization.The year is now 2036 and we find the world's population now replenished (to some degree) with everyone living in vast underground cities of tall, gleaming towers and fantastic monorail transportation systems.For its time, Things To Come is, in many ways, quite impressive.
Taking the time to look at this movie as if you saw it in a Picture Palace in the year of its release, you would not realise the film's significance until you had seen the start and end of WW2.
H.G. Wells story the shape of things to come was made into a movie in 1935.very well made science fiction tale about a war that lasts for decades.great cast includes;Raymond Massey(arsenic and old lace) Sir Cedric Hardwick(ghost of Frankenstein)Ralph Richardson(time bandits) and Margaretta Scott.early glimpses of helicopters,holograms,a rocket ship,and futuristic cities.this film was ahead of its time.directed by William Cameron Menzies(invaders from mars)its very enjoyable much like the earlier movie metropolis(1927)but avoid the so called sequel the shape of things to come,that was made in 1979.
Things to Come is an early Sci-Fi film that shows an imagined world, or "Everytown" through 100 years.
"THINGS TO COME" Movie Review by kWRiceHere is another wonder filled science fiction film from a different time and place.
You've probably seen his work before, "Around the World in 80 Days," "Pride of the Yankees," and "Gone With the Wind." He did not direct after this Sci-Fi epic opera he and Mr. Wells created, but his film imagery, sets, and design are very recognizable.That imagery is very effecting.
G. Wells' astonishingly dull monograph, this gloriously awful film made before the War portends the future.After a devastating war with the Germans, the world is broken down to a post-apocalyptic state, eventually brought back to civilisation by the 'Airmen' and their wonderfully impossible Art Deco air machines.The scenes then switch to the future in 2036, where the population lives in a Grecian idyll (?!) in large blocks of flats with no windows and they have managed to invent flat screen televisions only 70 years after Sir Clive Sinclair.A plan to send to send a couple to the moon in a 'space gun' (how they can get back is not explained) is opposed by a noisy senator and the population rebels against the gun for unspecified reasons.
The sets are outstanding and very impressive, the idea of a devastating world war starting in the late thirties seems like prophecy for a 1936 film, the dictator of "Everytown" is pure Mussolini and Raymond Massey is just charming, believable and ideally cast as "the hero".
The positive tone towards technology and progress is quite refreshing by todays usually pessimistic standards - especially the finishing scene which always brings a tear or two to my eyes, even after watching the film so many times.This movie is good on TV but it was made for the big screen, so if you have an opportunity to see it in some cinema.
Nowhere is the theatrical excess more evident than in the performances of RAYMOND MASSEY and RALPH RICHARDSON, each engaging in scene-stealing tactics whenever they share a confrontational moment.The last half-hour of the movie is the most intriguing, as it shows the progress of industrialization, accompanied by images of modern tools, equipment and machinery and the evolution of society into 2036.But for a film that deals with futuristic ideas and imaginative content, the treatment is strictly mired in the film-making techniques of the '30s with melodramatic performances and a script that is loaded with pompous characters and speeches that sound as though all the actors are directing their words to a theater audience.
Beginning with a long war, a plague that results from it and then the gradual development and advancement of progress via the latest technology, "Things to Come" offers a fascinating insight into the evolution that our world would supposedly undergo during that aforementioned time period.
In 1969, while United States astronauts were busy being the first known human beings to walk on some body other than Earth (and while a certain Massachusetts U.S. Senator was busy killing one of his campaign workers), ABC television was busy presenting clips of science fiction movies, comparing them to the realities of science, at least the science of 1969.One of the clips, and one I still remember even after those 47 years, was the stirring speech near the end of "Things To Come."As Ayn Rand wrote "Atlas Shrugged" mainly to present the long speech by her hero John Galt, and as Charles Chaplin produced "The Great Dictator" mainly to present the barber's speech near the end of that movie, so apparently was "Things To Come" made for its great speech.On 9 August 2015 I clicked On Demand to watch this classic again, and again I am stirred and moved and enthralled.Yes, it is somewhat stilted and very much an allegory, and maybe even over-done in spots, but it's far better to put aside any skepticism and especially cynicism and watch it with the context in mind: It's 1936 and Europe has still not recovered from The Great War, which is known now as World War I.
An organization called "Wings Over The World" is committed to peace, and they manage to take over Everytown, using their newly developed "gas of peace." The movie then skips ahead again to 2036, to the point at which humanity once again seems civilized and technically advanced, with a gigantic "space gun" getting ready to blast people to the moon, which, strangely, is declared to be in "the right position" for the next two or three months.
Whilst Menzies will probably be mostly remembered as a production designer (winning an Oscar for work on 1939's Gone With the Wind), he did also direct a personal favourite '50's science fiction classic, Invaders From Mars (1953), which also highlighted political fear like Things to Come, in the shape of communism - and the ever-growing concerns of senator Joseph McCarthy.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com.
The story, based on a H.G. Wells novel, begins with an outbreak of a World War 2 in 1936 and follows the 100 years of fictional history of human society devastated by war and then raising again to space travels and industrial development.
By the by, The Chief struck me as quite Churchillian at times in manner and speech...and in the movie he is a jolly rotten chap...I wonder if that was reflection on Churchill?).Some points of interest in the film: * Some of the shots of the destruction and ruin of Everytown (the city where the story is set) are good...it's not el cheapo looking special effects (that 'honour' belongs to the acting, as far as the "el cheapo" tag goes).* Post-war, plague kills over half of humanity...it's vaguely like a zombie movie in this part of the movie (the 'zombies' are humans who have 'the wandering sickness', which, from memory, was caused by a gas used as a weapon...but Wikipedia mentions it as being of virus origin).* The final monologue of the film is actually good stuff...like I said, a lot of the performances and dialogue earlier in the film struck me as being amateurish.* Many actors play multiple parts in this film...characters who span the 96 years of the story.
It seems to me that genetic determinism is taken for granted in this movie.* The vision of the future can be interesting: wrist phones; moon trips via a 'space gun'; prospect of colonising other planets; "the gas of peace" (!); * Unironic notions of a 'better world'......I'm not sure how today's audience would respond to the pure capitalism lauded in the film..."Excavate the eternal hills"...it's like B.H.P. or B.P. or Enron have become beacons of hope!
Wells, one of the most important exponents of science fiction, seems to have an ambiguous attitude towards progress; while the villains in the film are portrayed in a somewhat one-dimensional manner as either despots (Ralph Richardson) or agitators (Cedric Hardwicke - replacing Ernest Thesiger), the over-optimistic hero Cabal (Raymond Massey) comes off as no less ruthless in his drive for evolution.
(Yes, a lot of sci-fi films are set in the future, but this one sets out to tell the story of how that future comes to be, which is a different thing entirely.)Unfortunately, that's also this film's inherent weakness: Trying to compress a hundred years of history that hasn't happened yet into an hour-and-a-half movie is just naturally going to leave little space to flesh out your characters.
Besides the fascist overtones of Wells' New World Order, his convictions about the "Freemasonry Of Science" as the basis for an ideal ruling class appear touchingly naive in the light of subsequent events.In the first major section of the film (following a prologue set at the beginning of the war on Christmas Eve, 1937) Raymond Massey plays John Cabal, a former fighter pilot who lost his family in the first air raids thirty years previous.
(Any such contraption would have reduced the capsule's occupants to a thin layer of meat paste on the deck before it even left the muzzle!) But hey, smutty-minded types like me can still have a lot of fun with the obvious Freudian implications.Though the score by Arthur Bliss -- like the dialog -- is occasionally a bit overwrought, it also contains some real gems, particularly the final chorus, as it echoes Oswald Cabal's challenge: "Which shall it be: All the universe or nothing?" Corny, yes, but it still sends a shiver down my spine...As a historical document -- particularly in light of other science-fiction films of the same period by British and German studios -- or for anyone interested in how the mid-1930s envisioned the future, this movie is worth viewing at least once.
As civilization breaks down and destroys itself, the war eventually comes to an end and then we see how it's rebuilt into the future.H.G. Wells' was rather lucky as he was able to adapt his novel into the screenplay that this movie was based on.
The sets, costume design and the effects are just beautiful to look at and you can't help but be amazed at the craft.The film basically takes place at different eras and I thought this was an interesting way to tell the story.
Things to ComeThe first thing to do in a post-apocalyptic world is execute all the psychics for not warning us ahead of time.Thankfully, the citizens in this sci-fi movie received many declarations of war.An air raid on Everytown from an unknown adversary sets off a global conflict that finds resident John Cabal (Raymond Massey) enlisting as an airman.Decades later, the war-torn town is devoid of technology as society has deteriorated into a dystopian wasteland controlled by warlords.But engineers have created an advanced civilization in the desert that will lead humanity into a new technological age.Exploring the evolution of humanity through the ashes of war and regenerative powers of progress, this 1936 adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel may suffer from longwinded diatribes but its unique narrative and stylized set designs are worth it.Moreover, dystopian futures are the reason the sewer housing market is so hot right now.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
H.G. Wells was a great writer of science fiction in his earlier days, but by the time he wrote the screenplay for Things to Come, he had run out of gas and was more interested in preaching than coming up with an imaginative story.
The final third act of the movie, set in the new futuristic society in 2036, is an improvement but doesn't save the movie.Nevertheless, "Things To Come" is still worth seeing for what it attempted to do; for where it fell short; and to better understand the fears of what was considered total war back then (poison gas bombs destroying civilization) that were prevalent in the late 1930's..
Released in 1936 and based on HG Wells' 1933 book, "Things to Come" envisions a future that suffers three decades of world war, a human-made plague and a new one-world order that opens the way for space travel.
To come to this point we must first endure a second world war that lasts 30 years and destroys the planet, thrusting us into a new Dark Age. As such, this is a post-apocalyptic movie with the corresponding 'mutants' (the plague victims) decades before that genre came into vogue.While I reject socialism (which is basically communism with a smile), there's a lot of truth to Wells' message, which was that the individual's life and actions are inconsequential when compared to the purpose and progress of the entire human race.
The problem with "Things to Come" is the story itself, which focuses on three basic times: 1940 (which was five years in the future when the film was made), 1970 and 2036.
Wells was way off, however, in regards to humanity making it to the moon, which took place 70 years before his prediction.In its day I'm sure this was an amazing movie, dull characters & tale or not, but great films hold up over time, like 1933's "King Kong" and 1939's "The Wizard of Oz." "Things to Come" generally doesn't. |
tt0108162 | Sliver | Carly Norris (Sharon Stone) moves into an exclusive New York residential building, not long after the previous tenant, Naomi Singer, falls to her death from her balcony. She immediately crosses paths with other tenants including the handsome Zeke (William Baldwin).
Carly and Zeke soon start meeting quite often; Carly eventually agrees to go to the gym with Zeke, who begins to turn her on by grabbing her hips while exercising. After hanging out for a while, they end up having sex and begin a sexual relationship. Carly is also being romantically pursued by Jack (Tom Berenger), a novelist who is another resident of her building.
Two of Carly's neighbors (Keene Curtis, Polly Walker) die under suspicious circumstances. As she discovers more about Zeke and Jack, she begins to distrust both and also uncovers shocking secrets about other people who live around her. Carly eventually finds out that Jack killed Naomi because of his jealousy of Zeke. It is revealed that Zeke knew that Jack was the killer, but chose to ignore it because it would expose his other secret: he has surveillance cameras allowing him to spy on every apartment, including hers.
Although she is both curious about and disturbed by the cameras, she sees footage of Zeke having sex with Naomi, as well as the murder of Naomi by Jack. Carly eventually destroys Zeke's surveillance room and his video monitors, telling him to "get a life" before leaving him and the building. | suspenseful, mystery, murder | train | wikipedia | It may be true that Joe Eszterhas rehashes his basic formula one more time here - "Is the person with whom the hero/heroine gets sexually involved a murdered or an innocent victim, framed by someone else?" - but it's a formula that works, that grabs your attention instinctively.
Maybe this thriller would've been tighter if the gratuitously protracted (and not very erotic) sex scenes had been trimmed down in length, but Baldwin is magnetic in his role and Sharon Stone, great to look at as always, also gives a decent performance; they both overshadow Tom Berenger who doesn't make even the slightest impression.
Stone moves into an apartment building, has weird neighbors, spooky things start happening left and right, "perv" Baldwin watches her through surveillance cameras etc.Sliver had potential.
Stone is simply a goddess and delivers a good performance but William Baldwin is utterly intolerable, why this man was given leading roles in big budget Hollywood films I will never know.
Apartment complex in New York City is beset with strange deaths and cameras everywhere; new tenant Sharon Stone is dating the mysterious owner, but could he be the killer?
Based on a flimsy novel by Ira Levin (who was slumming, but that's a different story), this unappealing film wants to be both sexy crime-thriller and murder-mystery, but it is such a mess from a writer's standpoint that, in the end, all you have left are the performances, which aren't dynamic enough to carry the load.
Both of her suitors are creepy and seem about as trustworthy as politicians, and it appears likely that at least one of them has committed some terrible crimes.This film must have made a better grade b mystery/suspense novel than a movie.
Sliver is overloaded with baggage and filler - too many sex scenes, a little too much character development (especially considering how shallow, irrational and absurd most of the characters are) and not enough psychological realism.Overall, I found the film slightly entertaining, but a little difficult to get all the way through..
Sharon Stone's character Carly Norris is a respected book editor with pretty much no social life, until she moves to a new apartment building called Sliver Heights, where she meets William Baldwin's character Zeke Hawkins and the two form a very passionate relationship.
Of course being a thriller, something isn't quite right, and so Carly searches to find out what is going on.Stone and Baldwin are both excellent in their leading roles.
Finally, CCH Pounder plays the detective, Lt. Victoria Hendrix, though she is rather under-used here, this not being one of her best performances, probably because of the fact that she is under-used."Sliver" provokes some interesting topics of conversation for your next cocktail party, namely the notions of privacy and what would you do if you had the power to watch almost whoever you wanted, as Baldwin's character did.
So there's an odd feeling of familiarity.Next, the script, by Joe Ezterhaus, is "Basic Instinct" meets "Jagged Edge." The film starts out like a classic woman in peril film, except the woman is Sharon Stone and the camera lingers on her obsessively.
35-year-old book editor Carly Norris, who was married for 7 years but is now having trouble starting a new relationship, wants to move into the posh high-rise Sliver Building on New York's East Side.
The movie has a chilling quality that increases as time passes.I thought Sharon Stone did a good job here, but her best moment was a funny scene where Carly's date wants to see her panties.
Ugh. Bad, bad, bad movie, carried only by the alleged star-power of Sharon Stone and featuring another Baldwin reject and about as much eroticism as an obscene phone call.
"Sliver" feels like one of those movies, not uncommon in the early to mid 90's, where the film-makers tried to add as much sexual-tension as they possibly could.
There is also the insanely crappy story of murders happening in a house full of cameras, and still no-one knows who the killer is.In the end "Sliver" fails where "Basic Instinct" succeeds.
See, there are people in places who can know a very great deal if they choose, and also people who choose to make sure that no one knows a good deal about anything...So I dare you, watch the film again and find a new ending all on your own..
Im suprised there is so many bad reviews of this film!I liked it, I've seen it a few times and it's still entertaining to watch.
Sexually inactive book editor Carly Norris (Sharon Stone) gets a new apartment in a Manhattan high rise before learning that the previous tenant went over the railing to her death.
Sliver : One of actress "Sharon Stone"'s most successful films !!!!.
This film was made in early nineties, a highly productive phase for actress Sharon Stone who starred in two successful "erotic" thrillers.
Apart from its excessive focus on mystery as a narrative device to mesmerize viewers, director Phil Noyce and Screen writer Joe Eszterhas are able to move their film forward with extreme caution as the answer to the vital question about who is the killer is neither revealed nor understood by audiences until the very end.
Sharon Stone plays Carly Norris, a lonely Manhattan book editor who moves into a luxurious toothpick-thin (the sliver of the title) building.
If the sight of Sharon Stone and William Baldwin gyrating their way through a series of long and drawn-out sex scenes is appealing, then I'd recommend SLIVER, one in a wave of erotic thrillers that populated the mid-1990s in the wake of BASIC INSTINCT.
For movie fans in general, though, SLIVER is a bit of a non-starter.The film's biggest flaw is an overly familiar script, which has an interesting premise involving voyeurism but does little with it (other than inviting the viewer to participate, a theme which has been done to death these days anyway).
Sharon Stone moves into a high-tech apartment block where people are being murdered, and we're supposed to care about what happens next.There are flashes of interest and inspiration throughout, usually involving the supporting cast.
The talents of CCH Pounder and Martin Landau also end up wasted in favour of dull, slightly wooden turns from Stone (who displays none of the charm and allure she essayed in BASIC INSTINCT) and a sweaty, unpleasant Baldwin.The thriller aspects are unevenly handled, and Aussie director Philip Noyce (who directed DEAD CALM, one of my favourite thrillers) drops the ball more than once, failing to elicit suspense from scenarios which should be tense and atmospheric.
SLIVER isn't all bad; the most undemanding of movie fans might even enjoy it, but I'm afraid I've been here way too many times to see anything even remotely interesting..
After Basic Instinct, many expected at least an erotic sequel instead of a dull and uninspired rip off.Sharon plays an executive living in a high rise with great views (both in AND out).
Billy "Duckface" Baldwin wasn't that impressive other than his physical presence (and that the gaming/computer nerd in me loved some of his 90's period-paraphernalia, such as a Sid Meier's Civilization poster, a Macintosh PowerBook Duo Dock, Nine Inch Nails and Megadeth posters, and a few hints that he was a gamer); Sharon Stone looked sexy and gorgeous as was probably expected (in one scene she's wearing a choker...
Sharon Stone plays Carly Norris in this movie.
In the movie, which was made horrifyingly bad by Eszterhas's pitiful script, Sharon Stone comes off as weak and guilt-ridden and goes through her scenes with questionable motivation.
Sharon Stone is an extraordinarily good actress who can turn her hand easily to whatever character she plays.
This is an entertaining thriller, quite erotic in parts as Sharon Stone's movies often are.
Sliver (1993) Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, Tom Berenger, Martin Landau, Polly Walker, Nina Foch, CCH Pounder, Colleen Camp, Keene Curtis, Nicholas Pryor, Amanda Foreman, D: Phillip Noyce.
It's hard to say that this slumming movie fully goes all-out to be what it wants to be: a voyeuristic murder-mystery thriller, by the director stressing a high importance on selling sex and violence.
Sharon Stone moves into a high rise apartment (Sliver), after getting divorce, but always feel like she is being watched and that's just the beginning of her nightmare.
I loved this film along with other thrillers of its time.The movie is about a woman who moves into a new apartment block.
I thought it was entertaining and I had forgotten who the bad guy was anyway, so the film was still a surprise for me.The movie stars Sharon Stone, William Baldwin and Tom Berenger.
There was more that could have happened.I did like this movie, but it is not Sharons best.I will give this film 7 out of 10."You like to watch?
The best movie of Sharon Stone, the screenplay by Joe Eszterhas is brilliant.
If you like the good movies, please rent SLIVER...
Fear of losing their attention?Someone said that the eroticism lies over the absence or the unreachable of the desired object; in this story, this happen while the male character spies on Sharon Stone while she is on her own intimacy; but when the things get in person the plot is forced in the movie trying to make it more suspenseful; and then, the film falls in the common place.Although, it is remarkable the prophetic treatment about Reality TV and its influence in the human mind, years before the waterfalls of Big Brothers and Survivors invaded our media sedated lives.Well, soft porn fans, become voyeurs and enjoy the show without any remorse; there are lots of tasty lust to watch..
Instead, it's a badly written thriller that lacks the shock value it wanted to have.Single book editor Carly Norris (Stone) moves into her new apartment, recently vacated by a young woman who threw herself off her balcony overlooking New York.
Stone does the best she can with the material and easily outshines her two male co-stars but the complete lack of chemistry with Baldwin kinda hinders the film on the erotic front as well.
At times, I felt sorry for Stone who must have realised that this is a lame and cynical attempt at cashing in on the success and notoriety "Basic Instinct" by being a seedy and exploitative erotic thriller in the exact same mould.There is enough to suggest that "Sliver" could have made much more of its premise.
"Sliver" is derivative of so many films that it cannot help but imitate the likes of "Basic Instinct", "Fatal Attraction" and "Body Of Evidence" during the erotic thriller explosion of the early Nineties.
If ever there was a movie that sold on Sharon Stone's sexual heat, it's SLIVER.
Philip Noyce directed this steamy thriller that stars Sharon Stone as Carly Norris, a book editor moving into a New York apartment building owned by young Zeke Hawkins(played by William Baldwin) with whom she begins an affair, not knowing that he has secretly wired the entire building with his closed circuit television where he can watch all the tenants like a TV series.
Misfired thriller is hopelessly muddled and unsatisfying, though Sharon Stone's sexy performance is by far the best thing about it..
As a thriller, "Sliver" pretty much sucks.It's obvious that this was a studio set-up hack with Ira Levin's competent, engaging (though far from his best) suspenser vivisected down to the frame in order to be filled out as the next "Sharon Stone sexpot vehicle." I'm not completely sure anymore (I read the book over a decade ago) but I think that even the identity of the killer was different...anyway, I remember being at least engaged, which I wasn't at all with this movie.It's not a TOTAL dud...there are some interesting parts...the multitude of small supporting characters gives some voyeuristic thrills, and this is a well-shot movie.
But back to the movie, unfortunately.The biggest minuses Sliver has going against it are the "performances" (ha ha) of Billy Baldwin and --- ESPECIALLY --- Tom Berenger.
Sliver has a very basic premise- A young, good looking female moves into a tall building in NYC but it turns out there are a lot of skeletons hiding among the residents.
For one thing William Baldwin is throughly miscast, and although Tom Berenger is not, there is so little meat to his role that the guy has nothing to work with.The whole set-up is not even two-dimensional and there is just so much you just don't buy: the 'relationship' between Baldwin's character and Stone is at best ludicrous.
Stone who acts well, far from her Basic Instinct character, and she's, surrounded by some strong performers, plays Carly Norris, an editor who's just moved into this high rise NYe building, catching the eye of two people, a young mysterious hottie (Baldwin) and a successful, and jealous novelist (Berenger).
It was nice to see Tom Berenger, he was probably the best thing about the movie, his acting was kinda memorable so was his character.
Sharon Stone's first post "Basic Instinct" (1992) role casts her in the Michael Douglas style role of the prior film, beset by an unknown murderer in her newly moved into New York high-rise (a "Sliver" building).
Stone is fairly competent as an attractive, uptight divorcée, while potential suitors William Baldwin and Tom Berenger look great and support well.
The plot centers around a new tenant (Sharon Stone) moving in to a New York apartment building.
In fact, there is even a masturbation scene.Well essentially, this movie deals with voyeurism, as somebody is watching every tenant in the building with hidden cameras strategically placed in each room.
However, he spends most of his time watching Sharon's Stone's character.
This movie is great to watch with a date....but Basic Instinct is better.
It looks great, fabulous photography, not very good suspense, Sharon Stone can't really act(Basic Instinct exempt).
Let's get right to the point: "Sliver" was made with a main purpose- serve as a vehicle for Sharon Stone after the very fine "Basic Instinct".
It is however one of the famed "stone sex series", which although doesn't rival Basic Instinct can be erotic with Sharon's fabulous figure and great experience in that field.
"Sliver" plays almost like a gender-reversed "Basic Instinct", but lightning doesn't strike twice: the sex scenes are unremarkable (except maybe for the fact that you see more nudity from William Baldwin than from Sharon Stone in them), and there is nowhere near the same tension (or action).
This sexy thriller wasn't as interesting or well made as Basic instinct and is also some what silly that it has some funny moments though that being said I didn't find it terrible and Sharon Stone looks damn sexy in this at 35 years as a vulnerable woman moving to an apartment where a lady who looked like her was recently pushed from the window.
We the audience are given 2 suspects who we believe may have been responsible for the fall Tom Berenger a kinda intense writer and William Baldwin a perverted horny landlord of the apartment who watches his tenants on television films.
The film does manage some suspense and I thought the sex scenes were pretty good and probably not as explicit as some would expect so its not bad to watch at night time for a thriller film with erotics..
Spoilers!SLIVER, starring Sharon Stone, Tom Berenger and William Baldwin, is not much of a movie.
For long time, Basic Instinct and Sliver were two movies that I avoided watching.
What I am trying to say is that, the movie is enjoyable, not for the sex but more so for the story and the element of thrill.Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about this movie "Sliver", which I ended up watching in the hope that maybe people were wrong (as in case of Basic Instinct) that this movie was just sex.
Sharon Stone plays herself (A whore) in this awful movie.
Also, watch The Kid Stays in the Picture to learn how the producer of The Godfather and Rosemary's Baby was often more interesting than the stars of his films), Sliver was originally rated NC 17 due to its sex scenes and some male frontal nudity.
Also, there was an original ending - we'll get to it in a bit - that audiences hated.Carly Norris (Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct) is a book editor that never seems to go to her job.
While she is there, she spends most of her time gossiping and bemoaning the fact that she never gets to have sex, despite being oh so fashionable and, you know, looking like Sharon Stone in 1993.Somehow, she gets to immediately move into the best New York apartment ever, as the previous tenant (Naomi Singer, who looks exactly like Carly, which is a giallo staple if I've ever heard of one) has recently fallen to her death from her balcony.Everyone in the building wants to get to know her, no one more than Zeke (William Baldwin, Flatliners).
He says that he designs "computer video games" and she's just happy to have a younger man interested in her, despite the fact that she has a six-figure clothing budget (giallo fashion alert) and, you know, looks like Sharon Stone in 1993.Carly also has another suitor, a writer named Jack (Tom Berenger, Major League) who is the most sexist character in the film, but certainly not in Eszterhaus' oeuvre.
Who would have thought a Sharon Stone movie would be boring?.
Stone seemed cold and very controlled by the director' s narrow vision of the film and how he was keen on making another sex themed thriller like basic instinct instead of concentrating on the great potentials Sliver would have .
all in all the director had the chance of a life time to make a great classic thriller where people would think twice before they do anything because someone might be watching , but instead he went after cheap sex scenes and a predictable plot. |
tt0120788 | Permanent Midnight | Approaching the end of a drug rehabilitation program, Jerry Stahl (Stiller) quits his job at a fast food restaurant on an impulse when an attractive woman named Kitty (Bello) pulls up at the drive-through window. The two check into a motel, where Jerry tells her about his life in between bouts of sex. A series of flashbacks, intercut with their conversations, details his working life to this point.
After moving to Los Angeles from New York City, Jerry – already addicted to various prescription medications – becomes friends with another addict, Nicky (Wilson). At the urging of Nicky and his girlfriend Vola (Lourdes Benedicto), Jerry marries Vola's friend Sandra (Hurley) so she can get her green card. Sandra uses her position at a television studio to get Jerry onto the writing staff of the popular comedy series Mr. Chompers. He uses memories from his childhood, including his mother's hysterical grief over his father's death, to fuel his writing.
He juggles his Mr. Chompers job and regular visits to a heroin dealer, Dita (Liz Torres). However, his drug use eventually gets him fired. Sandra finds him a new job with a different series, No Such Luck, but star Pamela Verlaine (Cheryl Ladd) – herself a recovering addict – sternly but sympathetically insists that he kick his habit first.
As soon as Jerry starts on a methadone program, he runs across a dealer named Gus (Peter Greene), who introduces him to crack cocaine and later Dilaudid. His increased drug use costs him his new job, and Sandra throws him out, disgusted at his decision to shoot up when she tells him she is pregnant. Her opinion of him falls even further when he shows up high for the birth of his daughter Nina.
While looking after Nina one night, he gets high and is arrested by the police. The incident further strains his relationship with Sandra, who makes it clear that she would prefer to see as little of him as possible.
The flashbacks end at this point, with Jerry returning to Los Angeles in hopes of being part of Nina's life. As he begins to resurrect his stalled writing career, he gets a surprise visit from Kitty. The two have one last sexual encounter before she leaves to move to Anchorage.
In the final scene, Jerry appears on a series of talk shows and news programs, while commenting in voice-over about the damage that his addiction has done to his life. "I got out with a bad liver and enough debt to keep me in hock 'til I'm 90, if I'm still here. And with my luck, I will be." | dramatic, flashback | train | wikipedia | Smart black comedy with Ben Stiller's best performance to date..
I think Ben Stiller is one of the most talented comic actors currently working, even though he is often in awful movies (e.g.
'Permanent Midnight' is one of the best movies he has been involved with and features what is arguably his single finest performance.
Based on the autobiography of TV hack writer Jerry Stahl, this is a smart, fresh and blackly humorous look at addiction and Hollywood.
Stiller has a fine supporting cast here, especially his buddies and frequent co-stars Owen Wilson ('Bottle Rocket') and Janeane Garofolo ('Reality Bites'), the amazingly charismatic star-in-the-making Peter Greene ('Laws Of Gravity'), and comedy veteran Fred Willard ('Best In Show'), who all have small but memorable roles.
'Permanent Midnight' was, like so many other good movies that don't pander to a mass audience, a box office flop, but will hopefully find a larger audience in years to come via video and DVD.
There's a scene where - this really isn't a spoiler, given the context of the movie - where Jerry dumps some pills out of a prescription bottle, and they look exactly like the kind of pills they're supposed to be.
One thing that movies never quite get right or, perhaps like this one, simply choose to ignore, are the details of how one actually turns one's life around from being addicted to recovering, and this movie was no exception.
Ben Stiller Takes a Good Dramatic Turn.
Poor little rich kid, Jerry Stahl, an actual TV screenwriter in 1980s Hollywood, p***es all his good fortune away through a hefty heroin habit.
It's like watching a car wreck in very slow motion.Ben Stiller does an excellent job portraying Jerry, with his craving for the drug rising above, and then destroying, all that's good in his life.
An excellent performance by Ben Stiller in one of his most serious roles.
Permanent Midnight, while certainly not the best film ever made about heroin addiction, is a very solid film that was largely over looked by both critics and the public.
The brightest jewel in this film's crown is Ben Stiller's performance as Jerry Stahl.
I found it interesting that while Stiller got loads of attention for getting his "package" caught in his zipper in "There's Something About Mary" (which is a very funny moive) hardly an eye was blinked when he gave the performance of his career in "Midnight." I think this film proves the theory that often comedic actors give the best dramatic performances.
Since I haven't read Jerry Stahl's book of the same name, I cannot speak to the truth of the framing sequences which feature Maria Bello as an ex-drug addict named Kitty.
I can only say how painfully convenient it is for recovering Jerry (Ben Stiller) to have this blond angel more than willing to hear his story of degradation.
As shown in the film, there's nothing about his life that leads the the progression of his drug addiction.
No matter how bad things seems to get, the audience knows it could always be worse, because we've seen worse drug addictions in a dozen movies of varying qualities.
Veloz clearly sets the film up as Ben Stiller's show.As Jerry Stahl, Stiller is never less than solid.
Permanent Midnight is the autobiographical story of the life and times of Jerry Stahl.
Ben Stiller's performance as Jerry Stahl was dramatic to say the least.
Stiller's performance was excellent and really showed me the flipside of what could happen to somebody when they get hooked on drugs.
The whole cast from Maria Bello to Elizabeth Hurley were solid support for the main character, Jerry Stahl.
The real Jerry Stahl actually had a role, which surprised me, as Dr. Murphy from the drug rehabilitation clinic.
I warn anyone who wants to watch Permanent Midnight to brace themselves for extreme drug use by sticking needles in arms and sensual love scenes.
Although the movie is uneven in both some performances and situations, it's worth watching Ben Stiller powerful characterization of Jerry Stahl.
I watched it again just ten minutes ago, and I am confirmed in my praise.The performances are tops, the story dark but very funny - and factual - based on Jerry Stahl's book of the same name.
Jerry Stahl is played by Ben Stiller in his most challenging yet most convincing role to date.
It's a real privilege to watch such a performance.Mind you, I'm not exactly Ben Stiller's biggest fan (to be fair, I have enjoyed a few of his films), and Jerry Stahl was the writer of the TV show ALF; while that could have been a turn-off for me, it wasn't.
I think Ben Stiller is typecast; I've only seen him play quirky Jewish guys in comedies.
He's quite good at that (because that's basically what he is), but I was very interested to see him in a serious role, so I rented this film.
The story is told in segments, meaning the film jumps around a lot; Jerry (Stiller) switches dealers and loses friends out of the blue, but more importantly, the entire period between when he is in rehab and when the film begins is alluded to but is noticeably absent (how and why DID he come to that "fateful" fast food job?).
The film focuses mainly on the beginning of Jerry's downfall due to addiction, but never tells the whole story (he never seems to hit addiction's true rock bottom).
The segway between these sequences - Jerry telling another ex-addict more of his "story", should've been done away with; its totally unnecessary and serves only to lead to an ending that makes little sense, even within the context of the segways.Besides all the missing sequences leaving gaping and occasionally confusing holes in the story, the story left isn't terribly interesting.
Stiller is just as good in a dramatic role (although, somewhat ironically, his character is a quirky Jewish addict), and Elizabeth Hurley gives an excellent supporting performance as Jerry's marriage-of-convenience-wife who actually cares about him, but gets the fall-back from his addiction instead (her response to these incidents is only hinted at, and should have been extended on).
Janeane Garofalo is another great supporting character (Jerry's agent) that deserved more screen time.
Besides sporting great performances, there are a few inspired scenes, though due to the story's disjointed order, they feel just as "dropped in" as the rest of the story's major developments.There's nothing outright wrong with the film, it's just missing too much.
For Any Fan of Drug Films, Fast-Paced Stylized Biographies, and Ben Stiller.
Permanent Midnight seems at first like another film you will love.
It's the story of a drug- addicted real-life semi-celebrity, it's directed with slick style and a fast pace, and it provokes emotion with its increasingly gloomy atmosphere and R-rated subject matter.
This is a very good movie about the horrors of drug addiction.
Jim Carrey and Robin Williams are further proof of this -- no one can cry on cue like these guys.Add in other terrific performances by Owen Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, Fred Willard, Peter Greene, Sheryl Ladd, Andy Dick, Charlie Fleischer, and even Jerry Stahl.
Just the right type of personality, definitely not exactly a light hearted movie, just as Jerry Stahl's true life however, he wrote it so well those of us who understand his point can appreciate his story.
Permanent Midnight is a good film all things considered.
Though when watching Stiller as the Stahl character one may regret that this movie isn't incredible.
Throughout the film Stiller's performance gets more and more intense but the direction goes nowhere.
I'll tell ya there's nothing quite like the belting emotional vocal stylings of Art Alexakis to ruin a nice little film about heroin addiction.
The story seems to start in midway, and it seems like the movie is over before you really know about the characters other than Stillers' drug addiction.
It wasn't bad, and the acting was pretty good (Stiller was quite good as the drug addicted T.V. writer).
Decently good Ben Stiller on crack flick.
This little indi flick is in many ways a very Ben Stiller movie, but it's like watching Ben Stiller with a needle in his arm.
From the autobiography of writer Jerry Stahl, Stiller plays the part of a drug addicted L.A. TV writer very cool, and trashed looking.
There are some intense drug use moments and the film had a good flow- some good humorous bits from Stiller's pals Garofalo and Andy Dick..
The best thing about this believable, and interesting, bio of a drug addicted TV writer is the supporting performance of Maria Bello.
I've waited two years to see what the fuss was about and although Stiller is very good, the film as a whole is pretty mediocre.
Stahl is not a very sympathetic character and any depth of motivation is merely hinted at and throughout the film you get the feeling you're in real life TV movie-land..
In David Veloz's adaption of Jerry Stahl's autobiography, he examines the pattern of addiction, and how a junkie evolves from a person getting high, to a person who needs it to keep from getting sick.
Drugs are the problem and the solution to everything in his life.Ben Stiller gives a insightful performance of a man who is making his own choices, but is still a observer, like the people he hurts.
Ben Stiller captivates as drug addict Jerry Stahl.
Despite the following facts: 1) Jerry's arranged marriage to Sandra (Elizabeth Hurley) provides a stable backdrop for his addiction, 2) Jerry's friends fade from his life without major conflicts, and 3) the job offers abound throughout Jerry's dead-man-walking behavior, Stiller manages to salvage the role and make it believable.
I remember about a half hour into the movie realising that I was watching Ben Stiller.
I feel that Permanent Midnight and Your Friends and Neighbors are his finest movies.I found the film to be as much about Los Angeles as it was about the pitfalls of junkiedom.
His portrayal of man who is distracted by his addiction at all times is excellent.Unfortunately, that's the only redeeming thing about this film (aside from the chance to stare at Elizabeth Hurley, of course.)I read in an above commentary that the viewer is never shown that Jerry is brilliant.
I am a big fan of Ben Stiller, and the previews for this film looked promising.
The one redeeming quality this film has is Ben Stiller's performance - brilliant.
Having to play the role of the Hollywood writer who is without passion, except for his drug habit, Stiller is amazing from beginning to end.
Many of the Ben Stiller Show alumni return to do cameos including long time friend Owen Wilson.
I know Ben Stiller was trying to do the right thing here - his performance shows it.
Jerry Stahl led a pitiful existence - both as a junkie and a TV writer (the joke is, of course, which is worse?)- but his book was totally BUTCHERED.Which, going back to Stiller, is a shame; Ben put a lot into the acting - but who was asleep at the wheel on the REST of the production?
and out the other end.Ben Stiller's Stahl is utterly believable, cetainly his best work to date as an actor.
I know that it is not always possible for Hollywood to make a faithful adaptation of a book, because of time restraints, budgets, etc., but David Veloz's version of Jerry Stahl's autobiography is a major disappointment.
This movie has been made and remade so often, but Ben Stiller is believable enough to make this one of the better ones.
I really like Ben Stiller but a good performance on his part just wasn't enough..
Jerry Stahl actually HELPED his damaged career by admitting what a terrible drug addict he was.
Plus the film's decision to wrap around the story with Stiller meeting the crazy and wild sober chick is like a bad one-act with two people stuck in a motel room.
it features ben stiller in a strong dramatic performance.
There have been many drug addiction movies: "A Panic in Needle Park", "Scarface", "Drugstore Cowboy", "Naked Lunch", "The Basketball Diaries", "Trainspotting", "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and now "Permanent Midnight".
This last one features Ben Stiller as writer Jerry Stahl, who is battling heroin addiction.
Throughout the movie, we follow Jerry around and see how the addiction is affecting his life and relationships.
With a cast that includes Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Janeane Garofalo, many people probably came into expecting a comedy.
While Permanent Midnight has its funny moments, it's basically a drama.While this is based on the true story of TV writer Jerry Stahl, it fictionalized a bit.
It's not the direction is bad, but it's certainly nothing special and there are a few places where it's a little hard to follow.This doesn't drag the movie too far down though as it rests largely on the actors, specifically Ben Stiller, who shows any naysayers here that he can do drama.
He does a great job portraying someone who's a likable guy with a pretty decent life who just keeps using more and more drugs until he starts freaking out in public, shooting up into his jugular and generally wrecking everything and losing whatever self-respect he had.Despite the subject matter, Permanent Midnight avoids becoming too depressing through bits of humor, a short (88 min) running time and an optimistic perspective.I doubt this is the best movie for scaring your kids off drugs, but recommended for people who like stories about overcoming or are fans of Jerry Stahl or any of the actors..
Permanent Midnight,First-Viewing, owned pirated DVD,(David Veloz)- Ben Stiller, Elizabeth Hurley, Maria Bello, Janeane Garafalo, Owen WilsonAn interesting true story of a TV writer (Stiller) who's heroin addiction causes him to go from a successful TV writer to working at McDonald's.
Stiller gives a relatively good performance, didn't think he could handle a serious role like this, he wasn't bad, atlhough not great, as the script was pretty boring.
The rest of the cast are OK, Owen Wilson is probably the stand-out, as Stiller's best friend.
The movie narrate the true story of Jerry Stahl,a Hollywood tv writer slave of heroin,but not because he would "unpack",but for stop to feeling bad.At first sight Jerry Stahl seems a normal gay guy ,but if you looking better you can see a dark shadow in his personality , a dark shadow where grow up his ghost's pain,that it change in destruction of himself.A pain in appearence inexplicable,but always present.Ben Stiller is very good in the character of Jerry Stahl,and his decline phisical and psychic is worthy to biggest drama hollywood actors.I admite Stiller,but he is remember from a pubblic only for less movie,as "There's something about Mary",that it's not a bad movie,but neither a deeply movie as "Permanent Midnight".This story may report to the story of John Belushi,but the movie that it narrate"Wired" not is very succesful.My rate is 7..
"Permanent Midnight" is a just another junkie flick (like we need another junkie flick) and not a very good one at that.
How many times can you watch a drug addict lapse back into his old ways.
The last love scene between the main characters conveyed a much more genuine feeling of connection and caring that comes from having lost in life, from forgiveness, from life experiences that hinted at the true potential of this movie and the heights of expression it could have achieved.Surely, it's a different screenplay, but is one that tells a whole story that is worthy of a feature-length film..
Ben Stiller does a great job as the main character and Peter Greene is a pleasure to watch as usual.
Therefore, actresses like Maria Bello and Elizabeth Hurley go to complete waste despite they're good performances.
The basics: Stiller's performance is good, Maria Bello gets naked, Elizabeth Hurley doesn't, and the drug use is very graphic.Frankly, I liked this movie better when it was called "The Boost"..
PERMANENT MIDNIGHT is not a bad film, however, we have seen it in films like TRAINSPOTTING, BASKETBALL DIARIES, WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN, etc.
It is slick, graphic, and forgettable.Ben Stiller leaps into dramatic mode, and portrays real-life TV writer Jerry Stahl.
Stiller looks the part of a paranoid drug addict, but there are never any moments where we can really embrace his character and care about his problems.
Based on a true story, "Permanent Midnight" stars Ben Stiller as a Jerry Stahl, a successful television writer whose life is wrecked by a severe drug addiction.
Despite a good performance by Stiller, "Permanent Midnight" is a thin film.
Based on an allegedly true story of TV writer Jerry Stahl with a $5000 a week job and a $6000 a week cocaine habit..
SPOILERS - Even thought this is a pseudo-autobiography, in the movie it is presented as the story of Jerry (Ben Stiller) in recovery, meeting a girl (Maria Bello) in recovery, and the two of them trying to figure out if they can make a go of it, initially meeting at a cheap motel for casual sex, and by the end of the movie realizing they love each other.
During this period, the real Jerry Stahl was writing for popular 1980s series like "Moonlighting", "Alph", and "Northern Exposure." Anyway, during his addiction phase Stahl represents himself as a person with little self-control, lying, needing drugs to get through any stressful situation.
Instead, this film depicts the flu-like symptoms occurring during the time of the main character's usage of the substance which is terribly inaccurate.Movies that depict opiate addiction and withdrawal accurately would be something such as BlackBird, Jesus' Son, or The Panic in Needle Park.
Other than these inaccuracies, the film is a fairly generic story of an addict losing control of his life.
Stunning performance from Ben Stiller, but who decided to waste Owen Wilson ? |
tt5996120 | House of Spirits | Prologue
A young woman, Blanca Trueba (Winona Ryder), arrives at a house with an old man and the young woman starts remembering her life.
Clara and Esteban
Blanca's mother, Clara del Valle (Meryl Streep) was a child with psychic power when Esteban Trueba (Jeremy Irons) came to propose to Clara's older sister, Rosa del Valle. Esteban left his fiancée with her family to earn money for their wedding. One day, Clara has a vision and tells her sister Rosa that there will be a death in the family. The next day, Rosa dies after drinking poison intended for her father, Senator Severo. Clara blames herself for her sister's death, and after watching her sister's autopsy, decides never to speak again.
Esteban was heartbroken. At home, his sister, Férula (Glenn Close) lives and takes care of their sick mother. Esteban used the money he earned from mining and bought a hacienda, Tres Marías. He finds many natives living on his land and tells them to work for him for food and shelter. For the next twenty years, Esteban makes Tres Marías an example of a successful Hacienda. One day he rapes a peasant girl, Pancha García (Sarita Choudhury) and she gave birth to a son. He spends some nights with Tránsito, a local prostitute (María Conchita Alonso), to whom he lends money so she can start a new career in the capital.
Twenty years later, Esteban receives a letter that his mother has died. After her funeral, Esteban decides to ask for Clara's hand, despite Férula's protests that Clara is too sickly and will not take care of him properly. When he shows up at the Del Valle family's house, Clara asks him right away if he has come to ask her to marry him, thus speaking again for the first time in twenty years.
Férula meets Clara at a coffee shop to talk about her own future, and Clara, sensing Férula's worries, promises her that she can live with her and Esteban in Tres Marías after the wedding and the two will be like sisters.
Clara gives birth to a girl as she predicted, and names her Blanca. One day, the girl whom Esteban raped, Pancha García appears at the family house with Esteban's illegitimate teenage son, Esteban García and asks for money. Esteban Trueba gives them some money and harshly orders them never to come back threatening to have his dogs attack them both if they return.
Clara holds classes for the peasant children and Blanca. Pedro Tercero, the young son of Esteban's foreman Segundo at Tres Marias befriends Blanca and the two become playmates. Esteban Trueba does not like his daughter playing with a peasant boy and sends Blanca to a boarding school.
Blanca and Pedro Tercero
After graduating from school, Blanca returns home to Tres Marías and meets with Pedro Tercero (Antonio Banderas) by the lagoon every night. One night while Esteban attends a political meeting, there is an earthquake; he worries about Clara and Blanca, goes home to Tres Marías and finds that Férula has climbed into bed with Clara. He is so angry that he throws Férula out of the house telling her never to come back. Férula curses Esteban but leaves. Clara is deeply disappointed that Esteban would kick his sister out of their family home.
One day Esteban brings the French Count Jean de Satigny (Jan Niklas) to his home intending to arrange a marriage between him and Blanca. Clara senses that the French "nobleman" is a fraud while reading cards, but Esteban dismisses her folly. While Satigny is still visiting, Esteban catches Pedro preaching revolutionary ideas that are critical of wealthy landowners like Esteban to the peasant workers. Esteban orders the workers to return to work and punishes Pedro with a fierce whipping and banishes him from Tres Marías. That night at dinner, Férula suddenly appears in the house, kisses Clara on the forehead and leaves again. Clara tells the rest of the family that Férula has died. Clara and Esteban drive into town to Férula's modest house where they find her dead on the bed.
Pedro returns to Tres Marías to talk to the peasants about their rights and nearly gets shot by Esteban. That night, Count Jean de Satigny, who is visiting again, watches Blanca and Pedro meeting secretly at the lagoon. He reveals Blanca's lover to her father who immediately drags Blanca back to the house. When Clara tries to persuade him not to be violent, Esteban hits his wife and she falls. Esteban immediately expresses his regret, but Clara tells him in shock and agony that she will never speak to him again. Clara moves with Blanca to her parents' home in the capital.
Blanca becomes pregnant with Pedro's child and gives birth to a girl named Alba.
Revolution
Esteban is busy with his political career as a senator, but as an old man he is lonely and finds comfort in the arms of Tránsito, who now runs a high-class prostitution establishment.
During the national election, Esteban believes his Conservative Party will win as usual, but the People's Front ends up winning control of the government. Blanca goes out on the street to celebrate and to meet Pedro, now a leading figure in the People's Front. Clara stays home with Alba to decorate the house for Christmas, where after what seems like a heart attack she passes away, instructing the little girl to give the diaries she had kept all her life to her mother Blanca, so that "she may understand better that and how events are related".
Meanwhile, a conspiracy between some Conservative Party members and the military leads to a coup d'état, and the military takes control of the country. At first, Esteban believes it is good for the country and that the military will hand power back to the Conservative Party, but he soon learns that the military have other plans. Under the control of the military, people associated with the People's Party are captured and even killed. Blanca is very involved and eventually the police come to arrest her for being with Pedro Tercero. Blanca reveals to her father that Pedro has been hiding in their house's cellar and begs him to help Pedro get out of the country.
In the coming days, Blanca is tortured and abused by her half-brother, Esteban García, who had joined the military with his father's help. Esteban honours his daughter's wishes and helps Pedro Tercero find exile in Canada. Esteban then turns to Tránsito, now an influential Madam with lots of connections to high level military figures, to help free Blanca. One morning, a beaten and raped Blanca arrives at her home and Esteban tells her that Pedro is waiting for her in Canada.
Epilogue
Blanca and Esteban return to Tres Marías with Alba. Esteban is finally visited by Clara's spirit who has come to help the old man on to the next world. Blanca sits outside and ponders her life, looking forward to a life with Pedro and her daughter Alba. | paranormal | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1451759 | Rapunzel | A lonely couple, who want a child, live next to a walled garden belonging to an evil witch named Dame Gothel. The wife, experiencing the cravings associated with the arrival of her long-awaited pregnancy, notices some rapunzel (or, in most translated-to-English versions of the story, rampion), growing in the garden and longs for it, desperate to the point of death. One night, her husband breaks into the garden to get some for her. She makes a salad out of it and greedily eats it. It tastes so good that she longs for more. So her husband goes to get some more for her. As he scales the wall to return home, Dame Gothel catches him and accuses him of theft. He begs for mercy, and she agrees to be lenient, and allows him to take all the rapunzel he wants, on condition that the baby be given to her when it's born. Desperate, he agrees. When his wife has a baby girl, Dame Gothel takes her to raise as her own and names her Rapunzel after the plant her mother craved. She grows up to be the most beautiful child in the world with long golden hair. When she turns twelve, Dame Gothel lockes her up inside a tower in the middle of the woods, with neither stairs nor a door, and only one room and one window. When she visits her, she stands beneath the tower and calls out:
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb thy golden stair.
One day, a prince rides through the forest and hears Rapunzel singing from the tower. Entranced by her ethereal voice, he searches for her and discovers the tower, but is naturally unable to enter it. He returns often, listening to her beautiful singing, and one day sees Dame Gothel visit, and thus learns how to gain access to Rapunzel. When Dame Gothel leaves, he bids Rapunzel let her hair down. When she does so, he climbs up, makes her acquaintance, and eventually asks her to marry him. She agrees.
Together they plan a means of escape, wherein he will come each night (thus avoiding Dame Gothel who visits her by day), and bring Rapunzel a piece of silk, which she will gradually weave into a ladder. Before the plan can come to fruition, however, she foolishly gives him away. In the first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, she innocently says that her dress is getting tight around her waist (indicating pregnancy); in the second edition, she asks Dame Gothel (in a moment of forgetfulness) why it is easier for her to draw up the prince than her. In anger, she cuts off Rapunzel's hair and casts her out into the wilderness to fend for herself.
When the prince calls that night, Dame Gothel lets the severed hair down to haul him up. To his horror, he finds himself staring at her instead of Rapunzel, who is nowhere to be found. When she tells him in a jealous rage that he will never see Rapunzel again, he leaps from the tower and lands on some thorns, which blind him.
For months, he wanders through the wastelands of the country and eventually comes to the wilderness where Rapunzel now lives with the twins she has given birth to, a boy and a girl. One day, as she sings, he hears her voice again, and they are reunited. When they fall into each other's arms, her tears immediately restore his sight. He leads her and their twins to his kingdom, where they live happily ever after.
In some versions of the story, Rapunzel's hair magically grows back after the prince touches it.
Another version of the story ends with the revelation that Dame Gothel had untied Rapunzel's hair after the prince leapt from the tower, and it slipped from her hands and landed far below, leaving her trapped in the tower. | fantasy | train | wikipedia | Underwhelming. This is "Rapunzel" and most people who know the name will immediately know the character in the title as well and perhaps also her story. Germany produced many fairy-tale films in the last years and this is one of them. It runs for slightly under an hour as most of them do and the director is Bodo Fürneisenl, who has also worked on other fairy-tale films. It is live action and this take on Rapunzel came out slightly before the famous Oscar-nominated animated film from 2010. While I would not say that Luisa Wietzorek, I still recognized that these fairy-tale movies usually have more big names than this one here. The only known names are Suzanne von Borsody who plays the main antagonist and maybe Boris Aljinovic. Piet Klocke, who I really love, is in it too, but has almost no screen-time unfortunately. It was strange seeing him without his glasses, but otherwise the character fit him nicely. I think they messed up a bit on the story here and this is one of my least favorites from these German fairy-tale films I have seen so far. Costumes and sets are all fine, but story-wise I just wasn't impressed and I think that without the famous Brothers Grimm who write this one of course, the movie would have been completely irrelevant. maybe at times, it also tries to be way too much for its own good. Quite a shame, Rapunzel is such a great character and she certainly deserves more than we have here. I don't recommend the watch. Thumbs-down. |
tt0082912 | Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco | After a police round up of street children, Pixote is sent to a juvenile reformatory (FEBEM). The prison is a hellish school where Pixote uses glue sniffing as a means of emotional escape from the constant threats of abuse and rape.
It soon becomes clear that the young criminals are only pawns in the criminal, sadistic games of the prison guards and their commander.
When a boy dies of physical abuse by the guards, the officials frame (and ultimately kill) the lover of the transwoman known as Lilica (Jorge Julião) for the murder. Soon after, Pixote, Lilica and her new lover Dito (Gilberto Moura) find an opportunity to flee from the prison. First, they stay at the apartment of Cristal (Tony Tornado), a former lover of Lilica, but when tensions arise they go to Rio for a cocaine drug deal; there, however, they get duped by a showgirl.
After some time bumming around the city, Pixote and his friends go to a club for another drug deal. While there, Pixote finds the showgirl that took their drugs and stabs her.
They become pimps for the prostitute Sueli who is definitely past her prime and is ill—possibly from a botched abortion. The group conspires to rob her johns, but when Lilica's lover Dito falls for Sueli, Lilica leaves. The robbery scheme fails when an American john fights back (because he apparently does not understand Portuguese) so they have to shoot him. In the ensuing fight, Pixote accidentally shoots and kills Dito as well.
Pixote tries to gain comfort from Sueli, treating her as a mother figure, but she rejects him. He leaves and is seen walking down a railway line, gun in hand, away from the camera, his figure disappearing in the distance, out of the camera's view. | violence, murder, romantic | train | wikipedia | Perhaps the most brutal filmic portrait of youth ever made; Charles Dickens meets Hieronymous Bosch in this tale of a group of boys struggling to survive in the reformatories and mean streets of Brazil as the cycle of prey transformed into predators is documented.The saddest detail is to realize that this film, made almost twenty five years ago, documents a world that in terms of its poverty and depravity, has apparently changed very little.
A brutal reality captured here but with some of the most layered acting I've ever seen in the history of film by a group of amateurs picked from the streets of Sao Paulo with no previous experience.
Not one or two good performances, the entire cast is quite simply remarkable, and even sadder is the fact that most of them have probably now been swallowed by the street life they portrayed.Not as sophisticated a vision as Bunuel's 'Los Olvidados' or as sensational as Clarke's 'Kids,' but in this genre of 'children growing up in the streets' it is easily the most emotionally powerful film of them all..
What makes the film so heart-rending is that both Pixote and the actor portraying him clearly do not wish to be the characters life circumstances have made them.
Amazing, controversial, and painful are some essential adjectives to allocate this important piece of art, that depicts the searing and factual adolescence of the marginalized children; i.e. victims of our global village.Pixote prepubescent, with the unflinching stare of the innocent-all-knowing, left an impression of raw truth in finding credence to the old African saying, "It takes a village to raise a child".
It truly will stay with you forever--you will be touched in such a deep way no matter who you are, no matter where you're from, no matter what movie genre you favor.Considering that Da Silva's own life was one of the streets, leading to an early death at nineteen, when he was killed by corrupt cops in a drug raid, the film becomes all the more disturbing when we realize that Da Silva truly is Pixote in a circle of life imitating art imitating life.
Director Hector Babenco used real street kids as the actors, adding to the films brutal reality.
The book and the film are equally disturbing portrayals of Brazil's street children.
I would suggest people to watch the movie "Who killed Pixote?" so you can have a more in depth idea of the lives of these characters.
Pixote is a little boy left abandoned on the streets and has to live a life of pimping, thieving and worse.Cinema has many roles to play, including providing the population with general entertainment.
Millions of children don't have a childhood, some don't go on to have an adulthood (Fernando Ramos Da Silva - the star of this film - was himself murdered at 19), so I am glad that we have this movie as a testament to these forgotten people.
It's also not limited by the generics of the prison movie as a lot of the action takes place outside the prison walls.The main character, an extremely small boy, Pixote (pronounced Pichote), is especially winsome and actually played by a real life delinquent who was subsequently shot by police in a shoot-out.
It's painfully clear at some points though that he is just a skinny little boy that needs his mother.There is charisma to spare in the acting performances, including a youngster who does an extremely catchy homage to Roberto Carlos (the great Brazilian singer as opposed to football player) for the prison gig, and appears destined for stardom if he can stay alive.The kids are in peril because the police are beating them to death in order to find out who killed the judge, whilst the incompetent prison authorities turn a blind eye and fall into a state of apathy concerning the well-being of their wards (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil).Babenco appears fascinated by prison culture and in both this film and his return to the genre with Carandiru (2003) he uses nakedness to remind us of the fundamental vulnerability of the human captives in his film.
It's not easy to label the film as nightmarish because some of the experiences, even when negative, are extremely rich, and the friendships heartfelt.A classic faux pas of many non-Anglo movies is that whenever whites appear, they are cardboard cutouts, but here the old American john is as well-realised and succinctly characterised as he could be.Favourite scenes of mine include the post-glue-sniffing fascination of Pixote, and the half-lit dormitory riot which is truly mad..
I was a teenager when this picture was released in the theatre,but those time Brazil was under military rule,l'd visited a favela where an aunt mine lived for a couple time,l'd realized some strong poverty for all people whose lived in such place,somehow my country were in economic expansion allowed for to many people oportunities to get a proper job and they get it so easily,by the way all things shown in this picture were real....but nowadays with the new drugs like "Crack" and the new parallel powers of the gangs likes PCC and CV who rule all favelas over country the whole thing is getting worst sadly.....Pixote was a little sample what really are happening today,unfortunately Brazil was under an old corrupt pratices for a long time and even changing the political parties along lastest years the things didn't changes nothing......and the people don't help too much too!!!Resume:First watch: 1987 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8.
This contemporary topic has been deftly handled by famous Brazilian director Hector Babenco in his film "Pixote, the law of the weakest" which is brutal yet an honest film about the vicious circle of violence whose victims happen to be children who have all been rejected by their families.
Some scenes and situations might shock sensitive viewers but "Pixote" doesn't fail to deliver home the message that life is stranger and harsher than filmed images as this film's protagonist Fernando Ramos da Silva was killed in 1987.
The film starts in São Paulo, Brazil and extends to the city of Rio. We are witnessing how orphan children are exploited and brought up in very bad conditions.
A deeply disturbing and heartbreaking neo-realist film, about an abandoned, unwanted 10 year old living first in a reformatory, and then on Brazil's mean streets.
Probably the weakest, most problematic moment is the opening, where the 'director' (Babenco, or an actor?) tells us that these actors are real people, gives us some facts and figures about them, and tells that their lives are much like those shown in the film.
What actually impressed me was that as the guy mentioned all the kid actors including the main character Pixote played by Fernando Ramos Da Silva were coming from the real world from the poorest neighborhoods, with one mission in life to survive.Drugs, rape, prostitution, murder Pixote has seen them all, and after reading the biography of the actor I am inclined to think that he has seen this things much before the idea of crating of that movie came up.
The sad reality is that these same children/non-actors were in effect victimized themselves for this film; "discovered" (like the lead character) by the film crew off the streets due to their economic desperation, and thus willingness to do anything on film.
Some aren't alive some 20+ years later, for all anyone knows.The "star", pre-teen street kid Fernando Ramos da Silva, plays the title character, a youth without a father or really any family who will look out for him, and placed among dozens of other street kids and delinquents in a reformatory for boys.
None of this, I should repeat, is shown with a kind of ham-fisted earnestness- certainly you would never in a million years see Ron Howard or Paul Haggis direct this kind of picture- and yet there's an emotional honesty to everything exactly because nothing is trivialized.Nearly every scene is significant to showing how fragile life is for Pixote, and how he could be killed or die some way at any turn, and so without even reaching puberty yet he has to be on the level of those around him who are a little older (though not by much at all) and become things that will haunt this person forever.
As with De Sica, maybe more-so given the consistent conditions of San Paolo and Rio street kids, he's a natural director of children, and coax's out of Ramos da Silva and Jorge Julião and others some really fine work that provides just the right touches of "cinematic" drama (that is not so real that it becomes documentary, which isn't a bad thing per-say) and even subtlety in some scenes.Pixote may not be as well known as it's later 21st century Brazilian films that look back on the horrors of Rio, or even neo-realist films, but it should be.
Brazil Raw. The life of a boy in the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with little crimes, prostitution, and other things under the wing of corrupt police and other criminals.The film features Fernando Ramos da Silva (who was killed at the age of 19 by Brazilian police in São Paulo) as Pixote.
The movie is shot in the manner of a documentary and shows the strong influence by Italian neorealism in that amateur actors were used whose real lives strongly resembled those of the protagonists in the film.This is by far the most "raw" a film about juvenile crime has ever been.
I really don't mean to be cruel towards the street kids who suffered in real life, I just don't think that making a supposedly "documentary" film is a good idea.
There are ghettos in America like the ones in Brazil, so it is a common, but sad, truth.Pixote had to be a foreign language film because Hollywood would never shoot some of the scenes Hector Babenco did.
Hector Babenco gives us one uncompromising and brutal look at the lives of the street boys in Brazil's largest city Sao Paulo.
One only hopes that it is 35 years since Pixote was released and the hope is things have improved for these kids who have to grow up way before their time.The films centers on the title character played by a young actor who himself never made it out of the slums.
Babenco used real street kid Fernando Ramos DaSilva as the ten year old Pixote who was killed at the age of 19 in a homicide that still raises questions.
Over two decades before the release of Fernando Meirelles' ultra-violent crime saga depicting feral youth growing up too fast in Rio, "Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco" set the bar as high as Christ the Redeemer overlooks the city in terms of capturing an accurate reality of the brutal favela life.
To speak relatively, if one were only to see now Hector Babenco's "Pixote" (1981, Brazil;pronounced as "pi-shot"), after having seen quite a number of films that deal with street children, juvenile delinquents, kids in trouble (Truffaut's "The 400 Blows", Bunuel's "Los Olvidados", De Sica's "Shoeshine", Nair's "Salaam, Bombay!", Bresson's "Mouchette", Nugroho's "Leaf on a Pillow", etc.), one might be afraid that the plight of the kid portrayed in the film might not affect one anymore, having been "de-synthesized" already after going through the emotional roller-coaster ride put in motion by the previously quoted films.Thankfully, that won't be the case.
For Babenco narrates his film in such a matter-of-fact manner ("artlessly", as one film reviewer put it, in a positive light) and that his central child performer, Fernando Ramos da Silva (13 years old at that time and a street kid himself), gives such a no-frills, wounded performance, raw in its simplicity (that hardened face, those lonely and longing eyes) that one is hard put not to be pierced in any way.
(Such a feeling may achieve such a heightened realism when one learns that the child had only lived but a short life, having been involved in street crimes after the film and subsequently murdered.)In about first half of the film, Pixote and his fellow street kids and delinquents spend their time in a repressive state-run reformatory school, where brutalization and humiliation, rape and murder, are the norm and culture;where they are forced to confess to their "crimes", on the flimsy notion that under the Brazilian law, underage felons are not "punishable" for their offenses.
With that scene, Babenco may just be doing an homage (amongst many other homages found in different films!) to the iconoclastic final scene in Truffaut's "The 400 Blows".But whereas we got to know what has become of Antoine Doinel three years later in the short film "Antoine et Colette" (as well as in three other feature films in the years thereafter), we are left grappling in the dark as to what lies ahead for Pixote after he finally disappears from the last frame, that being the last time that we'll get to see this real-life street child (notwithstanding the fate that eventually befell him in actuality)."Pixote" may not be as nearly as whimsical as "The 400 Blows" or as hallucinatory as "Los Olvidados", but it still stands out among films of similar theme and texture because of its simple, raw power..
And each time I watch, there is a point when a smile breaks over my face, the scene of PiXOTE and LILICA at the beach and CHICO commets on how he wishes ROBERTO, PEG LEG were there, this is a part of my childhood this is a part of me because what Hector Babenco communicated to me through this film wasn't LOOK AT THE PLIGHT OF THESE CHILDREN but LOOK AT THE PLIGHT OF HUMANITY, US!
Powerful movie about street life in Brazil..
You follow the life of the main character (a young boy Pixote) as he tries to survive the mean streets of San Paulo.
You will see how poverty and the constant struggle for a daily existence will damage the young characters in this movie for the rest of their lives.I would highly recommend everyone to see this film if you want to get a glimpse of what it is like to live in the so called "third world" and how the victimization goes on daily agains the powerless members of those societies..
Pixote is one of my favourites films,Hector Babenco used real kids from `the favelas', street kids, and focus his story in one kid : Fernando.
The kids watch all that kind of things happens around them: murders, prostitution, drugs, corruption, police abuse and involved in them.
After you watch Pixote don´t miss `Quem matou Pxote?' cause explain the life of the young boy(Fernando) after the film who makes him a star and how he becames a delinquent again, it´s a good movie if you loved Pixote.
"Pixote" concerns the (mis)adventures of the eponymous hero, a pre-adolescent boy in urban Brazil, abandoned by his parents, who first endures the horrors of a youth prison, and then those of life on the street.
Filmed in a quasi-documentary style with real street kids instead of professional actors (for the most part), "Pixote" will leave the viewer utterly devastated at the end of its 2+ hours.
It is particulary effective when it develops other characters as they are seen by Pixote, especially those of the streetwise transvestite homosexual Lilica and the aging alcoholic prostitute Sueli (unforgettably portrayed by Marilia Pera, one of the few pro actors in the cast), who become surrogate parents to the young boy in a kind of improvised family whose economy is based on mugging Sueli's clients.
I first saw Pixote over 20 years ago, and the thing that I always think about the movie is how, when I was first watching it, my friend who was also watching it nudged me and whispered "His face...look at his face", referring to Fernando Ramos De Silva.
"His face is growing harder, and older, and angry...how do you ACT that?" It's true: watch the movie and you'll notice that the face of Pixote becomes visibly more and more changed over time due to the life that he lives.
The film opens with the director talking to the camera and saying he is going to show a story about Brazilain street kids whose families live in poverty and must steal and kill to survive.
In fact the main character (Pixote) was played by an actual street kid only 11 years old.
Their survival is hard to watch with other street children, prostitutes, etc., and you begin to wonder HOW can things like this be allowed to happen in this world.Pixote is not a film for entertainment, it is a film of information.
The subtitle of the film literally means 'the law of the weakest' and here Babenco presents us with a harrowing and all too realistic portrayal of the life of a Brazilian street child.
Pixote (Fernando Ramos Da Silva) is a 10 year old boy who is taken from the streets of Sao Paulo by the police along with a group of other boys.
Everything is left to the actors who are filmed in a chilling matter-of-fact style which makes you feel almost as if you were there watching the horror of the boys lives first hand.The acting is astounding, particularly when you consider that many of the cast had no previous acting experience.
All of the child actors in Pixote are from Brazil's streets, coaxed into the film by Babenco in order to call attention to their living conditions.
What makes Da Silva's portrayal of Pixote even more poignant to me is that after completing the film he went on to sink back into poverty and crime, and at age 19 was shot dead by police who claimed he was involved in a robbery. |
tt0228246 | Duke Nukem 3D | === Setting ===
Duke Nukem 3D is set on Earth "sometime in the early 21st century". The levels of Duke Nukem 3D take players outdoors and indoors through rendered street scenes, military bases, deserts, a flooded city, space stations, moon bases, and a Japanese restaurant.
The game contains several humorous references to pop culture. Some of Duke's lines are drawn from movies such as Aliens, Dirty Harry, Evil Dead II, Full Metal Jacket, Jaws, Pulp Fiction, and They Live; the mutated women saying "Kill me" is a reference to Aliens. Players will encounter corpses of famous characters such as Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones, Snake Plissken, the protagonist of Doom, and a smashed T-800. In the first episode, players navigate a tunnel in the wall of a prison cell hidden behind a poster, just like in The Shawshank Redemption. During the second episode, players can see The Monolith (from 2001: A Space Odyssey) on the moon. In the bathroom of the first level, 867-5309 is written on a wall.
The game cover itself is a parody of Army of Darkness, with Duke posing as Ash Williams.
=== Story ===
There is little story in the game, only a brief text prelude located under "Help" in the Main Menu, and a few cutscenes after the completion of an episode. The game picks up right after the events of Duke Nukem II, with Duke returning to Earth in his space cruiser. As Duke descends on Los Angeles in hopes of taking a vacation, his ship is shot down by unknown hostiles. While sending a distress signal, Duke learns that aliens are attacking Los Angeles and have mutated the LAPD. With his vacation plans now ruined, Duke hits the "eject" button, and vows to do whatever it takes to stop the alien invasion.
In "Episode One: L.A. Meltdown", Duke fights his way through a dystopian Los Angeles. At a strip club, he is captured by pig-cops, but escapes the alien-controlled penitentiary and tracks down the alien cruiser responsible for the invasion in the San Andreas Fault. Duke discovers that the aliens were capturing women, and detonates the ship. Levels in this episode include a movie theater, a Red Light District, a prison, and a nuclear-waste disposal facility.
In "Episode Two: Lunar Apocalypse", Duke journeys to space, where he finds many of the captured women held in various incubators throughout space stations that had been conquered by the aliens. Duke reaches the alien mothership on the Moon and kills an alien Overlord. As Duke inspects the ship's computer, it is revealed that the plot to capture women was merely a ruse to distract him. The aliens have already begun their attack on Earth.
In "Episode Three: Shrapnel City", Duke battles the massive alien resistance through Los Angeles once again, and kills the leader of alien menace: the Cycloid Emperor. The game ends as Duke promises that after some "R&R", he will be "...ready for more action!", as an anonymous woman calls him back to bed. Levels in this episode include a sushi bar, a movie set, a subway, and a hotel.
The story continues in the Atomic Edition. In "Episode Four: The Birth", it is revealed that the aliens used a captured woman to give birth to the Alien Queen, a creature which can quickly spawn deadly alien protector drones. Duke is dispatched back to Los Angeles to fight hordes of aliens, including the protector drones. Eventually, Duke finds the lair of the Alien Queen, and kills her, thus thwarting the alien plot. Levels in this episode include a fast-food restaurant ("Duke Burger"), a supermarket, a Disneyland parody called "Babe Land," a police station, the Exxon Valdez, and Area 51.
With the release of 20th Anniversary World Tour, the story progress further. In "Episode Five: Alien World Order", Duke finds out that the aliens initiated a world-scale invasion, so he sets out to repel their attack on various countries. Duke proceeds to clear out aliens from Amsterdam (Netherlands), Moscow (Russia), London (England), San Francisco (USA), Paris (France), Giza Pyramid (Egypt), Rome (Italy), with the final showdown with the returning alien threat taking place in Los Angeles, taking the game full circle. There, he defeats the new "Inferno" Cycloid Emperor, the current alien leader, stopping their threat for good. | violence | train | wikipedia | Badass, but kicking and plain awesome..
The first time I played Duke Nukem 3D was at a friends place.
It has just been released and he was lucky enough to have a PC that could handle it, and the game itself.We spent several hours walking through just the first level, there was so much to see!
You got your explosive scenery, your secret areas, your generally badass weaponry (which IMO is still unmatched by ANY shooter today) a host of unique enemies and level design that introduces recognizable landmarks (cities, bars, strip clubs, prisons etc.) which, for it's time, was a great stride ahead!And of course, then there's the interactivity, also unmatched so far.
You could play a match of pool, burn your fingers on an electrical outlet, hand money to strippers, or shoot them, blow up most any decorative object in the game, as well as have Duke interact with an object, only to have him give one of his trademark one-liners.Which brings me to another great aspect of Duke 3D, The one-liners.
Although some of them where not exactly 'new' and taken from popular movies from back in the day, each and every one of them where humorous and usually highly appropriate quotes that really set Duke's personality.It's been a long while since I've seen a game character have that strong of a personality without the overuse of Cinematic cut-scenes and FMV's.3D Realms have truly shown what shooters should be like: Fast-paced, comical at times and very immersive.But after all this I left 1 rather important thing out: Multiplayer!
Essentially Duke Nukem 3D's multi-player modes are either Deathmatch (dubbed DukeMatch) or Cooperative Play.In DukeMatch the goal is simple: Kill as many other players as you possibly can.
With weapons like the Freezer, the shrinker, the RPG and Tripbombs this could either turn into your frantic killing spree or attempting to lure the enemy into your own traps.With Cooperative play the goal was to finish the Singleplayer campaign with multiple players.
For this purpose 3DRealms had added additional weapons, extra buttons (to evade certain 'lock-up' situations that might occur in single-player) and other useful stuff.Duke Nukem 3D is a classic and IMO deserves to be PC Game #1 ever.
In combination with JonoF's port (a result of the source code release) this game can even be played on Win32 systems.Hail to the King baby!.
This is one of my all-time favorite computer games.
The game may not be as good as today's 3D shooters like Half-Life and Unreal.
This game is still pretty fun to play.
This game has everything.
Blood, Gore, Destruction, Mayham, and hot women.
Everything you want in a video game is in Duke Nukem.
Don't forget about the sequels to this wonderful game: Duke Nukem: A Time To Kill, Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, and Duke Nukem Forever.
This game rocks!!!I give this game 10 out of 10.
My Favorite Game.
Duke Nukem 3D is the most action packed video game ever.
There are plenty of villains, some can even kill each other, saving the player weapons and ammo.
I won't tell you which ones but they are awesome to watch.
There are so many weapons and accessories that you won't find a way to be bored with this game unless someone takes it away from you.
I recommend this to all video game players who haven't played it before.
How was this :The Game that Brought the Fame?.
There was no way in the world that this game could become successful!
Even at the time the graphics where nothing new, after Duke 1 and 2: the story line was nothing new, within months of it's release Jedi Knights and Quake 2s started cropping up but all of these latter games had one ingredient missing: they didn't have Duke.
The ultra violent, blonde haired, muscle bound he-man with a big gun was back and this time he had a mouth like a trash can and big breasted woman throwing themselves at The Man. Duke Nukem appeals to many people because his goal wasn't to save the galaxy as a whole, it was to score with babes!
And the next time you get mad because you're blown away in DukeMatch remember these words of advise: Guns are cool, bones heal and chicks dig scars..
quite possibly the best game the world has ever seen.
this game itself is a god.
it is the emblem of all that is great all all man wishes to accomplish.
I still play this game because it is better than all the crap that is out here now.
6 YEars!
and they can't make anything better.ANyone who hates this game is challanged in some sort of way..
Duke Nukem = Action + Humour + Replayability.
Duke Nukem 3D has all the action of today's video games, coupled with humour, and secrets that keep you searching for hours.
With today's advanced computer hardware even a simple system can take full advantage of the features of this game.
It offers cheat codes, as well as a range of difficulty levels, the easiest being laughably easy, and the hardest leaving sweat stains on your computer room chair.I have replayed Duke Nukem 3D many times, always entertained by the humorous endings to boss battles, which I will not reveal to prevent spoiler warnings.
All I can say is BUY THIS GAME!.
The game that redefined the genre.
Duke3D is quite possibly the best single player FPS of all time.
Though outdated today, it was downright incredible when it released and a quantum leap over existing games.
In single player it easily beats Quake but can't even compare to Quake in multi-player.
For a sprite based engine, it did push its capabilities as far as it could have.
Gameplay and interactivity wise, it is unmatched for what it did during its time.If only 3D Realms are today what they were in 1996.
Quite possibly the biggest pool of talent on the planet, slowly dispersed to other companies and using their talent effectively there.
PC Gamer previews of Duke4ever said that the game was very much like the old duke.
Lets hope it is..
Great game especially for 96!.
Rated M for Strong Violence,Blood,Gore,Language and Sexual Content.Duke Nukem 3D is the first 3D Duke Nukem game and the third game in the Duke Nukem series.I have not played the first two Duke Nukem games but I have played Duke Nukem Manhattan Project.Duke Nukem 3D changed the series.The first two Duke Nukem games which came out in 1991 and 1993 were just simple platform games.Nothing special.Duke Nukem 3D however changed the series into an ultra violent,profane and sexual horror video game with elements of humor.This game is a lot like Shadow Warrior(which was made by the same creator).Duke Nukem 3D's graphics may seem dated by today's standards but this game will remain a classic in my book.Duke Nukem 3D is about a bad-ass action hero who always scores with the babes who has to save the world from aliens.With funny one-liners and lots of blood and violence Duke Nukem 3D is a game you wont want to miss.9/10.
Duke Nukem rocks..
Duke Nukem rocks..
This review is for the XBLA version.Back in the mid 90's, a legend was born; gracing the screens of PC and console gamers alike with his brash, no-holds barred bravado with tongue-in-cheek goodness ever comprised for one of the greatest video game heroes of all time blasting alien scum in the streets of a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, outer space, and back on Earth.
A cultural icon among the brightest corners of the virtual spectrum, Duke Nukem ushered in a new breed of hero at a time when virtually none had any and propelled the hero we know and love into popularity.
Now, on Xbox Live, gamers all over the world and newcomers can experience the Duke like they've never seen before with new features such as the ability to "rewind" the game to a previous point, usually when you get killed by an enemy, fall into a bottomless pit, or simply by blowing yourself up, presumably with a rocket launcher or pipe bomb.
This feature is really innovative in execution and gives you a bit of strategy.
The game is no cakewalk but for seasoned Dukesters, it's a walk in the park.
You can also earn achievements by fulfilling certain requirements within the game that unlock a few surprises.
Finally, you can play offline or online with your fellow Dukesters for some balls-to-the-wall splattering action with the addition of leader boards for tracking your progress for best times and number of kills.
My only gripe is that you can't play in HD mode.
I know some people are nostalgic, but I would've loved to see Duke in HD.So...is the Duke worth playing again?
The answer is YES!!!
If you never had the pleasure of playing Duke Nukem 3d back in the '90s and have an Xbox 360, get this game and prepare yourself for one of the funniest, blood-soaked high octane action-packed games of the world.Hail to the king, baby!!.
True Legends never die, one of my favorite games of all time!
I've been playing this game since I was seven years old and I never get tired of it, I still play it every now and then even today.
Not only are the episodes and enemies really creative but people are able to create levels for the game as well and a lot of the levels available for download are just as good as the original levels 3D realms has created and the Build Engine definitely deserves critical acclaim for this :) There are loads of fantastic downloadable mods and episodes out there for this as well so the game will literally have you coming back for more.
I remember I used to complete the game over and over again....
oh the memories.
Now here's a hopin' we get to see the Battlelord in Duke Nukem Forever if it ever comes out :).
What an entry!
Phew!.
The popularity of Duke3D easily rivals that of Doom and Quake and even exceeds them in some cases, even though the latter mentioned were technological breakthroughs when they released.
In a way, Duke3D was also a technological breakthrough on a smaller scale and had groundbreaking interactivity but what made it stand out was Duke himself and for the first time ever, a computer game actually had attitude.
But that itself was nothing compared to the fantastic level design, sounds and artwork which were all quite ahead of other games at the time.
The music by Lee Jackson was also stuck in a lot of people's minds.
Sadly since a lot of the original Duke3D staff have been fired by 3D Realms, people may remain a bit skeptic if the sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, will deliver an experience on the same scale?
For Duke fans, check out the High Resolution Pack at duke4.net..
Duke Nukem 3D!.
The Duke Nukem series is one of the most exciting first person shoot em up video games!
The characters, monsters, and the action makes this game a fun non-stop playing time!
Below is a brief look how I think the game is!
Game Play: The game play is very good.
There is really basic controls here and is easy to perform.
Novice gamers should have a good time here!Graphics: The graphics are wonderful especially for the Nintendo 64.
The backgrounds are really beautiful!Difficulty: The game is easy but as it goes on you find out that it will become more difficult!Music: The music is great!
Just fantastic catchy tunes through out the game!
In My opinion its some of the best music ever in a video game!Sound: The sound is great.
Nuff said!Overall: I have always loved Duke Nukem 3d!
If you like excellent shoot em up games then I strongly recommend you play this game!To purchase this video game check out Amazon.com!.
Good old times..
Duke Nukem was really one of those cool games that appeared in the 90s.
It caused a huge step forward in video games and it's genre - first person shooters.
Straight from the arcade games, to the PC from 3D realms, the production that did a fine job with this character.
Duke is an alpha macho main man (as George Carlin called them macho motherf***ers, alpha male jack offs, the muscle a-holes) an alien exterminator and a chick magnet, who saves the planet from evil aliens.
Voiced the Jon St. John, who got stuck with the character, but better him than anyone else, I can't remember anyone who can replace him.
The game offers you highly entertaining action and story.
The character of Duke is himself a parody on some well known movie hero characters and it's combined to one unique character and that's practically good and funny.
For 1996, the graphics were good, the sound effects were awesome and the idea itself of the entire game was good.
When I say "good old times", I really mean it.
Because this Duke game was extremely fun it was the pure meaning of what a video game should be.
A clean, good entertainment.
But, yes, this game holds also pornographic content and violence, but If you can handle it...
no problem, then..
the best game franchise ever made since DooM 1992.
Duke nukem made his first appearance in 1991 and then is DUKE NUKEM 3D turns out it's actually the 3rd game in the series which is probably why the stuck in developement hell sequel duke nukem forever had to be a 4th entry in the long running franchise and a final game to end the series but with bad reviews and critics alike disliking dn forever the game is inspired by many classic action movies in the past like they live , die hard , terminator , ALIENS , and big trouble in little chinaduke himself is voiced by john st johnthe graphics were great and gameplay is fun and interesting many cool and big weapons to chose from in order to kick some alien ass what i liked most was duke quoting which usually happens when killing aliens , finding easter eggs , reference movie quotes etc the game is seperate in 4 episodes and alot of levels usually around 12 or short there are alot of duke nukem games now since 3D was the most popular with this series in order time to kill , land of the babes , zero hour , criticall massfinal verdict is a 9/10 for the best first person shooter series since DooM and system shock.
Well it scared me.
When I played this game at 10 years old it scared the heck out of me.
But then when I played again in my teenage years I found it to be rather crappy.
The effects were good for it's time.
But now there are better First-Person Shooters out there.
Soldier of Fortune, Quake 3..etc |
tt0496328 | Itty Bitty Titty Committee | Anna has been rejected by her college, her girlfriend broke up with her, and her big sister is getting married. She meets Sadie, who invites her to join Clits In Action, or C(i)A, a radical Third-wave feminist group. Anna soon gets in touch with her political side. She takes part in illegal activism with the group and becomes more aggressive in her daily life.
Anna starts falling for Sadie, who has been involved for years with an older woman named Courtney. Courtney works with a more mainstream feminist organization and disagrees with the C(i)A's method of creating awareness through public art, which usually involves vandalism.
The group travels to take part in a gay marriage protest – instead of being for or against it, they argue that marriage is the wrong goal, as it is an institution rooted in sexism. Despite being warned by another member of the C(i)A, Meat, that Sadie uses people, Anna shares a night of passion with her while they stay in a hotel. At the rally the next day, the outspoken Shulamith ends up nearly coming to blows with a protester. The fight is caught by a local news crew and the group's message is misconstrued as violent and homophobic. Meat also reveals that their website – which they considered the center of their activism – has not received hits from anyone besides themselves.
C(i)A attempts to have a meeting at Courtney's home, but personal conflicts come to a head. Anna believes Sadie is going to leave Courtney to be with her, but Sadie remains dependent on her partner. Meat and Shulamith announce that they're giving up on the group, Sadie stays behind with Courtney, and Aggie (a transgender man, the only guy allowed in the group, due to his female anatomy) comforts Anna, who is heartbroken over Sadie's rejection and the loss of the C(i)A. They end up partying together and having a one-night stand. In the morning, Aggie has prepared breakfast and procured a flower for Anna, who only considers him a friend. Sadie arrives to talk about what happened the night before. Anna tries to explain that her night with Aggie meant nothing. He overhears and is deeply hurt. Sadie leaves and Anna finds herself truly alone.
In an attempt to fix things, Anna formulates a master plan to get C(i)A national attention. Meat and Shulamith like her idea, but insist she must make things right with Aggie. Anna apologizes, Aggie forgives her, and the four carry out the plan, without Sadie.
Anna attends her sister's wedding, bringing joy to her family, but leaves early to execute her part of the plan – sneaking into the studio of a popular talk show with Aggie and Meat. Courtney is appearing on the show to argue about the appropriateness of a celebration over the (arbitrary) anniversary of the construction of the Washington Monument, which she feels is a distraction from real issues. When the host requests a live shot of the monument, the C(i)A feeds their footage in. With the expert help of one of Shulamith's lovers, Calvin (who was discharged from the military for being a lesbian under Don't Ask Don't Tell), and Meat's prowess with sculpture, a giant phallus has been erected atop the Washington Monument and is blown off with explosives. Back at the studio, Aggie pulls the fire alarm and the group escapes.
In the getaway car waiting for Anna, she is surprised to see Sadie, who has finally broken it off with Courtney. Sadie apologizes for her behavior, and the two agree to just be friends, but then kiss. Through text in the epilogue, it is revealed that Shulamith and Calvin volunteered to take the fall for the explosion, and received a reduced sentence because no one was hurt. Aggie started hormone therapy, started a new feminist group for men and got a girlfriend. Meat's sculpture appearing on TV launched her art career. Courtney took the talk show host, Marcy, out to dinner after fleeing the building together. Marcy subsequently left her husband to move in with Courtney. Anna and Sadie remain together, and Anna now attends college, where she has created a group focused on positive body image called the Itty Bitty Titty Committee. | prank | train | wikipedia | Some friends of mine recommended me the film Itty Bitty Titty Committee because they know the lesbian film Kissing Jessica Stein is one of my favorite romantic comedies.I did not like that film only for the lesbian subtext,but because I found it funny,honest and much more credible than most of the romantic comedies,in which the central couple falls in love because the screenplay says so and not because the story,performances or dialogues make us believe on that.Although I liked Kissing Jessica Stein more,Itty Bitty Titty Commitee is an excellent film which goes much more far away than being a simple romantic comedy,thanks to its intelligent screenplay and its fascinating ideas.The themes and messages from Itty Bitty Titty Committee are valid and simply great.This movie represents a great antidote against craps like Aquamarine and Bratz : The Movie,in which the female ideal is represented by the sizes of the bosoms,the popularity and the fashion.This movie also uses the "culture jamming" to spread its ideas,something similar to what people like Abbie Hoffman and Joey Skaggs did to show the hypocrisy,stupidity and contradictions from the society.The great thing this movie does is that it takes all that ideas putting an own ideology which leaves the spectator thinking and discussing when the movie is over.I truly admire when a movie provokes that on the spectator (at least in my case).I also appreciated the irreverent attitude from the audacious screenplay.The performances are excellent because they show enormous energy and enthusiasm.The only fail I found on this movie is that the ending could have been a bit more polished.But that's a minor fail which did not avoid me to like this movie very much.Itty Bitty Titty Committee is a brilliant movie which kept me enormously entertained and interested thanks to its performances,style,energy and its excellent screenplay,which is full of sharp dialogues and which has something to say.And,besides of entertaining me a lot,this movie also left me thinking.We need more films like this one..
Itty Bitty Titty Committee - Babbit's finger is on the pulse of queer cinema.
Wickedly talented director Jamie Babbit once again has her finger on the pulse of queer culture with this wry romantic comedy in which anarchic punk twenty-somethings vivaciously vandalize patriarchal symbols under the name of the C(I)A (Clits in Action).
Fresh out of high school, mundane lesbian Anna has no direction or motivation.
Having recently broken up with her girlfriend, she is the maid of honor at her picture perfect sister's wedding and works a monotonous job at a plastic surgery clinic.
It's not until she meets foxy Sadie as she's spray painting empowering statements on Anna's office window that she wakes up and finds a purpose.
Set to the inspiring riot grrl music of Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, Itty Bitty Titty Committee isn't your traditional feminist film: instead, it's an ode to grrl power for the gender-bending queer punk generation.This film was a lot of fun!
There were lots of hard laughs for me, starting with the name C(I)A and ending with the take-over of the Marcy Maloney TV set!
a girl becomes empowered by the itty bitty titty committee.
I loved BUT IM A CHEERLEADER but i seriously think this film is better.
great music, great acting, great love story and seriously important political message.
I'm a big fan of le tigre and this movie is like the film version of their music.
My mom saw it too and she was so happy to see a movie about young people caring about feminist politics.
Melonie Diaz was awesome and Daniela Sea from the L word too played a great Iraqi war veteran who takes revenge on Washington for dismissing her under don't ask don't tell.
She is such a great actress and its nice to see her again in something lesbian since her work on hero's and carnivale.
Jamie Babbit needs an Oscar....this is fun, factual, funny and for god's sake a really good love story.
I think that anna and sadie are sexy and really real as chicks who dig chicks....daniela sea has never been better and guin turner is funny.
Good old fashion love story set against the funny group of hot chicks trying to change the world.
It is funny and the best lesbian film I have ever seen.
BEST LESBIAN FILM EVER!!!!!.
Anna (Melonie Diaz from Be Kind Rewind and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) catches Sadie (Nicole Vicius from Hal Nelson) tagging the windows where she works.
She is a quiet, doormat kind of girl, and now she is in the middle of a group of radical women out to change the world.Will the experience change her?
This amid a continual stream of punk, home-movie like shots of girls just having fun, the politics of direct action, and, yes, sex; but only as an exclamation point, not a continual conversation.A "real" lesbian movie that was a real joy from start to finish..
Itty Bitty Titty Committee seems like a gay film for the self-conscious or the quiet homosexuals; a film that they can watch and release their inner-self, yelling at the screen and even going as far as personally siding with the character(s).
However, due to its thin and uncertain nature, this film doesn't appear to have much of a thought as to what direction it wants to go in.
Humanizing the feminists in general or the characters in the film?
These are all discarded while the film attempts to make up its mind.The story concerns Anna (Melonie Diaz), a young woman working at a plastic surgery clinic and has just gone through a rough breakup.
When she meets Sadie (Nicole Vicius), a social activist responsible for the "C(i)A" (aka, "Clits in Action," if you couldn't make out the little text reference.
The C(i)A works in giving the impressionable public a taste of the strength that women possess, yet are forced to repress in a male-dominated culture.
Anna soon becomes consumed in this lifestyle, and her morals and ethics become flipped upside down as her obedient nature is turned into a smarmy, non-conformist personality-change that feeds on ego and narcissistic intentions.There's nothing more disappointing than a film with an idea that results in a missed opportunity, and Itty Bitty Titty Committee is a grand one.
Our lead characters, mainly Sadie, seem less concerned with how others feel and more concerned about their well-being and personal needs.Even the monologues delivered by the members of the C(i)A leave a lot to be desired.
When we're dropped into a world foreign to our "normal" one in films, we'd like to be provided with a little backstory into the setting, time period, and philosophy of the characters.
Consider Red State, Kevin Smith's film that focused on a devoutly religious family that committed atrocities against gays and non-believers.
And they have a talent for swaying Anna with their tactics in only what seems to be a few days.On the bright side of things, director Jamie Babbit (of But I'm a Cheerleader fame) continues to show promise in her career as a director, as do several of the actresses here, and the soundtrack and cinematography were the two primary things keeping me alert and in-tune with the film.
Yet the lack of an introduction on feminism itself, the repetitive state of events, the senseless and absurd ending, and the emptiness of any deeper meaning, Itty Bitty Titty Committee quickly spirals down to the level of forgettable obscurity I'm almost certain it was trying to avoid.Starring: Melonie Diaz, Nicole Vicius, and Melanie Mayron.
I saw the Itty Bitty Titty Committee at a screening and was quite surprised.
Even though I - as a man, may be not the main target group, I really liked the movie.
Director Jamie Babbit makes some very interesting stylistic choices and the camera work is really innovative; that was one reason why I really had fun watching the movie.
Besides this the story is very well developed, it as a nice exposition, and before you even notice you are already a part of Anna's (the protagonist) life and in the middle of the IBTC.
The actresses do a really great job, Melonie Diaz is already established in the independent movie scene and the Itty Bitty Titty Committee shows why - she has found a very sensitive way of interpreting Anna's part and it is amazing watching her playing this girl.
Also to mention are several well-known faces who are also part of the IBTC as Daniela Sea (The L Word) or Carly Pope (Popular).
Moreover I was really impressed of the editing that goes along with great music, that completely hits the atmosphere of the movie.
So to bring this to an end: As a (independent) film lover I was happy to see the Itty Bitty Titty Committee and can only recommend it to everyone who is interested in good movies.
And of course, seeing beautiful women making out is always a reason to see a movie ;-).
I just usually see people killing off all the lesbians in a film (or having them kill off people).
These women were able to talk about all these issues and make it funny.
It's like people don't think lesbians have any other story in them but that one.
Itty Bitty ROCKS!.
I was able to see Itty Bitty Titty Committee at SXSW.
Finally, a gay film that is NOT a coming out story.
The film is totally funny and everyone in it is great.
Great direction by Jamie Babbit, and well produced.
Anyone who reads this should go see this film and spread the word.
Itty Bitty Titty Committee ROCKS!
I promise, you will love this movie!
This film is socially relevant and fun at the same time.
It's pretty much a all woman cast with lots of the "popular" girls in it.
The girls who play Ana and Sadie (the leads) are so pretty and incredible talented.
The best part of the film is the whole thing.
It should be on the best list of lesbian films ever made..
More like feminist horror story..
Here we have an educational feminist propaganda movie dressed as a comedy.
A bunch of no so pretty girls doing not so much real work, they partying a little and doing not so much revolutionary work in not so much funny movie.
I call it both dumb and naive.I happen to live in a former communist country where the REAL feminism was a daily thing.
We have had these really emancipated women who were driving tractors, working in steel mills and doing all possible "male jobs" including serving in military and dying for our country.
Not so romantic and not so pretty in reality.I would recommend to folks who think this is progressive to visit some real place where the women have their revolutionary roles assigned by government like Northern Korea.
It is way different than they think.Some confused folk might think this naive propaganda movie is somewhat inspirational or funny.
I consider this to be a slow and somewhat boring horror movie because I have seen the society where this became a harsh reality.
Something like a funny movie about a bunch of mad outsiders who are mad at the oppression of the society and decide to found an activist group called NSDAP.
The most frustrating aspect of this film is that it had a good premise and could have been something truly powerful for the community.For all of its expression of feminist empowerment, it is utterly amazing that the filmmaker expects the audience to accept that the main character can use and abuse the friendship of the transgender character and be together with the pretty little femme girl, who has a history of using and abusing other women.
That ending completely undercuts many of the themes of the film itself.On top of that, the only characters with any depth at all are those that, interestingly enough, are more stereotypically feminine in their appearance.
I'm sure that someone will point out that this is a comedy, but it should still be consistent in its own logic.Once again, Jamie Babbit has come up with an interesting premise and refused to do it justice..
Where are the actual itty bitty titties on feminine women??
The lead characters have sizable boobs that would be considered "acceptable" by most men and women.
Where were the feminine characters with itty bitty titties??
For a conventionally pretty girl with tits (Melanie Diaz) to start an "Itty Bitty Titty Committee" seems condescending and indulgently self-righteous.
I want to see itty bitty titties for real, and not only on "butch" women.
This movie is not real.
I had high hopes for this film, after loving 'But I'm a Cheerleader', but frankly, I was disappointed.
The relationship between Anna and Sadie was terrible.
I just couldn't bring myself to route for them, because Sadie treated Anna terribly and Anna was better without her, as shown at the end when the plan comes together.
This film would have been better if it focused on the group more as a whole, because it raised some issues that are important, and had more interesting characters in it than Anna and Sadie.Basically, I wouldn't recommend this as a 'must-see' lesbian film, because there are so many that are better.
But it raises some interesting political debates, so as long as you're not too bothered about liking the characters, you should watch it..
Just saw the movie for the first time today.
Europride in Stockholm and a three day short gay/lesbian film festival.
And there it was...Itty Bitty Titty Committee.
And there it was...Itty Bitty Titty Committee.
This film made a lot of people very happy today.
And I strongly recommend this movie for everyone with a sense of humor!.
For all those lesbian-friendly folks, this is a great introduction to the wonderful world of empowered womyn.
I ran into it already playing during a film club meeting.
For something that bills itself as a 'lesbian' movie, you would expect, at the minimum, some feverish finger-blasting or some heated frottage.
If you want to see some really worn out looking women blathering about misogyny (which doesn't even real!) pass this movie up.
Hustler's "No Man's Land: Asian Edition" is the far better lesbian movie you are looking for..
So I will try once more.I mostly enjoyed this engaging story about a small sect of feminists and lesbians who call themselves the C(i)A.
In fact, that really would have made a better title for the film, which was more about the whole of feminism and equality than women altering their bodies to appease some societal standard.
Ana (Melonie Diaz) is a young lesbian trying to get over a recent breakup.
One night, she hears someone spray-painting her building with feminist slogans and tries to call 911, but when the beautiful and enigmatic Sadie (Nicole Vicius) struts up to her, Ana falls in love again, and is quickly swept up into the C(i)A's political demonstrations and takes their message into her heart.
There is nothing wrong with being a lesbian, and there is certainly nothing wrong with being a feminist, but when Ana begins acting bitchy towards her older sister, who is getting married, talking about how marriage is a stupid and useless institution, she is being ugly and inappropriate, hurtful and disrespectful.
Remember, Ana, many people still believe in marriage and want it in their lives, even lesbians and feminists.
The other thing that made me mad was how she used Lauren Mollica's character, Aggie, during a fight with Sadie.
The supporting cast is mainly what makes this film fun and engaging.
I am in lust with Daniela Sea, who plays Calvin, and I love the character Meat (in spite of her being named after a balding guy playing a high school jock in the Porky's movies!), played by Deak Evgenikos.
The could have all sat, smiling, their faces on screens all over the country, saying, "You may not like what we have to say, but we're saying it anyway." A good effort for the most part..
The story line and attitude it brings along with it is very teen and yet it makes you feel happy to be who you are and even dare I say it the movie shows a representation of really just a 'You Only Live Once' vibe yet for me I enjoyed that.
So putting the topics to a summary the movie contains a healthy attitude to body image, a comforting look into the LGBT community and a good explanation and understanding of how society and the government combined can be manipulated against it self and alter the minds of the community.
Fun Film That Actually Explores Some Serious Issues.
This film, which centers around the activities of a clandestine gang of radical feminists who attempt to culture jam patriarchal imagery and a young high-school graduate (Anna) who joins them after being invited by their really attractive leader (Sadie), not only provides a cute storyline (though, obviously not completely realistic), but actually gives an airing to debates that exist within the feminist, queer, and activist communities in the United States.The conflict between more traditional community organizers, activists, and nonprofit leaders (such as Sadie's mainstream feminist girlfriend Courtney) and more radical groups (like the C.I.A.) is explored in the film in a way that's actually fairly level-handed...
while the C.I.A.'s exploits are somewhat glorified, we also get to see the tension some of the characters (like Anna and Courtney) exhibit bridging these two worlds.
Shulamith's queer identity (at the beginning of the movie she dates men before she meets Calvin) provides a sense of diversity in orientations, negating the idea that "straight" and "lesbian" are the only valid identities for women.
The riot grrl soundtrack and references to all different kinds of activism add to a kind of feel-good and playful anarchist vibe that, while it may not change the world, at least gets people thinking while they have some fun.
Because this movie is smart, but doesn't take itself too seriously, I highly recommend it. |
tt0359398 | Hellbreeder | English police are baffled after a number of children are brutally murdered. Alice (Uphill) takes a profound interest in the murders as her own son, Daniel, was killed years ago and she is haunted by recurring nightmares. The event replays in her mind, as she remembers walking her son home late one night when they stop to rest on a park bench. They sit next to a clown, who gives Daniel a balloon. A man then rushes at them from the darkness and kills Daniel, injuring his mother. Alice clearly remembers the man's face. The same man has been spotted close to each of the murders in the current slayings. She confides this to Detective Weiss, the investigating officer.
Alice finds and confronts the man, and holds a gun to his head but can't bring herself to kill him. She instead takes him prisoner in an effort to hear his story. The man's name is Sam and informs Alice that he is hunting a creature from hell who kills children. Alice is unsure whether to believe him when she receives a call informing her that another child has been killed in front of witnesses, who report the murderer as being a clown. It is now that she comes to the realization that it wasn't Sam who killed her child but the clown and that her memory was wrong. She agrees to help Sam, who has been present at the murders not as a perpetrator but as the hunter of the monster, known as the Hellbreed.
Meanwhile, Detective Weiss has pulled up Alice's files and it is revealed that she has been committed to a mental institution in 1989. She escaped in 1995 and is still wanted by the authorities. Alice is handcuffed and taken to the institute. Outside they encounter the Hellbreed who kills Detective Weiss but leaves Alice unharmed and backs away. Sam arrives and kills the Hellbreed.
The film is interspersed with footage of Alice being interviewed, supposedly back at the institution after the events occurred. In this way she acts as a narrator. It is seen at that Alice has not obtained peace and breaks down in front of the camera before the image fades to black. | insanity, revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | While watching "Hellbreeder" on DVD, I was really trying to understand what was happening on the screen.
I decided to stop the movie for a moment and read the cover of the DVD seeking a hint.
However, the only thing that I could notice is that the directors and writer apparently were under effect of acid or LSD when they wrote and shot the film, and the images are probably based on a bad trip.
This movie is simply awful, among the worst I have ever seen.
Further, I can not understand why this flick is tagged "horror" - actually "Hellbreeder" is horrible and dreadful, a waste of time.
At no time throughout this movie did I know what was happening.
It was a headache to watch and certainly I read on the back of the DVD what it was meant to be about.
Unfortunately I had to watch it all as it was a part of the crappy movie marathon we were having but this one takes the cake.....
Why money was wasted on putting this supposed film on DVD I have no idea.
AMAZING that anyone thought 70's crooner Darren Day would make a scary bad guy by slapping a bit of clown make up on him and forcing him to say the F word.AMAZING that out of all the lead actresses they could have picked for the part, they chose one that can't act for toffee, and doesn't even look good with her clothes off (with or without the big, fake chest scar which incidentally, brings me to...)AMAZING that the make-up effects can actually be worse than every cheapo 50's horror I've seen, and considering how many late nights I've had in front of my old VCR, that's some achievement.AMAZING that the financiers didn't take one look at the script for this ridiculous thing (I dare not denigrate the word film) and didn't run for the hills.And AMAZING that anyone can give it more than 1 out of 10.
The other 5% will probably take the DVD home, and watch it repeatedly as a way of getting their fix without going to the nightclub.
This movie is really a strange, weird, paranoic descent into the depths of the hells of the mind of a deranged woman, gone crazy for the loss of his child.
The score, made by the director and writer of this movie, is probably too similar to Carpenter's one for his masterpiece Halloween, but it is functional to the situation (and there are also influences by other past scores by Morricone and such for several of the Italian giallos from the Seventies).
If you like good cinematography and weird stuff, this movie is definitely worth a viewing (even for the beauty of the lead actress), while if you prefer a clear explanation of what's going on, it's better to leave this movie on the shelves of your video-retailer.
It was hard to follow, confusing, and just ridiculous to ever put the label "Horror" on it.Something about a psycho woman witnessing her sons death and becoming obsessed with finding her sons killer (and i only know that from reading the movie cover).
Its a waste of time and money, not even bad enough to be laughed at.
The only reason the actors could categorized as "good" actors is because they had a maximum of three lines each in the movie!
The entire time my head was ringing with some shitty Michael Myers/Circus/hypnotizing music sh*!...The only reason I rated it a 2 instead of a 1 is because I was put through the high school movie production of "Near Death" last night..
worst film ever.
How the hell did Darren Day get any acting part - when I realised he was in it I was totally put off (if you are English you will know all that he has ever done or is famous for is poor seaside style singing and dumping girlfriends at the altar), but I still gave it a chance...
Avoid this film or anything Darren Day has attached to!!
Bad, rubbish, worst British film ever..
If you have to watch this film (for example as a punishment in a prison or something) shut your eyes and close your ears!!
Unwatchable t*rd, unbearable, actually irritating, hateful crud, painfully dull, painfully feeble, had me hitting fast-forward, the director should be shot, but not before I get my £1.99 refund, Darren Day is the worst person alive - you have to see his retarded scene where he is covered in dirt getting sucked off in the back of a van, it is a atrocious, the whole thing is atrocious - Day even pulls out a script towards the end and starts flicking through it...
my God - spooky clowns and dead kids, who gives a damn, give me a break, I'm taking the hammers to this, if I ever see the director(s) (it took two people to sh*t this out?) down a dark street, I'm going to set the dogs on them.
Although the killer has been seen and sketched, and although everyone knows what he looks like, he for some reason can't be caught.
If it were the FBI doing the investigating, that result would be no surprise, but this film takes place in England.Alice, who seems to have no job of any kind, is obsessed with tracking down her child's murderer.
As the film progresses, the line between her visions and reality fades, and we wonder more and more whether particular events shown are real or just in her head.
This dynamic takes over the film, very effectively, and the plot moves into some surprising places (which I won't reveal here).This movie reminded me at times of an old Italian giallo -- and I love a good giallo.
Most of the acting was second-rate or unremarkable at best, but Lynndie Uphill, the actress who plays Alice, was truly impressive in what seems to me to have been quite a challenging role.
Alas, according to this site, Hellbreeder has been her only film to date.
Some of the writing was quite good, and some of the music was lovely -- but at times the story would drag or drift off into overdone special effects or long, boring shots of characters looking introspective.
Nevertheless, this film's premise was quite interesting and dynamic.
Although the film lags at many places, it was worth watching overall.
I have not seen this yet, but I have seen the original cut, called "Alice" and that was great, i loved the whole film, it was creepy and cool, the colour of the film is great Kodak reversal stock, makes it look great.
The director Johannes, says that hellbreeder is completely different from Alice, which is a shame, Alice is amazingly good, parts remind me of Clockwork orange, but hell man, Alice is great, If you can find it, which I think is impossible then Alice is worth a watch.
Cant say more than that really, But for a cool colour how the film is shot, then check it out!
A woman must put her life back together while chasing after a homicidal killer clown murders her son in this excruciatingly bad exercise in tedium masquerading as a horror film.Those of you who hoping for a nice 'killer clown' horror flick will be sadly disappointed as the writing/directing team of James Eaves and Johannes Roberts have vastly different plans for those foolish enough to dare watch this film.
Plans that involve artsy camera shots, an undeserved aura of pretentiousness, incomprehensible story-line, and other 'art school film project'-type pitfalls.
No suspense, no scares, characters that are hard to give a toss about, & a soundtrack that rips-off Halloween (and does so badly) are just a few more reasons to skip this film.
The worst movie ever!.
I have seen lots of movies, good and bad, but this was the worst movie ever, the only horror movie i've seen where the most horrible thing was the movie itself!!!!
It reminded me of a home movie gummed together by my aunt Flo after a drunken and diurretic trip to Mexico.
Please don't waste your time or money on this dog, give some blood instead, you won't see any in this movie and when you do you won't care because you're ready to scream from boredom!!!!
Don't watch unless you're just currious how bad a movie can be and still make into your local video shop, the most horrible horror movie ever!!!.
Looked Funny But Soon Turned Sad. Well i always try to find a positive in all movies but this kinda bad It's a very bad movie i for one just lost total interest I couldn't stay focused on the movie One thing i must say is reading the cover it sounded kinda cool But as cool as it sounded and as funny as the cover was it was just sad For me like i said i try to find a positive in all movies But i can't find a positive the only positive is i saw it on DVD So i had the option of hitting EJECT Because this is just bad but hey i'm sure there are people who may get it I don't though it may be one of those movies you have to watch twice But i sure won't be watching it again lol.
This awful film fell into the hands of my friend recently and I was unfortunate enough to be there that night as he watched it.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge horror movie fan.
I love both A and B horror but this was the first film in years that actually had me screaming in agony in my head.
I could think of no other movie that had made me feel so anxious for the ending.
I normally can overlook those while watching B-movie horror but in this case it all worked for the worse.
The lead female's (Alice) son had at some point in the past been horribly murdered whilst on the way home.
Alice's family blamed her for the entire tragedy and Alice had gone mad with guilt because she blamed herself.As she couldn't believe anyone could such a horrible crime to a child she invented an inhuman monster (a clown) as the perpetrator.
Most of the film is a strange fantasy as I think she's never supposed to leave the mental institution where she's locked up.
Also Darren Day wanders around symbolising Alice's alter ego, A strong version of herself who can do what she could not and fight off the monster that murdered her son.This may or may not be the plot of the film, to be quite honest within 5 minutes of the film starting you will desperately want to turn it off.
I guarantee you will not care one bit.This is an art horror film with very little script and it's clear the actors are struggling with the few awful lines they do have.
The film instead relies on symbolism to push the story forward.
I also refuse to believe anyone would knowingly make anything so bad.The only good point about the entire thing is that the lead actress is quite attractive.
But that in itself is no reason to watch..
You're either gonna love or hate this movie.
Whoever made this obviously loved both the book version and Tim Curry movie version of Stephen Kings "IT", coz this is almost a perfect complete rip off of it.
Some of the characters and story have been changed, of course, to, I'm assuming, avoid copyright infringement laws, but minus those, its almost the same movie, and I doubt that poor Mr. King got paid a dime.
This movie is dangerously close to that line..
This movie lives up to it's name, no joke (that's why there's a clown in the movie, anyways...) After watching this rubbish (thankfully it's only an hour and a half) I had nightmares for 2 weeks about how poor this crud was and where to start?
the poor graphics, the pathetic ending which makes no sense whatsoever and what the hell is up with the drunk detective and all the flashbacks?
no, there was no damn plot, this movie was just a waste of time, if you ever see a copy of this film anywhere, make sure you burn it and run.the only thing truthful about this film is that after watching it, it did indeed breed hell into my mind, for making me put up with it..
This movie known as "Hellbreader" IS THE WORST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN.
Is this even a movie?
The cover of the DVD is funny, an ugly and funny clown smiling and with the words "Ja,Ja.Ja" on the upper corner, and yeah, there's something funny, the main character is not only boring and annoying, but her family is calling her some quite good nicknames...
You think to yourself, "Maybe I'll get a bad horror film tonight and enjoy some pathetic film making." You walk down the isles of movies and one catches your eye.
A movie known as Hellbreeder.
You think to yourself, "This looks interesting." Well trust me you couldn't be more wrong.
This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
I can say this because I have seen the worst of the worst B-Horror films, from Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space, to the early 80's Scalps.
The plot will remind you of Stephen King's IT; a scary clown that kills little kids.
This plot is good for the basis of a horror film, yes.
But what it lacks is any kind of acting, dialog, camera stability, good special effects, and really there is no way to tell what is happening.
There are actually scenes in this movie that made me very sick because of the camera movements.
I really do not know what else to say to express my disgust in this movie.
How the hell does this kind of movie end up getting distribution?
The script is terrible, the story makes no sense - (rumour has it that Darren Day disappeared two-thirds of the way through realising what a stinker he'd involved himself with).
If you've seen/read Stephen King's "It," don't bother with this movie.
Let's see....killer clown who has been around for well over a hundred years who kills little children.
No one seems to be able to solve the mysterious murders, and, what a surprise, only kids are able to see the clown.
There's a scene where he kills a little girl in her yard amongst sheets hanging on a clothes line.
If only the clown's name in Hellbreeder had've been Pennywizard....
This film was extremely disappointing for a variety of reasons and instead of typing a summary (which you can read on the back of the box) I will do my best to address some of the issues I had with this movie.1.)Stephen King Did it Better- The movie version of "It" is not as good as the novel, or even that great of film, in that the editing and re-imagining weren't that good.
I do think, however, that the story idea was very original and scary.
While watching "Hellbreeder", I was totally put off by the fact that the screenplay had several "coincidences" that have nothing to do with coincidence.
Centuries old thing masking itself as a clown to kill children in their backyards with sheets blowing-would be one of these coincidences.2.)Leave the Surrealism to Argento, Boys- The filming techniques in this movie were interesting but too distracting.
Watching the actress walk and stalk for ten minutes is not even suspenseful, let alone thrilling.
Plus the repetition becomes almost comedic instead of horrifying.3.)When Good Special Effects Happen to Bad Films- The blood effects are pretty damn good, as is the scar on the actress' body, which does lead to a pretty chilling scene.
Once more, it was wasted on a film where you're trying to figure out what the hell is going on.4.)Actors are NOT Bodily Functions- The detectives in this film are truly pointless in the end and are used like vehicles or bodily functions: something to get something done automatically.
I hate when filmmakers can only make a plot move by adding someone for no real reason and then not even fleshing out the character.-Overall, this movie is a poor attempt at artsy-fartsy horror..
Okay, I have mixed feelings about Hellbreeder, firstly because the story was a little confusing and hard to follow.
Now having said that, it's actually not a bad film.
It would have been much better if it had been filmed differently.
The acting was good, I LOVE Dominique Pinon and Lyndie Uphill was interesting if a little unconventional.
All up, a good film that could have been a lot better if the story had been a little more more coherent and if it had been shot in a more straight forward way..
The creepy clown cover and quote "he's not clowning around"took my eye with a hope of either a Horror/slasher or possibly a b grade movie that might have some laughs.Man was i mistaken.
This movie might be OK to see if you had smoked some wicked herb or taken some acid, though because i hadnt it just made me angry.The story/plot was not original and the constant use of similar sounding riffs to the john carpenter halloween theme and the ëxcorcist theme quickly became annoying.Alice witnessed the death of her son or did she?
Was it the good clown,bad clown an evil serial killer or herself?
I don't know if this film was SUPPOSED to be open for interpretation if this was the writer/directors master plan...
i don't think it was.maybe i am not really here typing this review and i am secretly in some mental hospital thinking about writing this review?.Overall this film blows.1/10 |
tt0095530 | Little Dorrit | The novel begins in Marseilles "thirty years ago" (i.e., c. 1826), with the notorious murderer Rigaud telling his cell mate how he killed his wife. Arthur Clennam is returning to London to see his mother after the death of his father, with whom he had lived for twenty years in China. On his deathbed, his father had given him a mysterious watch murmuring "Your mother," which Arthur naturally assumed was intended for Mrs. Clennam, whom he and everyone else believed to be his mother.
Inside the watch casing was an old silk paper with the initials DNF (Do Not Forget) worked into it in beads. It was a message, but when Arthur showed it to the harsh and implacable Mrs Clennam, a religious fanatic, she refused to tell him what it meant and the two become estranged.
In London, William Dorrit, imprisoned as a debtor, has been a resident of Marshalsea debtors' prison for so long that his three children – snobbish Fanny, idle Edward (known as Tip) and Amy (known as Little Dorrit) — have all grown up there, although they are free to pass in and out of the prison as they please. Little Dorrit, devoted to her father, has been supporting them both through her sewing.
Once in London, Arthur is reacquainted with his former fiancée Flora Finching, who is now overweight and simpering. His supposed mother, Mrs Clennam, though arthritic and wheelchair-bound, still runs the family business with the help of her servant Jeremiah Flintwinch and his downtrodden wife Affery. When Arthur learns that Mrs Clennam has employed Little Dorrit as a seamstress, showing her unusual kindness, he wonders whether the young girl might be connected with the mystery of the watch. Suspecting his mother was partially responsible for the misfortunes of the Dorrits, Arthur follows the girl to the Marshalsea. He vainly tries to inquire about William Dorrit's debt in the poorly run Circumlocution Office, assuming the role of benefactor towards Little Dorrit, her father, and her brother. While at the Circumlocution Office he meets the struggling inventor Daniel Doyce, whom he decides to help by going into business with him. The grateful Little Dorrit falls in love with Arthur, but Arthur fails to recognise Little Dorrit's interest. At last, aided by the indefatigable rent-collector Pancks, Arthur discovers that William Dorrit is the lost heir to a large fortune, finally enabling him to pay his way out of prison.
The newly freed Dorrit decides that they should tour Europe as a newly respectable family. They travel over the Alps and take up residence for a time in Venice, and finally in Rome, displaying an air of conceit over their new-found wealth (except for Little Dorrit). Eventually, after a spell of delirium, William Dorrit dies as does his distraught brother Frederick, a kind-hearted musician who has always stood by him. Little Dorrit, left alone, returns to London to stay with newly married Fanny and her husband, the foppish Edmund Sparkler.
The fraudulent dealings (similar to a Ponzi scheme) of Edmund Sparkler's stepfather, Mr. Merdle, end with Merdle's suicide and the collapse of his bank business, and with it the savings of both the Dorrits and Arthur Clennam. Clennam is now himself imprisoned in the Marshalsea, where he becomes ill and is nursed back to health by Amy. The French villain Rigaud, now in London, discovers that Mrs. Clennam has been hiding the fact that Arthur is not her real son, and tries to blackmail her. Arthur's biological mother was a beautiful young singer with whom his father had gone through some sort of non-legal marital ceremony, before being pressured by his wealthy uncle to marry the present Mrs. Clennam. The latter insisted on bringing up little Arthur and denying his mother the right to see him. Arthur's real mother died of grief at being separated from Arthur and his father; but Mr. Clennam's wealthy uncle, stung by remorse, had left a bequest to Arthur's biological mother and to "the youngest daughter of her patron," a kindly musician who had taught and befriended Arthur's real mother– and who happened to be Little Dorrit's paternal uncle, Frederick. As Frederick Dorrit had no daughter, the inheritance was to go to the youngest daughter of Frederick's younger brother, William; that is, to Little Dorrit.
Mrs. Clennam has been withholding her knowledge that Little Dorrit is the heiress to an enormous fortune and estate. Overcome by remorse, the old woman rises from her chair and totters out of her house to reveal the secret to Little Dorrit and beg her forgiveness, which the kind-hearted girl freely grants. Mrs. Clennam then falls in the street, never to recover the use of her speech or limbs, as the house of Clennam literally collapses before her eyes, killing Rigaud. Rather than hurt Arthur, Little Dorrit chooses not to reveal what she has learned even though this means forfeiting her legacy.
When Arthur's business partner Daniel Doyce returns from Russia a wealthy man, Arthur is released with his fortunes revived, and Arthur and Little Dorrit are married. | romantic, melodrama | train | wikipedia | Little Dorrit is thought by many critics to be Dickens most important book, a blistering attack on the evils of the Victorian world in which he lived.
Dickens' father had spent some time in the Marshalsea debtors prison, and several of the corrupt landlords and incompetent officials of the book were based on prominent real people.
As a pair of 3-hour films that are best viewed in a single day (with a break), nobody could figure how to handle it commercially.
Maybe someday the Critereon Collection will issue a DVD, but I'm not holding my breath.Nonetheless, it was one of Alec Guinness's very best performances, and, if you love - or even just like - Dickens, the whole 6 hour total-immersion experience is magical.Roger Ebert's review from 1988, which is online several places, really captures how special "Little Dorrit" is..
This sprawling movie can take a lot of discipline to watch in its entirety, but it is worth seeing just for the performances of Derek Jacobi in the first half and Alec Guinness in the second.
Jacobi has a great actor's ability to tell a story without saying a word, as when he gently drops Minnie's roses into the river and watches them float away, and we realize he is saying goodbye to love.
Once again, without a word, Jacobi is able to portray his anguish and the chaos of memories and ideas that suddenly assail him, until he is almost suffocating, trapped and helpless in his little cell in the Marshalsea.The second half of the movie suffers from the absence of Jacobi, and I found myself eagerly looking forward to every chance appearance of his, but Alec Guinness also gives a fine performance as the indigent William Dorrit, whose sudden acquisition of a legacy not only frees him from debtor's prison, but also turns him into a heartless snob and social climber.
Among the other performances in this film worth noting, is that of Miriam Margolyse as the aging coquette, Flora Finching, a kindly, ridiculous scatterbrain, talking nonstop while taking little nips out of the medicine bottle to keep up her spirits..
A few observations...I understand that the novel is very complex, that the plot turns in a number of layers, and that the film is already of great length.
But these things aside, it is still a favourite movie which I've watched (on VHS) many times.
The colourful characters are marvelously Dickensian as portrayed by the cast, most notably Guinness, Greenwood, Max Wall, Roshan Seth, and Jacobi.
This would hardly be possible with works of cinema where very rarely are there more than two versions, the first invariably the winner as a movie can only be that good to tempt a remake.
How about a collective "Building a Library" - film versions of Dickens, say, - now that would be a real challenge.
Earlier still was Cavalcanti's version of "Nicholas Nickleby" for Ealing, some good sets and the scene where wicked Uncle Ralph gets his desserts wonderfully atmospheric, but so much to cram into a film of moderate feature length that scenes scarcely have time to breathe.
The oddball in this little collection is undoubtedly a 1988 Portugese version of "Hard Times" set in modern day Lisbon by Joao Botelho, well worth seeing as a curiosity but hardly to be compared with my remaining four choices, each very special in its own right.
(Just occasionally a more recent version is better!) The reason I admire the BBC version so much is the wonderful casting with Maggie Smith, Pauline Quirke and Nicholas Lyndhurst playing roles they were just born for.
These are the marvellous David Lean '40s adaptations of "Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist" and most recently Christine Edzard's "Little Dorrit".
For a long time "Oliver Twist" was my favourite of the Lean pair, oodles of atmosphere, wonderful art direction and camera-work and a rooftop climax to take the breath away, but I suppose "Great Expectations" has it for libretto, late as opposed to early Dickens and Lean an ever faithful interpreter of the novel's range and subtleties.
She cleverly tells the same story from the different perspective of the two main protagonists, Arthur Clennem and Amy Dorrit, this "Rashomon" like approach dominating the first half of each film.
The casting is faultless with marvellous swansongs from Joan Greenwood and Max Wall and Alec Guinness possibly at his finest as William Dorrit, a superb portrayal of a shallow man with delusions of grandeur.
It is not a film that moves and excites as much while one is watching it, until, that is, the final half hour.
When it reaches the tragedy of William Dorrit's mental confusion at a society banquet followed by the terrible scene leading up to the suicide of Merdle where he visits his son and daughter-in-law to borrow a knife we have the realisation that to search for an adaptation that more perfectly realises Dickens's intentions would be an impossibility..
The recent TV adaptation of Little Dorrit sent me out in search of this movie version, which I hadn't seen since its original release.This mammoth project was written and directed by Christine Edzard and is the closest that cinema has come to capturing the richness of a Dickens novel.
I enjoyed seeing it again on DVD, but I was disappointed to find it was not nearly as good as I had remembered it.The performances are variable, as you would expect with such a massive cast.
However, the leads are generally pretty good.Derek Jacobi's melancholy is always arresting (and sorely missed in the TV version) but his performance overall lacked some light and shade.Alec Guinness effortlessly conveys the patrician pretensions of the imprisoned Mr Dorrit (better than Tom Courtney) but we don't get enough of his underlying anxiety when he is released, so his mental breakdown is sprung on us without adequate preparation.Sarah Pickering is steered through the picture without mishap and is an acceptable Amy, but is clearly not an experienced actor and this appears to be her only screen credit.In accordance with a long-established tradition a number of the minor characters are played by comics and comic actors.
This movie is no different.Patricia Hayes is a good character actor, but for British viewers she carries too much baggage.
This comic persona is not quite right for the bogus Casby, but the problem here is not Frazer's performance but the strangely truncated part.Max Wall was a master of physical comedy who became the darling of 'intellectuals' but he was not an actor and his Fintwinch is not a performance.Flora was based on a woman Dickens actually knew and his depiction of her was rather cruel.
Miriam Margolyes's comic monster may be faithful to Dickens but misses the opportunity to suggest an underlying sadness in Flora.Of the comics, Pauline Quirke fares best and gives a lovely performance as the mentally-arrested Maggy.However, my main reservations concern Edzard's screenplay and direction.She took an unusual approach to this long book.
Instead of just breaking it in half, she extracted two parallel story lines and gave us two overlapping first person narratives: Arthur is in every scene in the first movie and Amy is in every scene in the second one.
His complex plots are told through a wide range of characters, spanning the whole social spectrum, and the story moves forward on a broad front.
In this book there is too much going on outside the direct experience of Arthur and Amy for a coherent story to be told entirely from their perspectives.
However, it also means the whole of the first movie becomes a teaser - but it is a three-hour teaser!I also feel that Ezard is too indulgent with Dickens's dialogue.
It is so manifestly a clunky piece of film-making that I am at a loss to understand the rapturous praise it has received from other IMDb reviewers.However, I appear to be in a minority of one, so I suppose I must expect to get slaughtered if anyone ever gets round to reading my own comments..
Sadly, I don't think anyone under the age of 40 will have the patience - or interest - to view this work of art.I just watched this film on the "This TV" channel; curious title, but when I saw it was based on a work by Charles Dickens I decided it was definitively worth a try.Dickens presents us with timeless lessons (very relevant to our present lives) in this film about the human condition - a tale about hard work, perseverance, humility, greed, hate, compassion, love (unrequited and rediscovered), devotion and so much more.The film unfolded clumsily and I nearly dismissed it; so glad I didn't.A tapestry unfolds of increasing richness and complexity.
But, I celebrate this masterpiece which offers us so very much.There is treasure in Little Dorrit - for all times - for those willing to discover it.Thank you Charles Dickens - for all your masterful works; the golden threads that unite us all..
"Little Dorrit" is hands-down the best movie I've ever seen.
One of the best things about it is that it is two movies telling different sides of the same story.
In "Nobody's Fault", when Amy comes to visit Clennam in the Marshalsea, he sees her wearing the flowered shawl that she always wore when she was poor; when we see the same scene in the second film, she is wearing a black shawl bought when she was wealthy.The acting is top-notch.
The production worked hard to match the original drawings that accompanied the Dickens novel.
Have you ever wondered what they meant when they said "Debtor's Prison?" This line as pretty common place in British Films, however none more so than in The Movie "SCROOGE", with the excellent Alistair Sims.
Well since that time I have always wondered about "Debtor's Prison" and just what does this place do and so on.
This then is what Little Dorrit is based upon, life in Debtor's Prison.
Alec Guinness was absolutely Brilliant as Mr. William Dorrit, whom after having fallen on hard times, tried to maintain an air of Aristocracy, Class and Distinction even if he was in Debtor's Prison.
We Watch Little Dorrit come into the world in this place and discover hat there are others who are just as bad off, yet all maintain themselves as best as they can.
We see Little Dorrit grow into a fine young lady and we see what it must have been like, living in the Victorian age, of Pomposity, and Airs of Superiority and Aristocracy.
This is a rather slow paced film, which only serves to add to the impression of the time.
To me, this film is the ultimate look into what it must have been like to live in wretched poverty, in Debtor's prison all the while maintaining one's position in life and one's sense of integrity.
Get out the popcorn, get all the drinks ready and anything else that you could want and when your ready, step into the magnificent world of 18th century England and live a little in a place called Debtor's prison, for about 1 and 1/2 Hrs. The cast are absolutely excellent in their individual roles.
Having just seen the 2008 BBC version of "Little Dorrit," I was delighted that Turner Classic Movies was showing this 1988 version.
The individual scenes never come to life.Sarah Pickering as Little Dorrit never engages one's interest.
And while Derek Jacobi's Arthur Clennam may be closer to the book's description than Matthew Macfadyen from the BBC version, he and Sarah Pickering have no romantic chemistry.All in all, not an entertaining presentation..
Not terrible by all means, but I did find myself underwhelmed watching this Little Dorrit.
The book is such a mammoth book, an insightful and blistering piece of literature, but like a lot of Dickens' work very difficult to adapt.
Previously I had seen the 2008 BBC version, which I absolutely loved, finding the performances outstanding(especially Tom Courtenay and Andy Serkis) and the whole production rich in detail.I can definitely understand why some would have a lot of affection for the 1988 Little Dorrit.
And Alec Guinness, whose heart-wrenching performance as William Dorrit makes for one of his finest screen performances.But I can also see why others mayn't like this version too much.
Of the acting, I was disappointed in the Flintwitch of Max Wall, he is a good physical actor but saying his lines is another story, I felt he did overdo it.
And if I hadn't read the book or seen the 2008 mini-series, I don't think I would have been confused by what was going on in this adaptation.
I didn't like that it was in two 3-hour parts focusing mainly on either Arthur or Amy and making other characters come and go without elaborating on much(such as Casby being called a hypocrite and the rise and fall of Mr Merdle for examples), as well omitting Tattycoram and one of Dickens' best ever characters Rigaud.All in all, has some good stuff like the period detail and three outstanding performances, but pace and story-wise this Little Dorrit was disappointing.
That isn't original...it is a description of these movies by a popular Dickens blog to describe this unwieldy mess.
Great acting is wasted in this rambling tale that strays so far from the novel and eliminates so many characters that the story is almost incomprehensible.
Granted, the age difference between the central figures in the love story is emphasized in the novel, but in this movie its uncomfortable, unrealistic and kinda creepy.
I discovered a video version of the 1988 film after my second viewing of the 2008 TV drama and found it to be bitterly disappointing in comparison.
All I remember in 1988 is that I thought the film was wonderful; I now think that the TV drama was sublime!
To be self indulgent I would compare the performances of the actors in the main characters as follows: Amy Dorrit - about equal; William Dorrit about equal, but Alec Guiness is sooo good; Fanny Dorrit - TV; Mrs Murdle - film; Alfred Dorrit - film; Flora Finching - TV (but only because Miriam M is made to over-act); Arthur Clennam - equal; Mrs Clennam - TV; Flintwinch - TV (again, because Max Wall is allowed to overdo it).
When I first saw the cast list of the two movie 1988 Little Dorrit, I was really excited and expecting a sumptuous feast of Dickens.
Dreadful, dreadful acting in some places that even the likes of Alec Guinness cannot rise above.
The lead character of Sarah Pickering playing Little Dorrit could not act if her head was on fire.
It is amateur hour really and a very expensive waste of great actors like Jacobi and Guinness.
In addition to describing the progression of my regard for this film as I watched it, these are the names of the last three chapters of the book, a book which, as usual (with Dickens adaptations), the writers of this film had not read - or at least had not read recently enough.Most of the performances were fine.
Alec Guinness was spot on, and the little woman playing Amy was perfect.
But all in all, the acting was acceptable.Where this film failed, and failed completely, was in the telling of the story: in the writing, directing and editing.
Anyone who has read even the cheat notes for Little Dorrit must have wondered and been dismayed at the absence of numerous important characters.
It is through this colorful and evil character, "with his nose coming down over his mustache, and his mustache going up under his nose," who is blackmailing Mrs Clennam, with the help of Flintwich, that Mrs. Clennam's secret is revealed, and his involvement is essential to the building suspense surrounding this secret - of which suspense, as a consequence of Rigaud's absence, there was not a trace in this film.
Rigaud is also an important evil element among the Dorrits abroad, where he teams up with the dissipated Henry Gowan - who is also, sadly, never seen again in this film after he marries Pet.So little is made of the Meagles family, a major omission in itself, that I suppose it is no surprise that there is no Tattycoram, and since there is no Tatty, there is no Mrs. Wade: more great losses for the audience, since their highly charged and emotional subplot helps to define and humanize the characters of the Meagles family and of Arthur.
Mrs. Wade of course also plays an important part in the Rigaud - Flintwich - Mrs. Clennam story.The Murdles are so overlooked in this telling, that one may wonder, when Mr Murdle shows up at Fanny and Sparkler's apartment to ask for a pen knife (with which he later commits suicide), who he is and where he came from at that point.
Among other hard-felt losses stemming from this neglect, is the missed opportunity to engage in some of the fun that best exemplifies Dickens' sense of humour and satire.
Dickens version of the story behind Mrs. Clennam's secret is, of course, quite complex, but certainly worth accurately telling, since it is the motivation for the entire plot!
Now we are expected to accept the story that there is money in the house that Frederick had sent for Amy, and that Mrs. Clennam had held back?
Yes, complicated, but not if it's told right.As much as this film was brutalized and its audience cheated by the cruel omissions and alterations in this story, which I have only highlighted here; it must also be noted that by dint of scandalously flawed directing and editing, what remained of the story managed to drag on miserably, with inordinately long pauses between lines, painfully slow pans to make small points,and long, lingering scenes in which nothing actually occurs.My recommendation: do not waste six hours watching this.
Will no one ever properly adapt a Dickens novel to film? |
tt1528718 | Born to Raise Hell | After 9/11, the United States government realized that narcotics were responsible for financing the majority of terrorist cells. That's why they created the International Drug Task Force (IDTF). The IDTF task forces are fully funded and overseen by the United States government. They took their top narcotics officers and created interdiction teams throughout Asia and Eastern Europe.
Bobby Samuels (Steven Seagal) heads an IDTF team in Bucharest, Romania. Six months ago, Bobby's partner was killed. Now, headquarters has sent him a new partner named Steve (D. Neil Mark). Steve's wife is eight months pregnant, and he’d really like to make it home to see the birth of his child.
Russian drug kingpin Dmitri (Dan Bădărău) has a wife (Silvia Stanciu) and a young son (Ștefan Iancu), both of whom he holds sacred, and they are not aware of his drug business. Recently, Dimitri has formed a drug dealing partnership with Costel (Darren Shahlavi), a Romanian man who runs the Roma Ace, one of the most popular clubs in Bucharest.
Costel and his men specialize in home invasions - they invade wealthy people's homes, steal whatever loot they can get, and kill the family. During each invasion, Costel himself rapes and kills the wife. And Costel owes Dimitri some money. Dimitri has threatened that Costel will die if he doesn't come up with the money.
Bobby and Steve are put on Costel's trail, and Bobby tries to get Dimitri to point them to Costel, but Dimitri is suspicious at first. After Bobby and Steve arrest Dimitri in an effort to get him to help them, Dimitri butts his head through a door window of their SUV, and accuses Bobby and Steve of brutality. Dimitri gets released, and Bobby and Steve continue their hunt for Costel.
One night while Dimitri is away from his mansion, Costel and his men break into the mansion, and Costel's right-hand man Dada (Zoltán Butuc) fatally shoots Dimitri's wife. Before Costel can kill Dimitri's son, Dimitri's men intervene, killing a couple of Costel's men as Costel and Dada escape.
Dimitri arrives at the mansion, learns what happened, and vows to make Costel and Dada pay. Dimitri's traumatized son describes his wife's shooter to him. Dimitri contacts Bobby, and offers to help Bobby find Costel, if Bobby will let Dimitri handle Dada himself. Bobby agrees, and he, Steve, and Dimitri set out to bring Costel and Dada down. | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | 'BORN TO RAISE HELL': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) Another generic Steven Seagal action film, in this one he plays an Interpol agent caught in the middle of a Russian and Gypsy street gang war in Eastern Europe.
When things get messy Axel is forced to resort to unconventional measures in order to get the job done.Like I said Seagal is credited for writing the script but it's basically just parts of a dozen other movies pieced together.
Yes, it's another low rent movie in which a great deal of could-have-been-good action scenes are spoiled by dizzyingly bad, sea-sickening cutting.Seagal has more of a hand in this than usual, having written and produced as well as starred (although, as is the norm for the actor these days, sometimes the hand isn't his own: the body and voice doubles are back in force).
This time around he's an imported American cop, wearing a flak jacket and leading a police squad through some grimy streets in scenes probably inspired by his own TV show, STEVEN SEAGAL: LAWMAN.
Along the way he contends with Brando-lookalike Russian mafia man Dimitri and a particularly vicious rapist/murderer gypsy.The supporting cast and locales are entirely Romanian, and a great deal of scenes take place in strip joints where women parade around in their next-to-nothings and Seagal glowers at anyone who comes close.
The movie develops a clear direction when a guy he captures on a routine drug bust makes a deal with him and tells him about a sadistic and somewhat psychotic drug dealer named Costel who finances his buys by breaking and entering the houses of young rich couples whom he has some sort of deep resentment for.
I thought the movie was a solid action film and worth watching if you like shoot 'em ups.
I've always thought that Seagal (and some other action stars of the like) practiced a kind of "slight-of-hand martial arts" aided by camera angles and editing.
Watching a Steven Seagal film is a bit like going to eat something you know is not really good for you and has passed it's sell by date, but somehow,you still can't resist taking a bite.
In between all the action there was a tender moment between Steve and his girlfriend, however, as Mr.Seagal is not in the first flush of youth he might well be advised in the future to avoid love scenes with topless young women,as it looks a little unattractive.
Born to Raise Hell is basically the usual Steven Seagal movie under another name, but nevertheless, I enjoyed it..
I wish I could meet Steven Seagal, not only to ask for his autograph but also to sit down with him and discuss what's made his recent string of movies so disappointing for even a devoted fan like me.
I'm not so naïve to believe that Seagal is in total creative and technical control of each of his features, but perhaps I could convince him to take a more hands-on role in their production and perhaps aikido-chop the idiots who are truly responsible for the lackluster nature of some of these movies.The plot: An international drug task force operating out of Romania, headed by ex-Interpol agent Samuel Axel (Seagal), sets its sights on bringing down the operations of a deadly and sadistic gang of drug traffickers...People who don't like Steven Seagal by default are going to hate this movie.
Surprisingly, I found myself appreciating this: a supercilious Steven is still more fun to watch than the detached, bored-looking dope he played for a while in movies like FLIGHT OF FURY.
There aren't any other real technical snafus to be seen, but further post-production add-ins like nonstop slow motion, freeze-frame shots galore, and way too many time-killing collage scenes continue to have the movie feeling more like Seagal's trash pictures of yesteryear, moving him further and further away from the high standard he had achieved with URBAN JUSTICE.The action scenes are composed mostly of boring shootouts, but there are a couple hand-to-hand encounters which, while not too flashy, feature Seagal doing just about all of his own moves and getting some good aikido throws in.
Shahlavi had consistently delivered great physical performances in the past, and one of his most recent movies at the time - IP MAN 2, released on the same day as BORN TO RAISE HELL - featured him in some very good fights with Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung; in this one, however, he has one very brief fight halfway through the film before getting absolutely manhandled by Seagal during the climax.
Last evening I decided to play a bit of Russian roulette again watch one one Steven Seagal's direct to DVD movies that was given on W9.
Again there was nothing else worth watching and I did think the last one that I watched, The Keeper, was too bad (for a direct to DVD by Steven Seagal that is) so I thought let's watch it.This was not one of the better movies that I have watched to say the least.
After seeing A DANGEROUS MAN I almost said I'm through with Steven Seagal movies but then I decided to pick up this one in the hope Seagal could be redeemed, it turns out this film was one of his more solid DTV efforts aside from the fact that it was still flawed, it had the dubbing problem but not as much as his other films, Seagal's fight scenes were edited a bit fast although there were shots that showed him actually doing the fight scenes and Seagal wears a thick coat to hide his weight now I regarded that as one of his trademarks so I didn't really give that much thought.The best moments of the film were the shootouts, they were very well done and also pretty tense, something I haven't seen from a Seagal movie in a long time, the acting was surprisingly good this time even from Seagal himself but there are two other actors that stand out, Darren Shalavi who was ideal for the part of the villain and Dan Badaru who plays a Romanian gangster out to get revenge for the death of his wife and son.Also now that I thought about it, this film features a brief love scene between Steven Seagal and a woman possibly young enough to be his daughter but she does look legal and very attractive, after seeing that scene and remembering Seagal also wrote the script, I reckoned this is one of the interesting things about being a writer and an actor, you give your own character a story and a hot little number and you add a steamy love scene between the two of you, now that's a different kind of fantasizing right there only Seagal puts it down on paper and it gets put on film with him in the scene, "sigh" some guys have all the fun.Overall, its one of the better Steven Seagal DTV entries but it is way too flawed to measure up to the caliber of a Steven Seagal classic like UNDER SIEGE..
This gritty, modern classic is most definitely a truly worthy winner of just about every Academy award this year, "Best animated movie" possibly being the sole exception.Steven Seagal, toughest guy since Bruce Lees DNA was spliced with Mike Tysons, characterizes the deeply tormented soul of Interpol-veteran Bobby with a sheer brilliance that makes de Niro in Taxi Driver look like Forest Whitaker in Battlefield Earth.
Seagal portrays the inner demons his characters are struggling with in such a subtle and ingenious way that it baffles the mind how such a performance could go unnoticed.With absolute classic gold dialogue like: "You're not supposed to hit a guy when im holding him" "You know, trust is not one of my more spectacular attributes" "You should be chasing terrorists over in Afghanistan, not here." "Already done that, now im over here having fun" "You see why I hate eating out?" Also, the Russian guy: "Midgets are a little short.
As a screenwriter, Seagal chooses to write him self out rather than in, and subsequently we spend more time with the mafia.The fight scenes come with a crunchy sound mix, and they allow us to see more Seagal than Stunt man, but they reek of bad editing.
the people who direct movies like Born to Raise Hell are not qualified for anything except music videos.
If you have seen any Steven Seagal movie before you don't have to see "Born to raise hell".
I also suggest you consider joining me in never wasting good sleep on a bad Seagal movie.
And it's great to see Mr. Seagal do what he does best (battering, maiming and killing) without the over-the-top slowmo fight scenes, or utterly unconvincing stand-ins (another post-production stupidity, designed to add a few seconds to the running time).I watched The Expendables the day after watching BTRH, and BTRH was, in my opinion, a better movie.An aside: this movie, and a few other of Seagal's movies, really would have benefited from being a little longer.
or a bakeryThese gangsters and mafia members deserve to get shot and killed and arrested for being as stupid as they are.If they didn't all dress the same and walk around like clones of each other in other movies - they would live longer.I wasn't expecting some massive major story development in a Steven Segal movie - but this is so rehashed from so many other movies - it puts a damper on the entire genre of action.An action movie could be real fun and entertaining and funny and everything else at the same time - these have become so drab because casting and locations is almost entirely the same for hundreds of films like this.The blame relies more on them than on his limited acting and story telling.The director and producer is at fault - more than the headlining star.I'm sick of seeing strippers and strip bars for no other reason than to throw in some hot chicks and do a 5 minute strip show because the story lacks originality.I'm sick of seeing bad guys dress in black leather jackets with slicked back hair and sunglasses - when they can dress in jeans, t-shirt and runners and be even more threatening..
People who are going out of their way to say how bad this movie is, or making sarcastic posts about Seagal being extremely overweight, are missing the point.
However, 1: The movie must be judged in the context of his recent output, not compared to a super high-budget picture like Under Siege while Seagal was probably the #2 action star in the world, and 2: the only people who are likely to see this are committed Seagal fans anyway.Contrary to lazy stereotypes, Seagal's recent output (excluding Machete, post-2002's Half Past Dead, which I believe was his last in theater release) has been mixed, leaning towards bad and really bad.
Still, there were some standouts in that context (I'm thinking of 2007's Pistol Whipped, but I haven't watched most of his movies since 2002), and to be blunt, a lot of his movies before that weren't really much good either (Glimmer Man in particular was godawful and objectively worse than Born to Raise Hell).
Steamroller Productions/Voltage Pictures have been cranking out these low-budget, time-killers quickly and because I've been watching Seagal's movies since I was a kid, I can't resist renting them, when they pop up at the video store.Born To Raise Hell is not an improvement over Seagal's recent DVD releases but it does have its good points.
In Born To Raise Hell a balcony blows up sending two guys to their death and as far as stunts go it looks okay.If you didn't like the look of Seagal's previous DVD efforts, then this movie will not win you over.
As expected in these type of films Seagal's partner is killed, making his mission more personal.I'd also like to mention Seagal's body double again.
I go into this review admittedly having not watched a lot of Seagal's DTV stuff, which there are hundreds of, but I have watched a few as well as all his theatrical releases so I think I'm pretty clued up on what to expect by now.And for the most part, Born to Raise Hell fulfills the expectations you have of a Seagal movie - Seagal plays his usual role as a cop or some other sort of government/military official, some bad guys pop up, Seagal chases them down and deals with them.
Usually, this combination of factors leads to a good watch where you can just sit and enjoy without thinking too much, but there are a few things that pull this film down from the usual Seagal standards.Firstly, the cinematography and camera work is pretty terrible - unnecessary shaky camera and slow motion effects, freeze frames on really ridiculous moments (such as one on the main villain's face in the middle of raping a woman), the lot.
There usually is always a little bit of dubbing in Seagal DTV flicks and it's fine but there's just way too much here.The other main criticism is the other characters - one of whom, a Russian drug lord living in Romania, is originally pursued by Seagal and his team but then Seagal sees fit to make a deal with this drug lord who has killed or ordered the killing of multiple people throughout the film, in order to pursue the main drug lord villain.
According to the film's logic it's OK because the other drug lord does home invasions where he murders people and rapes the women while the other one isn't as bad.There is also one of the most cringeworthy scenes I've seen in a Seagal movie yet, where the overweight, ageing Seagal "makes love" with his young Romanian girlfriend.
The shoddy camera-work with Seagal wearing clothes while his girlfriend is basically naked and quick cuts to make it look like they're having sex but not really just makes this scene unintentionally hilarious.Overall, Born to Raise Hell is a less than passable Seagal DTV flick.
Don't get me wrong, it's still enjoyable to watch, and Seagal's usual action sequences with martial arts are as good as what you'd expect from the guy's DTV movies.
It could have done with less of the (as VERN calls them) "Avid Fart" technique (of jump-cuts, speed-ed up, slowed down shots)Seagal was OK (extremely foul-mouthed, i might add) but (and as usual, with these Eastern European releases) he only had about 70% screen time (as the rest was filled up, with either semi-naked female dancers, "Avid Fart" stuff, or other character plots)The dubbing (as previously mentioned) is rife throughout (not as bad as ATTACK FORCE, but almost near enough) The doubles are also there, in the movies 4 (or so) fight scenes, not particularly noticeable, but for nearly every shot of Seagal fighting, there's another 'Below the neckline' or 'From behind' to match it.
The fight scenes also consist of a lot of fast (close-up) edits also.The plot is (like i previously stated) wafer-thin....which consists of Seagal leading a strike force police unit in Romania...getting the drop on some drug dealers, who rat out an even bigger criminal (not to mention psychopath) to get a lighter sentence.
Born to Raise Hell is set in Romania where tough American narcotics cop Robert 'Bobby' Samuels (Steven Seagal) works for the International Drug Task Force in an effort to stop the flow of illegal drugs & the revenues created by it funding terrorism.
As Samules & the task force close in on them Dimitri & Costel start to turn on each other in order to save themselves & things get personal, eventually Dimitri & Samules form an uneasy partnership to take Costel & his gang down for good...Directed by Lauro Chartrand this Easten European set crime thriller not only starred Seagal but he also produced & wrote the thing as well, I have to say I found Born to Raise Hell a throughly dull way to spend 90 minutes.
All the usual low budget Seagal ingredients of recent times are present & correct, a cool sounding but meaningless title, a tough cop character, a few European bad guy's & lots of slow motion during the fight scenes.
There isn't much of a cohesive story, Seagal just sort of wanders around & crosses paths with the two dealers every so often, the film has no real purpose & secondary character's are poor of the clichéd bad guy with a gun type.
Also isn't Seagal's character supposed to be the good guy cop?
The dialogue is poor, the pacing is poor with various lame shoot-outs to pad the time out & it's throughly predictable & unoriginal.As usual for most Seagal films these days Born to Raise Hell went straight to video but even that is too good for it, the film looks pretty drab as well with dark lighting & dull locations although I will say there are some really hot women in this so I suppose I can give it another star for that.
There's no great thinking behind it & the makers just seem to have thought 'we haven't had any slow motion shots in a while so lets just put one here' without much regard to the scene in question.The IMDb says Born to Raise Hell had a budget of about $10,000,000 which is total crap, there's no way this cost that much.
The acting is poor, Seagal mumbles his way through the film as usual while everyone else is just bad.Born to Raise Hell is yet another crappy low budget European Seagal film with nothing to recommend it, a lack of decent action or a decent story really kill it.
Steven Seagal (who also wrote and helped produce the film) stars as the head of The International Drug Task Force, in Bucharest, Romania, who wants revenge against the thieves who murdered his partner and the man's wife in cold blood. |
tt0066384 | Skullduggery | The film follows a group of young adults who come together to play a fantasy role playing game, while working at a costume rental store. One of the players is a young man named Adam (Thom Haverstock) who is the descendent of a long line of men who are all cursed by the devil. While working at the community college theater performance a strange magician appears and puts a curse on Adam, forcing him to remember the fate of his ancestors and to make him believe that he really is a warlock.
Increasingly Adam is unable to determine the difference between fantasy and reality and believes that, as a warlock, he is on a quest to kill various people. As the bodies pile up, the local police are baffled and no one suspects that Adam is a deranged serial killer being commanded to kill by the devil.
After playing the role playing game with instructions to kill all the members of the Apostles of Hell before they kill him, Adam attends a costume party hosted by a man named Dr. Evil, who wants Adam to join his cult and also kill most of the party guests. When the police figure out that Adam is the killer, they corner and shoot him in a factory, but his body disappears and leaving a puppet in its place.
At the end of the film, the surviving players are playing a game with a suit of knight's armor seated in Adam's place. The armor comes to life and kills their dungeon master. Upon looking at the body, they learn that their dungeon master was Dr. Evil, and by extension, the devil. | cult | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0047411 | Ride Clear of Diablo | Sheriff Fred (Paul Birch) and lawyer Tom (William Pullen) conspire to have dance hall girl Kate (Abbe Lane) entertain the hired hands of the O'Mara ranch whilst the Sheriff and the lawyer rustle the O'Mara's stock. Tom shoots both the father and teenage O'Mara son to leave no witnesses.
Surviving son Clay (Audie Murphy), a railroad surveyor in Denver, is informed of their deaths and comes back to his home where the identity of the murderers is unknown. Clay is talked out of revenge by the town Reverend (Denver Pyle) but Clay makes his own enquiries to the sheriff and Tom. When Clay asks the sheriff if he can become his deputy in order to make an investigation, the sheriff at first refuses. Tom advises the sheriff that it would be a good idea with Clay sent on a false trail to arrest notorious gunslinger Whitey Kinkaid (Dan Duryea) in the town of Diablo. Kinkaid has no connection with the murders, but the corrupt pair plan that Kinkaid will kill the pesky Clay. Ringer (Russell Johnson).
To everyone's surprise Clay outdraws Kinkaid, arrests him, thwart's Kinkaid's escape attempts and successfully fights off an ambush from three men. Kinkaid, who spends his life by hanging and idling about, is bemused by the unstoppable Clay and watches him go after the real killers; at first he does this for amusement, but gradually he realizes that the moral attitude of the much younger Clay is like a valuable lesson in living a worthwhile life. It is amusing to see how he accepts him finally as an exemplar. Kinkaid's identification goes so far as to sacrifice himself to save the younger hero's life in several gunfights, all in accordance with the fact, that he said that if ever he feels he's become "like a human being", he will shoot (meaning here, sacrifice) himself.
Hence the moral lesson of the film is to show how right thinking and acting may sometimes turn the attitudes of depraved characters inside out; the audience are presented with a character in moral transformation, Western style. Murphy, as Clay, has top billing, showing successive bouts of corruption-busting action aided by his new friend, Kincaid, who ultimately demonstrates he'll make the ultimate sacrifice if needs be. | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | one of the best Audie Murphy westerns.
Murphy is the guy looking for revenge,people tend to underestimate him, until he shows himself fast in the draw.
One of the best things here is the relationship between Murphy and Dan Duryea.
This film is very unpretentious and entertaining, and it´s a pity they don´t make westerns like this anymore..
This is probably one of my top 3-4 favorite Audie Murphy movies, and I've seen about 20 of them--or about 50% of what he made.
Dan Duryea as Whitey Kinkaid is a very interesting and amusing character who plays nicely off Audie's very credible performance.
Russell Johnson (later the Professor on Gilligan's Island) as Jed Ringer and the lawyer and sheriff have some great lines that offset the B picture sets.
All in all, this is a highly watchable movie, along with another Murphy/Duryea team-up, "Six Black Horses." Duryea and Murphy appeared together again in Jimmy Stewart's "Night Passage," but I like Ride Clear of Diablo and Horses better.
Ride clear of Diablo is my favourite Audie Murphy western.Its exciting,suspenseful and the rapport between audie and Dan Duryea is great.This film is highly enjoyable with humour and a good twist in the end.This is a feel good western..
Dan Duryea fools ya.
Ride Clear of Diablo is a stand out among the B westerns that Audie Murphy did in the 1950s.
Murphy is Clay O'Mara who's looking for cattle rustlers that murdered his father and brother while he was away from the family ranch.Murphy gets hired by Sheriff Paul Birch as a Deputy and also takes a liking to Birch's niece Susan Cabot.
The joker in the deck in this film is Dan Duryea.
Duryea was a fine actor who played many a psychotic villain in films.
That's quintessential Dan Duryea.
A year earlier in 1953 in Thunder Bay, Anthony Mann who directed Winchester 73, fooled his audience by not having Duryea betray Jimmy Stewart.Something similar happens here.
Audie Murphy is sent out to bring in Duryea, but the two develop a relationship of sorts.
He's still Dan Duryea, hyena laugh and all, but you're not quite sure what he's gonna do in the end.
And I'm not gonna say what either, but it's the key to the film.Audie Murphy did some fine B westerns in the 1950s.
But Murphy's work is appreciated among western fans today though..
Ride Clear of Diablo is directed by Jesse Hibbs and adapted to screenplay by George Zuckerman from a story by Ellis Marcus.
It stars Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea, Susan Cabot, Abbe Lane and Russell Johnson.
Plot sees Murphy as Clay O'Mara, a railroad surveyor forced to return to his home town after rustlers kill his father and brother.
Getting the sheriff to make him a tin star wearing deputy, Murphy sets about finding out who was responsible for the murders.
His first port of call is a meeting with notorious gunslinger Whitey Kincaid (Duryea)...Lively and utterly enjoyable B Western in the cannon of Audie Murphy.
Standard revenge formula of plotting is elevated to better heights by the central relationship between Murphy's honest do gooder and Duryea's rough and tumble bad dude.
The girls look sexy and are costumed in style, while the action sequences, notably a horse pursuit featuring a gorgeous white stallion, are good value for money.
Everything, tho, is in Duryea's shadow, stealing the movie, Duryea is having a great time as the cackling villain forming an uneasy friendship with Murphy.
Dan Duryea steals the picture.
A pretty routine Audie Murphy vehicle made infinitely watchable by Dan Duryea's colorful and totally against type performance as the notorious black clad outlaw Whitey Kincaid.
This is a classic style western with Audie Murphy as the good guy seeking out the killers of his father and brother.
Fortunately, he's got experience in the field of "troubleshooter", and can handle things better than the killers, the town's most respected men, think.
They send him on suicide missions against the likes of wild cards Dan Duryea, the professor Russell Johnson, and Jack Elam, only to be stunned by Audie's survival against these odds.In making this, you could see that all involved allowed Duryea's overwhelming persona to take control.
Anyone can shout "That ain't no country I ever heard of", but the real actor is the one who is willing to stutter "What?" over and over.However, here, Duryea deserves his praise.
He's Duryea, full of fun and laughter, and each film he manages to make the character a little different.
You get your bang for the bullet here.Plus the classic combo of Murphy and Duryea.
To give the appearance of helping him he is deputized by a renegade sheriff and sent off on a mission sure to cause his death at the hands of psychotic killer Whitey Kincaid.
Average western with Duryea giving quite a performance as the always jolly, backshooting scumbag Kincaid..
"Ride Clear of Diablo" was another of the Audie Murphy series of "B-Plus" westerns released by Universal during the 50s and early 60s.
They were well mounted little films usually running about 80 minutes and mostly shot in color.
The story in this film involves Clay O'Meara (Murphy) returning to town following the murder of his father and brother by unscrupulous lawyer Tom Meredith (William Pullen), crooked Sheriff Fred Kenyon (Paul Birch) and henchman Jed Ringer (Russell Johnson).
To throw him off the trail, the unholy three blame the crime on known bad man Whitey Kincaid (Dan Duryea) and send O'Meara off to Diablo to bring him in knowing full well that he'll probably be killed by the gunman.
Kincaid meanwhile takes a liking to O'Meara and against his better judgment, lends O'Meara a hand.
Ringer meantime, is planning a double-cross of the other two and then running off with saloon girl Kate (Abbe Lane).
Murphy essentially played the same one dimensional character in his series but was always aided by superior supporting casts.
Duryea, playing his signature likeable villain role, is allowed to go way over the top by director Jesse Hibbs in this one (it's about that laugh).
The beautiful Susan Cabot plays the standard helpless heroine role and Abbe Lane gets to sing a couple of forgettable songs.
Also in the cast are veteran western performers Jack Elam, Denver Pyle, Lane Bradford and Holly Bane.
Here's a little trivia with which to end my comments: - Audie Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in WWII; - Susan Cabot died tragically at the hands of her son, actor Christopher Jones, in 1986; - Dan Duryea wound up on the TV soap "Peyton Place" just prior to his death in 1968; - Russell Johnson became famous as "The Professor" in TV's "Gilligan's Island"; - Abbe Lane was married to band leader Xavier Cugat at the time of this film..
A strong supporting cast and good writing make this one of Audie's better efforts from this period before westerns devolved into parodies of themselves.
Dan Duryea and Russell Johnson (the professor from Gilligan) have surprisingly interesting roles.
Duryea plays the bad guy with the good heart.
Johnson plays an apparent weak drunkard who surprises.Audie plays it straight as a naive young man, Clay Omara, seeking justice for the slayers of his brother and father but every once in a while shows he's tougher and smarter than the average bad guy.
Abbe Lane and Susan Cabot add a dash of spice.
Cabot is the sheriff's niece engaged to the town lawyers who it is immediately apparent will fall for Clay..
Audie Murphy Vs. Corruption..
In this rather routine-plotted Western, the men keep referring to Audie Murphy as "the boy" or "the kid." It seemed to fit.
He really earned those decorations.In "Ride Clear of Diablo," a mid-career movie, he's the good guy whose father and younger brother have been killed while trying to prevent their cattle from being rustled.
The local sheriff and lawyer, being particeps criminis themselves, send him after Whitey Kinkaid, the gunslinger in a nearby town, played by Dan Duryea, thinking that the kid will draw on Whitey and get his head shot off.
Murphy outdraws Whitey, shoots the gun out of his hand, and takes him captive.
It's the kind of movie where no one bothers to explain how a railroad bureaucrat has learned to shoot so well.It gets kind of interesting because a bond of wary friendship develops between Duryea, who happens to be innocent of this particular crime, and Murphy.
Not that they hug each other and take showers together, but Duryea shows his respect for Murphy by doing him little favors, such as not shooting him in the back when he has the chance to do it.Duryea is his usual wisecracking self, all smiles.
Without it, you're just watching another Audie Murphy Western.Susan Cabot is the good girl.
She's as innocent and well behaved as Audie Murphy.
Murphy has one drink in the movie, except for a lot of water and milk and coffee.
Both women are made up like mannequins and sport false eyelashes the size of tarpaulins.I won't give the ending away except to reveal what the experienced viewer must already know -- Murphy and Cabot live happily ever after..
Audie Murphy's name may be at the top of the bill but it's pretty much Dan Duryea's picture the way he overtakes any scene he's in.
Duryea reminded me of Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo in the 1947 film "Kiss of Death" the way he laughs maniacally whether the situation calls for it or not.
I was thinking that if there was an old lady in the story, he might have thrown her down a flight of stairs just for the fun of it.Murphy's character is Clay O'Mara, returning from a railroad job (no, really, he worked for a railroad, he wasn't railroaded) to track down the villain who murdered his father and brother during a cattle rustling operation.
His quarry is upstanding citizen Tom Meredith (William Pullen) doing a hide in plain sight in concert with crooked Santiago town sheriff (Paul Birch).
The pair send him on a mission sure to get O'Mara seriously killed when they finger Whitey Kincaid (Duryea) as a prime suspect.It's never explained in the story how Clay O'Mara came by his skill with a six shooter.
I was probably more surprised that Kincaid when the 'kid' shot the gun right out of his hand in a barroom face off.
Maybe he should have been the ringer in the story instead of Russell Johnson.Say, did you notice the bars of the jail cell Whitey got locked up in - what's with the flimsy cross-hatch design?
He didn't need it actually since the sheriff gave him his gun back.I don't know what might be considered the first revisionist Western but Duryea's performance here might be considered one of the earliest examples of a cowboy anti-hero.
He's a villain you come to terms with the way Murphy's character did when he turned his back on the outlaw and lived to tell about it.
An Entertaining But Concise Audie Murphy Oater.
"Ride Clear of the Diablo" was the first of six films director Jesse Hibbs helmed with Audie Murphy as star during the 1950s.
The second film that the director and star collaborated on was Murphy's autobiographical exploits in World War II.
The fourth picture, "Walk the Proud Land," was an off-beat oater with Murphy cast as a sympathetic Indian agent looking after the welfare of Native Americans.
The last of their six movies, "Ride the Crooked Trail," was another Universal Studios' western.
A simple, but entertaining tale of treachery and revenge, "Ride Clear of Diablo" finds Audie searching for those responsible for the dastardly murders of his father Patrick O'Mara (Tim Graham of "High Noon") and brother Andrew O'Mara (Hamilton Camp of "Dick Tracy") and the theft of their cattle.
Mind you, railway surveyor Clay O'Mara (Audie Murphy) was working in another state when he learned about the tragic news of his father and brother.
The obstacle that the villains experience with Clay is that they consistently miscalculate what he can accomplish based on his deceptively slight stature and his young school boy looks.
Santiago Sheriff Fred Kenyon (Paul Birch of "Gunman's Walk") and Attorney Tom Meredith (William Pullen of "The Lawless Breed") greet our hero when he arrives in Santiago.
Meredith killed both father and brother with a Winchester from the back of his horse during a stampede.
Another dirty, low-down sidewinder who rode when them on that fateful day, Jed Ringer (Russell Johnson of TV's "Gilligan's Island") is on hand during the mischief.
As it turns out, Abby is privy to all the bad things that go on in Santiago.
Predictably, Clay wants to know more about the desperadoes who rustled his father's cattle.
Shrewdly, Kenyon and Meredith confide in Clay that the notorious gunslinger Whitey Kincade (Dan Duryea of "Six Black Horses") may have been responsible for the deaths of his father and brother.
Whitey enjoys quite a reputation as a fast hand with a gun, and Meredith and Sheriff Kenyon believe Whitey will dispose of Clay with no problems.
Initially, Sheriff Kenyon is against deputizing Clay, but Meredith convinces him that Clay deserves to get answers to the questions involving his family.
Neither think Clay will learn anything from Whitey.
Dan Duryea was a durable presence in the countless westerns that he made, and he enjoyed playing villains.
His performance as Whitey Kincade overshadows everybody else in "Ride Clear of Diablo." Initially, when he meets Clay in a saloon at Diablo, Whitey thinks that he won't have any difficulty killing Clay.
However, fast on the draw Clay surprises not only Whitey but also the spectators watching their showdown.
Among those spectators is Tim Lowerie (Jack Elam of "Support Your Local Sheriff"), who is an outlaw.
Imagine their surprise when Clay escorts Whitey back to Santiago.
After Sheriff Kenyon locks Whitey up in his calaboose, Whitey informs the lawman that if his trial goes the wrong way, he will tell everybody about the corruption in Santiago.
Kenyon confides in Meredith, and they convince Jed to take the stand as a defense witness on behalf of Whitey to clear him of any criminal wrongdoing.
Jed is tired to playing second fiddle and demands more money from Meredith.
Meredith reveals that Wells Fargo will be shipping a bundle in silver, and Kenyon and he want Jed to rob it.
Little do they know that Jed plans to double-cross them.
No sooner is Whitey turned loose than he tells Clay about the corrupt sheriff and duplicitous lawyer.
Naturally, Clay is dubious about Whitey's information.
Duryea plays the vainglorious Whitey with a maniacal laugh and grows to like Clay.
When Clay rides off to retrieve a stolen white horse that the Lowerie's have taken, Whitey shows up to help him.
Clay takes the horse, but he has a rough time escaping the wrath of the Loweries who pursue him, slinging lead futilely from horseback as they chase him.
Earlier, when the owner told Clay about the theft of his prized stallion, he assured our hero that his stolen horse could outrun anything in the territory.
Clay has to abandon his own mount and ride the white stallion to escape from the trigger-happy Loweries.Throughout "Ride Clear of Diablo," Sheriff Kenyon's daughter, Laurie Kenyon (Susan Cabot of "The Wasp Woman") hovers in the background and foreground.
She takes a liking to Clay, and they become close friends.
Eventually, Clay tracks him down with the help of Whitey, and they kill Jed and find the loot.
During the gunfight, Jed wounds Whitey, and Clay takes him back to Santiago.
Back in town, Meredith and Kenyon are waiting in ambush for Clay, and Whitey helps him survive a shootout.
While Whitey guns down Kenyon, Clay kills Lowerie.
"Ride Clear of Diablo" qualifies as an above-average western, largely owing to Duryea's charismatic performance..
Dan Duryea rocks!.
Dan Duryea consistently upstages the staid Audie Murphy(as Clay) during their many interactions, both negative and friendly.
I'll classify Dan(as Whitey)as a ruffian rather than a villain, at least in the context of this story.
The real bad guys, surprisingly, are Sheriff Kenyon(Paul Birch) lawyer Tom Meredith, and their henchman Ted Ringer(Russell Johnson).
Very surprisingly, the sheriff and Tom are the major participants in the cattle rustling operation.
Clay O'Mara, in distant Denver, receives a letter from Tom telling about the tragedy, and saying he will settle the estate.
When Clay arrives, Tom has already sold his father's ranch(to himself?), and suggests that Clay might as well go back to where he came from, as they can handle any further details relating to the murder or property.
But Clay wants to get in on the hunt for the killers, and demands to be deputized.
So, he suggests gunslinger Whitey is a good possibility.
Clay goes looking for Whitey in Diablo, and finds him in a saloon.
Whitely draws on him, but Clay is faster, and shoots the gun out of his hand.
Whitey reluctantly submits to Clay's arrest, and they head for San Diego, and various adventures until the real killers are dealt with.
Gorgeous Susan Cabot plays Sheriff Kenyon's live-in niece, Laurie, who initially is engaged to marry Tom. However, as her opinion of Clay rises, her opinion of Tom declines, especially toward the end, and she dumps him for Clay.
..Abby Lane is another featured female, she being an entertainer and singer at a Diablo saloon.
She has an active relationship with Jed Ringer, and a past relationship with Whitey.
Obviously, she's the stereotypical 'bad girl', to Laurie's image as the 'good girl'....Denver Pyle plays the minister, who talks to Clay when he arrives about not being too hasty in his thirst for revenge.Jack Elan plays Tim Lowerie who, with his brothers, steal an all white horse.
Whitey leads him to the Loweries, where he suspects it is.
Clay takes the horse away, but the Loweries don't give up that easily.In short, this is an interesting oater, with Duryea providing an extra kick. |
tt0023236 | The Monster Walks | The film opens with Ruth Earlton and her fiance Dr. Ted Carver arriving at her father's house. She has been told that her father has died, and is returning to find out what will be done with the estate. They arrive on a stormy night, and are greeted by her invalid uncle Robert, the housekeeper Mrs. Krug and the housekeeper's son Hanns.
While exploring the mansion, Ruth is dismayed to find a large ape her father used to conduct experiments in the basement. She and the others then gather to learn how the Earlton estate will be divided. Earlton has left his estate to Ruth, but it will go to her uncle Robert in the event of her death. Very small monthly sums are also left to the housekeeper Mrs. Krug and her son Hanns. These two are very upset about the small amount of the allowance.
When Ruth goes to bed that night, a large, hairy hand reaches through the headboard and attempts to strangle her. When she screams, it disappears. Her fiance and Mrs. Krug arrive at her room, and attempt to comfort her. Ted gives her a sleeping potion, and she falls asleep in a chair in her room while Mrs. Krug stays with her, taking the bed.
The hairy hand reappears and strangles Mrs. Krug this time, killing her. Ruth awakens and alerts the rest of the household as to what has happened. Afterward, Hanns Krug meets with Robert Earlton in secret, and tells him that their plan to kill Ruth Earlton has failed and he has accidentally murdered his own mother. He blames Robert for this, and after mentioning the fact that Robert is his father, he strangles him as well, leaving him for dead.
Dr. Clayton visits Robert's room, and Robert regains consciousness. He tells Clayton about the plan he and Hanns had to murder Ruth, so that the estate would go to them instead. Clayton rushes out to find Ruth and warn her. She has already been taken by Hanns to the basement though, where he attempts to force the ape to kill her. The ape turns on him instead, killing him. Clayton arrives to find Ruth alive and well. | murder | train | wikipedia | The dead mans brother (Sheldon Lewis, the Clutching Hand himself in a surprisingly subdued performance) is confined to a wheelchair and the servants (Martha Mattox, best remembered from THE CAT AND THE CANARY, 1927 and Mischa Auer later to costar in CONDEMNED TO LIVE, 1935) are the creepiest characters you ever saw.
When informed that his room is in the basement near Yogi's cage he responds "Well get me an umbrella and I'll sleep on the roof." Once we know there is a killer loose in the house Willie is asked if he left his gun in the glovebox of the car and he replies "No sir, it's right here!" and pulls it from his pocket.
I'm sure that fans of early horror films will definitely detect a lot of charm and goodwill in this typical story about a wealthy daughter that is targeted for murder upon returning to her parental house for the regulation of her dead father's inheritance.
Strayer starring no one else but Mischa Auer (whom years later would achieve fame and recognition as a comedian) in a creepy and very dark role.The film is about the death of a millionaire scientist, and the subsequent reading of his will.
Among them are his young daughter Ruth (Vera Reynolds), his brother Robert (Sheldon Lewis) and his two servants, Mrs. Emma Turg (Martha Mattox) and her son Hanss (Mischa Auer).
This kind of plot is nowadays a cliché, but in its day it was still fresh and a favorite both among the audience and among the writers.Made just 5 years after the first sound movie, "The Monster Walks" is a stylistically a film that still retains some features from silent films.
The rest of the cast is less impressive, and while Rex Lease makes a good lead, Vera Reynolds' over the top melodrama (probably another element from silent films) is a bit annoying and distracting.Like most films done on the Poverty Row, "The Monster Walks" suffers of a terribly low-budget and even lower production values.
THE MONSTER WALKS (1932)An ape is killing people in an old spooky house!
(He's called an ape but is obviously a chimpanzee.) Willie Best, annoying billed as "Sleep N' Eat," provides the intended comedy relief and is as good as usual, but don't expect too much from anyone else.
first off I really don't think that the producers, or director ever meant this movie to be funny,, I loved the old house and the set pieces,, the ape was fun too , because you never really know if he is gonna escape or not,, I love the hairy hand creeping in from behind the headboard you never really get quite a handle on who the killer really is till near the end of the movie,, yes the movie was not scary, but like I said I really don't imagine that they intended it to be that way, this movie however is full of laughs, and it sure kept me guessing thru most of the movie.
He turns on his father and tries to kill the daughter.It was a weird little film, just out of the silent era, and there was more talking than anything.Of course, they have the stereotypical black chauffeur (Willie Best, who was listed in the credits as Sleep 'n' Eat).
THE MONSTER WALKS is an "old dark house"-type film, complete w/ a violent thunderstorm, a rich, dead patriarch, a house full of guests, a creepy servant named Hanns (Mischa Auer), and a screeching chimpanzee locked in the basement!
Low-budget early talkie that may remind some of "The Old Dark House." A daughter returns to her family home when her father dies, to find she has inherited his estate.
There are moments of slightly weird entertainment.Some of the film posters for the movie shows what appears to be a gorilla but it is not a gorilla - it is a chimpanzee named Yogi that is screeching and escapes into the rest of the house.The acting is stiff - very wooden, the plot & story are weak and the overall scariness is zero.
This is an old black and white film from the early 1930's.The setting is an old house and at night with a storm brewing outside.It has some good elements but in the end it's ruined by just not being very exciting.You get all the elements of a horror film from that time---stormy night,old gloomy house ,skulky characters and ,of course,the reading of a will from a dead man and the ensuing darting eyes after each learns of what he got ,or didn't get, as the case may be.A young women returns to her childhood home after her father dies.She ,along with her doctor boyfriend,arrive on a stormy night for the reading of the father's will at the old darkly lit home.The young woman's crippled uncle,her dad's bother,still lives there along with a tall weird bony old housekeeper/nanny and her equally creepy bony son.Also in the mix is the dead man's lawyer who is there to read the will.And the doctor's driver is also there.One of the unfortunate things about this film is the driver is a typical black character of that era.....slow shuffling bug-eyed fellow with the horrid name of Sleep N' Eat ,altho he is also called Exodus.To top it all off the weird dark old house consists of a nasty dirty looking chimp locked in a cage in the basement.So after the will is read and they all learn the daughter gets everything they all are forced to stay there since the storm is so bad.The nanny and the weird son are peeved cause they got pretty much screwed in the will after many years of drudgery in this old house taking care of two old sick men.
Then they start to suspect each other of the attacks but then next time something happens they suspect the ape again.The doctor and lawyer naturally lead the investigation into the choking attacks and murders.I'm not sure why but it seems always in these old horror films a doctor ,lawyer or newspaper reporter is always doing the crime solving.Altho it's creepy looking and not an absolute waste this film doesn't make much sense.Why would the family keep a pet ape?
All in all this wasn't a complete waste but it doesn't have much to recommend it either.It's totally a period piece,implausible and silly, and the last few unfortunate scenes involving Sleep N' Eat will make your skin crawl more than the rest of the film does put together.The horrible racism in this film was a normal and accepted part of films from that era and that is the really scary thing.The usual bad acting and bad script is here, and I was prepared for those things, but to see a human being degraded for the amusement of the movie goer isn't something you get used to.It ruined what otherwise would have been just a silly little schlocky movie turning it into a sad reminder of how far we've come but how so very far we have yet to go..
I have an original Mexican lobbycard of this oldie-but-not-goldie dark house thriller with a terrific illustration (not seen in American publicity materials as far as I am aware) of a very scary giant (King Kong-size!) ape, but, alas, no such monster appears in the movie.
The Monster Walks (1932) ** (out of 4) It's rather amazing at how many films would follow after The Bat was released in 1926 and kicked off the "old dark house" genre.
THE MONSTER WALKS is one of the very earliest old dark house movies and to be blunt it's absolute rubbish .
Whlist James Whale's THE OLD DARK HOUSE is deliberately tongue in cheek keeping with the director's sense of humour this film is funny for all the wrong reasons A good example of this happens in the opening credits where one of the cast members is credited as " Sleep n Eats "a pseudonym for actor Willie Best .
As you can imagine being African American he speaks in a stereotypical manner as in " Where da dead man dat "which if nothing else relives the tedium In fact the rest of the cast do their best to out do one another by giving the most dreadful , stilted wooden performances you can never hope to see in a movie with only Sidney Bracey giving any sort of accetable performance as the polite English sounding butler .
Sy Tomashoff and "Dark Shadows" fans should be interested in the set production.*** The Monster Walks (1932) Frank Strayer ~ Mischa Auer, Rex Lease, Martha Mattox.
In fact, before the film began I KNEW it would be this way because for comic relief, they cast "Sleep n' Eat" (later known as "Willie Best")--a character actor who was almost as stereotypical and offensive as Steppin' Fetchit.
It was old man Krug, he was the ape all along, and he'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids.(Actually, I think this is the second movie I've reviewed with someone in an ape suit killing people, which i guess was a pretty standard fare on Poverty Row in the 30's and 40's.) The final point is the actor credited as "Eat N Sleep", better known as Willie Best.
Present and accounted for are the wimpy, overly emotional daughter Ruth (Vera Reynolds), her doctor boyfriend Ted (Rex Lease), wheelchair bound Uncle Robert (Sheldon Lewis), fraidy cat black chauffeur Exodus (Willie Best aka Sleep 'n' Eat), elderly maid Emma (Martha Mattox) and her very tall and menacing half wit son Hans (Mischa Auer), who...
Exodus says "I had a grand pappy who looked somethin' like him!" Groan.Fans of cheap old horror flix will be all-too-familiar with this film's set-up, plot and roster of stock characters.
With all the attention on the maligned monkey Yogi it turned out that the butler or monkey's attendant Hanns Krug, Mischa Auer, and his mom the house maid Mrs. Krug, Martha Mattox, were behind all this monkey business to ice out or do in Ruth from getting her share of her father's money and property.****SPOILERS**** It's soon found out that Hanns is actually Ruth's step brother or first cousin, it's not quite sure which one he is,who together with his mom Mrs. Krug feel that they were left out in the cold by the old man leaving them almost nothing, but $50.00 a month for life, in his will.
This is a misinterpreted film, with reviewers (on another site) believing the opposite of how I understood it; another of those situations when we are likely reviewing different movies, so dissimilar are the ideas, anyway to me Mischa Auer but also Sidney Bracey are the best from the cast, each of the others being also strongly effective and acting professionally, even Lease.A horror movie with a good cast: Sheldon Lewis as the surviving brother, Sidney Bracey as Wilkes (a reliable old-school role), Mischa Auer (who not only got a good role, but also knew how to play it), Martha Mattox as his mother, W.
In Strayer's movies, the murders are sometimes shown, in this one as well.I liked the dreary house, the sets, starkly unnerving, I enjoyed the feel, and the dialog, with some likable people, like the physician and the lawyer, behaving as they do, the lawyer made a nice gentleman, and chivalrous, so I approve of the way the characters have been thought out and played; both families, owners and servants, are German, Hanns looks and behaves the way he does, because he is the sickly brother's child, his cousin asks only twice to leave, and it's explained why she remains (as also the ape's presence in the house is amply explained; less obvious is why would Hanns use the unholy glove for his hand, but the ape is his double), and when she was going to leave, she's kidnapped.
Had everybody spoken their lines at a normal speed, the film would have been 20 minutes shorter than its hour long running time.This "old dark house" movie utilizes elements already old hat in talkie horror films (an invalid patriarch, a heroine in peril, sinister servants, even a gorilla living in the basement), and you just know that a hair-covered hand is going to pop out of a wall to grab the heroine as she sleeps.
Basically, what we have here is another "Old Dark House" knock-off with a group of characters convening a meeting at night during a storm to hear the reading of a dead man's will.
I got this in a DVD set called Back From The Grave along with a bunch of other Horror films and I must say this deserves it's very low 3.8 rating, plus Vera Reynolds(Ruth) laughably overacts and is a terribly non convincing lead, along with Rex Lease (Dr. Ted Clayton).
Through it all is the maddening screams of Yogi, the ape, caged in the cellar, which is a bit of a problem as it is supposed to possess superhuman strength and be bitterly unforgiving of those that have taunted it but when you finally see it, it is only a chimpanzee and because of all the jungle films around at the time in which chimps were cute and funny, Yogi just doesn't convince.There is also a family secret which Hanns is forever on the point of revealing, especially when he realises that he and his mother, Mrs. Krug, were not that well provided for in the will.
Sorry for my bad English :(This movie wants to be some many things at the time, and fails in every aspect, tries to be as Dracula or Frankenstein, tries to be a detective movie, a Gothic tale, a suspenseful movie ad scary, but none of this ones works, first the plot is ridiculous, a group of people stay in a old dark house to read the will of a relative and then strange things began to happen they all think is the ape of the dead relative, in the end the ape is controlled by three of the people to kill the others and stay with the money, which is ridiculous, so the story doesn't work and is rejected by major studios, but they still want to make the movie, so they make it independent, plus the develop of the script also has some plot holes and things that just don't make sense like the part the fiancée of the leading girl starts asking questions like a detective to a guy just because he found his cigarette, or the leading girl that screams the whole movie to take her out of the house, but they don't even try to get out, after all what just happened, or again the leading girl, screaming because she found a corpse in her bed, and just minutes later she sleeps in the same place the body was found, come on all this is ridiculous and i am not telling everything.From that we get the second point, the low-budget, you can see the movie is obviously cheap, because of the special effects, the setting and the actors, the killer hand of the monkey doesn't even look like the real monkey, it makes no sense, the setting tries to be Gothic and creepy but it is not, and the acting is laughable, the leading girl is always hysterical and in tow seconds she is smiling or laughing, Hans tries to be creepy, but it ends being laughable, and its a little bit racist, the only black character in the movie is the one with no intelligence.
Once the chimp's name is revealed as Yogi, you know you won't be able to pin any murders on the poor old boy.The story revolves around the large inheritance left a young woman (Vera Reynolds) by her father, with the provision that if she dies, the money reverts to the dead man's brother Robert (Sheldon Lewis), crippled and confined to a wheel chair.
There have been better films featuring a similar kind of plot and characters(..without the caged ape, of course), and I'd say search elsewhere for better examples of the genre..
Yeah, pretty much.I love old dark house films but "The Monster Walks" is without the slightest doubt the worst of the genre and after having viewed this poverty-row clunker twice (a decade apart) it was even more boring the second time around.
And since it's literally a rainy day at the moment there's no better a time, to waste some time, reviewing this terrible old movie - that CREAKS with age.Inept and anemic are just a couple of words that come to mind when watching this profoundly amateurish, low-budget old dark house/murder mystery film from 1932.
"Sleep n' Eat" with the quote: "Well I had a granpappy that looked sumthin' like em', but he wasn't as active".What disappoints the most about The Monster Walks, other than the acting, dialog, sound, set-design, etc, is the fact that the house itself isn't used effectively, for instance what of all tunnels and hidden passages that it supposedly has, not much effort put forth there, and merely mentioning such things isn't enough to keep your audience interested.
There are about half a dozen characters in total, but to me the only one that was even remotely entertaining was the black chauffeur character played by actor Willie Best (billed as "Sleep n' Eat"); a not-so-subtle racist stereotypical character that was common in that era.Of course I can't forget to mention the chimpanzee caged-up in the basement that screeches away every now and then.
The mansion has every haunted house attribute: it's old, dimly lit, has secret passageways, creepy servants, a corpse upstairs, an ape in the basement, plus a dark, stormy night outside. |
tt0060355 | Duel at Diablo | A frontier scout, Jess Remsberg (James Garner), is searching for the murderer of his Comanche wife. All he knows is that it was done by a white man. While crossing the desert he rescues Ellen Grange (Bibi Andersson) from a pursuing band of Apaches, and returns her to her businessman husband, Willard Grange (Dennis Weaver). The couple has lived apart for most of the previous two years, since Ellen Grange was kidnapped by Apaches. She had been rescued, but then voluntarily returned to the Apaches to live with the son of the chief.
Jess learns from his friend, Lt. "Scotty" McAllister (Bill Travers), an experienced army sergeant anxious for a promotion, that the town marshal at Fort Concho has information about Jess's murdered wife.
Jess agrees to act as a scout for an Army cavalry unit of twenty-five inexperienced soldiers taking horses, ammunition and supplies to that fort. Willard and Ellen are joining them, as is horse breaker Toller (Sidney Poitier), a veteran of the 10th Cavalry (the "Buffalo Soldiers"). Taller has been contracted to provide horses to the army and will accompany the party, taming horses on the way.
The townsfolk treated Ellen Grange as an outcast after her first abduction, and are now even worse. Some men try to rape her, but she is rescued by Jess, aided by Toller. The two had previously had a confrontation in a bar, which, with McAllister's intervention, was resolved without ill feeling. On the morning the supply wagon is to set out it is learned she has again returned voluntarily to the Apaches. Her husband does nothing about it, but Jess goes after her. While rescuing her he discovers she has had a child by the now-dead son of the Apache chief, Chata (John Hoyt). Jess rides off with mother and child to catch up with the expedition.
The supply wagons, however, have been ambushed by Chata and his warriors, with serious losses of men, food and water. McAllister is seriously wounded, but is able to function. The men also look to Toller for leadership. Using the infant as a shield (he is Chata’s grandson), Jess and Ellen get through the Apache attackers encircling the besieged cavalry force.
McAllister devises a plan to break out of their position and take refuge in Diablo Canyon, where there is water and better cover. As part of the plan Jess is to speed to Fort Concho for help. That done, he can resume the search for his wife’s killer.
The plan succeeds. The besieged unit is able to break out and hole up in the canyon, and Jess, though his horse dies and he is parched from thirst, is able to kill his pursuers and get to the fort. Reinforcements are immediately sent to the canyon, where the unit is under constant attack and the defenders are being killed one by one. Willard Grange is captured by the Apaches and is tied upside down over an open flame overnight so that his cries of agony will prevent the others from resting.
At the fort Jess learns that the man he has been hunting for is none other than Willard Grange, who had been out for revenge for what had been done to his wife. Jess races to the canyon, arriving with the army reinforcements just in time to save the last few survivors (including Toller and Ellen Grange). Jess searches for Willard and finds him barely alive. Willard begs Jess to take pity on him and put him out of his misery, so Jess gives him his pistol and leaves. Moments later a single shot is heard.
The Apaches are disarmed and rounded up to be returned to the reservation. Chata is allowed a final embrace of his grandson before joining them. Jess, Toller and Ellen stand by the graves of the dead soldiers (including McAllister). | cult, revenge, violence | train | wikipedia | James Garner plays Jess Remsberg, an Indian scout now out looking for the man or men that raped and killed his Indian wife.
Bill Travers and Bibi Anderson provide the international flavor in the cast, and Dennis Weaver gives the viewer a chance both to detest him and feel some sorrow for his warped prejudices toward those he considers inferior or below his status.The group of troopers heads out across the desert to another fort in the area, but are headed off by a group of Apaches that have jumped their reservation.
Garner does find out the identity of the man who was responsible for the rape/killing of his Indian wife, but in order to extract his revenge, he must first make it to the canyon of Diablo and rescue the beseiged group of Army troopers from being killed by the Apaches.Good, tense story, sweeping vistas of the Utah landscape, and two actors, Garner and Poitier, delivering masterful performances..
The fast pace of the movie, unearthly fates of the dead, anti-heroism of the protagonist (James Garner), and well done scenes of horse-borne combat combine to create a Western-Adventure-Morality Play that I certainly recommend.
Among them the bizarre, scorched desert scenery, Garner's quest for revenge for his dead Indian wife while pining over the married woman disgraced by her captivity with the Apaches, The underlying loyalty of Poitier's former soldier character to his former comrades (despite his overtly self-serving statements) contrasted with the underlying self-promoting purposes of Bill Traver's role as military commander.
Too, I see shades of this one in 1993's Geronimo by Walter Hill (burning vistas, Apaches hidden in the ground, Garner's Remsberg character in Duval's Al Seiber etc.) The musical score is off-beat for standard western fare, but who needs more drum beats, flutes, and rattles?!
Like all Westerns, the plot has its flaws -- with an Indian war party off the reservation they would not have sent a shipment of ammunition through a narrow canyon guarded by only one squad of green recruits on unbroken/partly saddle broken horses.
Also, Sidney Poitier's silver vest remains immaculate throughout the long desert journey and several pitched battles.However, the movie moves so fast that you never really have time to stop and remind yourself that you have to "suspend disbelief" to watch it.Next, the Good.
James Garner's character is looking for the men who raped and killed his (Indian) wife, Dennis Weaver's Will Grange is angry about almost everything, including that his wife was held captive by the Indians, Sidney Poitier's Toller (now a civilian) is mad that circumstances forced him to accompany the cavalry on this mission ....Garner and Poitier give excellent performances and the other actors rise to the occasion, helping us forget that they are, in fact, Scottish or Danish.At the end of the movie the various subplots are tied up and the issues are resolved with (in one case) a very surprising twist.On top of that, you have a wonderful (almost superb, for this movie) Neal Hefti score, which always seems to correctly reflect the mood of the scene.
The underlying issues of prejudice add an interesting touch to the movie as well with James Garner's character struggling with the death of his Indian wife and the Bibi Andersson character struggling with raising her baby fathered by an Indian brave.As in any good western, the scenery also plays an important part and the southern Utah settings are particularly striking.
Dennis Weaver, Sidney Poitier, and Bill Travers all add to the movie with good supporting performances..
Along for the ride are wrangler & ex-sergeant Toller (Poitier), shopkeeper's wife Ellen (Andersson), a former captive of the Apache who's regarded with disgust by her white neighbors, and her embittered husband (Weaver).
James Garner leaves behind his usual likable rogue that he normally plays for a role in Duel at Diablo as a grim and vengeful scout for the Army who's been told by Lieutenant Bill Travers and graphically shown that his Apache wife has been killed.
If he goes on a mission scouting for Travers delivering ammunition and green troops to another fort, he'll meet up with the man who had the scalp, the marshal there, John Crawford.Garner's not the only who's lived in both the white and Indian world.
And with a whole lot of green troops in the battle, Poitier being around comes in mighty handy.Duel At Diablo is not a western for the squeamish, it gets pretty graphic at times.
There's also a little bit of Stagecoach in Duel At Diablo with Garner like John Wayne on a vengeance quest against the people who murdered his family.Sidney Poitier's part is interesting in that there really is no racial reference as far as his blackness is concerned.
In fact Poitier having been in the army and fought the Apaches has just about the same attitudes towards them as the white characters do.This is a good western, maybe a great one, but not one for the faint hearted..
However McAllister and his small party find themselves trying to survive an Apache onslaught led by Chata, as the lady Ellen Grange that Jess rescued from the Apaches has something of importance to the chief.A competently well-made and satisfying western that's highlighted by the prominent cast and exhilaratingly taut and unsparing action sequences.
Mrs Grange is a distant relative of Christa,the heroine of Nelson's "soldier blue" ;both lived among an Indian tribe ,Mrs Grange had even a child from an Indian man:it's not surprising that the character who welcomes the baby of mixed race with warmth and tenderness is Sidney Poitier's.Besides,both Bibi Anderson and Candice Bergen are blond;it's all the more bewildering to see Anderson in a western since she is primarily an intellectual actress, famous for her roles in Bergman's works.That said ,one can prefer the way John Ford told us about the fate of the white "squaws".In spite of this minor quibble,"duel at Diablo" is an exciting western ,with a lot of subplots and even an unexpected twist (which makes sense),notably concerning Garner's late wife ;violence and cruelty (Indian tortures) are present and predict the final slaughter in the 1971 effort.A great scene shows Garner giving his revolver to a suffering dying man so as to he can finish HIMSELF off.Many interesting supporting parts..
Interesting casting is just one of the assets of this lightning paced, socially relevant Western that features some exhilarating action scenes certain to make the viewer sit up and pay attention.An unlikely bunch of protagonists band together as the Cavalry takes on a mission to deliver some new recruits to a far away fort, while Apache forces are growing very aggressive.
James Garner is the scout determined to find out who violated and butchered his Apache wife, Sidney Poitier is the former officer turned gambler roped into coming along, and Bill Travers is the stoic Cavalry lieutenant supervising the mission.It's great fun to see Mr. Poitier in this kind of setting, and he handles his role with his standard dignity and smoothness, while Garner is likable and charismatic as always, and Travers does well as a basically good man who knows the odds are stacked against his men.
The supporting cast is equally impressive: beautiful Bibi Andersson is Ellen, the wife of bigoted trader Willard Grange (Dennis Weaver), who has her own compelling subplot: she'd once been kidnapped by Apaches, and bore one of the tribe a son, to whom she tries to return, especially as Willard and other townspeople insist on giving her the cold shoulder.
Director Ralph Nelson (who'd previously directed Poitier towards a Best Actor Oscar win for "Lilies of the Field") appears on screen as Col. Foster, using the pseudonym of "Alf Elson", and Richard Farnsworth has an uncredited bit as a wagon driver.Viewers can take note than even while these Indians are portrayed as the antagonists, we can still feel sympathy for the way they are treated, the same way we feel sympathy towards Ellen.
James Garner is charismatic just like he is in "Support Your Local Sheriff" and Sydney Poitier, Dennis Weaver and Bibi Anderson fill their roles adequately.
The main plot has an army scout searching high and low for his Indian wife's killer, and events conspire to have the two men riding with a cavalry troop, although each man is unaware of exactly what drives the other.
James Garner and Sidney Poitier head a good cast, but Poitier's character seems out of place in the film.
It stars James Garner, Sidney Poitier, Bibi Andersson, Dennis Weaver and Bill Travers.
Wheeler.Searching for the man responsible for killing his Comanche wife, Jess Remsberg (Garner) is crossing the desert when he rescues Ellen Grange (Andersson) from the Apache and returns her to her husband Willard (Weaver) at Fort Creel.
And so it proves, where joined by the Granges, secrets will out and Apache will attack
.Obviously intended to be driven by a strong racial dynamic between whites and Indians, Duel at Diablo never really follows through on its promise of something more cutting.
The stunt work is top notch and the writing at least allows for some intelligent tactical thinking to be shown by both sides during the Diablo Canyon siege.It's also rich in characterisations: Remsberg is driven by revenge (Garner channelling Randy Scott from the Boetticher movies): Ellen, once captured by the Apache and taken as a bride and a mother to a half-breed baby, she's treated like a disease by the town folk: Willard, her husband, carries that burden, but not with ease: Toller, a black man who has served his time in the army, he now wears dandy clothes and answers to nobody: Lt. Scotty McAllister (Travers), the archetypal hero in waiting officer.
Wheeler expertly photographs the Kanab, Utah, locale to form a beautiful, yet imposing, backdrop, and Hefti's score is very different, a blending of styles, it's part spaghetti, part traditional and part Hippy Woodstock!A ripper of an entertainer that's better than the standard Cavalry v Indians Oater the plot synopsis suggests.
in an age when black actors were confined to black roles, this film shows Poitier in a role that could easily have been played by a white actor-plus he's the coolest dude in the movie.Bill Travers doesn't have to do an American accent.
Nice Western with Indians and soldiers plenty of action and lots of violence.
This exceptionally hard picture deals about Jess (James Garner) who frees Ellen (Bibi Andersson)from Indians, she's married to mean trader (Dennis Weaver).
Meanwhile lieutenant McAllister (Bill Travers) along with Toller (Sidney Poitier) are ordered transport ammunition throughout Apache territory where ravages an Indian chief named Chata (John Hoyt).
Good duo protagonist as James Garner and Sidney Poitier, director's usual.
However after a few characters are set up who say nice things about the Indians, the film then falls into standard fare where Chata's men are murderers, torturers and without any real character to speak of within the script.
Probably remembered for all the wrong reasons, namely the excessive violence and horror of a couple of scenes, DUEL AT DIABLO was a one-off western that attempted to moralise and re-assess the Indian vs white man conflict.
The reference to the "barbecue" above of course will not be missed by those who recall the horrific demise of the staked-out cavalry officers or Dennis Weaver's gruesome come-uppance.Hasn't aged greatly in 36 years and is still a powerful and thought provoking film for anyone interested in thinking!.
I see many reviewers also made mention of the offbeat score by Neal Hefti (whose best known work is the Batman theme for television and his theme for THE ODD COUPLE); it tends to work well, for the most part, with director Ralph Nelson's overall tone in DUEL AT DIABLO.
Along for the ride is ex-scout Jess Remsberg (James Garner) who is trying to track down Ellen Grange (Bibi Andersson) who keeps running off to the Apache and away from her husband Willard Grange (Dennis Weaver).
Also there is Toller (Sidney Poitier) who is breaking in the soldier's wild horses.This is rough and tumble old fashioned western.
Fortunately the soundtrack picks up tremendously along with the pace and action once we're on the way and far in the desert.Good actors are able to bring some greatly needed life and interest into routinely scripted characters and situations.
I found it excellent for its ability to both entertain, provide suspense and also explore the issues instead of just making the "Injuns the bad men" and the "White men the good men." Heroic cavalry lieutenant is ordered to move out green recruits on unbroken horses to get from the fort to the next destination.
Although a black man, he's not at all out-of-place in this yarn (it was apparently a new concept at the time to prominently feature black people in Westerns).Dennis Weaver is also on hand as the made-out-to-be-unlikable merchant who ultimately gets his comeuppance (but who can blame him for how he felt?); Bibi Andersson plays his adulterous wife; and Bill Travers is excellent as the Army commander.Aside from the excellent cast "Duel" is highlighted by magnificent Southern Utah locations and a phenomenal score by Neal Hefti.
It's got several strands of sub-plots going but spends most of its time featuring some action packed shootouts that don't leave much time for character development among the cast.JAMES GARNER is a scout who saves a young woman who is being pursued by Indians.
Another story thread has JAMES GARNER seeking revenge for the man who killed his Indian wife.
With all of these sub-plots merging, there's even more story element tying in SIDNEY POITIER and BILL TRAVERS, both of whom look out of place in this western saga.If it's action you want, you get plenty of it here.
By the time the final skirmish is reached, the viewer will feel almost as exhausted as the players must have been.Gritty all the way with a natural performance by Garner and good support from the others.
Jim & Sid. James Garner and Sidney Poitier western.
The movie tried to depict the Apache as the bad guys....But in the underlying theme was the the story that these were Indians forced to live on a reservation, and dealing with it the best way they knew how.The calvary used force on them...so Chata resorted to using force on the Calvary...the sub plot was a story of a woman whom had been taken by the Apache and borne a son to the son of Chata...After a brutal fight at a box canyon the Apache was defeated...Chata surrendered and was seen as a broken man with no hope, and no hope of ever seeing his Grandson again.....
This is not shot well, with a script that does not stand out and the action set pieces are obviously cheap, but well ahead of it's time we have no real good and evil here with flaws in both sides and it is here that the film excels.
James Garner is the anti hero who is only persuaded to come along on the quest to see his ex-army colleagues through territory filled with hostile Apache because he is looking for revenge on the man who killed his Indian wife.
Its very hard to see James Garner in a western movie and not remember him in his giant role on television as Bret Maverick on Maverick, If my memory is correct I think he lasted for 2 or 3 years, then had a fight for more money lost and moved on, too bad because the show really turned into his show, not the Brothers Maverick show.
Considering his appearance in one of my favorite films, "In The Heat Of The Night", a classic study of racism and cultural fear, I wondered how he reconciled the role of a former black military officer helping the cavalry protect a supply wagon through Apache territory, with all the attendant characterizations of the red man as a hostile, savage brute.
But Toller (Poitier) did have character, as demonstrated by the apology to Remsberg (James Garner) after learning of his wife's fate, that was an excellent scene.Dennis Weaver surprised me with his portrayal of Will Grange, showing a range of ability that far surpasses my singular impression of him as Matt Dillon's deputy, Chester Goode.
Still, the inclusion of Ellen Grange (Bibi Anderson) as a conflicted white woman with an Apache baby added another layer of intensity to a film already chock full of angst driven characters.
James Garner could be a fine actor when the role was right and Sidney Poitier was one of the most skilled of his generation.
Strong portrayals by Bibi Andersson, as Ellen Grange, and James Gardner work here with skillful director Ralph Nelson to create a well acted, beautifully photographed, entertaining Western, even though some mannered performances by other actors as such Sidney Poitier distract from the natural feel Andersson and Gardner bring to the effort.Utah locations are classic aspects of carefully imitated Western icons and tropes exploited to create a fifties look to this lovely film.
Garner makes for a brilliant "action man" as the rough,tough,hard-as-nails scout Jesse Remsburg, even if the character is a little clichéd.
James Garner broke out of his mild-mannered "Maverick" mold to topline director Ralph Nelson's savage cavalry versus the Indians western saga "Duel At Diablo" that co-starred Sidney Poitier and Dennis Weaver.
Rugged Jess Remsberg (James Garner) has been searching for the man who scalped his Indian wife and he finally catches up with the dastard.
James Garner, finding out that his Comanche wife has been scalped, helps out the Swedish Bibi Anderson who became the mistress of an Apache warrior after being separated by arrogant husband Dennis Weaver.
The presence of Sidney Poitier as a well dressed black man involved in the transfer of weapons is simply star status added to the film because his character has no real impact on the plot line other than to seem to keep pulling Garner out of scrapes. |
tt1548296 | Love Letters | Alan Quinton (Joseph Cotten), an American soldier in Italy during World War II, has been writing letters for his friend, Roger Morland (Robert Sully), a man who admits he "never had any standards, manners or taste." Alan has never met Victoria Remington, but regards her as a "pin-up girl of the spirit," to whom he can express feelings he has never expressed in person. He realizes that Victoria has fallen in love with the letters and is concerned that she will be disappointed by the real Roger. However, Roger abruptly leaves for paratrooper training in England.
Alan is subsequently injured on the Italian front and finds out that Roger is dead. He is having trouble readjusting to civilian life and spending time with his fiancée, Helen Wentworth (Anita Louise). He decides to live for a while at his aunt's farm in Essex. In London, his brother takes him to a party at which he meets Dilly Carson (Ann Richards) and Singleton (Jennifer Jones). He drunkenly tells them the story about falling in love with a woman he's never met, and Dilly realizes he is referring to Roger and Victoria. She tells Alan that a murder was committed and the letters were somehow involved.
Alan and his fiancée realize they aren't in love and part amicably before he moves to the farm. While in Essex, Alan visits Longreach — the road to which he addressed all the letters — and finds out that Victoria died over a year ago. He also learns that Roger was murdered by his wife, and Alan feels guilty for ever writing those letters. Back in London, Dilly informs him that Singleton is suffering from amnesia and is actually the real Victoria. She begs him not to tell Singleton that he was the one who wrote the letters because Victoria fell in love with Roger through the letters and married him solely based on them.
Dilly recounts that one day, she found Roger stabbed to death in the country house on Longreach, but Victoria was completely unable to remember what happened, even though she was holding the murder weapon right beside him. After a trial during which she cannot remember anything, she is sent to a prison psychiatric hospital for a year and then released into the care of Dilly. Victoria never regained her memory, and continues to now live as Singleton. Singleton realizes that Alan is in love with Victoria, but does not realize Victoria is actually herself. Regardless, Alan and Singleton marry after he gets permission from her adopted mother, Beatrice Remington (Gladys Cooper). However, their marriage is constantly scarred by Alan's love of the "other woman."
Beatrice returns to the farm and while conversing with Singleton, Singleton begins to remember the events of that fateful night: As Roger begins to drink, Victoria rereads the letters to remind herself of the man she loves and not the bitter man she sees in front of her. Roger confesses that he is not the one who wrote the letters, and he becomes abusive. Beatrice takes a knife and is the one to stab him to death as Victoria attempts to save the letters he had thrown into the fireplace.
As Alan arrives at the house, Victoria recalls her true identity and they fall into each other's arms. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0100332 | Paris Is Burning | Shortly after the failed 1944 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (Billy Frick), he appoints General Dietrich von Choltitz (Gert Fröbe) as military governor of occupied Paris. Hitler believes Choltitz will obey his order that the Allies should not be allowed to capture Paris without the Germans destroying it completely, similar to the planned destruction of Warsaw.
The French Resistance learn that the Allies are not planning to take Paris, but are heading straight to Germany instead. The two factions within the Resistance react to this news differently. The Gaullists want to wait and see, while the Communists want to take action. The Communists force the issue by calling for a general uprising by the citizens of Paris and by occupying important government buildings. The Gaullists go along with this plan of action once it is set in motion.
Initially, Choltitz is intent on following Hitler's order to level the city. After his troops fail to dislodge the Resistance from the Prefecture of Police, he orders the German air force to bomb the building but withdraws the order at the urging of the Swedish Consul, Raoul Nordling (Orson Welles), who points out that bombs that miss the Prefecture risk destroying nearby culturally invaluable buildings such as the Notre Dame Cathedral. Choltitz accepts a truce offer from the Resistance (conceived by the Gaullist faction), but the Communists want to keep on fighting, in spite of a lack of ammunition. The truce is, therefore, shortened to one day and the fighting resumes.
After learning that the Germans plan to destroy Paris (the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks are rigged with explosives), a messenger from the Resistance is sent across enemy lines to contact the Americans. He implores the Allies to act and afterwards U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the Free French Forces under General Charles de Gaulle the go-ahead to move on Paris.
As the military situation deteriorates, Choltitz delays the order to destroy Paris, believing that Hitler is insane and that the war is lost, making the destruction of Paris a futile gesture. He chooses instead to surrender shortly after the Allies enter the city.
As the Free French Forces and De Gaulle parade down the streets of Paris, greeted by cheering crowds, a phone receiver off the hook is seen with a voice in German repeatedly asking "Is Paris burning?" From the air, Paris is seen, its buildings still standing. | queer | train | wikipedia | "Paris is Burning" is a documentary about gay black and Hispanic men who are tranvestites or transsexuals.The miracle of "Paris is Burning" is that director Jennie Livingston takes a subject that could have very easily become a freak show and allows the people in it their humanity.
But if you do see this movie you'll realise "Paris is Burning" isn't really about men wearing women's clothes, it's about a group of people who are routinely marginalised and put down by society at large, and what they do to get a sense of community in their lives.I've watched this movie four times since it was released in 1991, because it says so many things: it's a commentary about materialism in our culture, about gender roles, about rich and poor people, about the media and what it celebrates, about fame and adulation.
I had many gay friends growing up in New York in the eighties and the one thing about them i always admired was their courage to live their lives the way they wanted to live them.
This is a great film, watch it and take in what it was like to be a flamboyant African American or Hispanic Gay man in the New York of the eighties.
Some are still very much alive and quite well, Octavia is more radiant and beautiful than ever, Willi Ninja is very accomplished and gives a great deal of support to the gay community as a whole, Pepper Labeija just passed on last year of natural cause, may she rest in peace.
After Anji's passing Carmen became the mother of the house of Xtravaganza (she was in the beach scene) and she is looking more and more lovely as well.
Documentary starts in 1986 in NYC where black and hispanic drag queens hold "balls".
As one man says to another--"You have three strikes against you--you're black, gay and a drag queen".
This movie is for anyone that wasn't around during that time period.This shows the one thing the African American Gay Underclass felt was solely theirs and the love and camadrie you see is real.
This film came out 12 years years ago, and was a revelation even for people who knew something of the drag scene in New York.
Julian Fleisher's "The Drag Queens of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide" with its flow chart of influence that pulls together Julian Eltinge, Minette, the Warhol queens, and the 90s club scene - and postdates the film - ignores the houses completely.
Even Laurence Senelick's "The Changing Room" - the closest thing that we have to a definitive book on drag performance rushes quickly past the film and does not give the background information that one would have expected from it.I understand from the film itself,and various articles I found on the web that this house system goes back decades.
The major film performance by a house member prior to 1990 seems to be Chrystal La Beija in "The Queen", 1968.
The historical context is the biggest missing part of "Paris is Burning".The film is valuable because it focuses on a scene otherwise being ignored.
As we now know, Dorian Corey had a mummified corpse in her literal closet, but this did not come out until three years later.Of historical importance, but we still need someone to do either a book or a documentary film that provides more context..
You feel you're watching these people as they once were, over 10 years ago, when they still had hopes and dreams that by now have probably dwindled to nothing.
to give folks an update on the individuals interviewed in "Paris Is Burning", Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey & just last year(or early this year?), Pepper LaBeija all passed-away, unfortunately.
..i'm not sure what has become of the rest of the cast, though.to this day, i watch this film as if it's the first time seeing it....i, personally, would like Ms. Livingston to make a follow-up film, catching back-up with the surviving individuals....as i'm sure a good many of you would like to see as well.;).
Most people see this movie as an introduction to the world of drag queens or introduction to voguing and "balls".
I am a straight Latina who grew up in the NYC club scene but for me the best thing about this movie besides the great dancers and "characters" is what it says about being a marginalized group in the dog eat dog 1980's, and what they did to hold on to a semblance of family and fame.
Most of the house "mothers" died within a few years of the movie...
Growing up in NYC in the late 80's/early 90's club-scene, I can personally say this is one of the most important documentaries made in covering that place in this time period.
Seeing these kind of extraordinarily talented/well orchestrated "throw-downs" in the clubs was nothing short of spectacular and all the big names from back in the day are here...Pepper La Beija, Paris Duprée,Xtragavaganza, etc...all commemorated in the likes of such period-pieces as Malcom McLaren's song "Deep in Vogue"...it didn't matter who you were, or where you were from because when you walked through those doors into this "magic kingdom" of sorts, you became part of something bigger than yourself/you were important/and most importantly the creation of your own moves and imagination...and anybody from anywhere could become King (or Queen) as the case may have been.
this is so important to the community period..well if your are reading this please consider doing another documentary of this sort...I am really tired of hearing from naive writers how AIDS and Men go together when they don't; actually its the hetero's that we need to look into..this film didn't even bother to mention HIV or AIDS and I was so glad for that..I really appreciated the break downs and definitions too.
I had just recently watched "Paris Is Burning" and I love it.
All this by a white female director (who obviously must have been a Sister Gurl or Mizz Thing in a former life.) I could go on, but I think you get the point by now: I love this movie!.
I saw Paris IS BURNING at the San Francisco Gay Film Festival when it wasn't yet finished.
At least that closing piece.BTW: I was very actively gay in NYC in the 80s, for two years I shared an apt with the love of my life who was an African-American man.
"Paris Is Burning" is one of the best documentaries ever in that it perfectly captures a world that exists within our own and makes it seem totally alien to us.
While I am not unfamiliar with drag queens and New York City (I am a young gay man who was raised an hour from New York City in suburban New Jersey), this movie's take on drag balls in the 80's is very eye opening.
Drag queens are all about attitude and flamboyance, but this movie takes us behind that to the sorrow and desperation and the need to be accepted, by family, by society, and by our peers.
This is a very important "queer" film that says a lot about gay society in America.
For a challenge, watch this on a Double Feature with "Wigstock", a documentary about the (formerly) annual Drag Festival in New York City..
Ballroom Fun. Being a fan of the RuPaul Drag Race show and all the references to Paris Is Burning, a movie I've heard of since high school but never saw until now.
From shady and fierce to the drag queen art of "reading", this movie seems like the inspiration for RuPaul's show.The film is about the ballroom circuit for the mostly black/latino gay community.
Some competitions include the now famous "Voguing" - a dance which was popularized by iconic singer Madonna."Paris Is Burning" seems a bit dated now that being "gay" has gradually been accepted as a natural occurrence, but at the time of filming AIDS and homosexuals were synonymous and gays stigmatized.
The titles before each sequence "BALLS", "REALNESS", "HOUSES", etc., were probably the inspiration for Ken Burns' documentaries.
Filmed in New York City at the end of the 1980's, it's a great insight to an urban community that most of the "straight" world never new existed..
Gay or strait its a great doco for anyone who likes film.
It was interesting.Now to add after 10 years of seeing this film, I lived through the so called 'Madonna' craze.
Makes me wonder, if anyone else from mainstream America would watch this documentary, they'll learn they're not as "mainstream" as they think..
Documentaries that singlehandedly convey one person's life are far easier than to tackle an entire culture, so director Livingstone had a challenge ahead to portray New York's ballroom community.
A minority culture powered by African-Americans, Latinos, gays and transgenders where they "walk" in a variety of categories for trophies.
It was emotionally impactful and saddening to hear that these young performers yearn for fame and wealth, because it's something they've never experienced and believe it to be a privilege among "real" culture (a category within the balls where performers must act straight).
"Paris Is Burning", is an extraordinary documentary; detailing not simply the late-eighties sub-culture of "gay", black, New York, drag - and the transsexual balls which defined them - but also the appreciation of "drag" in all of its incarnations, the wanting to be other than what the participants were: oppressed, ignored, and un-appreciated.
It is a testament to the survival of those who have lived on the fringes, and a reminder to all, that there remains, even today, those who must deal with the loss of friends and loved-ones, the children, the house-members, the defiant few who vogued well-before Madonna, who lived in realness and dignity..
In a film in which the subjects are referred to as having "3 strikes against them" from a socioeconomic, racial, and sexual preference perspective, we as viewers are taken deep into the tight knit community that is New York Ballroom culture.
The way in which the concept of "drag" is explained in the film is not simply a definition consisting of describing gay men who dress in women's clothes.
In Paris is Burning, drag is a way to take on a new identity; to disconnect oneself from reality.
For people who are unfamiliar with this culture, listening to these men tell their stories and express the importance of the new york ballroom scene in their daily lives, it is quite easy to understand.
Paris is Burning paved the way for documentaries focused on marginalized groups of people.
In terms of the internet, the majority of the documentaries i come across that are web based (but function in a similar way as Paris is Burning does in terms of purpose and aesthetic) are centered around marginalized groups.
Made back in 1990, the film follows the majority African American and Latino LGBT communities of New York and the 'ball culture' they attended.
It seemed like an amazing night out and for participants an opportunity to express themselves they might not get a chance to do elsewhere.One of the few aspects of the film I did know about was voguing.
This is highly stylized, athletic and fierce and amazing to watch.It is a wonderful insight into a world that you never really here about or indeed see and it would be fascinating to revisit these people and to see whether ball culture exists in the same way today.
It had been recommended to me in a documentary filmmaking class that I took a few years ago.
From the start it really captures you as a very engaged audience member interested and fascinated in the lives of these people.
The film does a great job of really balancing a different number of people while never overwhelming the audience with a ton of information.
Paris Is Burning is a riveting documentary that focuses on the aspirations and culture of African American homosexuals and transsexuals.
One very important aspect of the film is the depth that is shown of the culture of these men.
Prior to this film, there were not many people, including myself, that new much about African American homosexuals, transsexuals and drag balls during this time.
After watching the film though, I felt enlightened about this culture and had a new understanding of what these people were like, how unfairly they were treated, and their desire to be accepted in society.
Even though you might not be interested in the topics of balls, homosexuality, racism, or voguing, you might be surprised by hoe much this film pulls you in and keeps you interested until the end.
I would definitely recommend the film to anyone, especially those looking to expand their point of view about different topics..
There is so much hope and dreams in this role movie that it's impossible not be touched by Venus, Pepper, Dorian and all the other's that appear are in the most raw ways of living, you don't see lies here, you see only the real feeling of humanity, much, much hope and dreams, specially in the young, a certain sad truth of what life really is in the old ones, is simply amazing, not only for telling the story of the drag scene but for telling the story of real people with hopes and fears.10/10
Life-affirming documentary on 80's drag scene.
I don't usually watch documentaries but I loved this one!
The movie depicts the gay New York of the 80's, focusing particularly on the struggles of .
The movie manages to show why The Ball is so important to everybody involved, and how being on stage and acting to be somebody different means so much for people coming from poverty striving for wealth and fame.But even though Paris IS BURNING is quite concerned with societal issues, it never becomes reduced to its political statements.
Instead, the movie just shows, quite subjectively, what happens in the drag scene and what people think and feel.
And then you find yourself drawn into this wonderful world of lively, honest and hard-working people and their quests.The movie's message is life-affirming and leaves you in high spirits.
Paris IS BURNING is a near- perfect documentary that has stood the test of time...
A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.My first impression while watching this is how it must have influenced both Madonna and "To Wong Foo".
Paris is Burning is a documentary about the drag scene in New York City in the 1980s, but it is so much more than that.
It is a story about people who have had to hide themselves and deal with being marginalized for being black, male and gay.
It is a watching this documentary and then seeing how trans-gender and gay people are still dealing with the same problems today.
I recommend it to everyone, no matter if they are for or against gay rights because it is truly a movie about humanity..
After growing up in the gritty streets of Detroit, MI, and having friends who traveled to New York balls, I fell into the lifestyle of being a House member.
But, I learned a lot from these queens in this movie and I highly recommend you watch it yourself.
To speak on excellent documentaries and skip this one shows the many issues with any type of film study class.
I say this since, often, films featuring people of color are looked over and not mentioned when it comes to said classes.
I can't say, but I must share with you a review of this film.Like most documentaries, there are people featured in the film and others play supporting roles.
For Paris is Burning the focus are on the "Mothers" of the houses and a select few of their children.
Alongside Pepper there is: Dorian Corey, who isn't a mother but a prominent figure in the movie; Angie Xtravaganza; Willi Ninja and Octavia St. Laurent.
Together, these are the people who introduce us to Ball culture and some facets to queer culture.Now, unlike many documentaries, there isn't so much an overall beginning and end when it comes to the film.
It more so features one house at a time while focusing on different segments of a ball.
For Ball culture, Dorian Corey speaks on how things have changed from the Balls being about people dressing as Showgirls to the then style which featured people trying to look like the famous models, or actresses, of the time.
Now, I realize I speak as if Paris is Burning isn't older than myself, but considering how few examples there are of queer culture in media, it was nice to see as many drag queens and feminine men as you would masculine men, trans-gendered and other underrepresented people of the queer community.
It makes it so that the documentary feels natural and almost makes you wish this was a series rather than simply a movie.And this leads me to the negatives of the film which solely deal with structure.
Also, I felt like there should have occasionally been a reminder of who someone was and which house they were part of for you are introduced to so many people that only getting their name once makes it so your memory has to be good.
I just would have liked if perhaps they focused on each house, their mothers and children, as they prepped for a ball, rather than sort of weaving in and out from the mothers talking, what was happening at a ball, seeing some of the children speak and then talking about bits of queer and trans-gendered culture.
But, overall I think this is a decent film to seek out if you have some curiosity and I'd consider it one of the few documentaries I may watch more than once, if just because of the personalities. |
tt2339741 | The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death | Forty years after the events of the first film, during the London Blitz, Eve Parkins joins some of her schoolchildren and the school's headmistress, Jean Hogg, to evacuate them to the isolated market town of Crythin Gifford. On the train journey there, Eve meets dashing pilot Harry Burnstow, who is stationed at an airfield near Crythin Gifford. Upon arrival at the apparently nearly deserted town, Eve is confronted by a raving madman, Jacob, and flees.
Although Eve and Jean do not approve of Eel Marsh House, the isolated manor house on an island in the marshes where they have been billeted, there is no alternative. That night, Eve has a nightmare of how she was forced to give up her baby when she was younger; when she awakens, she hears the noise of a rocking chair coming from the cellar. There she finds a message, scolding her for letting her child go, and sees a woman dressed in black. The next morning, one of the children, Edward, who has been mute since the death of his parents in the bombing, is bullied by two other children and sees the Woman in Black in the nursery. Eve feels that something is wrong when Edward starts constantly carrying around a rotting doll. That night, one of the boys who was bullying him is drawn out of the house by the Woman in Black; Eve finds his body on the beach, mangled by barbed wire.
Eve later sees the Woman in the graveyard, where she finds the grave of Nathaniel Drablow. She chases the ghost to the beach and is overcome by visions of Nathaniel's death. At the house, she and Harry establish the story of the ghost through an old recording made by Alice Drablow before her death at the hands of the Woman in Black: it is her sister, Jennet Humfrye, the mother of the child she adopted, Nathaniel. Jennet is haunting them because of Nathaniel's premature death, and is punishing Eve in particular for giving up her baby. Eve journeys into the abandoned town to confront Jacob, who is blind and therefore unable to be killed by the ghost, as he cannot see her. However, he has been driven insane by the deaths of all the other children (whose ghosts surround him) and tries to kill Eve before she escapes.
Back at the house, Jean finds one of the girls trying to strangle herself under the Woman's spell. During an air raid, the girl suffocates herself using a gas mask. After this death, Harry takes them to his airfield, which is revealed to be a decoy. Harry, the only man stationed there, has been disgraced following a crash in which he was the only survivor, and is no longer allowed to fly. Eve realises that the Woman has followed them. Edward flees and apparently dies by walking into a fire basket. Eve, however, realises that Edward is still alive and at Eel Marsh House. Realising that the Woman in Black wants her alone, she drives to the island, where she finds Edward walking out into the marsh to drown himself where Nathaniel died. She crawls after him, but they are dragged down into the mud by the ghost. At the last minute, Harry arrives and saves them, though he is dragged down to his death instead.
Months later, Eve has adopted Edward, and they are living in London. Although they believe they are free from the ghost, once they leave their house, she appears again and smashes a picture of Harry and his crew. | paranormal, dark, horror, gothic, haunting | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0265662 | The Rookie | The film tells the story of Jim Morris, the son of a career Navy man, who moves the family from Jacksonville, Florida to Big Lake, Texas, in order to maintain job security. Jim is shown to be a very skilled pitcher, though his father disapproves of Jim's dream of making it to Major League Baseball. It is later mentioned that the town to which Jim's family moved, Big Lake, has lost its love for baseball, preferring football instead. Thus, he was unable to play baseball in high school. He later gets a chance when he is drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers, but he tears up his shoulder, ending his hopes of achieving his lifelong dream.
Years later in 1999, Jim, married with three children, is a high school science teacher, as well as head baseball coach. His team, the Big Lake Owls, is very unsuccessful with many of his players skilled, but unmotivated, especially with very little community support. One day after practice, the team catcher offers to play catch with Jim. There it is revealed that Jim may still have his fastball, and it is soon displayed to the rest of the team. The Owls believe that Jim could possibly pitch in the major leagues and offer him a deal: If the Owls can win district and make the state playoffs, Jim will try out again, which Jim accepts. Furthermore, the team urges him to throw his fastball in batting practice, which immensely improves their hitting.
The Owls end up winning district and after their final win, the team tells Jim that, since they kept up their end of the deal, it is now his turn to do his part. After the Owls' season ends with a loss in the state tournament, Jim is told of a tryout nearby for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Jim goes, without telling his wife, afraid that her fear of him re-injuring his shoulder would keep him from going. After his tryout, the professional scouts discover his ability to repeatedly throw a baseball at 98 miles per hour. The lead scout tells Jim that he could be signed to a minor-league deal. Jim's wife finds out after getting two phone messages from the Tampa Bay scouts and she is at first reluctant to let Jim go, citing his home responsibilities, but after seeing how Jim is inspiring their son, Hunter, she allows him to go. Jim tells his father, with whom he still has a cold relationship, of his situation, and his father once again tries to dissuade Jim from trying to achieve his dream again, telling Jim, "It's OK to think about what you want to do until it's time to start doing what you were meant to do."
He is initially assigned to the minor league Class AA Orlando Rays (now the Montgomery Biscuits) but quickly moves up to the AAA Durham Bulls. Concerned for his family due to mounting bills (the pay in the minor leagues being low) Jim decides to give it up and come home. But his wife Lorri talks him out of it, not wanting Jim to give up again. Jim gets inspired again when he watches a Little League game one night, remembering the same love for baseball he had as a kid.
In September, Jim is told that the Major League club has called him up, and that they will be playing in Texas against the Rangers. Jim calls his family, who in turn informs the town. Advising his wife of the dress code in the majors, Jim finds his sports coat, a necktie and his St. Rita necklace hanging in his locker. St. Rita is the saint of impossible dreams. His family, high school players and many townspeople go to the game. Jim impresses many of the coaches in warm-ups with his fastball, and late in the game, with Tampa Bay losing badly, Jim is called into the game to pitch to Royce Clayton and end the inning. Jim ends up striking out Clayton on three straight fastballs. After the game, Jim gets interviewed by the press, During the interview, Jim notices his father had also come to the game. Jim's father finally admits that he is proud of what Jim has done and also apologizes for never supporting him. Jim thanks him and gives him the ball with which he had gotten the strikeout, and the two finally repair their relationship. Jim then meets with his family and all the townspeople who had come to the game, applauding Jim on his amazing success story.
The final scene shows the Big Lake high school trophy case, which has Jim's Major League jersey prominently displayed. It is then mentioned that Jim would go on to pitch in the majors for 2 seasons before retiring and returning to teaching in Texas. | inspiring, entertaining | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0267905 | Sangram | The story of the film is set in a village named Shimulpur village. Satyaprakash, a popular schoolmaster in the village teaching in the Shimulpur High School, is an honorable person in the village. An election campaign was held at the school, Raghav Choudhury and Mohan Roy being the two opponent candidates. Out of them, Mohan was an honest man and wanted to win the elections by maintaining peace and order in the society. But, Raghav takes the other trail and starts troubling the local villagers. Satyaprakash can't tolerate this and so, he protests against this, by advising the villagers to boycott the elections. Raghav tried to shut the mouth of Satyaprakash and put an end to his activities by bribing him but he failed. Ultimately, seeing no other way, Raghav kills Satyaprakash. Satyaprakash had two children. His elder son was Karna and younger son was Somu. Karna knew his father's murderer, but society forced HIM not to do anything to him and leave the village. He got shelter in a Colonel's house and is brought up there. As he grows, he makes the plans to take revenge on Raghav Choudhury. Meanwhile, Raghav Choudhury became a don of the village and started doing many illegal activities along his brother Rajesh Choudhury and his friends. On the other hand, during these years, Mohan Roy had paid for Somu's studies. Somu, who had gone abroad to complete his higher education, returned to the village. He and Mohan's daughter, Anjali, were in love with each other. Later, when Mohan Roy protested against Raghav, he got him murdered too by Rajesh. In the meantime, Karna returns and with the active support of the Colonel, he killed Raghav and his whole gang, thereby fulfiling his revenge. The film ends as finally the Colonel and Karna surrender themselves to the police. | romantic | train | wikipedia | One of Ajay's earlier films. Ajay just fresh after PHOOL AUR KAANTE(1991) and JIGAR(92) successes got to face many failures from 1993 till DILWALE(1994) which was a hitIn 1993 he had many flops like PLATFORM, DIVYASHAKTI SANGRAM is one of those filmsThough not a complete bad film, it's an average filmThe film is a story of enimity between 2 fathers Danny and Amrish Puri somewhat similar to QSQT but here the main story is also the love triangle between Karisma, Ajay and Ayesha Jhulka in that way the story is different from QSQT The film belongs to the 90's and we have the standard fights, comedy, college scenes and songs But the rivalry is well handled and the film though clichéd and formulaic is well handled in parts though it could be betterDirection by Lawrence D'souza is average Music is okayAmongst actors Ajay Devgan looked dull those days presence wise but his acting is good Karisma annoys with her childish act in funny scenes and is okay Ayesha Jhukla is average Amrish Puri and Danny excel in their parts Reema Lagoo is decent rest are adequate |
tt0106980 | Full Eclipse | Max Dire is a Los Angeles detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home and leaves him to ponder her future, while his partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. Realising that Max is experiencing problems, Adam Garou, a high-ranking officer distinguished by his success in reducing crime in other big cities, invites Max to join him at a weekly meeting of other police officers who are experiencing difficulties at his apartment. Adam informs Max that he should try to solve his problems rather than quitting the force as he is a good detective.
Although Max is skeptical as to whether he will derive any benefit from the meeting, as he and his wife had already attended counselling sessions without success, he reluctantly attends the meeting at Garou's apartment where he meets other police officers who have experienced problems such as Casey Spencer and Ramon Perez. Everyone who Max meets at the meeting praises the impact that Garou's influence has had on their fortunes. Max soon realizes that the activities of the group consist not merely of talking but also entail embarking on vigilante missions to clean the streets of criminals.
Max advises Garou that he is not interested in joining the group, but he immediately forgets this and agrees to accompany them to a party where criminals are exchanging weapons. Before gatecrashing the party, Max, being a veteran detective, notices that each of the group members injects themselves with a strange chemical, which he learns has been produced by Garou. After they have injected this chemical, Max notes, thanks to his finely honed powers of observation, that Garou and his group are transformed becoming more powerful and seemingly impervious to injury. The next day Max attempts to advise his incredulous boss of the strange goings on, but to no avail.
He visits Casey Spencer who tries to persuade him to inject himself with the chemical. When he refuses, she shoots him. As Max lies dying on the floor gazing at her in a perplexed manner she injects him with the chemical and he is instantly healed. They sleep with one another and afterwards raid a criminal lair after injecting themselves. As Max and Casey kill the criminals, they sprout long claws from their knuckles, and grow sharp teeth. One of the criminals escapes and informs his crime boss what he is up against. He is given instructions to deal with Garou.
Garou learns of Casey's sexual encounter with Max and angrily advises her that he is 'top dog' before raping her. Afterwards Garou and his group, including Max, gather together for another night of attacking the criminals. After injecting themselves with Garou's chemical the officers enter a vehicle to depart on their journey. The vehicle explodes as the key is turned in the ignition. As the remnants of the vehicle burn, the criminal who had been instructed to kill Garou looks on with glee. This happiness is soon replaced by terror when he notices that all of the officers have survived and that they are in their monster-like state. In the next scene the dead bodies of the criminal and his associates are dropped from a helicopter through the glass ceiling of the crime boss' home.
The same night, Max meets in a holding cell an ex-police officer from a city where Garou used to work. The officer is deformed and speaks badly of Garou. He advises Max that Garou may have cleaned the streets of the other cities, but that all of the officers who had worked with him were killed (though he had escaped). He also explained that his deformity was caused by overuse of the chemical. Garou kills the officer to silence him and Max covers for him, but his suspicions are aroused and he begins to conduct some research into Garou.
After making a startling discovery, he sneaks into Garou's apartment and finds Garou extracting the chemical from his own brain. Max advises Garou that he realises that he is a werewolf. Conflict ensues and although Max and Casey escape from Garou's apartment, the latter is fatally injured. The next day Garou prepares to complete his final operation and Max resolves to stop him. After Garou has killed all of the criminals, including the aforementioned crime boss, Max shoots him with a silver bullet and Garou falls to the ground. Thinking that Garou is dead, Max turns away . Then suddenly, he hears Garou say 'Didn't you get my memo? A full eclipse protects me from everything; including silver'. A full eclipse had passed overhead as these events took place. As Max dreads to consider what will happen next, Garou asks him 'Wanna see something really scary?'. He then turns into an extremely large werewolf, losing his human form entirely.
Max flees as the other members of Garou's group are killed. Garou tries to kill Max, but the latter injects Garou with a solution of silver nitrate. As the eclipse is over, this kills Garou. Before he dies Garou returns to his human form and tells Max that if he lies in his blood he can take his power. In the final scenes of the film, Max is shown to have moved to Denver with his wife Anna and their relationship seems to have improved. She is shown cutting her finger with a knife as she is chopping up food. Max licks her finger and then leaves to undertake some paperwork. She notices that her cut heals immediately and stares after Max bewildered. Meanwhile, Max is shown looking up on a computer the dates of coming eclipses in different American cities. These scenes reveal that he has inherited Garou's power. | violence | train | wikipedia | A good sense of humor, some snacks and some suspension of disbelief will help make this movie more enjoyable.There is some sex,plenty of gore, fangs, claws and guns...The cast seemed to have had a blast in this movie.
Sleek, sexy, and kind of like X-Men. Full Eclipse was a cool werewolf film.
Mario Van Peebles is great as Max Dire, the cop who becomes involved with a top secret group of werewolf cops led by Bruce Payne.
The love scene between her and Mario is the best one I have ever seen in on film.
An enjoyable werewolf action movie..
It's starts off with two cops, Max Dire and his partner, and his partner is telling him how he's going to quit the force and get married.
it's not great, but it definitely kept me entertained.It comes from director Anthony Hickox, who's first movie was Waxwork in 1988 (which also featured werewolves), and he does a particularly good job here at emulating John Woo -- the action sequences are very exciting, adrenaline-fueled affairs and in the other scenes there are plenty of close ups and interesting sound effects to set the mood of the movie.
Mario Van Peebles does his usual action hero thing with great flare, and Bruce Payne makes an excellent villain as Mr A Garou (Garou is French for werewolf, see -- pretty much the only high-brow werewolf reference in the movie).
It doesn't really pick up it's pace until the the second half, when Max Dire becomes one of the pack, and that's when things really start to get interesting.
First off the action sequences are incredible, John Woo had a major influence on the style of this film.
The performances couldn't be better, Mario Van Peebles is extremely underrated and Bruce Payne is the quintessential bad guy.
This movie is Shaft meets The Howling, throw in Hong Kong-flavored action and you've got Full Eclipse.
Full Eclipse is an excellent spin on the classic werewolf tale and just a fun, cheesy B movie.
Bruce Payne and Mario Van Peebles are hamming it up a bit but it fits the tone.
This may be director Anthony Hickox's last good film (besides Warlock: The Armageddon which was made the same year).
Full Eclipse is a little hard to find, but well worth it for a good mix of action, horror, and cheese..
There was a lot of posing and it felt like posing.Patsy is slinky, Mario is suave, and Bruce is sinister, but that's about all I can say for this one.
I just got done watching it and I can't even remember what ultimately happened to Patsy's character.On the whole, I still enjoyed watching the movie enough to give it a 5, but the letdown after the opening part prevented me from going higher..
Anthony Hickox at this time of his career could have been seen as a horror journeyman with such films behind him like; ""Sundown: the Vampire in Retreat", "Hellraiser III", the first two "Warlock" features and the two "Waxwork" films.
So "Full Eclipse" was another addition to the cycle.Los Angeles is filled with crime, as detective Max Dire sees his partner brutally gunned down and to make matters worse his girlfriend left him.
However Max is hesitant about it, but soon he is seduced into joining them.After a tough, cracking opening half-hour, from then on it becomes a brooding cop melodrama with a supernatural edge that harboured character conflicts, bemused performances and plenty of posturing.
However when the werewolf angle kicks in (an elite group of cops are dosing up on a serum that gives them superhuman abilities to tackle crooks), it can get sidetracked (you know the stress of the job) and becomes a little preachy (with some sort of parallel to drug addiction -- "At least try it" and "Just watch, then decide.").
The stunt-work also has a lot of people rev up and jumping around, especially through things and these werewolves leave plenty of destruction ("He's Acting like Dirty Harry on crack").
Mario Van Pebbles gets by, that is because of that powerful name "Max Dire".
Bruce Payne camps it up in a very cold, but lethal manner and Patsy Kensit simply sizzles.Junky, but mildly satisfying."Sometimes its good to know your not alone.".
But it keeps the pace up throughout most of the movie, yes a bit slow in places but if you like cheesy aging actions you will probably go in for Full Eclipse.If you want something just a little better try *One tough Bastard*.
It doesn't have werewolves, the main actor is torture and the child's character is dumb as a fence post but Bruce Paine as the villain saves it with some of the best one liners you are likely to get in an action movie - much better than any of the Die-hard sequels anyway!
The special effects aren't that bad, but remind of say Lost Boys & other movies and the comparison is very unfavorable.
That is your typical salad bowl movie: bada$$ honest cop loses patrol partner when sickos raid club...or so he thinks, because he's back the next day & performs like three vandamme 80's movies put together ( the action scenes aren't bad but they look like stand-ins & stunt-men a mile away ).
There is an attempt at virtuous camera angles and there is a salad bowl plot including some romance subplot & some cop-in-distress-going-through-divorce subplot...again trying to borrow here & there from more famous movies.
The best way I can describe it is that it's like an early 90's John Woo flick, only with werewolves.
In fact, I'm sad he didn't end up becoming a bigger action film director or sticking to this very specific style of directing .
But much like other directors, his visual style and approach began to change and he just never carried the same aesthetic or visual tone that some of his better earlier films had.
I mean, this is a guy who has done some amazing things visually with a lot of his early films, and I just can't stress that enough with Full Eclipse, a film that blindsided me with it's visceral punch of hard-hitting action and spectacle.While this film carries elements of both the horror and action genre, it's really in the action where Full Eclipse excels.
There was never a single moment during the action sequences where Mario Van Peebles wasn't shooting two guns at the same time while simultaneously flying through the air a la Face/Off or The Killer wearing a black suit and tie and landing on his stomach or back as he continues to shoot off rounds Chow Yun Fat style.
It's hands down one of the slickest looking action films I've ever seen, and easily his most visually satisfying work to date.While Mario Van Peebles was excellent as the lead, special attention must be made to the lead villain here, played by none other than resident bad guy Bruce Payne, and oh my word is he just amazing here.
But again, the real star of this film is Payne, and he steals every single moment he's on film.While there's an insane amount of satisfying action, it's also a werewolf film, and in that regard, it also doesn't disappoint.
Much like other 90's films I've recently revisited such as Timecop and Freejack, Full Eclipse is an awesome example of this very specific type of action film, the 90's kind, and I really hope it gets a Blu Ray release someday.
FULL ECLIPSE is an unusual and offbeat type of werewolf movie.
The good guy cop is Detective Max Dire, played by Mario Van Peebles.
He is a troubled Officer, trying to deal simultaneously with the aftermath of seeing his partner shot and critically wounded during a police raid on a criminal's hangout and having marital problems at home.
The medieval French term for a werewolf is loup-garou, so I knew immediately what Bruce Payne's character really was.
Garou invites Dire into his home, ostensibly to involve him in group therapy with a small group of other troubled police officers.
But Garou's real motive is to recruit Dire into the Pack and have him become a werewolf, too.
Garou asks Officer Casey Spencer(PATSY KENSIT) to help "recruit" Dire.
Kensit is seen talking to a reluctant Van Peebles in a soft and seductive manner about joining the Pack and then she gives him an erotic lick on the mouth.
Next thing you know, the Officer is back in the saddle chasing down the bad guys like Superman.
She then explains to Dire that the members of the Pack are able to transform themselves into lupine entities by injecting a serum provided by Garou.
We know it's going to wind up in a fight to the death because Los Angeles isn't big enough for two good-looking werewolf dudes.
Garou is shot in the chest with a silver bullet- not by Dire, but by one of the female members of the Pack.
It looks like he's got the upper hand(or paw) but suddenly the eclipse starts to wane as the Earth's shadow moves off the Moon.
I liked this movie quite a lot and I'll give it an 8 out of 10..
This is an underrated, superhero-inspired dark action flick about a secret police task force who are really werewolves.
Max is the promising rookie cop who gets inducted into this task force (without being made a werewolf - at first), among other things by being seduced by the delectable Patsy Kensit, whose role here is also one of her very best.This movie's got style and coolness oozing out of every orifice.
I made a commitment over the Summer to try and binge watch as many werewolf films as I can.
Going into Full Eclipse, an HBO Original Movie from the early 90s that hardly anyone seems to remember, my expectations were staggeringly low.
While it does suffer from several cons common of Made-For-TV movies, the film's developed characters, interesting themes, strong performances and (At moments) genuine suspense make it well worth a watch for fans of the werewolf movie genre.Much like the previously reviewed Spawn (Which I also loved), the most glaring and distracting issue with Full Eclipse is the special effects.
The budget just simply didn't allow for very convincing or effective practical effects.What really saves Full Eclipse and elevates it to the upper tier of werewolf films is the acting.
Payne has such a natural charisma, charm and likability as Officer Adam Garou that for the first 2 acts, he genuinely had me on his side.
Payne plays that revelation frighteningly, while never seeming like a different character from the idealistic, security obsessed Police Officer we were tricked into loving in the beginning.
This kind of sympathetic, relatable villain was rare in action films of the 90s and what Payne pulls off with him is rather impressive.While Payne is easily the best performance in the film, Mario Van Peebles is an excellent lead and I really found myself gravitating towards the character of Officer Max Dire.
Peebles has a real wide eyed fascination to the world of possibilities, power and purpose that Adam Garou offers him, his impassioned delivery and subtle facial acting really invest me in the journey of a cop trying to re-discover his purpose in a time of existential crisis.This brings me to another point of praise for the film, how unpredictable it is.
The character arcs of both Garou and Dire manage to avoid the various cliches that plague both werewolf films and cop films while still feeling natural and logical.
They act like actual characters rather than stock archetypes in a cop or werewolf film.
The film is surprisingly inventive in terms of subverting the cliches of its genres and I wasn't easily predicting plot points left and right like I thought I would be doing.
Genuine effort was put into the characterizations of this movie.Thematically, the film has a lot more depth than one might expect for a movie about werewolf policemen.
The appeal of the spectacle is several degrees more than what you'd expect from such a small production.The miniscule budget and resources of Full Eclipse hold it back from its full potential, but this is still a highly entertaining and surprisingly smart werewolf film with some outstanding performances.
Max Dire (Van Peebles) is one of the best and bravest officers on the LAPD.
Because of his stellar track record as a crimefighter on the mean streets, he attracts the attention of Adam Garou (Payne), a mysterious man who wants Max to join his gang of underground vigilantes to clean up the streets in their own way.
There's a lot to love and appreciate about this movie - not only is it a solid action movie in its own right, but it puts a nice spin on the cop/action drama.
It even puts a spin on the vigilante movie, which we especially liked, because we love those, generally speaking, and if you add in werewolves, it's hard to lose.
And the great cast ties it all together, along with the fast-paced direction of Hickox.Mario Van Peebles was terrific as Dire: not only is he a quality 90's coolguy with his ever-changing beard stubble, loose ties and sunglasses, but you can feel his conflict as it relates to the unfolding werewolf situation.
On top of that, he shines in the action sequences, as he fires two guns while diving through the air in slow motion, in true John Woo style.
So while this even has a dash of the then-current "homie movie" (there is a drive-by shooting and Van Peebles has a tendency to say "yo yo yo"), Full Eclipse, in general, is a cut above the average DTV film, in our opinion.
The only bad thing is that this was a point in time when annoying pop-culture references were starting to pop up in characters' dialogue.But the 80's weren't that far behind, as you know that Dire's partner, who says he's "getting married", is "too old", and is nervous and complaining a lot, that he's not long for this world.
As someone else had previously pointed out, the 1993 action-horror film "Full Eclipse" plays out a lot like a mad combination of "The Howling" (1981) and "Dirty Harry" (1971), mixed in with the feeling of a gore-filled superhero/horror comic book.
The plot to "Full Eclipse" is probably one of those stories that comes up out of a 10-second brainstorming session and the filmmakers just run with it; these end up being some of the best films ever released, so that's not a jab at Hollywood brainstorming.
I wouldn't be surprised if more than half the films that came out of Hollywood in the '80s and early '90s probably started out in such a fashion."Full Eclipse" is a movie that begins like an ultra-violent cops & robbers action flick, and ends as a gore-filled, special effects-laden comic book-styled horror film - although it's an admittedly high concept for a low-budget, made-for-TV film directed by Anthony Hickox ("Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth").In Los Angeles, violent crime is out of control and the streets aren't safe.
Detective Max Dire (Mario Van Peebles) and his partner Jim Sheldon (Anthony John Denison) are out patrolling one night when they get a call about a hostage situation out a downtown night club.
To make long stories short, Max and Jim go in without a S.W.A.T. team back-up and Jim is critically wounded during the ensuing gun battle.You would think that at this point the movie would be about Max going out to get revenge or being partnered up with a young inexperienced rookie - a la, "Lethal Weapon" - but the movie is only just beginning.
Max, who is already going through a crumbling marriage, is then placed in a support group for troubled police officers.
The group is run by a highly decorated veteran detective named Adam Garou (all-purpose villain Bruce Payne).
It turns out that Garou secretly runs a rogue squad of vigilante police officers who go out at night and exact their own form of justice on the streets.This is where the horror elements kick in.
In other words, Garou is actually a werewolf, and he has his right-hand woman Casey Spencer (Patsy Kensit, Mel Gibson's ill-fated love interest in "Lethal Weapon 2") seduce Max into joining their pack as its newest member."Full Eclipse" has an interesting story concept behind it, and for a low-budget made-for-TV (HBO) movie from the early '90s, it's carried out quite competently - given its financial limitations and lack of real star power, aside from Mario Van Peebles.
Admittedly, the "Lethal Weapon"-/"Dirty Harry"-inspired opening moments really do fool you into thinking it's going to be another cheap action film, and then the horror elements unexpectedly kick in and the film takes on a new dimension while still retaining a running cops & robbers theme.The performances aren't bad (Bruce Payne seems to be having the most fun here, even if he seems to be hamming it up a bit), and the special effects, make-up, and gore are quite impressive - the latter of which was reportedly toned down somewhat so the film could get an "R" rating (this review is based on the restored unrated version of the film).
The werewolf transformation sequences are nowhere near the strength of "The Howling" or that other big werewolf movie from 1981, the landmark horror-comedy "An American Werewolf in London," but the make-up employed to realize them seems like something straight out of an "X-Men" comic book.
(In fact, the whole story feels like it could be a gore-filled horror comic book series.)"Full Eclipse" is an impressively realized horror film, even if it falters in several aspects of its story and performances, but its high-concept - albeit comic book - premise, and special effects give it an edge for being a low-budget made-for-TV film.I wish more low-budget movies like this came out in the early 1990s.6/10 |
tt0310254 | Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge | Veer Thakur (Salman Khan) is an eligible young bachelor living in a small community with his parents, Thakur Kunal Singh (Sharat Saxena), and mom Thakurain Geeta (Nishigandha Wad). He is in love with Muskaan (Dia Mirza), his friend & daughter of another Thakur. Their parents give their support to the union, but Veer suddenly starts getting visions of events that he can't remember ever happening to him & finds that he is an expert in fighting techniques no pehelwaan, including his father, have ever seen before. Nobody has any explanation for these facts. one day, as the Chief Minister (Anjan Srivastav) is giving a speech at a certain function in his village, Veer suddenly spots a sniper trying to aim at the CM. Veer lunges to save the CM, only to find that the sniper and the building are both missing. Veer grows restless, but nobody notices that the CM has grown restless on seeing Veer. Some days later, at Veer's wedding, some goons attack the party and try to kill Veer. Veer kills them single-handedly. Convinced that everyone is hiding something important from him, he demands answers. The Thakur relents and tells him that he is neither Veer nor their son.
The real Veer (Arbaaz Khan) was a soldier who died in the line of duty. After immersing his ashes, he found the bullet-ridden body of an unknown man. When he realized that this man had no memories of his past, he told him that he is Veer & concoct a past for him, because they feel the need to have a son. Veer decides to go on a quest to find his real identity. He goes to Mumbai to find that both police and goons are baying for his blood. He meets a teenager who calls him Ali bhaiyya (brother), but the teenager dies while trying to save Ali from an assassin. The hero does not see the face of the assassin, but assumes that his name is Ali. He gets visions of a girl (Sushmita Sen) whom he has never seen.
The mystery starts unwinding when he meets a guy named Inder (Inder Kumar). As Ali starts getting his past memories, it is confirmed that his name is indeed Ali. Ali & the teenager were orphaned brothers, while Inder was Ali's friend. An old man named Rahim Chacha (Alok Nath) was their guardian. The mysterious girl Ali saw was Mehak, his love. Ali and Inder had won medals for shooting during many contests, although Ali was always the better. The marksmanship skills is noticed by the Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Crime Branch, Arvind Raj (Mukesh Rishi), who makes a proposal to them: masquerade as goons of a gang, kill goons of their rival gang & trick both the gangs to destroy each other in gang wars. Ali refuses flatly, but after some goons kill Rahim Chacha, Ali & Inder decide to take the offer.
Mehak gives both the guys portable video recorders, so that they can prove their innocence if anything goes wrong. Soon, the Inspector takes them to the Chief Minister (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) & his aide (Anjan Srivastav). They plan to enact an attack on the CM, making the opposition look dirty in eyes of people & garnering sympathy votes for CM. However, when Ali is trying to fake the shooting, somebody really kills the CM. The police start chasing Ali, thinking him to be the killer & Ali flees.
After recovering his memory, Ali realizes that the CM's aide took advantage of the plan to become CM himself. Meanwhile, Ali learns that Inder made Mehak his fiancee to save her from harassment. Ali tries to tell the truth to the Inspector, but realizes that nobody believes him. In an attack when Ali goes aboard a local, the remaining memories come to him. He remembers boarding the train same way on the day of assassination where Inder met him & confessed to killing the CM. Thereafter, Inder shot Ali to hide the truth & threw his body in a river. Suddenly, the Inspector confronts him, Ali convinces the Inspector by telling the truth.
Ali goes to Mehak & tells her everything. He realizes that there must be some incriminating evidence in Inder's tapes. As he plays a tape, Mehak witnesses in horror Inder striking the deal with CM's aide. Ali notifies Inder that he remembers everything now. Inder, along with his cronies, comes to kill Ali, Mehak dies in the process. This angers Ali and he kills the goons. Inder and Ali has a hand-to-hand fight. Ali demands Inder an explanation for his actions.
Inder reveals that he was always second best with Ali around & that even Mehak, whom he secretly loved, chose Ali over him. Also, Ali always got money & fame more easily than Inder. Inder reveals that he had sent the goons to kill Rahim Chacha, thus manipulating Ali to take the offer. Also, when Ali came back to Bombay, Inder saw him. Inder was the sniper whom Ali's brother saw.
Ali kills Inder in combat and afterwards broadcasts Inder's tape over the cable TV network, thus freeing himself from his charges & putting the present CM in the dock. He returns to the village and marries Muskaan, just as planned. | flashback | train | wikipedia | One of Salman Khan's best ones.
Lets start off with the cast.
Salman Khan is great as usual, and nothing more needs to be said about him.
Dia Mirza is good in her role as is Sushmita Sen. Sharat Saxena and Rajpal Yadav are also good.
It has something for everyone: romance (a lot), action ( a lot), humour (some) and good music.
The story is great and is complemented by great action.
The music is fabulous.
Clearly, Sajid-Wajid have done a good job.
The tracks 'Bindiya chamke','Mehndi hai lagi' and 'Yeh bekhudi'are the ones that stand out.
The cinematography's good and so is the editing.
Definitely Pankaj Parashar's best movie.Verdict: A must watch.
Much better than the 'Masala' blockbusters of today.
This movie came out when Salman Khan was in the news for all the wrong reasons- Aishwarya Rai break-up, the alleged hit-and-run case etc.
In retrospect, all that must have contributed to its dismal performance at the ticket windows, for as a film, Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge, is a quite solid commercial potboiler.
It has a good story to tell, some great songs, good looking actresses, and a lead actor in decent form.
Inspired (though not copied) from a Hollywood flick, the movie even flirts with that much abused domain of the Mumbai underbelly, a trick that always tends to bring in critical acclaim.
Had the first half been tighter and had the Jhonny Lever comic track done away with, the movie could have been at a different level altogether, competing with the best action thrillers of the Hindi film industry.
In any case, even in its present form, TNBP is quite an entertaining watch.
Tip: Just fast forward the initial bits and 2-3 songs.
Though don't dare miss anything once Salman Khan moves back to the city to unravel his past..
Popcorn stuff with unexpected depth.
The movie reminds me of a delicacy with a surprise element(and then what are thrillers for).
This is one movie which keeps you engaged with its comical and romantic moments right from the start and puts you entirely at ease in the first half.
For those who would be expecting a run of the mill romantic movie, avoid the second half and watch the end.
For those who came expecting an action movie as the reviews may have it, the first half is boring and apparently pointless.
But the suspense builds up slowly without crying out loud.
And all elements in the first half are woven pretty well for the "two halves" to create a decent whole.
What I found eye-catching was the way the two elements in the movie were combined.
Arguably one of the better Indian movies..
Kool action Film but has its own flaws .....
Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge is straight out of The Long Kiss Goodnight but here the director has replaced the main character with a man.Veer (Salman Khan) is the only son of a Thakur and is the apple of his parent's eyes.
Soon after his engagement to the village gal Muskan (Diya Mirza), he starts having strange visions of uniformed men chasing him and a ferocious dog attacking him.
He and his family are perplexed.
Is this case of reincarnation or hallucination, a long lost twin brother or amnesia.Veer goes to Mumbai to learn more about these visions but as soon as he arrives, he meets people calling him Ali; a woman named Mehak (Sushmita Sen) claiming to be his ex gal friend, a young guy calling him bhai(guy from bad side of society) and policemen chasing him.The first half of the film is a little too simple and long but the second half is fast-paced, slickly filmed and interesting.
Action scenes are well choreographed and intelligently performed.
The special effects in the flashback scenes are highlight of the film and those shots are executed with lots of style.However placements of songs looked forced, editing needed there to make it look more impact full.
Dialogues b/w Salman Khan and Diya Mirza are bad.
there seems to be no consistency in the dialect as it fluctuates b/w Rajesthani and Punjabi.Salman Khan leaves an impression in latter half of the film.
while both ladies of the film i.e. Sushmita Sen and Diya Mirza look beautiful in their own ways.
Recommended for action lovers..
Action pack thriller and emotional drama.
This movie is one of the best thriller movie of Indian cinema history,i don't know why Indian people did injustice with this film even though it was a hit in UK.When i watched this movie i was amazed to see that how much interesting this movie is and i was thinking that it may going to be the best movie of the year and Salman khan will get the best actor award because his acting was awesome in this movie he gave the best acting of his life in this movie and i was very happy to see that but nothing happened in that way and i really got disappointed to see that i don't know what critic actually see are they blind or what i don't know!!........but really this movie is fun to watch and a great thriller as well.And if u guys want to see the best acting of Salman khan gotta watch this movie because i became his fan after i saw his acting in this movie so intense and so natural and emotional he deserved to get the best actor award for this movie but they didn't gave it to him i feel so sad for that.Anyway wholly Solly this movie is great enjoyment..
The BEST Bollywood Thriller of all time.
Tumko Naa Bhool Payenge is the Best Thriller I've ever seen.
I have seen thousands of films in Cinema.
This is one of the best films I've enjoyed, you get that real good atmosphere feeling in the cinema.
It was a HIT in UK, we appreciate art and professional great looking movies.
It was told it Flopped in India, because of religion (If you see the film, you will understand).
Salman wears a Islamic Chain and a Hindu Chain together, there is a reason why he does this, doesn't mean you give the film a Flop, some critics will never learn.
Although, it was a LITTLE borrowed from Hollywood films Bourne Supremacy and Long Kiss Goodnight.
This bollywood version is FAR BETTER in every way.
I'm not gonna say, what the film is about, its Best if you see it yourself.
The storyline may sound boring, but its not (This is a Movie Genius Review).
Salman Khan delivers one of the Best performances of his life.
The Very Sexy Sushmita Sen gives a good performance.
Diya Mirza looks sexy as ever, kind of a Aishwarya look alike.
Great Twist, and some nice songs.
Forget some of the critics with no taste giving this a flop, I recommend this..
He will not forget her, but this movie is forgettable.
When I first saw Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge I was surprised by what it presented.
The title quite suggests a movie that is something on the lines of a romantic drama or something of this sort.
But the film is not.
It does have its romance and drama like every other Hindi movie, but more than anything it's an action thriller.
The storyline is quite interesting and it's extremely twisted and unpredictable.
But the movie itself does not really offer anything incredibly special and is overall a rather ordinary product, which, on top of that, is unoriginal.
That's the case with most Hindi movies of its sort, and sadly so.
The film has a stronger second half, but in the end, it does not make that great an impact.
Salman Khan plays the leading role, and he does quite well.
His role requires him to look confused, and he manages to look successfully awkward.
Diya Mirza is pretty and likable.
Sushmita Sen is okay in a relatively small role.
Sharat Saxena is fine as the loving father.
One song that Ireally liked is "Yeh Bekhudi" which is beautifully sung by Sonu Nigam and very well pictured on screen.
Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge is a surprising but not particularly impressive film, but still it can be seen once..
Worth it for some surprising twists and Salman Khan..
TNBP was another post-2000 release in Salman's career that had a short venture at the box-office.
Although the movie is not AS bad as its box-office fairing would say, but its hardly any great shakes either.TNBP can be broken down in two parts: 1) The first half shows Salman's dull life with his parents in a village where he visualizes weird things abt his past every now and then.
2) In the 2nd half u see Salman out in search to piece together who he used to be as he slowly gains his memory back.The pros to me were definitely the well directed action scenes that mostly involved Salman Khan - whose at his best when he's beating up the gundas here.
Other positives were a couple of twists in the story that def.
caught me by surprise and kept me interested till the very end.
One thing is for sure, once the initial twist occurs b4 the intermission, TNBP will keep u glued to the screen till the end.
Cons:Most of the first half is just plain boring cuz nothing happens other then some lame jokes and actors looking bad while trying to speak in their village's accent.
The cinematography has a dry feel to it throughout which makes the mood of the film appear quite dull.
U can obviously tell not a lot of money was spent on this movie.
The songs only happen to be unnecessary stop gaps.Other then that, i would say TNBP is a decent movie that's worth a watch once for Salman's presence and some interesting twists in the storyline..
Good Action movie.
This movie was so entertaining It was really enjoyable The action fighting scenes are very entertaining and worth watching Songs are really impressive salman is superb as the protagonist hero DIA is decent and the heroine excellent Inder Kumar is good as the villain Mukesh Rishi is superb Other cast were good in their respective roles Overall my own rating is nine out of ten.
Arguably, some of the best songs of the 2000's.
I won't comment much on the film except to say that it wasn't terrible but there was some obvious flaws and questionable acting in certain moments.
However, I absolutely have to say that I still think the music in this movie was some of the best of recent years.
A few of the songs were absolutely beautiful, hummable, and melodious and the album stands up as one of the best of the earlier 'noughties'.
Unfortunately i think the film reception overshadowed what was arguably some great, great music which i still listen to now more than 5 years on!!!My rating of 9 is not for the movie but as you guessed it the gorgeous tunes.
Definitely check out Yeh Bekhudi Deewangi, which was my favourite track!.
ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE.
One of the best Salman Khan's film!
Best songs of the time, seriously worth watching!.
It s a Ride for-sure, with an UN-expected likeness or ...
This is one of those movies which either you make your own or you just dislike it.
This movie will either impress you and you will remember it or you will not think of it at all.
This is the first Bollywood movie I watched and I was 14.
Movies are my life I worked for animation department and develop characters for games and movie and still I love this movie.
This movie is more about emotional ride and some twist with riddles.
I cannot convince you on the technicality of this movie.
This means if you have not yet seen it then why not, try it.
Watching this movie now will be challenging because it s more then a decade old.
You have to lower your expectations and try to feel the 2000s era..
Last kiss goodnight.
Salman Khan pre TERE NAAM and post 2000 did some crap films and was disinterested in those filmsThis is one of though decent yet could be better filmsThe first half is terrible, It is so sleep inducing and focus more on comedy and romanceThe twist when Salman realises his sickness keeps you interested and the interval point does strike youThe flashback and post that Salman's return to Mumbai is well handled and things keep you engrossed till the climax which though well handled is too clichédDirection by Pankaj Parashar is okay in parts but bad at places Music is good, most songs are niceAmongst actors Salman Khan does try hard to do justice to his part, but somehow he tends to look too disinterested in the film maybe his role is like that so it's okay, he is at his best in the latter part Sushmita is okay in her part, Dia is painful Inder is wooden, Sharat Saxena is good in his part Alok Nath is okay in his part Rajpal Yadav annoys, Johny Lever is too loud while the rest are okay.
Excellent..
Good Direction.Good Acting.Good Screenplay.Good Songs.Village life is good.People are happy in open spaces.Liesure abounds.Thanks and Regards.Sam RupaniHouston, Texas, United States of America..
Garbage.
This movie is an attempt at...well it's an attempt at something, I just can't figure out what that is.
Maybe the director set out to make a movie about a man trying to reconstruct his past , a la Memento, but he ended up making just another derivative Salman Khan movie.
The plot, if you care, is about a guy who can't remember his past and so, like any Indian hero, leaves his "family" in search of his true identity...
The first hour has Salman trying to act.
The second hour has Salman breaking necks.
And the third hour has Salman breaking necks while trying to act.
This movie is inspired by the Hollywood film "The Long Kiss Goodnight" which wasn't much of a movie to begin with.
Performance wise, Sushmita Sen is the best which should give you an idea of the quality of the acting.
Salman continues to show his disinterest for his profession -- he never misses a chance to take off his shirt and display his deteriorating physique.
Diya Mirza still can't act whereas the guy who plays Inder is just a waste of space.
The action sequences are just a cut-and-paste exercise and the story is interesting for about half an hour before it gets predicatble and slowly gets to its climax.
If you'ld like to waste three hours of your time - think Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Ghum - then you're in for a real treat.
Otherwise rent something else..
Never be able to forget you.....
I watched this before I watched Bourne Identity...But it is very good...this is coming from a anti-Salman Khan fan.The film is a rip-off of Bourne Identity but what did you expect from Bollywood.Veer continues to have nightmares which show incidents and places..something he has no idea about or what they mean.
But when the nightmares become more continuous he pursues the places in his dreams and finds his past which is filled with betray and death..Salman's acting does improve a little in this movie...The actions were a little on going and Salman taking off his top was very odd...why?
Does one have to take his top of when fighting...Or is that one of Mr.Khan's stipulations...The film is enjoyable nonetheless... |
tt0465657 | Highlander: The Search for Vengeance | The story centers on characters who are immortal.
The lead character, Colin MacLeod, became an Immortal after his first death in 125 AD in Roman Britain, when his village was attacked by the conquering Romans. Another Immortal, Marcus Octavius, was leading the Roman Empire's military forces in hopes of creating his dream of a utopian society. Octavius killed Colin's wife, but was not able to kill Colin whose unconscious body was dragged by a horse to within Stonehenge, a "holy ground" in the story, where Immortals are forbidden to fight.
Waking days later within Stonehenge, Colin is left confused about who and what he is, and why he is still alive. It is at this moment that the spirit of a former druid of this holy site, Amergan, begins communicating with MacLeod and explains to him what he is. Colin learns of The Game from Amergan, and the druid becomes his lifelong teacher and conscience.
The movie interlaces flashback scenes of this and Colin's following plight for vengeance throughout time, as Marcus attempts to re-enact his utopian society through force and fear. Throughout the next two millennia, Marcus serves as a high-ranking member of various powerful empires, ranging from the British Empire to Nazi Germany. Marcus wants to encourage the development of a utopian world-empire, but in contrast, the side he chooses tend to be ruthless and authoritarian (e.g. Nazi Germany). For 2000 years, Colin clashes with Marcus multiple times throughout history, always fighting on the opposing side trying to bring down which ever authoritarian regime Marcus is supporting. While Colin is often badly beaten, neither one ever succeeds in killing the other. Though Colin is ostensibly in the role of the "barbarian" and Marcus is the bringer of "civilization", Marcus cares more about building an empire and less about people's well-being, with an "ends-justify-the-means" mentality.
In the year 2187, Colin finds Octavius in a post-apocalyptic future of New York City. Octavius has stopped supporting other regimes but is setting up a new empire with himself as its tyrannical leader. When Colin arrives, Marcus is busy making plans to release a deadly virus which will further his goals of conquest. Colin falls in with the disaffected rebels in the city. After a final duel, Colin defeats Octavius, and his Quickening destroys the virus in question.
Following the defeat of Marcus, Colin leaves New York for an unknown destination with a new sense of belief and purpose other than revenge for the first time in his life. | violence, revenge, historical fiction, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | First things first, this is a typical Kawajiri film, as you may or may not know, Kawajiri is like a Japanese Frank Miller, meaning all his work share a distinctive feel to them, and follow a similar path story-wise.
If you haven't guessed it yet, I really liked the film.Lets start reviewing it part by part.Story: It fits in the Highlander myth, this is not about any known Mcleod, so you may think of it as an alternative story-line.
Everything is a little clichéd though, still beats the crap out of any Highlander sequel so far.Setting: The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, very kawajirish, it has this "Fist of the north star" feeling to it, huge bad guys, wrecked urban landscapes, silent heroes, you know the drill.Character design: Again typical kawajiri film, busty women, sharp factions, impossibly muscular males, you may love it or hate it, I really like it.
Specially gorgeous are the fights that take place in the past.Sound: Mostly OK, some voice overs could have been better, the movie comes in English just like Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust.
There are some great accents to be heard when the Highlanders speak, however some secondary characters could have used better actors.Music: Gorgeous, really symphonic gives the feeling of epic and greatness to the whole movie.So if your love for highlander allows you to overlook some small flaws, and some kawajirisms you'll really like the movie..
Legendary Japanese Anime' director Yoshiaki Kawajiri (the more-than-capable cult talent behind the explicit blood-letters "Ninja Scroll" and "Wicked City") took on the American "Highlander" series with this latest entry "Highlander: The Search for Vengeance." "The Search for Vengeance" is not a sequel per se, but is instead something closer to a Japanese animation re-imagining of the famous fantasy tale that spawned the immortal tag-line, "There can be only one."For those not versed in "Highlander" mythology, I'll fill you in: "Highlander" first came to be in the mind of writer Gregory Widen, who in turn pitched his idea to studio bosses about an ages-old battle between a group of immortal swordsmen who can only die by one another's hand, specifically by decapitation.
There are several rules all immortals must abide by though: never fight on holy ground and, most importantly, never fall in love with a mortal because, then, you will only know pain and suffering.Widen's script (co-written with Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson) was made into the 1986 cult film "Highlander," which starred Christopher Lambert as the Scottish Highlander Connor MacLeod, who discovers his "gift" after suffering a mortal wound on the battlefield and assumes different identities as he descends through the ages with the knowledge of never knowing death.
"Highlander" saw three misshapen sequels, a television series (which starred Adrian Paul), and dozens of comic books before we landed at this new Anime' film from Kawajiri.
As a fan of Anime' and the first "Highlander" movie, you could expect a little bit of skepticism about a new film, whether animated or not just because we've become so used to expecting so little from the series.Like the first "Highlander," "The Search for Vengeance" is equal parts present-story and back-story, with sudden, unexpected transitions between the present and the past.
For 2000 years, MacLeod has been searching through the ages chasing his mortal enemy, the Roman general Marcus Octavius, after Octavius crucified MacLeod's wife Moya in the 16th century and in these encounters, MacLeod is always bloodily outmatched and left crippled but alive and ready to fight another time (despite refusing to uphold Moya's dying wish of no retribution for her killing).Now in a post-apocalyptic New York City, MacLeod arrives on the scene and joins rebel Dahlia and an underground band of freedom fighters in a desperate battle against Octavius, who is now a full-fledged dictator and rules the city from, dare I say, a futuristic version of Trump Tower with his army of robotic sentinels and scientists working on a top-secret project meant to wipe out the underground resistance once and for all.
In these battles, we also get flashbacks to Colin's past, the battles he's fought with Octavius, and his undying love for Moya.While suffering from some script problems, because of the transitions between past and present, "Highlander: The Search for Vengeance" is still one heck of a film experience.
Here, it's clear that Kawajiri has a firm grip on the story and knows everywhere the "Highlander" sequels went wrong (and they went wrong in a lot of places).Another problem the film suffers from are one-dimensional characters.
And lastly, am I the only one who thinks Octavius looks like the villain Gemma from Kawajiri's previous "Ninja Scroll"?Even with its faults, nudity and extremely bloody violence, this is nonetheless a fitting reinvention of a fantasy story that many thought had long outlived its uniqueness in the genre.
Anime version of an alternative Highlander, better than any sequel made in the Higlander film series.
This anime revives the "Highlander" myth in such a way that movie producers of any sequel from the Higlander film series should wonder what they are doing wrong!
By "loosely" I mean that this Highlander show should be viewed as an "alternate universe" separate from the existing highlander movie and TV series; related only in the basic mythos of immortals, swords-n-sorcery, "the quickening" and other basic aspects of what makes Highlander "highlander".Colin Macleod (the 4th named Macleod character following Connor, Duncan and Quentin.
Teaming up with a band of rebels, including Dahlia, a woman who reminds him of his dead wife, Colin Macleod prepares to exact his revenge one final time.Despite the small number of science fiction clichés like a rebel gang trying to take down an evil despot and some humanity killing virus, I found the story to be quite a strong one which presented a perspective on immortal life that was slightly different from the original Highlander.
Yoshiaki Kawajiri applies his trademark style to Highlander making each fight scene a veritable visual feast with his dynamic shot angles, slow motion, and an extremely smooth animation frame-rate.
Oh yes, and in typical Kawajiri style, there is the mandatory nudity and sex scene in this movie(then again, there is a mandatory sex scene in every other Highlander movie, so nothing new here) This film does suffer from a few low points here and there, namely in the pacing and the dialog.
Too bad about the lazy script and dialog they were given to work with.Another low point would be how the movie expects the viewer to be familiar with aspects of the Highlander mythos like "the quickening" or the "no fighting on holy ground" rule.
I have just purchased HIGHLANDER: THE SEARCH FOR Vengeance from my local wally-world and I was blown away from the very beginning.I'm a bit familiar with the body of work that the crew at madhouse have done (NINJA SCROLL AND X come to mind) and I have to say that this one is the best yet from him.
I'm also glad that the guys who brought HIGHLANDER to life in the first place had a hand with it.I won't ruin the story for those that are reading this review, but if you are familiar with anime and the sweeping style that comes with it, as well as the movies that I've mentioned, then you will not be disappointed.Watch it, rent it, buy it!
Combine the potential within with the skills of Yoshiaki Kawajiri, the man responsible for Ninja Scroll, and you sound like you have quite a winner on your hands.The Search for Vengeance is about the plight of Colin Macleod, the eponymous Highlander, and his centuries-long feud with Marcus, a Roman general who murdered Colin's true love.
Time and time again throughout history, Colin and Marcus clash with each other until they come to their final showdown amidst a futuristic New York riddled with plague and war.Like any continuation of Highlander, The Search for Vengeance crafts its own fiction by combining the original's mythology (holy ground, Quickenings, death-by-beheading etc) with several of its own ideas (in this case, demons, robots and spirits).
In the end, it feels like it leans more towards the animé side of things.As for the film itself - visually, it's pretty good.
It's a decent enough watch for anyone with even a passing interest in animé, and it's a more watchable experience for Highlander fans than the film sequels, but outside of those two groups, it'd be a little hard to recommend.
The only film I'd seriously recommend would be Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, his magnum opus.Highlander: Search for Vengeance is not an exception to the rule.
While it may legitimately be the best Highlander sequel, it falls back on tired tropes seen in his previous films, yet takes itself too seriously.It tries to tell a tragic tale, Colin MacLeod hunting his arch-nemesis for twenty centuries, wasting his immortality for a pursuit he always fails.
While this isn't the best written script of all time, its still a fantastic script.Overall if you want a good Highlander continuation of any kind, I hold this up (no I have NOT seen the TV show) and I hope you enjoy it..
Sequels to the 1986 original Highlander weren't exactly groundbreaking achievements, but this, the 6th movie in the series trumps them all and may even give us the best entry in the entire franchise.Highlander: Search for Vengeance goes down the same path, switching between the past and the main plot with the immortal Colin MacLeod remembering back over the past 2000 years when he fought and died many times, the first example being in 2nd century Scotland when his wife is murdered by a Roman general, Marcus Octavius, who is also immortal.Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll) sets us through many different battles in history expertly, putting lots of attention to detail for the settings (especially in the post apocalyptic New York City of the year 2187).The English dub voiceovers are great, especially Alastair Abell, who does a much better job than Christopher Lambert with a Scottish accent in the flashback sequences that span the first 1000 years of Colin and Marcus' existence as immortals, and voice acting veteran Scott McNeil taking 3 roles including Colin's ghostly accomplice and mentor Amergan is on top form.A well written story, with well developed main characters and impressive battle scenes that don't skimp on the violence and bloodshed, Highlander: Search for Vengeance is a must for fans of the original and anime fans alike..
While not the best Kawajiri film, it's definitely better than any of the Highlander sequels..
As one has to expect from Yoshiaki Kawajiri, this film will get you glued to the screen, it has loads of action, a decent story, and details typical from previous films Kawajiri's directed before (A cynical hero, strong willed women, ruthless and cunning villains, and annoying, but wise, old men).However, it seems to lack the distinctive "atmosphere" that previous Kawajiri anime flicks had (at least in my opinion, for those who have seen Ninja Scroll or Cyber City Oedo you can feel that "darker" atmosphere).
I won't spoil the story, as it's very interesting and you'll probably and up watching it even if you aren't a Highlander fan.
Again, I'm not a fan of anime, but it had a lot of action, and brought back the romantic image of "immortal swordsmen" in a way I hadn't seen in far, far to long in the other movies.
This Isn't As Good As No.1 But I Think Most Highlander Fans Can Agree That This Is A Descent Sequel(For Those Who Haven't Completely Given Up On This Series).Colin MacLeod Is An Immortal Who Has Arrived In New York 2187 AD To Find Marcus, A Former Roman Who Wiped Out His Army In The Times Of The Romans And Crucified His Wife.Yes, This Does Put Flaws In The Original Highlander Movie's Logic (eg How Was Marcus And Colin Unable To Be Drawn To The Prize In The Original Movie?) But It Doesn't Say "Immortals Are From Another Planet, Ramirez And Connor Knew Each other Before They Met In The Original And Were Friends." I Do Think That This Tries Its Best To Bring Some New Cards To The Highlander Series However Keeping Something Old In It.Overall I Suggest A Viewing For Anyone Who Wants A Descent Sequel For Highlander..
I heard this was the best Highlander film out there, with the exception of the first, of course, and I also love good Japanese anime, so I thought it was going to be a win-win.
and now, in the post apocalyptic future, he built his own little empire, again.The fact that every time Colin appeared and destroyed this guy's dreams I was thinking of "God dammit, why do every time Chinese people try to build up a wall, Mongolian people have to come and knock it down!" did not help to make me take this film seriously.Bottom line: the ridiculously simplistic and clichéd script, with weak undeveloped characters stoped me from enjoying the otherwise good (but in no way original) animation.
As example, I'd like to point out the live action adaptation of the anime "Fist of the North Star" – it worked fine as a cartoon but was a rather laughable film.
Although not as awful as mentioned "Fist of the North Star" live action, "Highlander – Search for Vengeance" remains somewhat of a failed experiment.Being both a fan of the original "Highlander"-franchise and mildly interested in anime ("Ninja Scroll" being among my favourites), I looked forward to seeing this film and knowing that this wouldn't be a kids cartoon, like the awful "Highlander"-animated-series, expected a more adult-oriented approach.
It was, giving us that graphic violence which we've come to expect from this particular type of anime but more blood and gore never equated to a better "Highlander" film.Where did it go wrong?
That was the magic of the original "Highlander" concept: these were people like you and me, with the exception that they were immortal, fought with mean-a** swords and had to fight to the last man.
Entering the city, MacLeod is only looking for another try at revenge but finds more than he expected.Despite Highlander 2 and 3, I did quite enjoy Endgame and so I decided to take a look at this ahead of maybe seeing the live-action sequel later this year.
Nor am I a massive fan of the Highlander films but I do quite like both of these things.
In regards Anime the film does look good and there is plenty of visual style to be had here.
The voice work is OK for what the material is but nothing more.Overall then an OK Anime film that does a lot of what you expect from the genre.
So much so that I would consider myself to be a huge fan of it (I'd owned the laser disc way back and have owned several different versions of the DVD) The TV series didn't really do much for me and I thought the sequels were all terrible.I'm not usually a fan of anime but I think this is probably the best anime I've seen since watching Akira long ago (and I would probably say that I enjoyed this movie more than Akira.
Fantasy anime is what 99% of the anime that is so popular these day is really (that I've noticed anyways) but I enjoyed this film much more that I'd expected too since it retains the highlander story in historical past as well as a post apocalyptic setting (love post apocalyptic movies).
It has much more depth to it than you could imagine really.There's a few bits towards the end that kind of turned me off from it (some references to religion and stuff and Colin finding love and a home in the setting from the original movie even though he's lived close to 1400 years already...
I think fans of the first movie will really enjoy this and I think of it as being better than the TV series or and of the sequels that followed the original movie..
But Just * Don't * Think * About * It. Especially if you would like to see a story that runs somewhat in parallel with the first Highlander film or the television series.
Being a fan of the Highlander franchise I was interested in seeing what this anime movie of Highlander was going to be like so I bought and I was impressed with it, it was a great movie.
Highlander: The Search for Vengeance captures the element of the movie and series perfectly, the rules about the Immortals, The Quickening, the changing between the past and present.
The animation is beautifully done and amazing to watch and it feels like Highlander.The film sees a young man Collin MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod in the future searching for a Immortal named Marcus who killed his wife and attacked his village years ago and since then he's been travelling from place to place down through the centuries trying to kill him but every time they encounter he beats him, now in a post-apocalyptic world Collin is still searching for him to get his revenge, he reaches New Jersey and encounters a group of creatures feeding on people and after defeating some of them a Immortal shows up but not the one he wants, the huge Immortal takes out a massive Chainsaw and attacks Collin and a battle begins.
Waking up he sees Dahlia and then he goes to see all the people cheering at him, then they decide to attack the guards and reclaim the city while Collin goes with them to confront Marcus for the final time and get his vengeance.I won't give out anymore of the film's plot, Highlander: The Search for Vengeance is a great new entry in the Highlander franchise and should be seen. |
tt0110971 | Renaissance Man | Bill Rago (DeVito) is a divorced advertising executive down on his luck. When he loses his job in Detroit, the unemployment agency finds him a temporary job: teaching a class at a nearby U.S. Army training base, Fort McClane.
Initially unenthusiastic, Rago finds that he has only six weeks to teach a group of "squeakers," or low achievers, the basics of comprehension and use of English language. Most of the soldiers are only semi-literate and equally unenthusiastic.
Unable to connect with his pupils and desperate to spark their interest, Rago quotes from his favorite play, Hamlet by William Shakespeare. They are unfamiliar with it (or even the concept of a "play") and a small initial spark of interest is generated. He casts each student as a character in a classroom reading, then takes everyone on a field trip across the Blue Water Bridge to Stratford, Ontario, to a live performance by professionals. He introduces them to Shakespeare's Henry V as well.
Despite the disapproval of their hard-as-nails Drill Sergeant Cass (Hines), and the loss of one of the trainees, Pvt. Hobbs, who is revealed as a drug dealer hiding under an assumed identity, Rago sets an end-of-term oral examination. Even the friendly Capt. Murdoch in charge of the project doesn't expect the soldiers to pass Rago's class, adding that if they fail, they will be discharged from the Army.
Hobbs writes a letter to Rago and Murdoch, whose letters to the prison warden may result in him getting an early parole. Hobbs says he read Othello in the prison library (the librarian said he was the first inmate in 16 years to request Shakespeare) and was thinking about taking college classes once he's released.
While on duty, on a dare from Cass in front of other men, one of the soldiers recites the St. Crispin's Day Speech by King Henry V while in full combat gear in the middle of a rainstorm during a night exercise; the speech moves even the hardened Sgt. Cass. The students then all pass Rago's class, with flying colors.
Rago meets and dates Marie, a soldier in the records department, who helps him do some investigation before the base's graduation ceremony. It results in one of his students being presented with the Silver Star medal his father was to have been awarded posthumously, after he was killed in Vietnam.
As the proud soldiers march at their graduation parade, Rago is saluted by his "graduates." He signs on to continue teaching soldiers-in-training. | autobiographical | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0154587 | Hey There, It's Yogi Bear | Boo-Boo Bear wakes up from winter hibernation, excited about the new Spring. Then Yogi Bear wakes up, his only interest finding some food to eat. Cindy Bear unsuccessfully tries to woo Yogi. After Ranger Smith thwarts Yogi's latest attempts to grab some food, Yogi gets angry and convinces Ranger to transfer him out of Jellystone National Park. Smith prepares Yogi to be sent over to the San Diego Zoo along with an identification tag. Yogi first says goodbye to everything, but tricks another bear named Corn Pone into going to California instead of him and Boo-Boo and Cindy remain unaware of this, thinking Yogi departed for good.
Soon, Yogi is stealing food from all over the park under the alter ego "The Brown Phantom", but Smith believes it is another bear. He threatens whoever it is to be sent to the zoo. Cindy, wishing to be with Yogi at the zoo, angers Smith into mistakenly sending her away. However, she gets sent to the St. Louis Zoo instead, as the San Diego Zoo doesn't need anymore bears. When she realizes her true destination, she gets very sad, crying since she knows she'd be far from Yogi now.
Late that night, Cindy falls out of the train and becomes lost. A traveling circus is looking for a great act to raise their ratings, when suddenly, their dog runs off and scares Cindy into walking on the telephone wires, the perfect opportunity for the circus.
Yogi has recently missed Boo-Boo and above all Cindy. Yogi goes to Ranger Smith and hears about her disappearance. Soon, Yogi and Boo-Boo escape from Jellystone to find Cindy. Meanwhile, Ranger Smith decides to let them find their way home to avoid trouble with the commissioner. After an extensive travel, Yogi and Boo-Boo locate Cindy, who is being kept a prisoner for the greedy manager's nest egg. As Yogi confronts the manager, he is made to join the circus, too. Boo-Boo releases Yogi and Cindy and they make their exit. As they make their way home, they crash a barnyard party somehow escaping afloat a river with the barn's door. Then, while Cindy & Yogi dream about a honeymoon in Venice, they find themselves suddenly being chased and hunted by the police, as they somehow became fugitives, but make their escape.
They hitch a ride, but find themselves in the middle of a busy city and make a run from the police to the top of a hotel and across to a high rise under construction. The next morning, Ranger Smith sees the three bears on television and decides to pick them up in a helicopter. All the commotions have made a great publicity for Jellystone and Ranger Smith gets promoted to Chief Ranger. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0029322 | Nothing Sacred | New York newspaper reporter Wally Cook (Fredric March) is blamed for passing off Harlem bootblack Ernest Walker (Troy Brown) as an African nobleman hosting a charity event (despite his claims of not knowing this was false). Cook is demoted to writing obituaries. He begs his boss Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly) for another chance. Wally is sent to the (fictional) town of Warsaw, Vermont, to interview Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a woman supposedly dying of radium poisoning. Cook finally locates Hazel, who is crying because her doctor has told her that she is not dying. Unaware of this, he invites her to New York as the guest of the Morning Star newspaper.
The newspaper uses her story to increase its circulation. She receives a ticker tape parade and the key to the city, and becomes an inspiration to many. In addition, she and Wally fall in love. When it is finally discovered that Hazel is not really dying, city officials decide that it would be better to avoid embarrassment by having it seem that she committed suicide. Hazel and Wally get married and quietly set sail for the tropics. | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0040571 | Mark of the Lash | The movie broke into the following chapters:
Love's Young Dream.
An Insult. The Traitor.
The Secret Marriage. Arrest of Dennis Blake.
Transported for Life.
Botany Bay Settlement.
On the Triangle. The Recognition.
The Mark of the Lash.
The Confession. Kind-Hearted Warder.
A Sensational Escape.
A Cold Bath. The Police Baffled.
Black Sal's Strategy.
Rescue of the Governor's Daughter.
Acquitted.
A Good Friend. The Dismissal of Captain Morley. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0107130 | A Home of Our Own | Frances Lacey, a widow, works at a factory that produces potato chips. She is fired when one of the men gropes her, and she hits him in return. The same day, her son is brought home by the police, for stealing change from payphones, but they don't press charges. Shortly after this, Frances decides that Los Angeles is not the place to raise a family. She packs the kids up, sells everything they can't carry, and starts driving. She figures she'll know where she's going when she sees it. Their meager resources get them as far as Hankston, Idaho, where Frances spots the unfinished frame of a wood house a few miles outside town, across the road from Moon's Nursery. Finding that the proprietor of the nursery, Mr. Munimura, is the owner of the property, though virtually penniless, Frances proposes to buy it from him in exchange for work by her and her children, whom she collectively calls the "Lacey Tribe".
With winter approaching, the Laceys work hard to make the house habitable. Frances finds a job as a waitress in the coffee shop at a bowling alley in Hankston and puts every dollar she can spare into improvement of the house. Murray inadvertently burns the house down in the dead of winter, and the family loses everything they own.
The family is picking through the charred remains of the house when Frances finds their meager savings in a blackened jar. Hope is reborn for Frances, but eldest son Shayne angrily demands a reality check. When rebuilding seems impossible, Mr. Munimura arrives with professional town folk and supplies to rebuild. Whether stubborn independent Frances likes it or not, rebuilding has started as Mr. Munimura gives her a comforting hug. Frances relents, but true to character, she states that all will be paid back. Toys, clothes, and blankets are also provided for the children. Frances only lets them build the house as far as it was before the fire. Shayne, narrating, says that it took them six months to finish the rest of the house, and four years to pay everyone back, but that it brought them all closer together as a family. Even though he hated Idaho at first, he still lives there, and has never been back to Los Angeles. | autobiographical | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0104940 | The Muppet Christmas Carol | On Christmas Eve, in 19th Century London, Charles Dickens (played by Gonzo the Great) and his friend Rizzo act as narrators throughout the film. Ebenezer Scrooge, a surly money-lender, does not share the merriment of Christmas. Scrooge rejects his nephew Fred's invitation to Christmas dinner, dismisses two gentlemen's collecting money for charity, and tosses a wreath at a carol singing Bean Bunny. His loyal employee Bob Cratchit and the other bookkeepers request to have Christmas Day off since there will be no business for Scrooge on the day, to which he reluctantly agrees. Scrooge leaves for home while the bookkeepers celebrate Christmas. In his house, Scrooge encounters the ghosts of his late business partners Jacob and Robert Marley, who warn him to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife like they were, informing him that three spirits will visit him during the night.
At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the childlike Ghost of Christmas Past who takes him back in time to his childhood and early adult life, Dickens and Rizzo hitching a ride too. They visit his lonely school days, and then his time as an employee under Fozziwig, who owned a rubber chicken factory. Fozziwig and his mother throw a Christmas party, Scrooge attends and meets a young woman named Belle, whom he falls in love with. However, the Ghost shows Scrooge how Belle left him when he chose money over her. A tearful Scrooge dismisses the Ghost as he returns to the present.
At two o'clock, Scrooge meets the gigantic, merry Ghost of Christmas Present who shows him the joys and wonder of Christmas Day. Scrooge and the Ghost visit Bob's house, learning his family is surprisingly content with their small dinner, Scrooge taking pity on Bob's ill son Tiny Tim. The Ghost of Christmas Present abruptly ages, commenting that Tiny Tim will likely not survive until next Christmas. Scrooge and the Ghost go to a cemetery, where the latter fades away, informing Scrooge that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come will arrive shortly. A fog fills the cemetery, revealing the third Ghost, who appears as a tall, silent cloaked figure. While Dickens and Rizzo abandon the audience to avoid being frightened, the Ghost takes Scrooge into the future.
Scrooge and the Ghost witness a group of businessmen discussing the death of an unnamed colleague where they would only attend the funeral if lunch is provided. In a den, Scrooge recognizes his charwoman, his laundress, and the local undertaker trading several stolen possessions of the deceased to a fence named Old Joe. The Ghost transports Scrooge to Bob's house, discovering Tiny Tim has died. Scrooge is escorted back to the cemetery, where the Ghost points out his own grave, revealing Scrooge was the man who died. Realizing this, Scrooge decides to change his ways.
Awakening in his bedroom on Christmas Day, Scrooge decides to surprise Bob's family with a turkey dinner, and ventures out with Bean, Dickens, Rizzo, and the charity workers to spread happiness and joy around London. Scrooge goes to the Cratchit house, at first putting on a stern demeanor, but reveals he intends on raising Bob's salary and pay off his mortgage. Dickens narrates how Scrooge became a secondary father to Tiny Tim, who escaped death. Scrooge, the Cratchits, and the neighborhood celebrate Christmas. | cult, horror, entertaining, romantic | train | wikipedia | Paul Williams' music score and songs are eminently singable and leave the viewer with a lasting memory.A Muppet Christmas Carol has joined the pantheon of classic holiday films, easily ranking alongside Holiday Inn, White Christmas and A Christmas Story.
That question pretty much sums up my reaction to "The Muppet Christmas Carol", a hilarious, yet touching film.What did I like about the movie?
Incidentally, the original text had only one Marley -- Jacob, but to get the two comedians from the balcony in the story, Robert Marley was added.Finally, the songs were rather good, with the best one (in my humble opinion) being "When Love is Gone".So, I firmly recommend "The Muppet Christmas Carol" to one and all.Belle Book.
But the Muppet Christmas is a splendid modern version which probably Dickens himself would have liked a lot.Other than Disney movies, the singing does not get on the nerves and the comic relief is actually funny.
Muppet characters we have known for decades like Kermit and especially Gonzo are having great moments.This is the perfect Christmas movie to watch with kids.
I usually hate musicals, but all of the songs in this film are great (and the girl who plays Belle - this girl can SING!) The comedy is mostly provided by Gonzo, narrating as Charles Dickens, and his sidekick Rizzo the Rat.
The humor is truly funny and appropriately placed (notice how a very good reason is created for Gonzo and Rizzo to exit during the serious Christmas Yet to Come portion .) This is truly one of those movies "for young and old alike", though it will probably go over the heads of very young children.
In terms of humor or songs, I can't honestly rank this was high as most of the other Muppet films BUT it may be the most touching version of the Dickens classic story I've ever seen on film.The lyrics to the last two songs are fantastic: very Christian-like and very profound.
The answer, of course we now know, is Yes they did.As is the secret to all truly great children's movies, The Muppet Christmas Carol does not pander to notions of anything being 'too scary'; nor does it shy away from the innate darkness of the material at hand.
Upon recently viewing the Patrick Stewart film of this story, I was delighted to find that Cane quite simply out-acted Stewart in the role and clearly this makes his performance something special.The production values are high in this film as is to be expected in a Henson movie, and the film has a wonderful, almost Tim Burton-esquire look which is by turns wintry and quite breath-takingly beautiful or dark and positively scary.
This film is best enjoyed if you already know the Dickens tale inside out so that you can relish the way it has been adapted to fit well-known Muppet characters and also so that you can spend you time watching for the throwaway comedy in the background.
All the things which have made the Muppets appealing--charm, humor, tenderness--are very much in evidence in this adaption of Charles Dickens' much-retold classic.Michael Caine fills the central role of Ebeneezer Scrooge admirably, throwing himself into the part with much energy and gusto.
Familiar Muppet faces take up several roles--Kermit and Miss Piggy as Bob and Mrs. Cratchit, Robin as Tiny Tim, elderly hecklers Statler and Waldorf as the Marley brothers (Dickens' character Jacob and original creation Robert)--with new Muppets designed for the roles of the three Christmas ghosts.
A The Muppet Christmas Carol is the Muppet's take on the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, a selfish old man who cares nothing for anyone but himself, until on Christmas Eve he is visited by three spirits, telling him to change his ways.
Also, the movie manages to remain dark like the story should be, while also staying tame for kids.Micahel Caine is great as Ebenezer Scrooge.
A fine film that will put all you Christmas lovers into a festive,Christmassy mood and even those who aren't so optimistic about the festive season,it will definately lighten your hearts and cheer you up!The traditonal story of Ebenezer Scrooge-who despises Christmas above everything else is closing up for Christmas Eve and goes off home 'humbugging' everyone who wishes him a 'Merry Christmas'.When he's sitting in his home,he's visited by his old fellow workers-Jacob and Robert Marley and they bring him the news that he will be visited by three ghosts that very night when the clock strikes one.Terrified,Ebenezer goes to bed and is visited by the three ghosts-the ghost of Christmas Past who shows him previous experieneces of Christmas in his own past,The ghost of Christmas Present who shows Ebenezer the present Christmas and finally the ghost of Christmas yet to come who shows Ebenezer his future-which isn't very good.Ebenezer is terrified and vows to change his evil,wicked ways and to rejoice Christmas.
And so he does and makes everyone else around him happy.A fine film portrayed brilliantly by Michael Caine and the muppets-Kermit the frog,Miss.Piggy and The Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens narrating the film himself.The best out of them all!.
A great adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale.Funny, fun and entertaining for all ages, yet without losing its profound and essential Christmas message.Having a Muppets version of A Christmas Carol is a masterstroke.
Makes the story and theme more accessible by kids, and keeps adults interested too.I even didn't mind the singing...Great performance by Michael Caine as Scrooge.
Throwaway gags like "Please sir I want some cheese" and the running commentary of Gonzo and Rizzo give the film that unmistakably Muppety flavor.And not only is the movie good Muppets, it's good *Dickens*, which is perhaps more surprising.
The best of the Muppet movies and the best film version of Dickens' classic tale.
Since I was a child I liked seing different interpretations of this lonely,bitter and traumatised man:Ebenezer Scrooge.For years I have seen many versions of him and taped those I found goodf enough.But this interpretation is my favorite.Michael Caine plays an honorable,honest but cold and indifferent Scrooge.He plays Scrooge realistic.Some versions like 1951's "Scrooge" were pure comedy material.Here Scrooge's phrases sound believable.Including the over-used:"Christmas!Humbug!".His questioning of why should we feel any different during Christmas is one I shared since I was a child and it makes sence.The interpretation of Jacob Marley as a sinister,cynic and sadistic man,adding him a brother Robert Marley,was actualy an original and a good one at it.Scrooge's childhood is taken more seriously here than in most other films.The songs of this movie were fine.I especialy liked the one which explains Scrooge's behavior:being lonely for an entire lifetime of hard work turned him into a man who cares for nobody.He is honest but not merciful.Scrooge's simple way of life is a nice touch too.An interpretation not to be overlooked..
I personally think this is the funniest post Jim Henson Muppet movie, and was my favourite Christmas memory as a kid, and managed to stay true to the spirit of Christmas, and was heartwarming with the character of Tiny Tim. The songs, also, weren't that bad at all, but in comparison to the ones in Treasure Isaland, one or two of them are a little hit-and-miss, but that's just me, and that is my only negative!
You see the main diference with that film is that Michael Caine dosn't play scrooge for Kids (Like tim Curry played Long John Silver in Treasure Island or all other human played in any other muppet movies but play scrooge like in the book.Mikael Caine after that film you earned my respect,I was twelve when I whent to see this film and while I was watching it I didn't feel once that you were acting the part thinking I was a kid and it wasn't important giving your best to the role.He was great and the film was good mostly because of that,he acted so well around the muppet that you nearly forget that that his costars were mostly muppets.
Not only is this the best muppet movie ever, but it is also one of the best Christmas movies ever.It is a retelling of Dicken's A Christmas Carol with Gonzo as Dickens, Kermit and Miss Piggy as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit and a well cast Michael Caine as Ebeneezer Scrooge.The sets are well created, the songs are memorable, the film is perfectly timed and should appeal to people of all ages.
The legendary Charles Dickens novel gets the irreverent (but still respectful) treatment from director Brian Henson and the rest of the Muppet performers, as bitter, miserly penny-pincher Ebenezer Scrooge (Sir Michael Caine) is visited by a succession of spirits on an eventful Christmas Eve. Their goal is to show the progression of events in his life that led to his current sour outlook on the world, how it is for the other citizens in whom he has little interest (unless they owe him money), and the possible outcome should he continue on this path.Certainly there have been a number of noteworthy adaptations of this Dickens perennial throughout the decades, especially the 1951 film with Alastair Sim. But this can stand head and shoulders with many of them, mainly because of the appeal of the Muppet characters and their cheerful spin on the material, and the effectiveness of Caines' under-stated performance.
Who would ever have thought, then, that a version staring the Muppets would be the best one ever produced!Basically, this version is narrated (quite comically) by The Great Gonzo and his sidekick Rizzo the Rat. They follow the story of curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine) on Christmas Eve night, when he is visited by three spirits that show him the meaning of Christmas.
Central to Scrooge's emotional journey is Bob Cratchit (Kermit the Frog) and family (Miss Piggy), whose simple, hard-working lives prove quite inspirational.The reason why this version of the story works so well is because not only does it provide the humor that one would expect from a Muppet performance, but it also brings the heavy emotional drama as well.
Caine is just such a great acting that he knows all the right beats to hit.Overall, then, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" is a movie that will stand the test of time.
The atmosphere and the original text are really respected and the all embellished with funny songs and a lot of humor.The character of Ebenezer Scrooge is (very good) played by Michael Caine.
The music and songs are largely stellar, with a couple of tunes that seem phoned-in.The puppetering is of course brilliant, with the characters being adorable and, most importantly, believable.You've all seen this movie, I'm sure, but I urge you to revisit it and be amazed as to how a Muppets movie accomplishes so much more than the majority of other movies do.Feel-good movie; you must be a Scrooge to think otherwise..
Thank Heavens for the Muppets who offer us their interpretation of the story which not only provides the necessary slapstick for younger viewers but also enough witty lines and songs for older viewers, all wrapped around the classic 'festive redemption' nugget.In a snowy Victorian London, where humans and Muppets seemingly live side-by-side, our narrative pair of Gonzo (as Dickens himself) and Rizzo the Rat introduce us to Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine).
Caine wisely decides to let the Muppets have their way throughout the film, playing the movie straight down the middle and eschewing the need to play it for laughs.What it lacks in closeness to the source material, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" more than makes up for in cross-generational appeal.
As a lover of sentimental Christmas movies and the Muppets, I have to say that this one of my all time Christmas movie favourites.Gonzo & Rizzo Rat are the perfect pair to narrate this well known Dickens Classic.
This is my favourite muppet movie out of the ones I have seen.The songs and music are brilliant and the muppets are brilliant.This movie is so much fun to watch.I got a copy today as a Christmas present and I'm so glad that I finally own the video.The whole family watched it together and all loved it.This is a film for all ages and I don't see how someone couldn't like this movie,even if they aren't really a big muppet fan.I give this five out of five..
Imagine a world in which muppets and humans exist and live side by side; now imagine that scenario being used to present one of the most beloved stories in literature, and you have `The Muppet Christmas Carol,' directed by Brian Henson and starring Michael Caine as the inimitable Ebenezer Scrooge.
Everyone's favorite muppets are on hand for this one, with Kermit in the role of Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as Mrs. Cratchit and The Great Gonzo in the role of Charles Dickens, who also narrates the story, along with the help of Rizzo the Rat.
This movie is great it has the storyline of A Christmas Carol by Dickens with added songs, characters and humour.
The Muppets however do not play their respected selves but characters from the "A Christmas Carol".This film however fails because 1) We already know the story 2) Having Gonzo really steels the film 3) None of the songs workNow the makers of this film do follow the Dickens story but it also adds things that are not needed.
Following on from The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan and The Great Muppet Caper, this is Jim and Brian Henson's puppet version of the famous Charles Dickens story, "A Christmas Carol".
This version of the classic story has all of the muppet humor and shenanigans that you would expect, but it is actually one of the adaptations that is more faithful to the source material than many others that I have seen.Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) quotes quite a bit from the book and although minor changes are made (like Jacob Marley turned into 2 brothers so that Statler and Waldorf could play the characters), it stays true to the feeling of the original.Michael Caine is beyond brilliant, showing us the bitterness of the character, but also the humor, as well as also genuinely making us care for Scrooge and hoping for his redemption.
Don' t be afraid to watch this if you're a Dickens purist - I am, too.Michael Caine is as good a screen Scrooge as there's ever been - he said he tried to act with the Muppets as if he were acting with the RSC and that's how it comes across.Funny, moving, lively, heartwarming and very, very true to the spirit of its source, this is a quite wonderful film.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is a brilliant film and its gotta be one of my favourite Christmas movies,I always watch at some stage over the Christmas holidays,its still the lovely story of A Christmas Carol but with a Muppets theme to it.Scrooge (played by Michael Caine) is a terrible man who treats everyone he knows like garbage,doesn't give his employee the day off for Christmas,doesn't give any money to charity and doesn't visit his family at Christmas,but Christmas eve will change his life forever after getting visited by three ghosts,the ghost of Christmas past,present and future,along with Charles Dickens (the great Gonzo) and Rizzo The Rat following him along the way..
A good Muppet movie, and also a very good version of Charles Dickens' classic story.
As well as being funny, the movie also eventually becomes touching, and not all the scenes are for laughs.This Muppet version of "A Christmas Carol" says at the beginning that it's dedicated to the memory of Henson and Richard Hunt, another puppeteer who worked as a Muppet performer and whose life had also sadly come to a premature end by the time this movie was filmed and released.
Some of the songs in this musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' book might be a LITTLE weak (though they're mostly pretty good, even if they're generally not classic), I didn't really care much for the version of the Spirit of Christmas Past here, and there may be other minor flaws, but all the positive aspects of the film make up for this, and make this holiday film an entertaining one for probably all ages..
Taking over the role as Kermit was Steve Whitmire, who I believe did a fantastic job keeping the character alive.As the title suggests, the movie is yet another adaption of Charles Dickens' famous story A Christmas Carol.
Kermit the Frog plays Scrooge's kind hearted assistant, Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy plays his wife and Robin the Frog plays Tiny Tim.Part of what I love about this movie is how well they are able to keep the fun of the Muppets, yet still tell a heart-warming story of A Christmas Carol.
The scene with Robin as Tiny Tim singing "Bless Us All" is also very touching.Not only does this movie stand as one of the best Muppet movies made so far, but Michael Caine in this performance alone plays at least one of the Top 5 best Ebenezer Scrooge's in film history.
This is one of my favourite Christmas movies of all time, and the best adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic I've ever seen.Narrated by a fuzzy blue Charles Dickens, A Muppet Christmas Carol employs song and comedy to communicate to all ages the trials of Ebeneezer Scrooge (brilliantly played by Michael Caine).
THE MUPPET Christmas CAROL, in my opinion, is an absolutely charming version of Charles Dickens' classic tale!
Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say, "Brian Henson and the Muppets have scored huge!" Now, in conclusion, if you are a fan of Michael Caine and you haven't this absolutely charming version of Charles Dickens' classic tale, I highly recommend it..
The Muppets Christmas carol is not only the best muppets film ever made but also a fantastic version of a classic Christmas story. |
tt1592503 | Alien vs. Ninja | A band of ninja warriors, led by an Iga Ninja named Yamata and his comrades Jinnai and Nezumi, are assigned to investigate the crash of a mysterious object from the sky. Upon arriving at the crash site, they discover the remains of other ninjas that have been brutally torn apart. Shortly after joining forces with another band of ninjas led by the kunoichi Rin, they encounter a boy whose village was massacred by an unknown assailant. Before they can get any further explanation from him, the ninjas are attacked by the assailants, who reveal themselves to be aliens from another planet. After a grueling battle that takes the lives of several ninjas, Yamata, Rin and Jinnai kill three of the aliens, but one of them retreats and takes Jinnai with it. A cowering Nezumi rushes back to his home village, only to see the villagers massacred by the aliens. He runs for his life, but is cornered by the alien, which swiftly decapitates him as his head lands on a temple post for a crow to feed on.
Jinnai wakes up at an abandoned temple, hanging upside down along with corpses of other ninjas. He discovers an organism lurking within his throat, but before he can react, it takes over his body. The boy leads Yamata and Rin to the temple, only to be surrounded by Jinnai and the dead ninjas, who are being manipulated by small organisms secreted from the alien's nostrils. The possessed Jinnai and the dead ninjas utter English expletives before Yamata takes one down to shut them up. After discovering a pair of eyes peeking from a dead ninja's mouth, Yamata tells Rin to target the dead ninjas' throats. Rin dispatches the ninjas by ejecting the organisms from their throats while Yamata shoves his hand through Jinnai's mouth to extract the symbiote controlling him. After a long struggle, Yamata frees Jinnai from the alien's control. Yamata then squares off against the last alien in a cave. Overpowered by Yamata's skills, the alien sprouts wings to fly out of the scene, but Yamata grabs its leg before taking off. The alien attempts to shake Yamata off its back, but Yamata places a bomb on it and jumps off before it explodes. Yamata lands safely and reunites with his comrades before they return home, unaware that the boy has one of the organisms in his bag. | comedy, neo noir, cult, violence, good versus evil, psychedelic, sadist, sci-fi | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0113538 | A Kid in King Arthur's Court | Calvin Fuller is a nerdy young boy living in the Los Angeles suburb of Reseda. The gangly, unsure youth is first seen at a baseball game, standing at bat for his team, the Knights, ready for yet another strike out. Suddenly an earthquake hits; as the others run for safety, the ground opens up under Calvin's shoes and he falls through the chasm. Eventually he lands on the head of a 6th-century black knight. Upon hearing of his miraculous appearance, the elderly King Arthur, seeing him as the savior whose appearance Merlin has predicted, dubs the boy Calvin of Reseda and invites him to dine with the court.
Calvin begins his knight training to help Arthur retain his crown. When the earthquake hit, Calvin had just grabbed his knapsack, a fact that enables him to wow the Arthurians with his futuristic "magic", including an introduction to rock and roll via CD player, and a Swiss Army knife. The young wizard also shows them how to make inline rollerskates. His work wins him adulation and renown; but it also rouses the jealousy of Lord Belasco, who will use any means to take over the throne. Meanwhile, Calvin finds himself developing a crush on young Princess Katey. After he helps Arthur keep the crown, he is returned to the 20th century just before the moment when he struck out, and he steps up to the plate: this time, he is ready and hits a home run. He is greeted by his teammates – including a girl who looks like Katey – and is looked on by a spectator who looks like Arthur, who is whittling a piece of wood with a pocketknife – the same knife Calvin gave to King Arthur. | comic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0032181 | Abe Lincoln in Illinois | Abe Lincoln (Raymond Massey) leaves home for the first time, having been hired along with two of his friends by Denton Offut (Harlan Briggs) to take a load of pigs by water to New Orleans. When the boat gets stuck at a dam at the settlement of New Salem, Abe first sees and loses his heart to Ann Rutledge (Mary Howard), the beautiful daughter of the local tavern keeper. Thus, when Denton later offers him a job at the store he has decided to set up in New Salem, Abe readily accepts.
Abe discovers however that Ann already has a beau. Nonetheless, he settles in, making himself the most popular man around with his ready, good-natured humor, and taking lessons from schoolteacher Mentor Graham (Louis Jean Heydt). When his rival for Ann's affections leaves to better himself, Ann waits for him two years before receiving a letter from him in which he states he does not know when he will return. Abe seizes the opportunity to express his love for her; she is unsure of her feelings for him and asks for a little time. Alas, she dies soon after of "brain fever", telling Abe on her deathbed that she could have loved him.
Abe is asked to run for the State Assembly. He reluctantly accepts and wins, but after his first term in Springfield, Illinois, he decides to study the law instead. When Mary Todd (Ruth Gordon) visits her sister Elizabeth Edwards (Dorothy Tree) and her wealthy, influential husband Ninian (Harvey Stephens), a party is held in her honor. All the eligible bachelors show up, including Abe's fiercest political rival, Stephen Douglas (Gene Lockhart). However, it is the homely, unpolished Abe who catches Mary's fancy, much to her sister's chagrin. Ambitious, Mary senses greatness in him and is determined to drive him to his rightful destiny, despite his lack of ambition. Abe does ask her to marry him, but changes his mind at the last minute, discomfited by her drive, and leaves town. After thinking things over, however, he asks for her hand again. She accepts. Years pass, and they have several children.
With a presidential election looming, Abe's party is so split that none of the favorites is acceptable to all. The party leaders compromise on "dark horse" Abe Lincoln. He engages in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, the opposing candidate. One of the main issues is slavery. In a stirring speech, Abe contends that "a house divided against itself cannot stand". He wins the election. As the film ends, Abe bids his friends goodbye and boards the train to go to Washington, DC. | historical | train | wikipedia | Good performances by Ruth Gordon, Alan Baxter, Howard DaSilva, Clem Bevans.Massey is the definitive movie Lincoln.
Includes two of Lincoln's best speeches from that period, with Massey's performance very close to Lincoln's 19th century oratorical style.Highly recommended to students of American history and fans of old movies..
No hagiography, this movie lets us see the Lincolns as human beings with real "issues", rather than mere heroes of history.Besides all this, we have Massey's astonishing physical resemblance to Lincoln.What's most amazing is that the spirit of this most quintessentially American of our American heroes should be so wonderfully captured and portrayed by....
Besides Raymond Massey, a whole flock of actors have been known for playing America's sixteenth president, Henry Fonda, Walter Huston, Sam Waterston, Hal Holbrook, Dennis Weaver, Gregory Peck, John Carradine.
Character actor Frank McGlyn practically made a career of playing The Great Emancipator whenever Honest Abe was a character in a film.
But the standard has been set by Raymond Massey who did Lincoln in Robert Sherwood's play for 472 performances on Broadway during the 1938-1939 season and he repeats the title role in Abe Lincoln in Illinois for this film version.
Herndon's well known antipathy for Mary Todd Lincoln as the shrewish wife of his good friend comes through her in Ruth Gordon's portrayal.
Lincoln is still our tallest president at 6'4" so the contrast on the speaking platform at the Lincoln-Douglas debates was really something to see.The only other actor to recreate his stage role besides Massey was Howard DaSilva who played Jack Armstrong.
It was one of DaSilva's earliest screen roles.Raymond Massey got an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1940 and he was up against a strong field that included Henry Fonda for The Grapes of Wrath, Charles Chaplin for The Great Dictator, and Laurence Olivier in Rebecca.
ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (RKO Radio, 1940), directed by John Cromwell, is not so much a biography of Abraham Lincoln, but the life Lincoln lived from his early years to a position that would lead him to politics, and against all odds, his winning the election for the United States presidency in 1860.
Sherwood, the screen adaptation, tracing Lincoln's thirty years starting in 1831 to his train ride leading to Washington, D.C., in 1861, stars Raymond Massey in a role he originated on stage, being the best performance of a great American ever enacted by an actor who wasn't.
Although he didn't win the election for that year, it is Massey who very well holds this movie together.A follow-up of sorts to John Ford's most recent YOUNG MR.
LINCOLN (20th Century-Fox, 1939), starring Henry Fonda, focusing on Lincoln's early years as a young lawyer in Springfield, Ill., and a retelling in parts to D.W. Griffith's ABRAHAM LINCOLN (United Artists, 1930), starring Walter Huston, ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS starts off on a rainy afternoon in 1831 with an introduction to the character of Abraham Lincoln (Raymond Massey), age 22, sitting on the floor in a log cabin reading a book by Shakespeare, accompanied by his father (Charles B.
The marriage produces four sons (the movie indicates three, eliminating one who died in his fourth year), and shows Mary's fight in having her hayseed husband fulfill his destiny, to become president of the United States.Ruth Gordon (1896-1985), a prominent stage actress and playwright, in her movie debut, gives a remarkable performance in one of the best carnations of Mary Todd Lincoln ever portrayed on screen.
Lockhart's best moment finds his Stephen Douglas sincerely congratulating his opponent Abraham Lincoln in winning the U.S. election, something that should become a prime example with modern-day candidates.As mentioned before, ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS is very much a retread to D.W. Griffith's 1930 presentation of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, with differences being the elimination of Lincoln's birth, his trying years in the White House during the Civil War and assassination in April 1865.
In many ways, ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS is an excellent movie with excellent portrayals.
Highlights include the well staged Lincoln-Douglas debate, and one where Lincoln finally losing his temper towards his wife, Mary, after embarrassing him in front of his committee, by ordering her, twice, "You're not/never to do that again!"ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS, formerly shown on commercial television annually either on or around Lincoln's birthday, February 12, later presented on video cassette finally on cable television's American Movie Classics prior to 2000, and Turner Classic Movies.
Abe Lincoln would've made a great Raymond Massey....
If only we could've cloned Mr. Massey back in 1940, and then waited for a scriptwriter who could take a more controlled hand with historical accuracy than was fashionable in those days, and released the movie today...this remains my favorite treatment of one of my favorite historical figures; Massey seems born to have played Lincoln, from the obvious physical resemblance to the supposed mannerisms, and in doing so far outshines other Lincoln performances (Fonda's and Peck's come to mind).
Lincoln is portrayed by the late Canadian actor Raymond Massey - who, amongst many other roles, is also remembered from HG Welles' Things to Come, the screenplay of which was written by HG Welles himself.
Some from that time state Lincoln's voice was high-pitched, and that Massey did not do the voice properly - however, I tend to give more credence to a living witness, Lincoln's own eldest son who, though he died 14 years prior to this film, still had the opportunity to see Massey on stage and hear his voice.
I have seen this film probably 15 times or more and have been a devotee of the Lincoln mythology (for lack of a better term) for nearly 20 years.
But, the best part of the movie is how even with some artistic license the characters surrounding Lincoln are historically strong and represent in a film microcosm a very accurate historical reality of Lincoln's early years.
Since the film takes place before Lincoln is actually president, Mary Todd Lincoln's shenanigans within the White House or her emotional unraveling in her later years is not an issue here.
While ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS is far from perfect, it is light-years ahead of the other contemporary works in giving a balanced account of Lincoln's life.
While heroic in many ways, Lincoln is more of a man in this film and the facts are generally true--and that's a lot more than can be said of such sentimental hogwash as D.W. Griffith's 1930 fiasco ABRAHAM LINCOLN--which is basically one myth after another strung together!!
a legitimate shot at presenting the real Abe. This film portrays Abe Lincoln's political rise as a man of the people, from his wrestling brawl with town bully Howard da Silva to his failure as a general store owner and his humble beginning in politics as a town postmaster.
Perhaps the most influential woman is the one not shown, his mother, but he shares a moving scene with his step mother as he's leaving home, and then with Ann Rutledge, and finally with Mary Todd played in an unusually interesting way by Ruth Gordon.
Raymond Massey's portrayal of Abraham Lincoln during his rebuttal of Stephen A Douglas towards the end of the movie is the most fantastic combination of great content and great acting I have ever seen.
The rest of the movie is also top quality.On www.answers.com I read: Early in Massey's career, Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926), heard Massey perform and was struck by the close similarity of Massey's speaking voice to that of his father.In the end it's hard to separate Mr. Massey from Abraham Lincoln.
Both Raymond Massey (who played Abraham Lincoln) and Gene Lockhart (who played Stephen A Douglas and was the father of June Lockhart) were born in Canada.
The movie follows Abraham Lincoln (Raymond Massey) from his early days in Kentucky up until his election as President.
If you want to learn more details about Lincoln's life, I'm sure your local librarian would fall over his or herself to recommend some good books for you to read.Surprisingly, the movie was a huge flop for RKO at the time.
But the script and more accurate casting (Massey was just born to play Abe) probably leans in favor of this film.
Raymond Massey earned his only Oscar nomination for "Abe Lincoln in Illinois." Where was the academy fifteen years later when "East of Eden" debuted?
Sadness pursues him with the early loss of his mother and later his wife-to-be Ann Rutledge.As a young lawyer, he meets the politically ambitious and cunning Mary Todd Lincoln.
Take it from a person who knows the Lincoln story; has lived his whole life the area portrayed in the film.
I think it be a foolhardy endeavor to look to this motion picture for an answer about Abraham Lincoln and the life thereof.This film does not provide an answer but more or less an idea about the times which immediately preceded Abraham Lincoln into office.It is nonetheless a very fine film about a truly great man in Abraham Lincoln.I think if there is one thing about these Hollywood films they due tend to mix things up a bit and this particular film is no exception,however that being said,Raymond Massey was as close to the real thing as I have ever seen.A truly remarkable rendition is made by the casting of Raymond Massey as Abraham Lincoln.In so far as his performance,it is equal to his likeness to Abraham Lincoln,unmistakable.The attempt to place certain events as having occurred in Abraham Lincolns life is not without peril because there is next to no information about Ann Rutledge.This seems to be very much the way that these films like to mix things up,I don't think there was such and historically there is no real evidence of any such relation.However it is not unattractive and it is more to the credit of this medium than to Abraham Lincoln.The addition of these false attributes are of another sort and provide only a glance at an underlying problem associated with Hollywood and its film making proclivities,however it is well maintained that this is a top rate motion picture.Perhaps one of the most stirring moments in this picture was the depiction of the Lincoln-Douglas debates and here it,this film and its star,Raymond Massey as Abraham Lincoln shine as the star in the sky.It is perhaps one of the defining moments in this film and indeed it drew much attention in its time as well.Abraham Lincoln did provide for a dramatic farewell however the placing of the Battle Hymm of the Republic was poorly timed,however some of the speeches were stirring then and even now,perhaps Abraham Lincoln does walk at midnight.Mary Todd Lincoln was played by Ruth Gordon and though it can be difficult to judge what life can provide for in the proposal and the subsequent life that Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln had,here we have almost an ill suited pairing that provide for a wealth of humor and pathos in both the performances by Ruth Gordon and Raymond Massey.There is such a genuine appeal of this backwoodsman in Abraham Lincoln that pleasure in his life and times proceed beyond our ability to judge.It is a film that has the uncanny ability to keep your attention through character development rather than special effects.The performance of Ruth Gordon as Mary Todd Lincoln is as well worthy of the man and his times.It is very dutiful and devoted though no less engaging to watch these two bare three children as time passes.Abe and Mary were to lose there youngest while Abraham Lincoln was in office.The loss had a devastating effect on both parents with special mention in particular to Mary Todd.However,this film does not start here but ends up here and perhaps some mention about the earlier time in the film is worth consideration.It seems that Abraham Lincoln was very much self taught and possessed a desire to know more through his efforts and others efforts in his behalf.It is a little bit confusing as to why they would wish to suggest that Abraham Lincoln did'nt know Shakespeare from one of his plays or sonnets for that matter.I think that is Hollywood and such are there proclivities to a particular kind of thinking.This illusion may in fact suggest something of a racial nature which is not necessarily black but does court influence.The influence here like then was of an arrogant nature and it promised only ridicule and a unreasoning demand.This is one of the sorrows that this film hides in its colloquial attempt to include all in its nature.It is worthy of note that there was cause as to the Civil War and indeed this film showed some of that.The highlighting as to the flint of the fire being the story of John Brown is only the beginning and even more so this film was not so much an attempt to know the causes as to the conflict but was an attempt more so to present the life leading up to that point in time of Abraham Lincoln.This time in history has that about it,it is a flint by which the fires of everlasting virtue are brought upon the life of our greatest president.This film provides in its own right a category which I refer to as Americana.Though indeed we are looking at a motion picture and further we may suggest that there is nothing like the real thing it remains a film as popular and as worth enjoying as any the likes that have come from Hollywood,USA.It has been graded a 10 because it rates great Americana story telling.The only suggestion that I wish to conclude this comment with is that when I saw this film as coincidence would have it,I was in a class entitled "Civil War History" in an institution of higher learning and it made this all the more enjoyable.If you wish to know more about this very dramatic time you might be well served to purchase,"The Civil War,A film by Ken Burns"or maybe become a historian like Bruce Catton because there is more drama in this time period then Hollywood can produce.This comment is being submitted in honor of Presidents Day-Feb.21,2005..
Raymond Massey received his only Oscar nomination as "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" and it's s superb performance and unlike Ford's movie this covers the whole spectrum of Lincoln's life from the earliest days right up to Washington and the presidency, his courtship of Ann Rutledge, (a charming Mary Howard), and marriage to Mary Todd, (a wonderful Ruth Gordon).Other standouts in a good cast include Gene Lockhart as Stephen Douglas and Howard Da Silva as the town bully who becomes Abe's best friend.
This movie has to be the definitive treatment of Abe Lincoln in a motion picture.
Although not a documentary, this movie dramatizes Lincoln's life, especially as it relates to those factors which led to his nomination and election as President.
Ruth Gordon gives an outstanding performance as Mary Todd Lincoln and Gene Lockhardt is wonderful as Stephen Douglas, who was Lincoln's main political rival as well as his friend.
"Abe Lincoln in Illinois" is more of a biographical sketch that gives us far more of Lincoln's political rise, as well as his romances with Ann Rutledge and, later, Mary Todd.
Ford's movie mostly sketches the character of Lincoln and then turns into a courtroom drama leavened with comic incidents.Comparing the two leads, it can be said that Raymond Massey is a more convincing Lincoln than Henry Fonda.
(The film prunes this "house divided against itself" speech.) But -- I'll try to keep this short -- aside from Cromwell's movie covering Lincoln's maturation from a slow youth to his departure with his new whiskers for Washington, while Ford's movie covers a much shorter time span and includes virtually no politics -- Ford's movie is helped immensely by Alfred Newman's multivaried musical score.
There's nothing like it in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois." On top of that, Sherwood's narrative (he did the screenplay too) has more serious drama in it, including the conflict between the compliant and peaceable Lincoln and his fiery and ambitious wife, who was later to spend time in an insane asylum.
"Abe Lincoln in Illinois" Movie Review with a Big Ending Spoiler!.
In Robert Sherwood's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois"(1940), Raymond Massey was Abraham Lincoln, and it showed.
"Abe Lincoln in Illinois" is the best of the Lincoln movies.
But Mary saw a winner in Abraham.As a lawyer, Abe tended to show a great deal of interest in all people, in helping the poor and in politics.
Mary liked those positives in his personality.During these years, Lincoln worked hard and readied himself for a successful law and political career.
In his later years, Massey became a U.S. citizen.Gene Lockhart, Bob Cratchett of "A Christmas Carol"(1938), played Stephen Douglas.
Ruth Gordon, known as the fun 80 year old Maude of the cult film "Harold & Maude" (1971), played Mary Todd.
This wrecked Abe Lincoln in Illinois's certainty of a place in the Times Ten Best.
These comments fall a long way short of Nugent's endorsement which declared: "Although the Pulitzer committee may smile skeptically, we have no hesitation in calling the film the play's superior, in calling Raymond Massey's screen Lincoln better than his play's Lincoln, in finding it not only a more complete record of the man and his times, but a far more dramatic and a far more significant biography than the Pulitzer committee saw."Other critics across the nation were equally enthusiastic: With 221 votes, the film placed 6th in the annual Film Daily poll.COMMENT: One of the best films ever made, this movie features a brilliant performance from Raymond Massey in the title role.
Certainly Raymond Massey rendered one of the all-time great performances of the cinema.
While this film may not toe the line is historical accuracy it was probably are more realistic look at what Abe Lincoln's life was really like.
Her Mary Todd portrayed as a power hungry, totally controlling, head strong woman was the perfect opposite of Massey's down home, humble Lincoln.
From completely ignoring Lincolns 3 sons deaths to showing Mr. Lincoln as a perfect person , this movie lacked big time. |
tt0041113 | All the King's Men | All the King's Men portrays the dramatic political rise and governorship of Willie Stark, a cynical populist in the American South during the 1930s. The novel is narrated by Jack Burden, a political reporter who comes to work as Governor Stark's right-hand man. The trajectory of Stark's career is interwoven with Jack Burden's life story and philosophical reflections: "the story of Willie Stark and the story of Jack Burden are, in one sense, one story."
The novel evolved from a verse play that Warren began writing in 1936 entitled Proud Flesh. One of the characters in Proud Flesh was named Willie Talos, in reference to the brutal character Talus in Edmund Spenser's late 16th century work The Faerie Queene.
A 2002 version of All the King's Men, re-edited by Noel Polk (ISBN 0-15-100610-5), keeps the name "Willie Talos" for the Boss as originally written in Warren's manuscript, and is known as the "restored edition" for using this name as well as printing several passages removed from the original edit.
Warren claimed that All the King's Men was "never intended to be a book about politics."
=== Themes and imagery ===
One central motif of the novel is that all actions have consequences, and that it is impossible for an individual to stand aloof and be a mere observer of life, as Jack tries to do (first as a graduate student doing historical research and later as a wisecracking newspaperman). In the atmosphere of the 1930s, the whole population seemed to abandon responsibility by living vicariously through messianic political figures like Willie Stark. Thus, Stark fulfills the wishes of many of the characters, or seems to do so. For instance, his faithful bodyguard Sugar-Boy, who stutters, loves Stark because "the b-boss could t-talk so good"; Jack Burden cannot bring himself to sleep with Anne Stanton, whom he loves, but Stark does so; and so on. (It is in this sense that the characters are "all the king's men"; other than borrowing this familiar phrase, the title has nothing to do with the story of Humpty Dumpty. The title is possibly derived from the motto of Huey P. Long, whose life was similar to that of Willie Stark, "Every Man a King".) But this vicarious achievement will eventually fail; ultimately Jack realizes that one must "go out of history into history and the awful responsibility of Time".
The novel explores conceptions of Calvinist theology, such as original sin ("Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption, and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud," says Willie when told that no adverse information about an opponent would be likely to be found. "There's always something."); and total depravity ("You got to make good out of bad," says Willie when his ruthless methods are criticized. "That's all there is to make it with.") Jack discovers that no man is invulnerable to sin under the right circumstances, and thus his search for dirt on the judge begins with questions as to what circumstances would cause one to do wrong. Jack, Willie, and Adam all abandon idealism when they realize that nobody is pure and unblemished.
Another motif in the novel is the "Great Twitch". When Jack Burden unexpectedly discovers that the love of his life, Anne Stanton, has been sleeping with Governor Willie Stark, he impulsively jumps in his car and drives to California to obtain some distance from the situation. Jack's description of his trip contains overt and indirect references to the notion of Manifest Destiny, which becomes somewhat ironic when he comes back from it believing in the "Great Twitch".
The "Great Twitch" is a particular brand of nihilism that Jack embraces during this journey westward: "all the words we speak meant nothing and there was only the pulse in the blood and the twitch of the nerve, like a dead frog's leg in the experiment when the electric current goes through." On his way back from California, Jack gives a ride to an old man who has an involuntary facial twitch. This image becomes for him the encapsulating metaphor for the idea that "all life is but the dark heave of blood and the twitch of the nerve." In other words, life is without meaning; everything is motivated by some inborn reflex action and nobody is responsible for their choices or even their own destiny. (The concept is brought to life for Jack when he witnesses a lobotomy performed by Adam Stanton.) The emotional distance permitted by this revelation releases Jack from his own frustration stemming from the relationship between Anne Stanton and his boss, and allows him to return to circumstances which were previously unbearable.
Subsequent events (including the tragic deaths of Governor Stark, Jack's lifelong friend Adam Stanton, and Judge Irwin, Jack's father) convince Jack that the revelation of the "Great Twitch" is an insufficient paradigm to explain what he has seen of history. "[H]e saw that though doomed, [his friends] had nothing to do with any doom under the godhead of the Great Twitch. They were doomed, but they lived in the agony of will." Ultimately, he grows to accept some responsibility for his part in the destruction of his friends' lives.
The book also touches on Oedipal themes, as Jack discovers his father's true identity after having caused his death.
The theme of one's father's identity and its effects on one's own sense of identity is explored twice in the novel, first through Adam and Anne's painful discovery that their father (the late Governor Stanton) once assisted in the cover-up of a bribery scandal. Then Jack discovers that his biological father is Judge Irwin, not, as he previously believed, "the Scholarly Attorney". In each case, the discovery catalyzes an upheaval in the character's moral outlook.
Time is another of the novel's thematic fascinations. The idea that every moment in the past contains the seeds of the future is constantly explored through the novel's non-chronological narrative, which reveals character continuities and thematic connections across different time periods. | cult, depressing, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | At any rate, Broderick Crawford does an outstanding job portraying the self- proclaimed "hick" Willie Starks, who rises from nothing to become governor of a state and then gets carried away with power and ego.Mercedes McCambridge is equally riveting as one of his aides.
But when I saw the remake, I was kinda scared to see this version due to the fact that maybe I was just not into the story, but it turned out to not only be a good film, but a great one that had no need to be a remake almost 60 years later.Willie Stark is a crooked lawyer who decides to run for senator, swearing up and down the people that he is just like them and making crazy promises, he gets elected and finds that it's harder than he realized to keep those promises.
Things start to fall apart more and more when his son gets into some serious trouble causing bad press, the people are not satisfied with his duties, and his marriage begins to fall apart as well eventually leading up to a horrific ending to his term when he is threatened with impeachment.All the King's Men, the original, is a great movie that I would recommend for the classic lovers.
While John Goodman is excellent as Long and the movie worthwhile, it reveals just how good a film ALL THE KING'S MEN is.Of course, Robert Rossen's picture has a drab look.
Compared to the book, the film, I think, reveals its real weaknesses: it does simplify moral issues and also reduces some of the characters to the level of melodrama (Willie Stark, in the novel, resembles more someone like Andy Griffith's character in A FACE IN THE CROWD: a charming good ole boy you want to love, but who will knife you in the back the next minute).
McCambridge was maybe the toughest woman ever portrayed on film so far, a hard nosed political operative who's carrying an empress size torch for Crawford who can't see her in that way at all.As I said before All the King's Men though suggested by the life of Huey Long is not that life at all.
In doing so it lost some of the novels flow and impact.Both versions have excellent casts and the performances given by both Sean Penn and Broderick Crawford (Oscar winning) as Willie Stark are first rate.
Maybe "All the King's Men" is a bit long in the tooth now, but until "The Godfather" and "Patton" it was the best film ever made!The selection of Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark was gutsy, since Crawford can -at best- have been considered "good".
Directed by Robert Rossen, adapted from a novel by Robert Penn Warren, and strikingly photographed in cinema verite style by Burnett Guffey, it tells the story of the rise and fall of a Huey Long-like politician who starts out as a good guy, if a bit of a bully, and winds up a very bad guy, and even more of a bully, as he takes political control of his state.There are dozens of things wrong with the movie.
And the frenetic pace of the film seems tied to the staccato delivery of Broderick Crawford in the leading role, as if Crawford himself had produced, directed and written the movie to fit his personal idiosyncrasies like a glove.As luck would have it, these 'wrong' things make All the King's Men work better than a smoother, fancier, more refined approach could ever have done.
Brod Crawford plays his role as a grade B heavy, with perhaps a scintilla more charm, and his bull-necked King Of Alcatraz style of acting suits his character well; and if one finds Crawford too typically a Hollywood bad guy I recommend the documentary film Point Of Order, in which Sen. Joe McCarthy, with no dramatic training whatsoever, could well be Crawford's soul-mate, or at the very least his brother.Why do these elements work so well in All the King's Men and not in other movies, where a mess is just a mess?
Long, the film offers the story of Willie Stark, a small-town lawyer who is nominated for governor by a political party seeking to defeat their opponent by dividing the rural vote.
But the real knockout here is actress Mercedes McCambridge as Willie Stark's hard-edged assistant and sometimes lover; it is an astonishing performance which, in spite of its supporting status, remains locked in mind long after the film ends, a role for which McCambridge won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress.The script doesn't really do full justice to Warren's novel, the film is a bit slow to start, and the story itself feels a bit dry in the telling--but the performances and numerous memorable scenes carry it through to tremendous effect.
Robert Rossen (The Hustler) had better luck with the story of Louisiana's Governor Huey Long as he managed to capture every Best Director award he was nominated for except the Oscar.The picture did win the Best Picture Award for my birth year, and the acting awards went to Broderick Crawford (Governor Stark/Long) and Mercedes McCambridge.The corruption of power, the sleaziness of the political process, the willingness of people to be used are all explored in this moving film.
"All the King's Men" is a character study chronicling the same psychological process but rhyming this time with success, it's about a Southern politician named Willie Stark who never forgot where he came from and never lost his touch, which made him even more dangerous.The story is adapted from a Pulitzer-prize winning novel of the same title written by Robert Penn Warren, and based on the rise and fall of the legendary populist politician Huey Long.
The ascension of Willie Stark, played by a mesmerizing Broderick Crawford, is a fictionalization of Long's life and one of the most powerful political movies ever made, for the simple reason that it hasn't lost any of its relevance, as long as politics exist, there will be men like Stark.
The pivotal moment occurs when after failing attempts to seduce people by talking about fiscal measures and other non-inspirational stuff, good old honest Willie Stark, understands he was the puppet of his own detractors, gets drunk, tears up his paper and enraged by his own anger, gives one of these great roaring speeches tailor-made for the big screen.And the film, directed by Robert Rossen, features the kind of editing the genre requires, crowd close-ups, big headlines, and an unforgettable gallery of flawed characters, starting with the protagonist himself, Willie Stark, who starts out as a nice and honest fellow, struggling to raise his voice, a man of the people, and undeniably for the people, a man revered by the journalist played by John Ireland, but whose rise to power's collateral damage will be a decline of honesty.
And once Stark realized he had a natural charisma and capability to move the crowds, it's like Forrest Gump's braces breaking, the repressed ego finally implodes to the face of the political scene and from respect, the eyes and hearts are fueled with admiration and fear, starring with his titular inner circle, Mercedes McCambridge plays a sort of Jean Hagen-like character, going from antagonist to main counselor, she delivers her first and greatest (rightfully Oscar-winning) performance as a little woman with the toughest heart, venting her lack of seducing appeal in her infatuation with Stark.The rest of the cast includes Joanne Dru as Ireland's girlfriend, she's literally blown away by Stark's appeal and although her performance might be the one aspect of the film I disliked (God, how many times she had to turn her head theatrically!) the twist in her character –in all the meanings of the words- was quite gutsy and politically incorrect for its time.
My other favorite performance from him is in Fellini's "Il Bidone" and it's quite ironic and befitting that he played a swindler in the film, while Rossen would also direct another classic and favorite of mine "The Hustler", after all, isn't a politician a kind of hustler with power as the pay-off?But I'm still puzzled with Stark's character (this is how fascinating he is): did he turn into a bad guy or was he prone to corruption from the very beginning, it's hard to tell, but some of his insightful thoughts say a lot about his vision of politics: "good comes from evil" "but, who defines evil?" retorts one of the film's reasonable minds.
ALL THE KING'S MEN is certainly a well acted political melodrama from a novel by Robert Penn Warren and BRODERICK CRAWFORD is an ideal candidate for the role of Willy Stark (based vaguely on Huey Long), but I never thought it deserved to win the Oscar for Best Film of the Year.
In my opinion, that award should have gone to William Wyler's masterpiece, THE HEIRESS, a film whose reputation increased over the years while ATKM's has diminished.But putting personal preferences aside, ALL THE KING'S MEN is a riveting drama peppered with some fine performances, including JOHN IRELAND who serves as onlooker and narrator of the tale and MERCEDES McCAMBRIDGE as the cynical Sadie who won a Best Actress Supporting Role Oscar for her work.Stories of political corruption are nothing new--such material having been handled previously in stories like STATE OF THE UNION and bios like "Wilson" and "Tennessee Johnson", but never with such searing intensity.
As he progresses thru the political ranks he loses sight of the very things that he first stood for, with him, and all those associated with him getting muddier by the day.Adapted by Robert Rossen {director and screenplay} from the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, All The King's Men is the story about the rise and fall of a rotten politician.
There were several more deserving films than this."All The King's Men" is the convoluted story of Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford), a man who starts out in politics with good intentions, but who later becomes corrupted by power.
What it's doing is showing the unfortunate reality of our political system, as idealistic lawyer Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) runs for governor on a populist platform but falls prey to corruption once in office.
But Crawford, sensing this could be his watershed part , threw himself into the character of Willie Stark(based on real life Huey Long).What emerged was a full dimensional portrait of what began as an honest politician who rose up from itenerance and poverty to become a currupt political leader elected governor of his state and had it not been for an assassin's bullet, could have run for president.Crawford makes Stark's transition from country hick to Machine boss believable.
Finally Joanne Dru, married to Ireland at the time , was Ann Stanton, the antithesis of Sadie, and one of the many illicit flings in Stark's life.While the success of "All The King's Men" was a major surprise, what has become even more amazing is the fact that a half a century later the story and plot is still topical.One has to wonder if the 1970s political thriller "All The President's Men" owes more than just it's titular resemblance to this film.
Robert Rossen directed this Academy Award winning(best picture) film that stars Broderick Crawford(Academy Award winning best actor) as Willie Stark, an ambitious local politician who prides himself on honesty and being in touch with the common people.
Willie at first does challenge the corrupt parties that tried to keep him out, but ends up falling into the same trap of preserving his own power, no matter the cost.Based on the real-life Huey Long, this well-acted and written film pulls few punches in its cynicism, making viewer wonder if politics is inherently corrupt, or it just attracts corrupt people.
A good story and a fine performance by Broderick Crawford make "All the King's Men" one of the most worthwhile of American political movies.
It doesn't come close to capturing the greatness of the novel, and it's one of the weakest films to win the Best Picture Academy Award from that time period.Broderick Crawford makes a fine Willie Stark, though, I'll give the film that.
Ireland would rather be with pretty Joanne Dru (as Anne Stanton), but becomes attached to Crawford...Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren, "All the King's Men" has things to say about political corruption that are still relevant, today.
To spite the strong effort and acting impressions, the characterizations are sketchy and secondary; the main characters are politics and corruption.********* All the King's Men (11/8/49) Robert Rossen ~ Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, Joanne Dru. Huey Long or Not Huey Long?.
The rise and fall of a corrupt politician (Broderick Crawford), who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.So this was based on a novel that was inspired by Huey Long...
I've seen both now and there's no doubt in my mind that Robert Rossen's Oscar winning feature takes the laurels.A little knowledge of Long's eventful life and death certainly informs some of the action but the film's allegorical points transcend time and place - corruption and nepotism are as alive and well in the present day political world as they ever were 60 years ago - just think of the recent MP expenses scandal in the UK for this year's model.The movie shares its narrative structure with "Citizen Kane" (if you're going to borrow, borrow from the best!), using an investigative newsman Jack Burden (John Ireland) to shed light on the rise and fall of "everyman" Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford), only from a contemporary rather than retrospective viewpoint.
This gives the film added urgency as we await the next, usually sordid, plot development as Stark's rise up the greasy pole sees him simultaneously plumb the depths of corruption and indeed barbarity (at its worst, taking in the murder of the father of a young girl who was killed in a car driven drunkenly by Stark's stepson played by a young John Derek).Crawford is superb as the hick from the sticks who once he learns law and the tricks of the political game, rises meteorically on the wave of his populist appeal to be State Governor, only at that point to fall victim to the temptations of power and turn into a tyrannical despot, womanising adulterer, bullying father, devious blackmailer, murdering overlord and an alcoholic to boot.
It is this complexity of meaning which, along with its great central role, some good supporting performances and an intelligent script, makes "All the King's Men", in my opinion, the greatest film ever made about American politics.
Watching Oscar winner Broderick Crawford transform the character from honest do-gooder to populist demagogue is electrifying, but it's a shame this adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize winning novel had to lean so hard on pulp fiction melodrama, beginning with the familiar crutch of voice-over commentary, and from a rather bland protagonist: journalist John Ireland, trapped on the Willie Stark bandwagon.
For anyone who is interested in politics and governing then you will like this film, but there is also the themes about how power and wanting power corrupts and whether a bad man can do good.Jack Burden (John Ireland) is a reporter assigned to cover the election for county treasurer in the rural south (Louisiana in all but name), particularly focused on Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford).
All the King's Men not only shows how politics and it's corrupting affects, Rossen shows the person relations, particularly Jack's idealistic believe in Willie having seen him in his early days and see believing in him even when he see what he has done.The acting is excellent throughout the film, with Crawford being the best as the idealistic politician.
i was mesmerized by this film from the beginning.i thought the story was great,i as was the writing.the dialogue was also well written.especially the first fiery speech given by Broderick Crawford's character,Willie Stark.i can find no fault with the acting,especially Crawford.i thought he was brilliant.i couldn't take my eyes off him.talk about a powerhouse performance.the movie really packs a powerful wallop to the stomach.the story of political corruption and greed is just as topical(if not more so)today and could easily be based on one of many of our present day politicians.would the film be as good without the brilliant performance of Broderick Crawford.we'll never know.and that's just fine.for me,All the King's Men is a (1949) is a 9/10.
Both book and film tell the story of Willie Stark, a man who begins as an idealistic, rural lawyer crusading against political corruption in his (unspecified) state, but only gains power after he turns into a cynical demagogue, as seen through the eyes of Jack Burden, the black sheep of a wealthy family, a former reporter, and Stark's right-hand man.
Blustery Oscar Winning Performance from Broderick Crawford with support from John Ireland and Mercedes Cambridge (also an Oscar), and garnering the Best Oscar of all, the Best Picture winner, Robert Rossen's Cutting-Edge Political Expose still Cuts it Today.It's a definitive Classic that Transcends Time and its Message is the same, only the Suits have Changed, and the Media.
This is because the film is NOT a flattering look at a politician who seemed to start out with the best of intentions and eventually became a monster.The film begins with a newspaper reporter (John Ireland) trying to cover the political campaign of a small-time and unknown newcomer, Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford).
I was not impressed with "All the King's Men"...Broderick Crawford did the best he could to bring his character to life, who is based on 1930's Louisiana politician "Kingfish" Huey Long, but the story line is sloppy.
The politician in this film is Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford), who starts out running for local office, but comes up against a corrupt local political machine that quickly shuts him down, even having his wife fired from her teaching job of many years. |
tt0099623 | Funny About Love | New York cartoonist Duffy Bergman marries gourmet chef Meg Lloyd. Meg wants to have a baby. Duffy agrees, but after unsuccessful attempts, Duffy encourages her to focus on her career and come back to the child issue later. After his mother's death, however, Duffy becomes fixated on wanting to have a child. Meg no longer sees this as a priority, as she's trying to open her own restaurant. The two start to have marital problems, leading to a separation.
Duffy travels to Arizona to speak at a Delta Gamma sorority convention. He explains that the Delta Gammas have always been his dream girls—his Love Goddesses. There he meets the much younger Daphne Delillo, and when she moves to New York to work as a network sports reporter, their attraction develops into a relationship. Daphne becomes pregnant. Duffy is happy to father a child, but uncomfortable with how fast this relationship is progressing. When she has a miscarriage, Daphne breaks up with him, believing that they were really staying in the relationship for the baby.
At his father's wedding, Duffy hears news about Meg and decides to go to her restaurant. He tries to reconcile with her, insisting that he doesn't care if they remain childless as long as he can be with her. Duffy discovers that Meg has adopted a baby boy. | dark | train | wikipedia | Funny How Love Isn't Funny In This Movie.
Cartoonist Gene Wilder's marriage to Christine Lahti falls apart after they fail to conceive a child, but they manage to get back together after Gene has lots of sex with a younger woman.
Love might be funny, but this film is something else entirely.
Sure, there are a few laughs, but not enough to make this poorly-structured, badly-directed film work.
it's about time for Leonard Nimoy to ask Scotty to beam him up.
One of my favorite Gene Wilder films.
Gene Wilder is so lovable in this movie that it will make you forget some of his sillier films.In this he plays Duffy Berman a well-known cartoonist who yearns to have a child before his 'biological clock' stops ticking.So when things don't go as he planned,his life is turned upside down with some very funny and tender moments.
Gene Wilder struggles manfully to keep this limp, occasionally lame comedy afloat, but he's quickly defeated by unsure Leonard Nimoy direction, shabby editing and writing.
A professional cartoonist falls for an attractive female chef (she can't be much of a chef since his first impression of her food is disgust); after meeting cute, they decide to marry, but frustration soon arrives over their failure to conceive a child.
Christine Lahti has a warm, ticklish presence, but her character here is so underwritten we're not sure how we're supposed to feel about her; Mary Stuart Masterson is much better as a fraternity sex-bunny, but she belongs in a different movie (with a different partner) altogether.
I have watched this movie few times by now...such a sweet rendition of how real love feels...it's about real emotions, real feelings...and funny on top of it all!
I love watching it cause it makes me laugh and cry at the same time!
The way Gene Wilder expresses love and heartache is just overwhelming!
It is truly a movie about life and the sweetest thing about it...with a twist of humour...which is most definitely the way we should all treat life!
Friend Leonard Nimoy directed Gene Wilder in his 1990 film, Funny About Love.
Also starring Christine Lahti and Mary Stuart Masterson, this romantic comedy showed the struggle of the human need to reproduce and the struggles that come with infertility.
Funny About Love is nothing spectacular but goes the distance in describing a difficulty felt by 1 in every 8 couples with some humor.
Human life is full of decisions, just as it is changing our minds about those decisions, Funny About Love shows this inextricable part of human life through one New York City couple.
Duffy Bergman (Gene Wilder) is on top of the world in his field as a renowned political cartoonist.
When he is taken to her, he is instantly smitten with her beauty and attempts to get Meg (Christine Lahti) to agree to a date with him.
Although initially reluctant, Meg is eventually won over by Duffy's lighthearted comedic disposition and agrees.
The two eventually marry and decide, in spite of Duffy's reservations to have a child together.
As Meg's culinary career kicks into overdrive during the respite from attempting to have a child, Duffy begins to actually want to have a baby.
This time, it is Meg that is unsure and wants to wait to have a baby.
In their time apart, they both realize what they really want; but can they get what it is they want with each other?Gene Wilder plays the quirky jokester of a cartoonist well, and Christine Lahti plays his lighthearted wife well.
The two share a beautiful on-screen chemistry making the otherwise forgettable film more fun to watch.
The writing struggles through the entire film, being very abrupt in all the right places.
I can't understand how Gene Wilder was in this film.
Okay, so it might not be Sherlock Holmes's Smarter Brother, but this film has tons of charm (Lahti is fantastic, as is Wilder), some strange little twists, and reassuring laughs.Watch it on a Sunday;-).
i loved this movie!.
i loved this movie!.
this movie is funny, heartwarming, romantic and witty.
Someone earlier said that Gene Wilder and Christine Lahti had no chemistry, but i have to disagree on that subject.
this movie is a slice of life comedy, not a goof ball one like "blazing saddles or " Young Frakenstein".
everyone else here doesn't know a good movie when they see one.
so go ahead and watch your stupid movies while i sit back and enjoy "funny about love".
They cannot conceive a child, which Duffy clearly feels he needs at this point in his life.
He tries for someone younger (Masterson), but it becomes frighteningly apparent that perhaps it wasn't Meg or Daphne with the conception issues, but Duffy himself.On a side-note, Duffy's a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to relationships, as he lambastes his own father who decides not long after his wife's death, to get married again.
Duffy has no problem moving on from Meg, but has distinct thoughts of how his father's life should progress.
(Namely the loss of his mother and the acceptance of the fact that he and Meg will never have a child.) Is this one of the classics of all time?
This two different films squished together, by Leonard Nimoy.
It is the only thing that I have seen Christine Lahti in that failed to entertain me.
Mary Stuart Masterson was cute and Lahti was her usual beautiful self but nothing could save this disaster.
This is the film Wilder made right after the death of his beloved soulmate, Gilda Radner.
Several years after directing "Funny About Love", director Leonard Nimoy admitted that making this movie was a mistake, and put the blame on the script.
The writing found in this movie is truly bizarre at times.
For example, when Wilder's character and his wife have their first argument, in the next scene she is packing her bags and planning divorce - huh?
I don't know if that's how it was written, or if the editing removed some scenes, but the movie is missing important information.While most of the blame is with the script (and possibly with the editing), Nimoy has to share some blame for the performances of his actors.
More often than not, Nimoy has his cast acting in a very broad manner that makes the deranged dialogue they speak even worse-sounding.As I indicated in the summary line, this movie is more strange than funny..
While certainly not one of anyone's favorite comedies, there is an amount of sweetness to this film.
Gene Wilder is an "edgy" cartoon strip writer - though as the viewer you're rolling your eyes as a conservative or a liberal - that becomes very desirous of having a baby with his new wife, Christine Lahti.
When things don't biologically work out, they break up and Wilder finds himself in a relationship with Mary Stuart Masterson.
Eventually, that doesn't work out either and Wilder realizes that Lahti means more to him as a wife than what a baby can bring to their relationship.
The cons are evident in the film - simplistic story, no real depth of any character, no "laugh out loud" scene, no dewy-eyed scene.
Firstly, Wilder is pitch perfect as usual - completely at ease in his character.
Masterson - such a beautiful and amazingly talented actress - is wonderful in her strong-willed yet completely vulnerable character.
Finally, Nimoy must be given credit for the pacing of the movie by keeping the scenes quick and fun.
While the movie is long on relationships, it is short on character and development thereof.
The easy-come-easy-go of the Wilder/Lahti, Wilder/Masterson relationships simply demand the viewer to not only accept but understand.
On the morning of March 26, 1989, I happened to see a film crew working in the park as I approached the train station.
I asked a crew man, "What project are you working on?" He answered, "New York Times"--which was the working title for the movie.
and if Mr. Nimoy wondered how a passerby knew (a) that it happened to be his birthday and (b) that he was the director of the movie in production!
Since Mr. Wilder plays a cartoonist in the film I suggested the title "See You in the Funny Pages" but, of course, it wasn't used.
I've seen the movie and tried to spot a scene filmed at Central Park but I didn't see it..
stinker!!Every second of turgid dialogue tells you you've come to the wrong place today and you need to get out!It would be illegal to show this film in a prison.
The comedy touch of a true vulcan.no no no It's a 2 thirds of a film that will live in infamy burned into the section of my memory reserved for live electric cables and picking up glowing bits of metal.
I don't liked this film.
I am big fan of Gene Wilder and i try to collect all his films.This movie was disappointment to me.It is a movie where actors live in their own world and i feel like they forgotten people who watching the film.They live there with their problems and they don't have time to think is it a interesting to watch.At the beginning of the movie it made to easy when Gene and Cristine met.Gene saying that coffee is good but he don't look like his fooling in love deeply.It all is to easy.Always is interesting when something happens what you don't expected put in this movie there is no surprises.His films usually contain more action,running and some riddles.In this film he is most of the time in his home and dialogs with his wife are not interesting.In Silver Streak you can feel the love between him and girl but not in this movie.It is only my opinion about this movie and i hope that Gene never read this..
I like Gene Wilder but I have no idea what was going through his head when he decided to do this flick.
Even the anal-injection scene didn't save it, nor did Gene Wilder's witty frying pantheon bit.
I couldn't see anything funny about this film, although I DID like the sex scenes between Gene Wilder & Mary Stuart Masterson.
Funny About Love (1990) BOMB (out of 4)Duffy Bergman (Gene Wilder) is a cartoonist who has pretty much lived his life alone just the way he likes it.
This all changes when he meets Meg (Christine Lahti) and quickly falls in love.
The two are married and plan on having a kid but that proves to be complicated, which leads to a series of dramatic events.FUNNY ABOUT LOVE is a film that I've heard a lot about and none of it was good.
This film was directed by Leonard Nimoy and it features a terrific cast but everything just goes horrendously wrong and in the end its clearly one of the worst films of the decade if not one of the worst comedies of all time.The film apparently had an entire subplot that was cut out of the film, which had Farrah Fawcett as a love interest.
It's pretty clear to see that something is missing from the film as the entire movie just feels like bits and pieces are missing.
The movie will be going in one direction and the next thing you know something complete different is going on.
I was a little confused at what the movie was trying to do, trying to say and I was wondering if the filmmakers knew what was going on.The film starts off as a romantic comedy and then out of nowhere we get some of the most out-of-touch drama I've ever seen.
Throughout the film there are strange bits of dialogue, a really bizarre subplot dealing with Wilder and a much younger woman (Mary Stuart Masterson) and then there's the ending, which is just downright embarrassing.
The entire movie was just so poorly made and so poorly written that you couldn't help but feel a bit depressed watching it.Normally Wilder could make just about anything work but that's not the case here.
Lahti tries to do what she can but her character isn't given any favors.
Out of the cast it would be Mary Stuart Masterson who comes off the best but that's not saying too much.
It makes you wonder what Fawcett would have done in the film.FUNNY ABOUT LOVE is a romantic comedy that has no laugh and certainly no romance.
I really don't know what went so horribly wrong with this movie but it's certainly a misfire from the word go..
I have never before seen a worse movie.
This is at the TOP of my list of "worst movies of all time." I'm surprised that MST3K didn't find a way to improve it!.
There is nothing quite so painful as a comedy that isn't, and unfortunately Gene Wilder is is making more and more of them.
Normally both Wilder and Christine Lahti are talented performers, but this script would win awards for boring.
Not only that, but Lahti and Wilder have no chemistry at all, and it just gets worse when Mary Stuart Masterson is brought into the picture.This is one of those "slice of life" 80's pictures that resemble nothing more than a bad Lifetime TV movie.
Wilder's reactions run the gamut from unrealistic to inappropriate; when he's consoling Masterson in their break-up scene, it's like a father with a daughter, which (quite frankly) I found exceedingly creepy.
The relationship with Lahti falls apart realistically enough, but with no humor, wit, or even insight possible as Lahti plays it straight and Wilder plays it far too broadly, even for a comedy.** SPOILERS **When he and Lahti get back together at the end, it's all rushed together, complete with an adopted baby coming out of nowhere, and with Lahti's lipstick still damp on Wilder's lips from their first kiss, she introduces Wilder and baby to a restaurantful of strangers as her family.
For that matter, the way his mother dies (and how flip Wilder is about it throughout the rest of the movie) conflicts terribly with the way he treats his father when he starts dating again.
Nothing in this movie makes any sense or bears any resemblance to human interaction.In short, no subtlety, no humor, no great or even good performances (none bad either, except the inexplicable Susan Ruttan, doing her autistic impression once again), no connection to reality whatsoever.
Let's hope that Wilder hooks up with Mel Brooks and they both turn out something that makes us forget their work from the last fifteen years or so..
I completely agree with the majority of comments already posted here; this is a very bad movie in every possible way, but I'll skip past the shockingly subpar directing since it's not the worst aspect of the production.
(Spock, after all, helmed the best STAR TREK movie I've seen.
Okay, THE VOYAGE HOME is the *only* STAR TREK movie I've seen, but it remains the highest-grosser in the series, which must mean Trekkies approved of it.)*SPOILERS*Let's instead consider the writing.
The oddest thing about FAL is that nobody seems to notice that Gene Wilder's character is a deranged nutcase.
Here's a guy who contorts his face during every conversation; makes tasteless, inappropriate, glib comments about his mother shortly after her death; cradles his girlfriend in his arms like a child with a scraped knee; and, during perhaps the strangest scene in a movie chock-full of them (this one at a fertility clinic), has apparently never masturbated before and hasn't a clue as to how to do it now.
Christine Lahti falls for this nutball for no reason outside their shared previous failed marriages.
Doesn't anyone wait until marriage before sharing a bed anymore?) She just as quickly dumps the guy, for the unpardonable sin of really, really wanting a child.
These neurotics clearly deserve each other, if for no other reason than to keep these freaks out of the dating pool.The pixieish Mary Stuart Masterson also resembles a humanoid.
In it, Wilder barges into Lahti's restaurant proclaiming his newfound outlook on having a child.
Check, please.FUNNY ABOUT LOVE is an total embarrassment from beginning to end for everyone involved, especially Wilder.
There is no reason for it to be seen other than as a study of abnormal human behavior.p.s. If Gene was still mourning Gilda's death, why did he agree to star in a "romantic" "comedy"?
When Duffy Bergman meets Meg Lloyd, he discovers the love of his life and they marry, but love alone isn't enough to make them happy.
Meg decides she wants to have a baby, initially making Duffy frantic, but soon becomes his most important desire as well.
Now Duffy must decide which is more valuable to him, the relationship he has given up, or the relationship he has always dreamt of having...It's an unmitigated disaster, but Wilder is always watchable and there are flashes of geniuses in his withered,pained face.Nimoy is perfunctory at making family movies, but this has been edited within an inch of its life, and it really shows when Masterson is introduced.
It's another one of those movies where Wilder gets the beautiful woman, which is a bit hard to swallow, but it's an easy, if predictable watch.It's just very incoherent at times..
Probably the worst movie ever made.
This is the worst movie I have ever seen and it's a real tragedy that it was ever allowed to be released.
If only someone could go back in time and prevent it from being filmed.The story is very boring and every single scene just feels disturbing and unrealistic.Mary Stuart Mastersson is one of the best actresses of all time and it's a real pain to see her be disgraced in this film.
Her character Daphne falls in love with Duffy, a very disturbed elderly man played by Gene Wilder.Don't ever see this film, and don't see any other films with Gene Wilder either. |
tt0268146 | Anurodh | Arun (Rajesh Khanna) was the only son of a rich businessman Mr. Chaudhury. He was an upcoming singer, sings in local radio, mostly the songs written by his friend Srikant (Vinod Mehra). His father wants him to look after their family business and thinks singing is not the kind of job for people of their status. This always leads to friction between father and son. On the other end, Srikant leads a very poor lifestyle along with his widowed mother. He earns living by writing songs and articles. Arun frequently helps them with money as Srikant becomes chronically ill and couldn't work outside.
While things are like this, one day Arun fights with his father and decides to leave his house for Calcutta (presently Kolkata). He joins as a singer there in local radio and works as a driver in the house of Mr. Mathur (Ashok Kumar). He uses name Sanjay Kumar to hide his identity. Mathur lives along with his grandchild Sunita (Simple Kapadia). He lost his son in a war and can't find the whereabouts of his daughter-in-law and grandson for which he continuously organizes search. Arun grows close with Sunita, headstrong granddaughter of Mathur. Sunita admires Sanjay Kumar without knowing that he and Arun are one and same. Mathur comes to know that Arun was the escaped son of his friend Chaudhury and informs him regarding Arun's whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Srikant's becomes critically ill and doctors diagnose it as end stage tuberculosis. His mother comes to Calcutta along with him. Arun gets shocked to see Srikant like that and swears to save him in anyway. He decides to organize a stage show though he rejects to do it till that minute. He sings on a stage and earns enough money for the operation. Surgeon recognizes Srikant's mother as lost daughter-in-law of Mathur and informs him. Srikant's operation becomes success and he gets reunited with his grandfather. Arun's parents come to Calcutta to see how their son became famous and his father changes his opinions regarding singing. At the end. everyone reconcile and Sunita and Arun marry. | flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0041332 | El Paso | Clay Fletcher (John Payne) is leaving South Carolina and heading west. A rebel officer during the Civil War and also a lawyer, he wants to ease back into law practice with something not too difficult, so he travels to El Paso, Texas with estate documents to get the signature of an attorney there, Henry Jeffers (Henry Hull).
Stagecoach Nellie (Mary Beth Hughes) steals his wallet along the way. Then, in a saloon, Clay sees a man convicted of murder by a drunken judge in a trial held in a saloon. The judge is Jeffers, and when Clay speaks up on the defendant's behalf, he is charged with contempt of court. Unable to pay the fine, his fancy clothing is auctioned off.
Clay is rescued by rancher Nacho Vazquez (Eduardo Noriega), who offers him a place to stay. He also meets the judge's daughter, Susan Jeffers (Gail Russell), who owns a hat shop. Clay learns the man found guilty of murder was framed by rich land owner Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) and his stooge, Sheriff La Farge (Dick Foran).
La Farge brutally beats and jails a man named John Elkins (Arthur Space) who had once been a friend to Clay, who volunteers to represent him. He needs the judge to be sober, so old-timer Pesky (George 'Gabby' Hayes) offers to take Jeffers out of town and away from the saloon for a while. La Farge is furious and tries to have Clay killed.
The judge is respectable again by the trial date and clears Elkins of any wrongdoing. La Farge responds by having Jeffers dragged by horses and killed. He also arranges the murders of Elkins and his wife (Catherine Craig).
Vowing revenge, Clay forms an outfit of vigilantes to set things right. But in so doing, he is warned by Susan that he is becoming as ruthless as the men he's after. Donner ends up dead and La Farge is set to be lynched when Clay comes to his senses and asks that El Paso's next judge be the one to hand out justice. | murder | train | wikipedia | Long Arm of the Law !.
This Cinecolor Western from 1949 boasts a terrific cast and an interesting storyline.
John Payne stars as a gun-toting attorney who takes on the so-called "lawmen" of El Paso.
Sterling Haytden and former singin'cowpoke Dick Foran have fun roles as the bad-guys running the town.
With the help of a drunken Judge, they rule with an iron fist ....
until Payne arrives !Gabby Hayes has a featured role and is as endearing as ever.
This film is fun and well-produced, but is a little long & drags a bit in the middle.Those with patience and a 100+ minutes to spare should enjoy this old-fashioned cowboy movie..
I think El Paso started out to be a much more ambitious western than it eventually turned out.
There was a lot more potential there than for what did eventually make it to the screen.Except for a short subject he did at Warner Brothers in 1939 El Paso was the first western that John Payne did and he definitely seemed comfortable in the genre.
He plays a lawyer and former Confederate veteran who goes west to El Paso from Charleston, South Carolina in search of an old friend of Payne's grandfather H.B. Warner.That friend is Henry Hull who went west with his daughter Gail Russell for health reasons and is now a drunken pawn of town boss Sterling Hayden.
With Hull as judge and sheriff Dick Foran to enforce some trumped up foreclosures, Hayden's grabbing all the real estate he can in and around El Paso from veterans who were not paying taxes while they were fighting in the Civil War. Payne tries it the legal way, but he's learned a few things as well in those war years.
When it doesn't work he finds himself leader of a guerrilla band who are exacting justice after a couple of murders of cast members sympathetic to Payne.Editing was pretty botched in El Paso.
There are references during the film to scenes that were obviously cut out.
The film also seemed to be building to a terrific climax and the end was quite a let down.
You'll see what I mean if you view the film.El Paso was produced by Pine-Thomas Productions, two guys with the first name of William.
So cuts were made that I think spoiled the overall quality of the film.Still fans of the western and of John Payne will like it.
Note the comic relief performances of Mary Beth Hughes as Stagecoach Nell and Gabby Hayes for once an Easterner in a western..
Desite the very familiar nature of the film, it's well worth seeing..
"El Paso" is an ugly looking film.
I assume it looked a lot better when it first debuted, but the print from Netflix is yucky looking.
Part of this might be because it used Cinecolor (a very inexpensive but far from perfect color system) and part of it surely is due to the effects of degradation over time.
All I know for sure is that the film is full of sepia tones and green-grays but many other colors are absent.The film begins just after the Civil War. A lawyer (John Payne) is sent from Charleston to El Paso to get some papers signed by a judge who used to live in South Carolina.
Unfortunately, when Payne arrives, he finds that the judge (Henry Hull) is a drunk and the town is run by an evil boss (Sterling Hayden) whose aim is to steal away everyone's land.
Can Payne use the law to his advantage or will he and his new friends have to take the law into their own hands?
The evil boss-man theme is a very, very familiar one in American films of this era--perhaps THE most familiar.
I am pretty sure it was used long before it was in "Birth of a Nation" (this was an evil boss film despite its sick racist message).
Because it's become a bit of a cliché, "El Paso" certainly lacks originality.
But, despite the familiar, the film is handled well on several levels.
While the boss-man story is overused, using an alcoholic judge to help make the land-grab 'legal' was an inspired change to the standard story.
Additionally, Payne and Hayden are both good actors and make the most of the material.
In addition, it was nice to see the way Mexicans were handled in the film.
Too often, they are simpletons in westerns, but here they are both noble AND manly--with Eduardo Noriega's character being one of the better ones in this era.
Along for the ride is old reliable Gabby Hayes for a nice bit of comic relief.
In addition, while the film might be a bit blood-thirsty, it sure did make it exciting and better than the usually over-sanitized western of the day.
The overall package manages to breath life into an ancient sort of story and makes the film a lot better than it should be.
Worth seeing--particularly if you like westerns..
El Paso is directed by Lewis R.
It stars John Payne, Gail Russell, Sterling Hayden, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Dick Foran, Eduardo Noriega, Henry Hull and Mary Beth Hughes.
Location filming is at the Iverson and Corrigan Ranches and El Paso and Gallup.
El Paso, and lawyer and ex-Confederate captain Clay Fletcher (Payne) is forced to go against his principles and go outside the law to bring order to the town.
It's a town where the judge is alcoholic and manipulated by the corrupt sheriff and a nefarious landowner.In the mix here is a very decent film, and certainly there's a story that if given a bit more meat could have been most potent.
Unfortunately it's a bit choppy in its telling and execution, while the Cinecolor it was shot in looks washed out and cheapens still further what was already a picture being made without a big budget.Thematically it's strong, there's a vigilante thread that's attention grabbing, with some nice suggestive shots used by the director, and a theme of ex-soldiers returning from the war - only to find their land and rights being vanquished by the self imposed powers that be - carries with it some pertinent sting.
There's also some good humour in here, notably a running gag involving Hughes' Stagecoach Nellie.Cast are fine, with Hayden and Payne fronting up for their fans, Hayes does another grand grizzled old coot turn, and Noriega, in spite of being under used, is excellent.
Crude back projection work undermines some half decent action sequences, whilst the extended shoot-out finale is nicely played out during a dust storm - which may be to hide some flaws in the production?
But regardless it has good effect.Frustrating picture for sure, but for Western die-hards there's enough here to enjoy and not feel angry about.
"What good is law without enforcement?".
As kids we're always told to stand up to bullies; but try putting that into practise at work with your boss!
Lawyer John Payne proves similarly naïve in thinking Sterling Hayden and his brutal henchman Dick Foran will be as easily dissuaded by due process; and after 80 rather garrulous and conventional minutes this film finally makes you sit up and take notice when Payne and the rest of the townsfolk at last take the law into their own hands and fight fire with gunfire.But did anyone ever stand trial for the accidental lynching of the newly arrived minister?.
interesting western, could have been better.
I decided to see this film, after reading that it was part of Martin Scorsese's list of top westerns.
John Payne is Clay Fletcher, a lawyer that goes to El Paso where he meets his former sweetheart Susan (Gail Russel) and her father Henry (Henry Hull) who is a judge, but became a drunkard and is subservient to Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) who is trying to get for free all the nearby land of the ex confederate soldiers that fought in the civil war which has just finished..
Fletcher tries all he can in a peaceful way, but when he realizes he will not win against the dirty tactics of Donner, forms and leads a guerrilla group.
The film tries to show that he is wrong, that he must respect the law, but does so in a hurried manner in the last part and that spoils the film which could have been a good western.
The unconvincing, not elaborated rapid change of attitude of Payne and the members of the guerrilla group just makes you think they had to finish the film in a set time , and got carried away and let it go on too long, and then had to hurry to end it.
The presence of Gail Russel who was an excellent actress and a great beauty is a positive factor..
Vigilante justice replaces corrupt judicial injustice, post-Civil War..
This is a message post-Civil War western.
Unfortunately, it espouses 2 conflicting messages: (1)When the local judicial system is inadequately present, or present in a corrupt or prejudicial form, it is a natural right of the injured and threatened to defend themselves or extract equal revenge against the perpetrator(s).(2) No matter how inadequate, corrupt or prejudicial the local judicial system is, it is the duty of individuals harmed by it or by others to submit to the existing judicial system.
Those who attempt to take the law into their own hands are subject to prosecution no matter how seemingly valid their reason.
After exercising the first of these messages, the film ends upholding the second message.
I suspect the production code people weren't about to pass a film which glorified rebellion and vigilantism as sometimes necessary to achieve real justice........John Payne, in his first western, is the main protagonist.
He's a lawyer, newly arrived from Charleston, S.C., who objects to the methodology of the first trial he sees here.
After several killings of his friends and the judge for thumbing their noses at the corrupt Sheriff Lafarge(Dick Fortran), he becomes the leader of a sizable group of rebels who go about searching for, killing and perhaps burning the houses of the friends of the Sheriff(whom I will refer to as loyalists).
The climax of the film consists of an all out gun battle in the middle of El Paso between the rebels and loyalists.
This is complicated by the occurrence of a very violent dust storm that made visibility and walking difficult.
After a number of each are killed, the two groups ride out of town, meeting at a river, where the loyalists, outnumbered, surrender.
Several are about to be strung up when Clay arrives with the demand that the ropes be taken off their necks.
He's a born again legalist, advocating that the sheriff and other loyalists be tried for real or suspected crimes.
Thus, from the viewer's viewpoint, the film ends on a rather unsatisfactory note, as the sheriff is neither dead nor visibly in jail, while the victors march down the street in parade formation.
........Gail Russell, the female lead, plays Susan Jeffers, daughter of the usually inebriated judge.
She's Clay's girlfriend, a relationship threatened by his sojourn into vigilantism.
One of the victims of the loyalists is Clay's grandfather: a judge from Charleston.
Just why he came to El Paso is not discussed.
Edwardo Noriega played Nacho Vazquez, who saved Clay from a tormenting saloon crowd, and taught him how to be an effective gunslinger.....
Much bewhiskered Gabby Hayes generates some amusement playing a simpleton trader, who's always getting cheated by Mexican Joe......Stagecoach Nellie(Mary Beth Hughes) is another clownish character.
While riding in a stage, she emphasizes that Indians or bandits often attack the stage, then offers to hide the men's wallet in her things.
If the man forgets to retrieve his wallet at the end of the run, she takes it to her room and divests it of currency.
A "Grade B" Feel from Start to Finish.
In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War a Confederate officer by the name of "Clay Fletcher" (John Payne) returns to his home in Charleston, South Carolina, to restart his law profession.
Upon hearing that a former sweetheart named "Susan Jeffers" (Gail Russell) and her father "Judge Henry Jeffers" (Henry Hull) have moved to El Paso, Texas, he volunteers to take some important legal papers to him.
When he gets to El Paso he finds that a group of thugs have taken control of the small town and are manipulating the alcoholic judge to enforce their corrupt interests.
Now, rather than detailing the entire story, I will just say that this film had a "Grade B" feel from start to finish.
None of the actors distinguished themselves, the plot was shaky and some of the scenes seemed a bit corny at times.
To be fair though, some of these criticisms can be attributed to the time-period in which this film was made.
Violent "A" Western!.
"El Paso, a Pine/Thomas production has a large cast and plenty of violent action to satisfy the most demanding western fan.
However, most of the real violence happens off screen to appease the censors.Clay Fletcher (John Payne) goes to El Paso to have Judge Henry Jeffers (Henry Hull) sign some legal documents for his grandfather Judge Fletcher (H.B. Warner).
Clay also hopes to see his lost love Susan Jeffers (Gail Russell) as well.
On his journey he becomes acquainted with bewhiskered Pesky (Gabby Hayes), a peddler.What Clay finds is a lawless town run by landowner Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) and his corrupt sheriff La Farge (Dick Foran).
Clay himself a lawyer, witnesses a mock trial of a prisoner accused of murder presided over by an intoxicated Judge Jeffers.
Clay goes to see Susan and the two try to find a way to sober up Judge Jeffers.Farmer John Elkins (Arthur Space) is told that his ranch is being sold for unpaid taxes.
Ellis escapes to the hosienda of Mexican Don Nacho Vazquez (Eduardo Noriega) for protection.
Clay decides to defend Elkins and hatches a plan to have, with Pesky's help, the Judge sobered up.
The Elkins ranch is raided by La Farge's men who burn down their home and murder Elkins and his wife.
Their son Jack (Bobby Ellis) witnesses the attack.
At the same time, Judge Jeffers is dragged to death.When Clay learns of this he loses it and forms a gang of vigilantes to exact their revenge.
Young Jack identifies some of the attackers who are promptly strung up.
Unfortunately, Jack identifies an innocent man who is killed before the error is discovered.Judge Fletcher comes to town and he and Sally try to reason with Clay to stop his attacks.
He agrees to do so but relents when Judge Fletcher's body is brought to him.
This incites the final showdown with Donner and La Farge and................................................................................The finale for some reason, takes place in a sand storm which makes it difficult for the viewer to see all of the action.
The brutal deaths of the two judges even though they occur off screen, are shocking.Payne and Hayden are convincing in their roles and the tragic Russell looks absolutely beautiful here.
Gabby Hayes nearing the end of his long career, turns in another typical Gabby performance.
But the big surprise is the casting of Dick Foran as the brutal sheriff.
He normally was a good guy so this about face caught me off guard.The most surprising thing about this picture is the fact that Payne and his cohorts are not punished for the murder of the innocent Minister.Also in the cast are Irving Bacon as a stagecoach passenger, Mary Beth Hughes, Chief Yowlachie and Dewey Robinson as the bartender (what else?)..
Lawyer decides to take the law into his own hands....................
Fine upstanding ex - Confederate officer Mr John Payne tries to Clean Up The Town by lawful means but has to resort to violence in the face of endemic corruption.
The end justifies the means,eh,John?
If "El Paso" has a moral message that appears to be it.
Aided,if that's the word by Gabby Hayes and Gail Russel,hindered by the great Henry Hull,with heavyweight "help" such as Sterling Hayden,Mr Payne finds that friends in need are friends indeed.
Mind you,nobody said either he or Haynes was clever judging from the ease with which " Stagecoach Nellie" parts then from their wallets before they arrive in town.
I watched a horrible orange and grey print of this on Freeview the other night and it is a tribute to the performers that stayed to the end.
Way too many familiar faces, plotlines, plot twists, graveyard plots and potholes on the streets of this Rio Grande River locale.
John Payne takes the opportunity after the end of the civil war to move out west from Savannah and finds himself in trouble with the law while fighting against the corruption.
This Pine/Thomas western, beautifully filmed in color, has the potential of being a great saga of settling and civilizing, but overstuffs everything like a 10 layer burrito.
When the plot is set up with a pretty stagecoach con-artist Mary Beth Hughes hoodwinking the passengers, the predicted plot goes nowhere and her character simply vanishes until an appearance at the end.
For romance, there's pretty Gail Russell; for conflict, Sterling Hayden, and for the bulk of the laughs, George "Gabby" Hayes.
There's hardly any racial tension, just the fights for justice between the good guys and bad guys.
It is impressively filmed, but for a good majority of this 100 minute film, I pondered the basic plot, and could only come up with a simple story with a bunch of conflicts, and nothing to really tie them together.
There's a touching cameo by the ancient H.B. Warner as Payne's worried grandfather, and a shootout amongst a giant windstorm, but those are "moments".
The lack of a continuity factor is the nail in the coffin of this not bad but obviously missed opportunity western |
tt0072962 | F for Fake | The film opens with Welles performing magic tricks for some children while Kodar watches nearby. Welles quotes Robert-Houdin to the effect that a magician is just an actor. Welles promises that for the next hour everything in the film will be based on solid fact. Kodar is then shown strolling around a street in a miniskirt while being ogled by the men on the street. Welles reveals the footage is taken from another experiment about girl-watching, where Kodar deliberately drew attention to herself and the men were unaware they were being filmed. Welles says her story will continue later in the film, and then narrates the story of Elmyr de Hory, an art forger who sold many fake paintings to museums and collectors all over the world. Elmyr is shown throwing a dinner party at his home in Ibiza and being feted by European society, although he dances around the question of whether he is guilty or not. One of those filmed is Clifford Irving, who had published a biography of Elmyr called Fake, and later in a notorious scandal was revealed to have been the forger of Howard Hughes's diary. Welles discusses the irony of Irving commenting on Elmyr's forgery while having committed a version of it himself. Irving and Elmyr tell about the art dealers who were fooled by the forgeries, and Welles considers the question whether this means art dealers and appraisers are fake also.
Welles presents more of Irving's story of having had secret contact with Hughes, and the odd stories of Hughes's behavior that may or may not have been true. He wonders if believing such stories makes a person credulous or not, and questions the true wisdom of so-called experts, who verified Irving's forgery as authentic. Reichenbach is shown telling how Elmyr provided him with several paintings of questionable authenticity, but the art dealers he gave them to were willfully blind to it. Welles notes that Elmyr doesn't even own the house he lives in; it's provided for him by an art dealer. Welles recounts his own past use of fakery: how he got a job in Ireland by falsely claiming to be a famous New York actor, and how his broadcast of War of the Worlds made deliberate use of fake news to enhance the story. He also notes the coincidence that his first film Citizen Kane was originally going to be a fictionalized version of Howard Hughes.
Irving describes how Elmyr was nearly destitute when younger and subsisted in America by making and selling forgeries that were indistinguishable from the real works, while remaining one step ahead of the law through frequent relocations. He finally moved to Ibiza, but was not prosecuted for lack of witnesses to the actual forging, as well as the scandal that might be aroused by revealing the depth of the art market's complicity in the deception. Elmyr insists he never signed any forgery, and Welles wonders whether, given the fact that all art eventually falls away to ruin, a signature truly matters to any art work. He illustrates the point by shots of the cathedral of Chartres, pointing out that the names of the men who created the magnificent building and the sculptures which adorn it are unknown. They did not sign their work, but it has endured.
Welles finally presents Kodar's story: she holidayed in the same village as Picasso, who noticed her and painted 22 pieces with her as the model. She insisted she be allowed to keep the paintings, but later when Picasso read about an acclaimed exhibit of 22 new pieces of his, he flew there in a rage, only to discover the pieces were all forgeries. Kodar took Picasso to her grandfather, the forger, who defended his work with pride while Picasso angrily demanded the paintings back. This dialogue is presented by Welles and Kodar re-enacting the parts of the grandfather and Picasso respectively. Welles then confesses that he had promised everything in the "next hour" was true, and that hour had already passed. He admits the entire story of Kodar, her grandfather, and Picasso was made up. He apologizes, quotes Picasso's statement that art is a lie that makes us see the truth, and bids the audience good night. | alternate history | train | wikipedia | "F for fake" stands for the last movie Orson Welles really directed and, as for many artistic legacies it's the final demonstration of the genius of the artist, becoming some kind of briefing of his entire career.It's hard to explain this movie and why I really enjoyed because, as many other Welles's movies, it's full of surprises and twists.Filmed as a Documentary, this film introduces us the personae of Elmyr, a painter who lives out of painting copies of famous pictures of Van Gogh, Picasso, Vlaminck and many others and making them look like they're the original one.
If Elmyr is able to paint a perfect copy of a famous picture and fool the world greatest experts, is he as good artist as the originals he's copying?Working as a perfect metaphore of Welles own experiences in art (he's not only been movie director but radio speaker and even painter) "F for Fake" remains as a perfect legacy of the ideas of one of the greatest and most gifted cinema artists.
Their stories, fascinating in themselves, mingle, juxtapose and clash, to provide a complex essay on the nature of art, the links between illusion, life, forgery and artifice.Elmyr is a master forger whose 'works' appear in many galleries.
Art itself is a forgery, of nature or the imagination - the forger is little different from an interpreter (e.g. Welles and Shakespeare): he cannot help stamping his own personality on the work.These questions are very complex, and cannot be grasped in one viewing.
Breathless narration; visual puns; the weaving of documentary footage, stills, reconstructions, other films; tireless, confusing editing; rapid subject changes; all manage to disrupt and complicate an essentially straightforward story.Welles the narrator is an absolute delight, a jovial trickster, with his gorgeous hearty laugh, games, aphorisms, comments, allusions; and yet behind it all is an extraordinarily depressing account of his own career, the perception of failure and broken promises, and the onset of mortality.The last 20 minutes is an extraordinary coup de cinema, as well as a masterpiece of storytelling.
Welles chronicles the true story of the famous art forger Elmyr de Hory (as well as his official biographer and future fraud, Clifford Irving, who penned the Howard Hughes autobiography-that-wasn't-really-an-autobiography), but it doesn't feel like a documentary at all.If you do not share Welles' passion for the subject of fraud and deception (he even recaps his own infamous War of the Worlds broadcast which nearly cost him his job at RKO), this may be a bit tiring to sit through.
And the finale in which Welles tells an elaborate story about Kodar turns into a fun and well-edited - but extremely overlong verbal game between Welles and Kodar, preceded by an even more tiring sequence of Kodar once again walking around in provocative clothing, eventually shedding them and being captured on film in the nude by Welles for an extended length of time.
I personally had never heard of Elmyr de Hory until watching this, but Welles turns him into a very interesting person.All in all, the director known as a boy genius had a fine end to his career.
The fact that the movie came out around the time that Clifford Irving's scandal broke (he wrote a forged biography of Howard Hughes) certainly adds to the documentary's quality.
Orson Welles's last full-length theatrical (ahem, emphasis on theatrical) film released before his death at times is almost like the 'News on the March' segment of Citizen Kane spread out in various spurts, and then totally played upon.
Suddenly, after getting inundated with sound-bytes and trickery with the editing style (which ranks with the best Welles and his team), verite camera-work (by a talented Gary Graver), and images that freeze up, zoom in, get inopportune poses from monkeys, and bits and pieces of a French villa and dozens of paintings, things slow down.
Elmyr D'Hory the art forger and Clifford Irving, his biographer are profiled, as well as Welles' own career as a faker.
Anyway, 100% editing genius makes a fake movie out of a TV special (made for French public Tv, as I understand it) by tacking on 40 minutes of inspired nonsense by Welles himself, proving that he truly is a magician for the masses..
So what we have instead is the ride, the process of talking about these various man and their rich compatriots from all kinds of colorful places.There is a limited range of footage at use here, most of it home-style 8mm color stock of the two or three main participants (call them suspects, call them actors, call them fakes) which was shot by a different filmmaker and turned over to Welles.
Not only a man with promising skill, who made a few great films and wandered the desert for the rest of his life; no, he made utter masterworks to the very end, actual innovation, reinvention and rethinking what cinema is, and I don't think we give him enough credit for what he has done if we speak of him only in relation to "Citizen Kane" (1941) or speak of him as a tragic figure who could have made a difference.The last of his feature films, only followed by "Filming 'Othello'" (1978) five years later, "F for Fake" (1973) is such a remarkable tour-de-force trip through the secret passageways of the possibilities of cinema I think it'll take one lifetime to really get over it: hyper-sensory to the extreme, "Fake" shows that bodacious cinema is accomplished not through expensive digital effects (not that there's anything wrong with expensive digital effects per se, note!) but through rhythm and expectation in editing.
The narrative is a profoundly multidimensional behemoth of self-reference it's near- impossible to delineate them all in relation to each other, an attribute that reiteratively underlines the impossible cognitive capacities Welles had to guide the film material into the film it now is, all this both premeditatedly before and during shooting but especially in the editing room.Imamura's "Ningen jôhatsu" (1967) and Kiarostami's "Nema-ye Nazdik" (1990) join this film in enriching our lives and making them a little bit less
fake?It's become a running joke that this film, too, was badly received at the time.
Thoroughly "Modern" Art. F FOR FAKE is arguably Orson Welles's greatest film work.
Just as CITIZEN KANE was exemplary of Baroque art, F FOR FAKE is the celluloid version of a Picasso painting.And in the Modern world where truth is relative, and art is subjective, Welles forces us to ask -- "When the authority says fake is real, what is real and what is fake?"This film works on many, many levels.
F for Fake (1973)** 1/2 (out of 4) Orson Welles' final major picture started off as a documentary on art forger Elmyr de Hory but when that project led to an interview with Clifford Irving, the man who wrote the fake Howard Hughes biography, the documentary took a new turn and decided to look at fakes all around.
The other main subject of the film is artist Elmyr de Hory, a man who has spent his life painting fakes of famous masterpieces, sometimes selling them to museums as real works by the original artists.
Interspersed among these stories are bits where Welles does magic tricks to illustrate points, etc., and he also addresses the fact that his career began as a fraud when he first lied on his resume and then created a radio sensation with "War of the Worlds".I really wanted to love this film and find it profound since I am such a Welles devotee, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
He was able to piece together something not entirely incoherent and the subject is sort of interesting - hence two stars instead of one - but I certainly didn't witness a "deep" exploration of art and fakery with "masterful editing".I suspect that if Welles had passed gas into the camera for 90 minutes his followers would have raved: "Neglected genius Orson Welles has done it once again, filming a gastrointestinal masterpiece years ahead of the Tom Greenesque oeuvre, perfectly capturing the flatulence of modern society!
Welles is having a great time with this film, boasting his profound ingenuity in all things art and human nature.
Its main subjects are Elmyr, a pre-eminent art forger, Clifford Irving, who faked the Howard Hughes biography, Orson Welles himself briefly (chiefly the War of the Worlds broadcast), and Elmyr's precursor, another Hungarian forger who is supposedly the best forger who ever lived.
The documentary is about fakes, mainly two big ones: Elmyr de Hory, who could replicate the great art masters such as Modigliani, Picasso, Matisse, etc., and actually sold these works to museums; and the con man extraordinare, Clifford Irving, who wrote a book about de Hory and then wrote a bio of Howard Hughes, based on interviews and meetings with him, none of which had ever taken place.There's a free-wheeling, improvised feeling to this documentary.
By the end of the film, the viewer is all too aware that they have been watching Orson Welles - noted film maker, magician and one time star - having a bit of fun.
Was it this awareness that made him appear somewhat, to this casual observer, self-loathing in his later years?After a testy, or maybe just well-edited, scene between the art forger and his biographer and forger to be, Welles finally offers forgiveness for all the fakers and forgers in an absolutely heart-stopping 2 1/2 minute rumination on the cathedral at Chartres.
Initially, the subjects are master art forger Elmyr de Hory and his would-be biographer Clifford Irving, also author of the infamous Howard Hughes biography.
A documentary about fraud and fakery, which focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career as a professional art forger.Clifford Irving is something of a legend, and definitely belongs in this film for his work as author of a fraudulent Howard Hughes authorized biography.
This film purports that Irving and deHory both worked their schemes from the same tiny island, and yet were in no way connected.Sadly, De Hory would commit suicide a few years after the release of Welles' film, on hearing that Spain had agreed to turn him over to the French authorities."F for Fake" faced widespread popular rejection.
He makes a promise to the audience, "For the next hour, everything you hear from us is really true and based on solid fact." F for Fake is part autobiography of iconoclast Orson Welles who made a name for himself directing, producing and acting in "The Best Movie Ever Made," Citizen Kane (1941) (perhaps you've heard of it).
Yet the film also encapsulates the life's work of Elmyr de Hory, arguably the most infamous art forger to ever live.
'F for Fake' was one of Orson Welles' follies of his later film making years, where many promising projects got abandoned or were left unfinished.
Much of the film is devoted to an art faker who claims he has never signed his paintings, despite them hanging in every major gallery, with clear signatures of the great masters; and his biographer, Clifford Irving, who himself perpetuated the great Howard Hughes hoax.
In the words of Jean Cocteau, "Crushing Automatism" is what I'd say about this film and the iconic hand gesture displaying size or margin.This is one of those absolute movies, no one could make, and has made since, only a Orson Welles could have pulled this intricate cutting and pacing, that enveloped modern day editing techniques, and with such a cutting edge story, nothing goes wrong, except you are just fascinated by the narrative told by the man who played himself.
For a filmmaker who frequently declared that the art of cinema originate from editing, Welles' last major completed film must've been his most comprehensive endeavor.The answer to Welles's eponymous fraud here, as it is throughout his filmography, is our mind's eye and the lively cooperation it gives, most often unsuspectingly, with his own contrivances, the sort of unwitting or subliminal participation that magicians and actors both put their faith in.
Those who resolve that the exposés of assorted deceptions including those of de Hory, Clifford Irving and Welles himself are insincere and obvious may be missing the extent to which these very shams are camouflaging the committing of numerous others, some of which are neither.Likewise, we should look especially in detail at what we're being shown in the early "girl watching" sequence, maybe the most elaborately cut section in the film, rivaled only by the later sequence given to Pablo Picasso's eyeballing of Kodar.
"F for Fake", directed and staring Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) is an one-of-a-kind documentary about trickery, fraud and lies.
Apart from Almyr and his paintings, the movie tells stories about what is art, and the mysteries of what is fake and true in our lives - with the most tasty and wonderful Orson-Wellian sarcasm.
It's Editing, very New and Off putting for the Period, using Freeze Frames, Swoops, Pans, and Fanciful Film Techniques Not usually Found in Nonfiction, add a Surreal Sense to the supposed Veracity of this Type of Thing.It manages to Comment on Real Life Figures like Art Forger "Elmyr De Hory" and Literary Hoaxer "Clifford Irving" and Their respective "Careers" as Real Fakers.
Writer/Director Orson Welles' F for Fake is a fast-paced, complex, surrealistic and philosophically thought-provoking documentary about fraud, fakery, and fictions.
Even though its style is still novel when seen now, 30 years after F for Fake's first, quiet release in Europe, it was even more unusual in the context of the 1970s, and it presaged "MTV-style editing" by almost 10 years (considering that the style wasn't even the norm on MTV when that cable channel first appeared).Even trying to tell someone what the film is literally about is quite complex (fitting for something that gives its title on screen as "?: About Fakery"), but we could say that it circles around six primary personalities, if we include Welles himself, who is frequently present on screen as a narrator/tour guide/resident magician.
Next up we have Clifford Irving, who wrote a biography of Elmyr de Hory, but who is perhaps more famous for writing a fake "authorized" biography of Howard Hughes.
It just happens to be documentary about creating fictions, whether impostors, as in de Hory's paintings (and amusingly, Welles himself--who had formal visual art skills--does a cartoonish portrait of Howard Hughes and signs it "Elmyr"); deceptive statements covering fictions, as in Irving's fake biography of Howard Hughes; manipulating public perceptions, as in the case of Hughes' and Picasso's public relations; creating artificial situations, as in Kodar's "piece" involving recording the reactions of men to her stroll through traffic; or combinations of all of these tactics, as in Welles' own work as an artist/entertainer, including the War of the Worlds radio broadcast (1938), which is portrayed here with clips from Earth vs.
An art forger, a biographer who faked having wrote from a legitimate source(Howard Hughes himself), and some 17 minutes about a Oja Koder's deathbed grandfather wanting Picasso's approval over 22 paintings of his beautiful daughter--Orson Welles sure knew how to weave quite a compelling film.
François Reichenbach, who shot a documentary about Elmry, partnered with Welles over footage with both Irving and de Hory, and the rest is history, F for Fake a dedicated film to the art of charlatanism.
The thrust of the movie concentrates on Elmyr de Hory (the master art forger) and Clifford Irving (the author of the fake biography of Howard Hughes).
Of course the movie would not be complete without Welles ultimately pulling a fast one on the audience before it is over.Also contained on the DVD is the 90-minute film "Orson Welles: The One-Man Band." This is a collection of archival material of some of Welles' work, including things that had never been released before.
Unfortunately, it means the subject of his film, Elmyr, didn't get the time he deserved and he was probably the more interesting story.The great tragedy of Orson Welles was that he peaked early, and then spent the rest of his career sputtering, finally doing wine commercials and awful documentaries....
Reichenbach then hired fame director Orson Welles to edit the documentary to include Elmyr de Hory's biographer Clifford Irving, who was revealed to be a forger himself, when his fame Howard Hughes "autobiography" came out to be, a hoax.
In short, I guess, Orson Welles wanted to troll his audience, a little more, by adding 17 more minutes to the runtime, to show how fake, this movie can get.
The first half of the film starts like any standard factual look at specific people involved in these acts of fakery, including author Clifford Irving who faked a biography of Howard Hughes and Elmyr de Hory who became one of the 20th century's great art forgers.
Except for the first part, which could have been a great documentary as opposed to Orson Welles acting cute on the camera with his buddies, making fun of the two subjects, one of them being an art forger and another being a writer who wrote a book on said forger and then himself faked the world out by pretending to have met the reclusive Howard Hughes - and then writing a book on the meeting.
Clifford Irving, the man who faked a Howard Hughes Biography, plays himself in this Orsen Welles phony documentary, about Howard Hughes.
This fake documentary has a better reputation than Irving would get years later when he is involved in a movie about his fake bio of Hughes.There is something about the majesty of Welles voice that is like a fine wine that is uncorked at it's time.
Orson Welles's final major movie was met with criticism at the time of release.
Orson Welles wanted to create a brand new genre of film which mixed documentary and fiction.
It was fascinating learning about how De Hory carried out his art forgeries and how Irving fooled the world into thinking that Howard Hughes had written an autobiography. |
tt0372832 | Skeleton Man | The film opens with an archaeologist looking at some artifacts he has dug up from an Indian burial ground. Among these items is the skull of an Indian chief, Skeleton Man appears through a portal and kills the archaeologist. Skeleton Man then chases the archaeologist's assistant to a power plant, killing her and the two men working there.
Skeleton Man, now on horseback, kills a soldier and chases his partner. Before being killed, the second soldier manages to record a video and send it back to his bosses. They receive it and send in Delta Force to deal with this unknown threat.
As they advance, a female soldier falls behind and is impaled through the chest. The team finds an old Indian man who tells them that Skeleton Man, known as Cottonmouth Joe, was a genocidal warrior who killed the old man's tribe and is now stalking the soldiers. The team pays him no heed.
Meanwhile, Cottonmouth Joe slaughters the workers at an oil pumping station. That night, two sentries are also killed (but are technically MIA as their bodies are never found). The team's scout (Casper Van Dien) also disappears.
The next day, the team encounters Cottonmouth Joe. The heavy weapons specialist charges him but is killed and the team opens fire to no effect. A support helicopter of Citizen's Militia is also destroyed. One man goes to recover the heavy weapons specialist's body but finds it missing. The squad then discovers the team scout, whom they accidentally shot in the firefight (Cottonmouth Joe having captured him and put him in a location to be shot). The team tries to lure their adversary into a trap, but run out of ammo. Another trooper is killed, as is the team sharpshooter who has her skull crushed by a tomahawk.
The two remaining troopers (Captain Leary (Michael Rooker) and Lt. Scott (Sarah Ann Schultz)) again try to lure Cottonmouth Joe into a trap to no avail. Skeleton man ends his pursuit of them and heads to a nearby chemical plant where he kills several workers, two guards, the manager and several scientists. The two remaining soldiers arrive and find the place surrounded by law enforcement. Captain Leary takes a sheriff's Armsel Striker and goes to confront the undead adversary. After a cat-and-mouse chase through the chemical plant, Captain Leary lures Cottonmouth Joe into a generator room and blows him up with electric current.
As the film's credits begin to roll, they suddenly reverse and show Skeleton Man back on his horse in the woods, thus indicating that he has survived. | humor | train | wikipedia | There was barely a plot, unless "Shaggy dog story with a guy in a rain poncho and skeleton mask instead of a dog" counts.The editing was was all over the place, and the slow-mo shots of the "gore" (red corn syrup flying through the air--doubtless flung using a spoon) got irritating after the tenth time, and infuriating after the hundredth time.I like Michael Rooker.
The Skeleton Man rode a horse throughout the movie, which amazingly, could change color at will.
The scientist Charles and his wife (or assistant) Marissa receive some objects and a skull from an ancient Indian cemetery, and while cleaning a vase, they are attacked and murdered by a mysterious being, the Skeleton Man. Then, a military squad commanded by Captain Leary (Michael Rooker) seeks out two groups of four soldiers each that vanished in the jungle.
Then the Skeleton Man goes to a power plant, and Captain Leary explodes the facility destroying the supernatural being.I bought "Skeleton Man" on DVD expecting to see a funny trash, but I found an awfully boring, annoying and senseless crap, with shoots and explosions.
I have personally experienced the condition of cottonmouth (often accompanied by a really bad hangover after a weekend bender) and it is indeed a lot like the movie Skeleton Man -- a dry, scummy film that provokes regret for recent choices and begs for a hot shower.It is unfortunate that the choice of "Skeleton Man" for the title was finalized by the distributor (probably the work of some meddling Hollywood no nothing studio exec who just didn't get it) and not "Cottonmouth Joe." Those of us who have seen the film know that the Skeleton Man is actually Cottonmouth Joe (a skeletal-manish apparition, not a true Skeleton Man).
Imagine this: when future filmmakers get together to create the true definitive Skeleton Man movie and need a title, they will be totally screwed and we are all, as serious fans of the genre, diminished for that.Cottonmouth Joe could've become a horror movie icon right up there alongside Madman Marz, Black Claw, Mansquito, Humongous, "Nature Boy" Billy Conners, Morty the wooden doll, the Boogen, Eegah, The Moon Beast, Bloody Bill, the Driller Killer, Mickey Rooney, and so forth, but he will always be remembered as a sword wielding-caped-tackle dummy skull face-tied to the side of a horse-skeleton man wannabe.That's too bad..
I mean really, what is not to love about a poorly dressed skeleton man running along, shooting his bow and arrows at Helicopters and causing them to crash and explode.
In the movie the special forces team have their guns with unlimited ammo and try to shoot him, but in the end the all miss because Skeleton Man deflected all of them.3.
Anytime someone asks me what is the worse movie I've ever seen, Skeleton Man always comes to mind.I tell people to watch just to see how dumb it is.
It is probably good for a laugh if you like horrible movies.Or maybe it would be amusing if you were on drugs.
I'm pretty sure my 15 year old nephew could make something better on his computer.So if you are in the mood to see how bad a movie can be, and you can download it or whatever for free, then go for it!.
I don't really know what else to say but that if you see one movie this year be sure it is Skeloton Man!!!!!!!!p.s. i have read all the other reviews of this movie and i cant believe that people could find this movie bad.
My step-dad asked if the movie was going to be just the Skeleton Man running around killing people.
The Skeleton-Man also kills military guys in a hidden army lab, a rescue team with cute girls, destroys a helicopter by shooting arrow and booms up a truck in some highway -- all in his jungle, all by himself.The characters in this story speak lines like "Over here", "He went through here...", "There he is!" or "I need back-up" most of the times and that is the screenplay.
I'd-almost-rather-watch-Uwe-Boll-filmography-kind-of-film.In a word, bad!Skeleton Man is what happens when you give money to people that have no idea how films, or even more broadly, stories function.
The villain, supposedly an undead Indian warrior spirit, who actually looks more like a fourteen-year-old fanboy cosplaying as Skeletor from He-Man. Seriously, I could buy a more convincing skull mask from any carnival store in existence.
Did they simply decide not to re-shoot the scenes with the hilariously wrong cape after the right one had arrived?Secondly, the actors and the characters are some of the worst I've ever seen.
It is hard to believe in the cast or the movie when you set it up to fail with bad writing the writer needs to find another job.I gave it a 6 because you have a great cast and the makings of a good movie but you need the audience to believe in the characters and believe they are there and what would they do.
Finally, what possible successful effect could the fiery conclusion have had?That said, some of the we-have-been-warned Violence scenes are excellent, the mountain scenery is lovely, and enough gore is spilled to fertilize these woods for some time to come.
From a wiped out archaeologist to a crack-addicted tramp being called a native Indian, with a patchwork of so-called soldiers facing a poorly nicknamed skeleton living in a parallel *cough* dimension, it's like a puzzle you must solve where all the pieces clearly belong to the same scene but don't match together.
While I daresay it's not as bad as "Nine Lives" or "Hell's Threshold", it surely does go from "this has potential" to "what the heck" in record time.The potential is obvious: a film starring Michael Rooker, known for such great genre films as "Slither" and "Henry".
While I disliked this film greatly, and I cannot see many people liking it, (except for creepy male teenagers) I get angry when people expect something from SCI-Fi channel, It is a bloody made-for-t.v. movie staring low-B actors!
It's a horror film, set in the woods, it has a stupid title, but hey "Michael Rooker" is in it, and he has been a part of some great horror flicks, I know he wouldn't steer me wrong....
This movie (Skeleton Man) looked interesting to me so I recorded it.
..The only scene that was a little interesting was at the end, when the Skeleton Man was on horse back in the woods, a little eerie..
Then after 5 minutes realized I didn't miss a thing.Anyway, it made me think of a thread concerning good actors appearing in bad films when you would think they would have enough experience and professional guidance to avoid the flops.
Gimme back the 95 minutes of my life that I just wasted, please.OK, let's boil things down...A really bad excuse for a plot - check No continuity - check An Indian warrior using a sword, despite the fact that Indians to the best of my knowledge didn't have swords - check Guns mysteriously appearing and disappearing - check Using a scope with the lens cap still on - check The robe...
They couldn't even afford their own make up team/person for the incredible lousy actors, so they at least looked the same in the same scene, which I might add, were shot over several days, since the actors had problems being able to say one credible line during this film.One advice to the director/investors: do NOT quit your day-jobs!.
Did Rooker or Van Diem pay to be in this flick, 'cause I can't imagine that anyone paid them to do this movie.How many bullets do you have to use before you realize they ain't doin' a blessed thing?
As such, the scenes don't mesh together well at all, and I was confused every five minutes trying to figure out "why did we just jump to that scene?" I missed the first half hour, so I still have no idea why the thing-a-ma-bob was killing people in the woods, and then changed its mind and went after some chemical plant out in the middle of nowhere.DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME..
The blood and gore carnage the skeleton man spreads would make Freddy and Jason look like saints.
As of this writing, Skeleton Man takes on the distinction of being the WORST movie I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of bad ones.
And what about the skeleton man's outfit (which looks like it was bought straight off the shelf of K-Mart)?
One thing that this movie provides us with when it comes to the main characters group and "Predator" didn't are 4 not bad looking girls with mean guns.
It have no suspense whatsoever, no sense, it's badly acted (yet I liked Rooker), special effects are like taken from a movie made 30-40 years ago, it shows no logic in what characters do, scenes are packed together in a box, mixed and showed at random.
The acting was bad, the story was terrible, the stunts and "action scenes" if you want to call them that were absolutely horrendous.
I'll be honest, I knew from the idea that it was not going to be great, but I saw it because I wanted to see if Skeleton Man could at least be better as a movie than the idea it sprung from.
Although I have seen about 5 bad SyFy movies in a row, Skeleton Man in my opinion has to be the worst.
And Skeleton Man is a joke, and a bad, cheap and completely lacking in menace, and I do think the film could've done at least with an adequate explanation of how the horse could change colour at will.
I mean, the killer who is apparently a dead Indian warrior or something is using a nice ax that looks like it was purchased at Walmart along with the mask and cape.So, this film did move fast and it featured a lot of kills, but for the most part it was a disappointment thanks to the horrible cheap look of the film, the cheap looking monster and the fact that you cast these bimbos and do not show some skin!
It makes you wonder where they got the funds to recruit the likes of Michael Rooker, Casper Van Dien, and Nils Allen Stewart, who are only a few of the recognizable names that have made there way into this film.The pyrotechnics are far better then what this move should have had.
Don't get me wrong in this day and age a horror movie without CGI can be a welcomed treat, but in Skeleton Man that is not the case and you start to wonder if maybe there should have been more effects that could have made it a better movie.As for are friend Cotton Mouth Joe
I've seen better costumes on Halloween night.
Like to view most of Michael Rooker's films, in this particular film he plays a real tough and ready for action Captain in the U.S. Army, and has a few gals and guys with him trying to find out just who is murdering all these people in a certain wooded area of the country.
They beat on the guys for some reason, then they go away.Some other stuff happens, people mumble, the camera shakes, etc.I think it comes to an end eventually.My theory is that the Sci-Fi Channel is getting a little annoyed with everyone bashing their movies, so they put this out to remind us all how bad movies can really be.
Like, you think our movies are bad?
let's talk about the weak points of the script (SPOILERS to follow -- but I'd suggest it's impossible to spoil this movie).* The co-ed special forces team sent to stop CMJ contains an "underwater demolitions expert"...
They completely botch pretty much every aspect of military tactics and strategy, police tactics, weapons, science, folklore, common sense, and human behavior (outside of B movies, that is.) In short, I can't think of any non-trivial thing they got right.Any movie would have its work cut out for it when its central premise is a supernatural spirit, impervious to all small arms, able to disappear into another dimension at will, and yet apparently vulnerable to simply a bigger explosion.
As a helpful warning for others, I believe "Skeleton Man" is actually worse than "Raptor Island." I have been using RI as an example of the worst original movie presented on the Sci-Fi channel, but SM is the most laughably incoherent and wretchedly designed movie I have yet seen.
Once Skeleton Man and the surviving platoon leader (or whatever he was--I'm not good on military unit terminology) reached the chemical plant, the movie moved into a zone of impossible nonsense that was almost mesmerizing.
Then we cut to the woods with a bad imitation of Predator, only the commandos are being hunted down by Halloween Costume Man who is now riding a horse!
I've just finished watching your SciFi Channel Original "Skeleton Man" and, once again, you've shown a blatant lack of respect for my feelings by KILLING OFF EVERY HOT GIRL IN THIS MOVIE!!!
And we also fully expect that nothing -- bullets, explosions, electrocution, nothing -- can kill Skeleton Man until there is one minute left in the movie and we need to find a way to tie things up neatly.
Because this movie, as silly as it is, has the potential to be a "so-bad-it's-good" classic and just killing off all the hotties ruins everything -- and forces me to lower its rating.
After two archaeologists and a team of military his sword (!) Have fallen victim to be an undercover team of Special Forces, led by Captain Leary (Michael Rooker) and Staff Sgt Oberron (Casper Van Dien) charged with the murder to put an end to ...It is completely funny film.
I mean sure if you are one of those people who don't see the point in B-type horror or other films like this then this is not for you.
Aside from the dumbest story line and stupid characters (An angry guy wearing a Halloween skeleton mask possessing super powers like one-shot-kill-a-helicopter-with-a-bow, riding a horse or horses using a SWORD!!!
as a weapon that kills every one he sees, an undercover for an unknown reason delta force team hiking in the forest and some unlucky victims for the "Skeleton Man") one of the things that got on my nerves the most in this movie was the music.
I wanted to throw my TV out the window every time "Skeleton Man" killed someone.
The movie looks like either the director is 7 years old or they actually tried to make it that bad (I think that even with a bigger budget a lot bigger it would still suck).
Before I saw this movie I have seen only one movie with Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers 1997) and thought that (since I liked that movie) he was a good actor, but when I have seen this movie (Skeleton Man) my opinion changed drastically (Of course it changed even more when I saw Starship Troopers 3 Marauder).
I almost feel bad for those involved with Skeleton Man, because it is, in fact, the new standard for terrible movies.
SKELETON MAN was okay for the first 5 minutes but as soon as the so-called "Special Force Agents" hit the screen, it went down hill faster than a fat kid on a sled.The opening makes us think we might have a corny, yet fun, horror flick on our hands but no...the film makers ruin any hope of that when the "Special Force Agents" show up.
This abysmal junk strikes out something rotten in every possible way: the flat (mis)direction by Johnny Martin, draggy pace, idiotic and nonsensical script by Frederick Bailey (in one especially ridiculous sequence Cotton Mouth Joe butchers a bunch of folks in a power plant), cardboard characters, mostly insipid acting by an understandably unenthused cast, annoying shuddery score by Chris White, the lousy (far from) special effects, tacky gore, badly staged action scenes, a crippling dearth of tension, a few clumsy flashbacks, tin-eared dialogue ("I don't wanna die, man -- I wanna go home!"), a by-the-numbers obvious and predictable plot which shamelessly copies the much superior "Predator," and a titular spectral killer who looks like he's wearing a chintzy Grim Reaper costume that was purchased for five bucks at a K-Mart Halloween firesale all add up to one extremely shoddy dud that reeks worse than dirty old socks.
The Indian skeleton man warps around with bad graphics, and then ends up killing poor guys in a power station.
This movie looks and feels like a tax write off.
I do not know why so many think this is a bad movie.
The skeleton man was cool in his outfit and the horse also looked to be zombie like.
As for the eagle scenes , the eagle was suppose to be the spirit of the bad dead Indian which was linked to the skeleton man.
I guess from all the bad reviews you have to like a certain type of horror film to enjoy this one.
The film's point-of-view through the Skeleton Man's eyes looks at his prey with a different color.
The Fun of Skeleton Man. This movie was so awful I was laughing from beginning to end.
Another great scene was when the Skeleton man takes out an Army helicopter with a wooden bow and arrow.
* Infrared vision - Predator *"Mary Mother of God, what are you?" - Predator *"If it breathes, I can kill it." - Predator * Elite military team searching for ghost killer - Predator * Skeleton Man - NOT PREDATOR This movie...ay carumba!.
Skeleton Man takes "watching a movie because you have nothing else to do" to a new low.
I love this movie because whenever I need a good chuckle, I need only to utter, "Skeleton Man." |
tt0113845 | Money Train | On Christmas, we meet foster brothers John and Charlie. They work as transit cops patrolling the New York City subway. When a mugging occurs, John and Charlie chase the mugger into a subway tunnel, and all trains traveling in their direction are halted. But their harsh transit captain Donald Patterson, allows the money train to continue. John and Charlie avoid getting hit by the train; however, when transit police at the next station witness the mugger running toward the money train, they shoot him dead. The mugger is revealed to be a young teenage boy, which triggers a brawl between John, Charlie, and the other transit officers. Patterson blames the two for causing his money train to arrive late.
Charlie asks John to borrow $300 to buy a Christmas present, but Charlie instead uses the money to pay off some of his gambling debts to the sleazy night club owner Mr. Brown. Brown intends to have Charlie killed by throwing him off a building, but John bursts in and interrupts, telling Brown that he has the money Charlie owes him. Brown reveals to John that Charlie is $15,000 in debt, so John offers to have the money delivered in a few days. Brown accepts and lets Charlie live.
During their night shift, John and Charlie are introduced to Grace Santiago, a decoy transit officer newly assigned to their unit. Both brothers immediately take a liking to her. During their patrol, a serial killer known as the Torch robs a token booth and sets it on fire. John and Charlie rescue the booth worker and put out the fire, but the Torch manages to escape.
At a local bar, Charlie reveals a plan to rob the money train in order to pay off their debts, but John, judging the caper impossible, rejects the idea. Later that night, the two brothers and Grace are assigned to patrol the money train. As Charlie discovers a grate in the floor and a ladder leading to Central Park, a brawl breaks out between John and another officer, quickly involving the entire squad. Patterson again blames the two for the incident and also accuses them of taking some train money, but even after it is found that a collection agent miscounted, Patterson continues to insult them. At the bar, Charlie tells John that the best time to rob the money train would be on New Year's Eve because of looser subway security and because the subway makes the most money on that date: up to $500,000. The plan involves entering the train through the metal grate when the train has stopped, driving it to the maintenance ladder, and escaping into Central Park. John remains reluctant to attempt the theft.
John gives Charlie the $15,000 he needs to pay back Mr. Brown, but on the train, Charlie loses it to a thief. He goes to Brown to explain but is brutally beaten by his men. When Charlie comes back home, he looks at John's house from his window and he sees Grace and John sleeping together. Charlie later tells John that he's happy for him, but he's clearly saddened by Grace's rejection.
To nab Torch, an ambush is arranged for which Grace is disguised as an attendant at a station token booth. Torch notices this and, to distract the police, pushes a man in front of a moving train, killing him. Torch sprays gasoline on Grace, but before he can light it, Charlie alerts the other officers, who shoot at Torch. John pursues him into another station, where they fight. Torch is burned by the gasoline he's carrying and pushed under a moving train, killing him. Patterson fires Charlie for ruining the ambush, and when John tries to defend Charlie, he's fired as well.
John then heads to the strip club of the mobsters who beat up his brother and were threatening him for failing to pay up his gambling debts and, after storming inside, beats them all up utilizing his Kung-Fu skills,including knocking down the criminal boss of the organization, Brown, with a 360-degree kick.
Charlie decides to go ahead with his robbery plan. John is reluctant to do anything about this, but Grace persuades him to save Charlie from trouble. When the money train stops at one of the stations, Charlie enters the train from beneath and drives it to the maintenance ladder, but he can't escape with the money due to the presence of a group of policemen. Meanwhile, John reaches the train and persuades Charlie to drive further to prevent their arrest. Knowing that Patterson will direct his team to trip the train's brakes, the duo bleeds the brakes. Patterson then orders a steel barricade erected to stop the train, but John increases the speed of the money train to its maximum so that it smashes through the barricade. Transit control officer Kowalski declares the money train a runaway and starts clearing tracks, but Patterson diverts the money train onto a track occupied by a passenger train to keep it from having a clear path, putting innocent people at grave risk. The money train rams into the passenger train and then slows down, but speeds up again because it's in full throttle and rams the train again. It repeatedly keeps ramming the passenger train with the increasing risk of derailing it and killing everyone on board.
Since the money train now had no braking power and the throttle lever is jammed at full power, the brothers decide to throw it into reverse, derailing it and killing both of them but allowing the passengers to live. Charlie comes up with an idea and positions an iron bar in such a way that when the money train rams the other train once more, the bar trips the reverse lever. Both of them climb on top of the train and proceed to the front. When the trains collide one more time, the reverse lever is activated and both brothers jump across to the other train as the money train derails tumbles around several times knocking over several support beams (much to the horror of Patterson who witnesses the whole crash) before finally screeching to a stop on its side just before the station.
The brothers try to escape during the commotion but are spotted by Patterson. They pretend to have come to help him, but Patterson rudely insults them. Fed up with his constant abuse, the brothers punch him in the face. As he shouts out to his team to arrest them for assault, Grace comes rushing in and arrests Patterson for endangering the lives of the people on the passenger train. When the two brothers exit the station, they are in Times Square as the countdown for the New Year begins. During the celebration, John realizes Charlie is carrying a money bag containing over $500,000, much to his dismay. The film ends with John and Charlie walking into the distance arguing over the money. | comedy, humor, murder, violence, romantic | train | wikipedia | The Money Train tries to be more than a lot of the action films that came out and simply disappeared in the early 90s, but falls a little short.
While the film certainly isn't bad, it isn't considered a classic of the genre, and, while not a financial failure, relatively few people saw it and even fewer remember it.The film reunites the stars of White Men Can't Jump, Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes as a pair of law enforcement officers John (Snipes) and Charlie (Harrelson) who basically decide to steal from their boss (Robert Blake) who is a real piece of work.
My favorite moment comes when Robert Blake, after having been informed of the possibility of civilian casualties if the hijacked Money Train continues to speed ahead on the local line, responds with the now-classic line, "That's what we live with." I was laughing so hard that tears were squirting out of my eyes.
It's okay to suspend disbelief, but a movie like this should at least have an air of plausibility.Robert Blake's subway manager is quite a bit over-the-top, but provides a real antagonism for the buddy/brother cops, and establishes himself as the real villain for the plot.The plan, and the execution of the robbery, (and Snipes character going along with something like this), REALLY stretches plausibility, but there is an easy camaraderie between the 2 actors, and the action is good.It ain't all that good, but it isn't unwatchable..
There is not much of a plot to the film just an average screw your average ass-hole boss movie which I like at this point and time because it reminds me of the relationship I have with my boss not to mention the slight money problems I'm having .
I don't want to be fussy and pick out several little pieces and analyse them , this film was a simple time killing pop-corn movie that should viewed when you don't feel like watching something heavy or you'd rather check this out rather than Santa's Slay .
Money Train is a great popcorn movie and Snipes and Harrison once again show the chemistry that makes a good buddy movie.
With all the time wasted on those tangents there is very nearly nothing in the way of story development for what is supposed to be the main plot.Granted the main characters need a motive and the mob provides it, but it shouldn't take literally two-thirds of the movie to establish a motive.The insidious thing about it is that, when you have to wait so long for the plot to start, you have an incentive to sit through the long prelude only to be disappointed by the most ridiculous, and simply lame, heist in memory.Skip this garbage.
The first part of this film is not too bad for an action, we get the normal buddy jokes and some great lines from money train carer Robert Blake.
Money Train is a great film with excellent acting by Wesley Snipes as John, Woody Harrelson as Charlie Robinson, Jennifer Lopez as Grace Santiago, Robert Blake as Donald Patterson and Chris Cooper as Torch.
The film has awesome action, great humour and some awesome fight scenes where Wesley Snipes character John uses his very powerful Martial Arts moves.
I know that both John and Charlie punched Patterson towards the end of the film and that Patterson got arrested and that other characters in the film such as the other Train Driver etc were very angry with Patterson but it would have been great if he got attacked by John using his Martial moves in the subway platform scene when Patterson was rude and horrible to John and Charlie because Patterson deserved to suffer for his very ruthless, malicious actions and rudeness.
When Money Train was first released to poor reviews and low box office in winter of 1995 it caused quite a controversy as a pointless, tasteless, and tacked-on subplot in which a weirdo lights subway cashiers on fire came true in real life.
It finally came out here in the UK in May of 1996 (essentially summer, for a Xmas/New Year- themed movie) and was slapped with an utterly ridiculous and unjustifiable 18-rating.Wesley and Woody play brothers (don't ask) John and Charlie, apparently without last names, who are New York transit cops.
I'm not kidding, Jennifer Lopez does nothing in this film and serves absolutely zero purpose other than to have Wesley extremely unerotically hump her in a ridiculous, unnecessary, and anatomically-incorrect sex scene.Then, after what seems like a freaking aeon, Woody finally decides to rob the money train, an apparently heavily guarded single car train filled with millions of dollars in daily subway revenue.
It's all just random, haphazard drivel.Jennifer Lopez does nothing in this film.Money Train really should have been a heist movie.
There was a lot of potential here, but as I have said several times already this is a train that goes nowhere.Jennifer Lopez does nothing in this film.Is it worth watching?
Sure, but there's very, very little to bring you back unless you're a train movie junkie.Jennifer Lopez does nothing in this film..
Employed as transit cops and unappreciated by their moody boss, two foster brothers contemplate hijacking a revenue train in this action comedy starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson.
Chris Cooper has an excellent turn as a malevolent pyromaniac who constantly eludes the brothers, but he is oddly relegated to a mere subplot with the second half of the film powered by the ongoing question or whether they will or will not attempt to rob the train.
Wesley Snipes has some well done fight scenes, Woody Harrelson is the main reason of the film's humor.
It is a typical action film with some funny moments, great actors (Wesley and Woody), cool action scenes and hot Jennifer Lopez but don't wait any point or even a plot..
Wesley Snipes,(John),"7 Seconds",'05, plays a real cool cop who has become very close friends with his co-worker, Woody Harrelson,(Charlie),"North Country",'05 and manages to steal Charlie's girl friend, Jennifer Lopez,(Grace Santiago),"Monster-in-Law",'05.
He puts his "money train" above everything, so when Charlie (Harrelson) and John (Snipes) delay that train with their police work, he gets mad.
Jennifer Lopez, she plays Officer Grace Santiago, is the love interest for one of the two leads, of course leading to friction between them.The film is called 'Money Train' so you understand the main story has to do with that train.
Officer John and his partner Charlie (Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson) are two disgruntled police officers who have discovered their chief cares more about his train and its on-time schedule, than for the public safety.
The camaraderie between Wesley and Woody is excellent-i can only imagine the 'tricks' they got up to onset-the pair of them together are a great comedy duo!J Lo was a bit irritating but her personally I don't think her acting is up to much but at the end of the day the film is worth watching even if she irritates the life out of you!.
In "Money Train", the combination of the three leads plus the sleazy performance of future prison resident, Robert Blake made this at least halfway enjoyable.John and Charlie are brothers.
Jennifer Lopez shows that she is just as good an actress as she is a singer, and Wesley Snipes is excellent once again as Woody's foster brother/transit cop partner.
You find the same kind of street-slang jokes and buddy camaraderie in both movies, but whereas the two cops in Bad Boys were childhood friends, in Money Train they are actually brothers.
And not only are they foster-brothers, but partners in some New-York cop department which protects the Underground tube system.Unfortunately, the chemistry between Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson isn't even close to that between Smith and Lawrence.
And who can forget the horrible acting from nearly everyone, including Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Lopez, Robert Blake, and they suck because it seemed like they were auditioning rather than giving a good performance.
If you have nothing better to do and are counting on watching Money Train then build a sandcastle instead.Two foster brothers, one white and one black, work as transit cops at a local subway station.
I remember that when this movie came out, lots of people were trying to convince me it is an absolute must but I waited 9 years to see it on telly and really, it wasn't one second too late as this is a typical actionmovie with zero brains, no story (okay a moneytrain will be robbed, dissapointing acting (from Woody Harrelson I expect lots more than this and Jennifer Lopez looks beautiful, but that's it)and a story that goes over the top (even The Dukes Of Hazard were more realistic!).
Money Train (1995) ** (out of 4)Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson are foster brothers who also work as transit cops for NYC.
Charlie (Harrelson) decides to rob the transit cash flow to get back at his chief (Robert Blake) sho obviously John (Snipes) must go along to protect him.I still remember walking into MONEY TRAIN when it first opened.
As the film started there were a few scattered laughs but by the halfway point people were starting to get restless and by the time the movie was over most people left disappointed.I think it's pretty easy tos ee why WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP still packs a great punch today while MONEY TRAIN has pretty much been forgotten.
Blake is great chewing up the scenes and Jennifer Lopez is nice eye candy but the four are pretty much left in a film without much of a screenplay..
Released in 1995, "Money Train" is a crime thriller about two transit cops in New York City who are also foster brother (Wesley Snipes & Woody Harrelson).
Nevertheless, "Money Train" is entertaining for what it is and I found myself caught up in the world of the characters by the second half.Unfortunately, the message of the film is bad.
Stuff happens, but it's more day to day, episodic peeks at the lives of two NYPD cops, and adoptive brothers, played by Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, as opposed to a focused narrative with actual story beats.
And here we have the pleasure of Harrelson and Snipes working the chemistry they already showed in White Men Can't Jump.To be honest, I can not say this film is a gem.
John (Wesley Snipes) and Charlie (Woody Harrelson) are a couple of transit cops and foster brothers.
The bad guys still want their money from Charlie and he decides to rob the train.The chemistry for the Snipes Harrelson duo is off.
On these same subway platforms, two cops, John (Wesley Snipes) and Charlie (Woody Harrelson), are brothers, foster brothers, to be specific.
With heavy cover from fellow officers, they often pose as drunks in an effort to bait muggers and other common street scum.But trouble arises when they run afoul of transit system chief and local hard a** Donald Patterson (Robert Blake, who gets some of the best lines and hams it up in a thankless villain role), who considers it his life's mission to care for his precious revenue train and make hell for John and Charlie.
Charlie, meanwhile, has already begun plans to knock off the money train, partly to get himself out of debt and also to f**k with Patterson.This is your average buddy-cop flick with an established and effortless portrait of comradeship between veterans Snipes and Harrelson, who are teaming up again following the success of 1992's "White Men Can't Jump." It seems Hollywood was fishing for the latest in cop careers, and somehow found success in making these guys working for the New York transit authority.
Fleshed-out villains, aside from Patterson, aren't all that apparent either, except for maybe Chris Cooper as subway pyromaniac Torch.The film concludes with a big chase through the New York subway (which I guess was inescapable too, since this is billed as an action movie) but it's just best to let it go; get on, or get out of the way - that's "Money Train's" motto.Next stop, "White Men Can't Jump off of Money Trains, part III" - coming soon.6/10.
An unimaginative script, poor acting and a half-humoured tag line does justice for 'Money Train'.Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, come across some action packed, problematic dilemmas, which obviously need some careful consideration........
Snipes does convey steel while Harrelson gives off his just-under-the-surface danger, especially when he grins at smarmy boss Robert Blake in one subway scene.Pitching in for the Latina female is Jennifer Lopez who, without being as angry and nasal and in-your-face as Rosie Perez, actually manages to be engaging though this is early in her career, before she decided to punch out and play her (bland) self once she became the trademark known as J.
Wesley and Woody had fantastic chemistry together, and i was really surprised, by how much i enjoyed the film!, plus Jennifer Lopez surprised me, by giving a very good performance!.
Definitely this is better than (Wesley Snipes & Woody Harrelson)'s last movie (White Men Can't Jump) which is not up to this one's lovely time, let alone being one of the silliest movies ever!
I like (Money Train).I think if you forgot about it as a train movie or heist one you'll discover that it's a fun ride with some well-made action, J-lo too, and happy end a la' Hollywood; where everybody wins and the evil guy goes to hell.
'Money Train' is a gruesome exercise in the worn-out cop buddy movie franchise offering nothing new except the cast which adhere to the formula as if changing them would be a sacrilege.The movie stars Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, paired up after their success in the delightful 'White Men Can't Jump' as stepbrothers who are paired as buddies on the NYPD.
The crook they are chasing is killed by cops guarding the money train that collects the day's fares from the various stations.A movie like this has to have it's token characters and believe me their all here.
I really did not need that, nor did the movie But my biggest problem with 'Money Train' is the relentless shouting matches between Snipes and Harrelson, they go off on each other about a half a dozen times in this movie and you wonder if they ever have a moment when they are just talking.
I get a lot of time to wonder about things during a movie like 'Money Train' because there isn't anything else to do beside count down to the next cliché..
But when things don't go according to plan, will his brother be able to save him in time....It was inevitable that after the success of White Men can't Jump and Bad Boys, that Hollywood re-team this pair because of the chemistry they had in that 1992 comedy.Make them cops, and you have a sure fire hit on your hands..Well you would if the main focus was on the killer The Torch, played wonderfully by Chris Cooper, rather than Harrelson trying to steal because he's gambled his life away.And this is why the film doesn't work.
Money Train (1995): Dir: Joseph Ruben / Cast: Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Lopez, Robert Blake, Chris Cooper: Title suggests theft in that the money is the riches and the train is the getaway.
Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson who previously starred in White Men Can't Jump are brothers and undercover cops in the subway area.
woody harrelson character was so stupid in this movie he was a white brother of a black guy played by Wesley snipes.all he ever did was wasting life living on brothers money & creates trouble for himself & others.the time Jennifer Lopez made and entrance in the film i was relaxed because the stupid comedy of snipes & woody was pissing me off.the money train is about 2 cops friends/bros they work on a N.Y subway station.Charlie plans to rob the money train which collects millions of revenue from the station.despite the action scenes in train & stunts the film fails to deliver .but this film is a timpass movie & will rob you of your money & times if you by it on DVD.that just happened to me.ill avoid Wesley snipes movie from now on the guy has lost itmy rating is 3/10.worth looking for J.LO.
Snipes and Harrelson play brothers who steal a train (eventually).
John and Charlie Robinson are step brothers who work on the New York subway as transit cops.
With nowhere else to find the money Charlie's thoughts turn to the money train.This isn't a great film but I rather enjoyed it.
Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson have a decent chemistry as the two very different foster brothers and Jennifer Lopez is good as love interest Grace.
"White Men Can't Jump Two: The Great Train Robbery": the greatest movie of all time?.
Money Train is set in New York where Christmas is fast approaching, subway decoy squad cop Charlie (Woody Harrelson) owes $15,000 of gambling debts to Mr. Brown (Scott Sowers) a very unpleasant mobster.
Brown wants his money or he'll hurt him, Carlie's foster brother & fellow New York subway decoy squad cop John (Wesley Snipes) gives him the $15,000 but Charlie loses it.
The acting is alright with Snipes & Harrelson putting in likable performances while Jennifer Lopez is as awful as ever & luckily she has no more than a cameo role & as such doesn't ruin things that much.Money Train was a disaster at the box-office, it's generally disliked by both critics & the public but I have to say I quite liked it, it isn't any sort of masterpiece but it just about kept my interest & came away from it feeling entertained & feeling I had fun.
The second plot would be how one of the cops, played byWoody Harrelson, very slowly builds himself up into robbing aparticular train that carries all the subway's money. |
tt0039251 | The Cat Concerto | A stage is set in an auditorium. In a formal concert, Tom in a tuxedo, a piano virtuoso, is giving a piano recital of "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt. Jerry, who is sleeping inside the piano, is rudely awakened by the hammers, then sits on top of the piano to mock the cat by "conducting" him. Tom flicks Jerry off the piano. Tom continues playing without any interruptions.
Jerry arises from under one of the keys. Tom plays tremolo on this key, knocking Jerry on the head, and then Jerry runs back and forth underneath. Tom smashes the mouse under the keys, plays the main theme of the rhapsody, and when Tom lifts his two fingers from playing a trill, the piano continues playing. He looks over the edge of the piano and spots Jerry playing the felts from inside. To quiet him, he whacks Jerry with a tuning tool. Jerry slams the piano lid onto Tom's fingers. Tom still plays, and then Jerry pops out on the far right of the piano to attempt to cut Tom's finger with a pair of scissors as he plays a note from the very highest minor third of the piano. After the sixth miss, Jerry pants from this effort, and then substitutes a mousetrap for the white keys just below it. Tom plays the keys on either side for a few seconds but eventually, Tom's finger gets caught in the trap.
Jerry prances up and down on the piano, upon which Tom climbs and proceeds to play with his feet. As Tom gets back down to play with his fingers, Jerry dances around on the felts, momentarily changing the tune from the rhapsody to "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe". Tom then plays a chord where the mouse is bounced repeatedly, receiving rude gestures in return, and eventually catches the mouse and stows him into the piano stool. Jerry then crawls out of an opening and manipulates the seat's controls, cranking it up, and sending it crashing down, causing Tom to get his head covered in his clothes and then land on the keys.
Tom stuffs Jerry into the felts and then goes crazy on the piano, going back to the rhapsody. The felts take on a life of their own, bashing Jerry about, spanking him, and squashing him to and throw. Eventually, Jerry gets squashed and comes out, very angry about this, and then breaks off some felts as his sticks and plays the finale of the rhapsody in one last retaliation. Jerry constantly increases the speed of his playing, plays two false endings, and generally taunts him, such that Tom is left with raggedy clothes and collapses at the end of the tune. The audience then applauds for the performance, and Jerry takes the praise for himself by bowing to the audience as a spotlight shines on him. | comic | train | wikipedia | Tom, complete with a tuxedo, is a pianist performing a concerto (Hungarian Rhapsody #2) for the audience.
Things are going well until Jerry, peacefully asleep inside the piano, is rudely woken up.The rest of the cartoon slows various ways these two guys torment each other.
In fact, you could probably turn your head away from the television and just enjoy the concert!Unlike most of the stories, this one revolved just around one object (a piano) but the sight gags were all good and the more I think about it, extremely clever and I can see how it won an Oscar..
Tom is playing Hungarian Rhapsody #2 for an audience, but when he wakes up Jerry, he must maintain his perfect piano playing abilities while contending with the mouse.
I know there was a controversy between this short and the WB's Looney Tune short "Rhapsody Rabbit" (which is a funny short as well and the similarities are a lot), but I feel that this Tom and Jerry short is the clear winner.
It is damn near pitch perfect and one of the best Tom and jerry cartoon shorts of all time.
This award winning cartoon can be found on disc one of the Spotlight collection DVD of "Tom & Jerry" My Grade: A+.
An excellent mix of classical music and animation-and a good Tom and Jerry cartoon as well!.
Cartoon studios have been blending animation with music probably since the start of animation.
Every major studio has done at least a few cartoons where the animation is done to the beat of the music.
While Rhapsody With Rivets is the best short to blend classical with animation (Sliphorn King of Polaroo was tops for jazz!), this cartoon, with several other Tom and Jerry shorts, does very well indeed and won an Oscar.
Tom flawlessly performs a Liszt piano concerto despite simultaneously engaging in the usual Tom and Jerry antics.Lifted above the usual high standard of the Fred Quimby produced series by the flawless melding of action and music.
In a departure from the usual household mayhem, Tom stars as a classical concert pianist.
Dressed in a tailcoat and hammering out Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 (which you might recognize as the tune played by Daffy and Donald in Who Framed Roger Rabbit) he is bothered by Jerry, who just happens to live inside the piano.Cue loads of tricks played on poor Tom, who is desperately managing to stay in tune as Jerry runs amok.
This cartoon actually won an Academy Award back in the day and it's easy to see why.
A lot of laughs to be had here and one of the best Tom and Jerry shorts..
Having studied piano for years, I can really appreciate the effort to make it look like Tom is really playing this piece, and the wonderful effort to make the action fit the music only adds to the enjoyment.
This has to be one of my all time favourite Tom and Jerry cartoons.
The animation is also of true beauty, this is probably one of the better looking Tom and Jerry cartoons or so in my opinion.
And Tom and Jerry are both great here, Tom flawlessly performs Lizst's Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2, something I hear a lot in cartoons, while tormenting Jerry(and vice versa) in the process, while Jerry serves as a perfect and somewhat cute foil for him.
Overall, if you love Tom and Jerry and classical music this is a must see!
I'm 20 years old and I'm still crazy for "Tom And Jerry".This is not just a "Tom And Jerry"cartoon,this is the greatest cartton ever made.All cartoonist should see this classic to learn how to create a great cartoon.Everithing is at his best:the music,the settings and of course there is Tom.Is impossible you don't fall in love with Tom.If I had to rate this cartoon 1-10,I certanly would give 10000..
This is a wonderful wedding of music and cartoon action, brought off flawlessly with panache and great slapstick humor.
This short very much deserved the Oscar it won; it ranks among the best cartoons ever made, bar none..
A dazzling film, mostly due to the significant talents of Scott Bradley, MGM's woefully under-appreciated musical director for their animation unit.
He's the one playing the piano in this marvelous epic, which unifies music and animation flawlessly.
It doesn't matter how many times you see it, it will still bring tears of laughter to the eyes!A perfect blend of classical music and the chaos that only Jerry Mouse could ever wreak on Tom's efforts as a classical pianist...The only other cartoon that comes close is Bugs Bunny's "What's Opera, Doc?"Cat Concerto is simply, the funiest, greatest, best cartoon ever made.Enjoy!!
I remember how disappointed my friends and I were when the cartoon before the feature film was "Tom and Jerry." I still don't find them funny.
This one is good because it relies on wonderful animation, especially where Tom is playing Liszt's Second "Hungarian Rhapsody." He has every right to be left alone but for that damned mouse.
I think that most kids of my generation know what classical music they do from these cartoon efforts.
'The Cat Concerto,' a 1947 MGM "Tom and Jerry" cartoon, is one hundred percent class.
In this episode, Tom is a professional piano player, and he emerges before a respectful audience to perform "Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2" by Franz Liszt.
However, Tom's piano-playing rudely disrupts Jerry, who was sleeping peacefully inside the musical instrument.
In return for this inconvenience, the small mouse decides to inflict revenge upon the cat, who, playing feverishly at the piano, is currently at his most vulnerable.
'The Cat Concerto' is, interestingly, the first and only "Tom and Jerry" cartoon that I can remember seeing, and it certainly stacks up very well against some of the "Silly Symphonies" and "Merry Melodies" that I've also been watching recently.
The action never becomes monotonous, and we can only watch with excitement to see if the frantic pianist, despite Jerry's interruptions, can maintain his composure until the end of the song.Following its release on April 26 1947, 'The Cat Concerto' met with a spate of controversy, when Warner Brothers accused MGM of plagiarism, citing incredible similarities between it and 'Rhapsody Rabbit (1946).' In the latter film, Bug Bunny sits at a piano, plays Liszt's "2nd Hungarian Rhapsody" and is bothered by an unnamed mouse.
Nevertheless, 'The Cat Concerto' remains one of the most beloved of all "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, also scooping up the 1947 Oscar for Best Animated Short.
I didn't find that there were really any huge laugh-out-loud moments, but the entire eight minutes was extremely entertaining, and certainly not a bad way to spend my time.After each character receives their own share of bruising and batterings with the performance never missing a beat Jerry eventually gains control over the piano, while an exhausted Tom tries admirably to give the appearance that he is still playing.
As the rhapsody comes to a close, and is met with rousing applause, a beaten Tom slumps onto the piano keys, and Jerry climbs onto the top of the instrument to accept all the credit.
This is a satisfying ending to the film: we certainly respect Tom for the commendable effort he put into the heartfelt performance, but we always wanted the little mouse to win..
One flustered cat, one persistent and highly inventive mouse and of course one grand piano equals one truly great classic landmark in cartoon history!.
I love this one to bits, I really don't see how anybody with even the slightest appreciation of the characters ever could not t, as it's undeniably the gosh-darned Citizen Kane of all Tom and Jerry adventures!
Even though there are others I enjoy just as much, I still really can't in all honesty deny that this is probably the very greatest example of this legendary duo's particular brand of magic, and maybe even what they're best remembered for.
I love its pitch-perfect pacing, how it begins small and gradually builds as the choreography of the action flows along with the music till by the end it becomes something so epically artful in its madcap grandeur and a real animated tour-de-force that is such greatness to watch!
And the way everything that occurs goes together so incredibly well with that music is so charming and funny and it makes me think that there's just no possible way they could've ever found another tune that would have matched the hi-jinx of those two so perfectly.
An academy award winning adventure for Tom and Jerry, The Cat Concerto is an excellent example of a simple idea, perfectly executed.Tom is giving a piano recital, which wakes Jerry the mouse, who happens to be sleeping on top of the piano's hammers.
Miffed at having his sleep disturbed by the maestro moggy's tinkling, Jerry attempts to sabotage the performance.An almost perfect blend of classical music, excellent animation, and visual comedy, The Cat Concerto is one of the finest Tom and Jerry cartoons of all timeand considering that the guys have been scrapping for more than sixty years in over 170 animated adventures, that's saying something!.
Although the "sophisticated" cartoons with Tom and Jerry as well as Bugs Bunny are among the highest rated on IMDb, I don't particularly like them.
By sophisticated, I mean these are high-brow cartoons where the characters step out of character and perform to classical music or opera.
Sure, I like the music well enough (especially the non-opera) but I prefer to see them doing what they do best--shoving sticks of dynamite in each others' ears and dropping anvils on each others' heads!
But, apparently I am a Neanderthal, as this particular short has a huge rating of 8.5 and won the Oscar for Best Animated Short.However, on my behalf I should point out two particular reasons why I am not a fan of this film.
CAT CONCERTO may have been plagiarized or at least "inspired" by a nearly identical film by Warner Brothers just a year earlier--yet this later film is given an Oscar.
This hardly seems fair.Overall, this cartoon has very nice animation but that is about all.
A cat concerto like no other....
You'll never listen to Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 again without thinking of this classic MGM cartoon with Tom in concert mode performing at the Hollywood Bowl in formal attire while Jerry is asleep inside the piano.
Then, as the music becomes more and more vigorous, Jerry adds his own special touch to the performance, much to the exasperation of Tom.Although the two of them are sparring throughout, they never miss a note of music--which is the real bonus for music lovers who may wish to just sit back and listen to the music without visuals.Enormously clever and deserving of the Oscar it won in 1947.
It's the sort of cartoon that reminds us all of how beautifully the Disney people used music in all of their full-length features, probably an encouragement for the Hanna Barbera people to use it for so many of their cartoon classics..
* Spoiler warning - you may do yourself harm watching this cartoon *I have been doing a complete analysis of The Cat Concerto as part of my PhD work and I have spent 100 hours on it.
Scott Bradley's arrangement of Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody (piano duet, played by Bradley and John Crown, head of Piano at University of Southern California) makes an excellent canvas for Muse, Barge & Spence to animate.
There are more comic gems in this 7 minute cartoon than all the latter-day comedy features put together.Truly wonderful.
One of the most iconic Tom & Jerry shorts ever made..
In 1847, famous composer Franz Liszt wrote Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (henceforth called Number 2), which is considered today as one of the most iconic pieces of classical music ever written.
Though made to be a dramatic piece, it has had a place in the world of comedy, mainly in animated shorts and feature productions.
The first use of the tune in film came from the 1929 Disney short "The Opry House", and this started a trend with other studios on making comedic interpretations of the tune performed by cartoon characters.
One of the most iconic, and most memorable uses of this concept is found here.Tom & Jerry, at this point, have become household names in the motion picture industry as one of the greatest duos ever conceived.
For MGM, the Tom & Jerry shorts have become just as memorable for their craftsmanship, writing, and execution as their now classic movie musicals like "Singin' in the Rain" or "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".
Instead, it takes place in a concert hall, most likely the famous Hollywood Bowl.Tom is a concert pianist who arrives on stage to perform Liszt's Number 2 on the grand piano in front of a massive audience.
When he begins to play, everything is going fine, until we look inside the piano and we find that Jerry has made himself a small abode.
So he decides to have a bit of fun by making Tom's big night something he wishes never happened.
At first, Jerry does things to the piano that just irritates and distracts Tom, but when the tempo begins to rise, Jerry decides to make Tom's night a living hell by pushing him towards exhaustion, as if the last straw was finally drawn.
In the end, as usual, Jerry gets the last laugh, as the spotlight shines on him and he takes a bow for the performance instead of Tom. Now THAT is a sign of satisfaction.This is one of the Tom & Jerry shorts that has gotten such high praise from critics and audiences as a comedy classic, it became one of seven Tom & Jerry shorts to win an Academy Award for Best Short Subject in the Cartoon category, which was accepted by the film's producer, Fred Quimby.
Right after the film was released, Warner Brothers released the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Rhapsody Rabbit", in which Bugs also plays Number Two on the grand piano in front of an audience, with the only difference being that he does not have an adversary to quarrel with.
This led to the filmmakers at MGM and Warner Brothers arguing with each other saying that their film was original, and that they plagiarized each other, when really, it was all coincidental.As for the film itself, it's one of the greats from the Hanna-Barbera catalog of Tom & Jerry shorts.
The animation and timing is well done, and the comedy is as smart as usual.
The music, obviously, flows with the on-going havoc, and it fits perfectly, making it one of the best uses of Liszt's classic piece.
In fact, I have a feeling that the scene from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" where Donald Duck and Daffy Duck do dueling pianos in the Ink and Paint Club pretty much pays tribute to this particular short.In conclusion, this is a gem in the Tom & Jerry franchise, and a step forward for the characters to interact in different environments.
As a kid, I looked forward to seeing this film appear on a Tom & Jerry block on Cartoon Network.
Though if you're looking to own this film so you can watch it at anytime, it can be found on the first Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection or Volume 1 of the Tom & Jerry Golden Collection..
A classic Tom and Jerry short.
This short sees Tom taking to the stage as a concert pianist to play Hungarian Rhapsody #2 by Franz Liszt; it starts well but Jerry has made his bed on the hammers and as soon as Tom hits the low notes Jerry it sent along the length hammers and woken.
From then on Jerry tries to disrupt his playing as Tom struggles valiantly to play on
and when the piece finally comes to the end Jerry decides to keep going.This is one of the best Tom and Jerry shorts; it is not surprising that it picked up the Academy Award.
The usual violence is toned down but by no means eliminated; we still see Tom put his finger on a mouse trap and Jerry battered by the piano's hammers.
What made it so funny was how Tom managed to continue playing and sounding pretty good, despite Jerry's efforts; of course by the end it is Jerry who is getting the applause!
The animation looks great; I'm no pianist but it does look as though Tom is striking the right notes rather than just moving his hands to the music
clearly animators took things more seriously back then!
If you like classic animation this one is a must see..
You can go right now into Wikipedia's annual listing for Looney Tunes and quickly pick out a dozen that stood head and shoulders above this lame Tom & Jerry outing the year it stole the gelded statuette.
Stalling, and such musical delights as RHAPSODY IN RIVETS and WHAT'S OPERA, DOC?
THE CAT CONCERTO features some listless Liszt, along with a mediocre smattering of this and that.
Cartoons with music have always been a big hit back in the day, be it in terms of Warner Bros', Disney or Hanna Barbera in this one here.
These 7 minutes are possibly the most famous Tom&Jerry cartoon.
Tom sure looked handsome, the piano was nicely animated and the music was pretty good, but in terms of the story and comedic scenes I hoped for more.
Jerry just wants to sleep early on, then swing to Tom's play, but Tom quickly gets annoyed by the presence of the little mouse and gives it his all to chase him away.
He has more moments when it looks like he may succeed than in many other T&J cartoons, but in the end, there can, of course, only be one winner.
I have seen many superior short films including the world's most famous cat-and-mouse duo. |
tt0027876 | The Lawless Nineties | In the 1890s, undercover federal agents John Tipton (Wayne) and Bridger (Chandler) head for Crocket City, Wyoming to supervise the vote on whether to join the Union. One group of local outlaws organized by Charles Plummer (Harry Woods) is using dynamite to terrorize the populace and ensure that the vote fails. In the chaos, Tipton and Bridger are separated and Tipton befriends a trio of settlers harassed by outlaws. They are Major Carter (Hayes), his daughter Janet (Rutherford) and their servant Moses (Fred Toones).
Carter had recently become the new editor and publisher of the local newspaper the Crocket City Blade, and when he announces plans to use the power of the press to fight lawlessness and aid the statehood cause, he is threatened by Plummer and subsequently shot and murdered by one of his men in a staged fight.
When Plummer's henchmen eventually kill Bridger, after learning of his status as a government agent, Tipton fights on. He sends fake telegrams that trap some of Plummer's men. Then he organizes the ranchers and on election day they descend on the town barricaded by Plummer's gang and defeated the gang leader and his henchmen.
On the day of the election, the villains actually initially stop the homesteaders from voting but Tipton leads in a bunch of agents and ranchers to crush the outlaws. It results in all the baddies brought to justice, Wyoming becoming a state and Tipton getting the pretty girl, Janet. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0498120 | Coeurs | When the play begins, Nicola is being guided through an unoccupied flat by Stewart, her estate agent, keen to make a sale. Stewart is unable to get Nicola's approval, chiefly because there is no suitable room to be used as a "study" for her fiancé, Dan. However, when Nicola returns to her current flat, she expresses frustration over Dan's insistence that their new flat must have a study. When challenged as to what Dan needs a study for, his reasons are rather flimsy, such as needing a room to quietly reflect and contemplate things. Nicola is also frustrated by Dan's lack of effort to find a job, and lack of housekeeping. Dan goes out drinking at a hotel bar where he is a regular, known by the bartender, Ambrose, with whom Dan shares his philosophy on women and how hard they are to please. It become clear that Dan has very little idea what to do with his life. He returns drunk, to Nicola's annoyance.
Stewart returns to the office and chats to his co-worker, Charlotte, with whom they share a very fond friendship, albeit a totally platonic one. Charlotte, openly a devout Christian frequently reading her Bible, lends Stewart a video of a programme she recorded, Songs That Changed My Life. Stewart agrees to please Charlotte, and returns home to the flat he shares with his sister, Imogen. After Imogen goes out for the evening, Stewart puts the video on. The programme is a religious one consisting exclusively of Christian songs that various obscure Christian figures find uplifting, and Stewart is barely interested – until the programme ends. Then the video returns to what was partly recorded over – a pornographic video – and Stewart watches in amazement. Imogen, in the meantime, spends the whole evening waiting for a date from a dating agency who fails to turn up. When Imogen returns home, both she and Stewart lie about what they have been doing that evening.
As an evening job, Charlotte starts working as a new carer for Ambrose's bed-ridden father, Arthur. Most of the previous minders have quit, and the reason soon becomes obvious: Arthur is ungrateful and rude, constantly shouting hurtful abuse at his minders, belittling their efforts to help him. Charlotte is no exception, and when she makes Arthur soup, she is rewarded by him throwing it in her face. In spite of this, Charlotte tries her best, drawing strength from her belief that to give in is giving in to the Devil.
At work, Ambrose again serves Dan, who had an argument with Nicola whilst viewing another flat. It now transpires that Dan used to have a promising career in the Army, but was dismissed after the men he was responsible for committed some undisclosed atrocity. Although Dan accepts that what his men did was wrong and, as the only officer present, he should carry the can, he appears to be in denial about his share of the responsibility. Vaguely referring to a past relationship, Ambrose suggests that the solution may be for Dan to, at least temporarily, meet other women. Dan returns home drunk again, and this time, the row escalates and Dan mentions they break up for a while, exactly how Ambrose suggested. Feigning indifference, Nicola accepts, saying she may also meet someone else.
Stewart nervously returns the video to Charlotte, paying her compliments, and Charlotte lends him another video. After Imogen leaves that evening, Stewart watches the video, but fast forwards through the faith programme. Like the last video, it then goes straight into the middle of a porn movie – only this time, Stewart finally realises that it is Charlotte in the video. However, Imogen (having this time lost her nerve completely and left a cafe abruptly) returns early and catching him watching the video, much to her disgust. The following day, Stewart returns the video to Charlotte, again dropping compliments, he tries to kiss her, but Charlotte backs away, so Stewart leaves in guilt.
Alone in the flat, Nicola burns, one by one, letters that Dan used to write her – letters that Imogen mentions elsewhere were beautiful letters from a much younger and inexperienced Dan she once knew. Far from the impression she gave the night they broke up, she cries as she burns the letters. Dan, meanwhile, has checked into the hotel whose bar he frequented so often. Dan confidently tells Ambrose he is making a new start, and already has a date lined up from the dating agency.
Imogen leaves her flat without even speaking to Stewart. It turns out her date is Dan and, amazingly, they hit it off instantly. Both use assumed names and Dan quite convincingly glosses over the bits of the past he is ashamed of, and yet confides that his father no longer speaks to him, and he can only visit his mother when he is not around. They drink until the hotel bar closes, and agree to see each other again. Imogen returns home happy and drunk, but hurtfully taunts a miserable Stewart for the video caught him watching, calling him a "greasy pornographer".
During her care visits, Charlotte talks about her religious beliefs to Ambrose. She believes strongly in all the vengeful parts of the Old Testament, but also in the forgiveness that comes later. Ambrose, for his part, reveals that his father was thrown out by his mother when he was young, and he only saw him again after his mother died – a possible atonement for his years of estrangement. Arthur's behaviour never improves, and he insults Charlotte for being ugly. Finally, on the third evening, Charlotte promises Arthur something he won't forget, and enters his room wearing a skimpy outfit looking mischievous. But as she leaves, she looks uneasy about what she has just done.
In the morning, Dan waits, with flowers ready for Imogen in his hotel bar. But before she arrives, Nicola finds him, having correctly guessed where to find him. They sit at a table, and although a reconciliation of sorts is achieved, it becomes clear there is no chance of a future together. Unfortunately, at this moment, Imogen enters and sees Dan sitting at a table, flowers resting there, talking to another woman. Imogen leaves distraught. Ambrose tells Dan she just left, but it is too late for Dan to catch up with her, and Dan knows no way of contacting her.
Stewart, having earlier heard from Nicola that she no longer needs a flat, tries to apologise to Charlotte, saying he will understand if she wishes to take the matter further. Charlotte responds by saying that, as a Christian, it is in her nature to forgive, and therefore she forgives him. But she adds that there is evil in all of them and Stewart must never do this again. Then, to bury the hatchet, she gives Stewart another video. Stewart takes the rest of the day off sick, and again fast forwards through the faith programme. This time, however, there is nothing after the programme but static, which Stewart sits watching.
When Charlotte calls for her minding, she finds Ambrose packing a suitcase for his father, rushed to hospital. He tells her than Arthur, whom she left sleeping soundly, had a heart attack later. With some embarrassment, Ambrose says that Arthur said strange things about her dancing naked, and other stuff he can't repeat. Ambrose talks about a close male friend in an old photograph Charlotte noticed, possibly implying Ambrose may be gay. As Charlotte departs, she leaves Ambrose a video.
In the final scene, Nicola packs her suitcases, Ambrose returning with his father's unpacked suitcase, Dan sits at the bar with his drink, Charlotte opens a folder at her desk, and Imogen joins Stewart on the sofa and they comfort each other. As Imogen switches off the TV, the play ends. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0024779 | The Wizard of Oz | The film begins in Kansas, which is depicted in a sepia tone. Dorothy Gale lives with her dog Toto on the farm of her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Dorothy's dog gets in trouble with a mean neighbor, Miss Almira Gulch, when Toto bites her. However, Dorothy's family and the farmhands are all too busy to pay her any attention. Miss Gulch arrives with permission from the sheriff to have Toto put down. She takes him away, but he escapes and returns to Dorothy, who then decides to run away from home, fearing that Miss Gulch will return.
They meet Professor Marvel, a phony but kindly fortune teller, who realizes Dorothy has run away and uses his crystal ball to dupe her into believing that Aunt Em is ill so that she must return home. She races home just as a powerful tornado strikes. Unable to get into her family's storm cellar, she seeks safety in her bedroom. A wind-blown window sash hits her in the head, knocking her out. Dorothy then awakens to find the house has apparently been picked up and sent spinning up into the air by the twister. She looks outside the window and sees an elderly lady (not Aunt Em as some thought) in a chair, several farm animals, two men rowing a boat, and Miss Gulch (still pedaling her bicycle), who transforms into a cackling Wicked Witch of the East flying on a broomstick.
The farmhouse crashes in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz, and just as Dorothy opens the door of her house the film changes to Technicolor. Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins welcome her as their heroine, singing "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" - the house has landed on and killed the Wicked Witch of the East, leaving only her feet poking out from under the house. In the middle of the celebration, the Wicked Witch of the West arrives in a ball of smoke and fire to claim her sister's ruby slippers, but Glinda transports the shoes onto Dorothy's feet before the witch can get them. The Wicked Witch of the West swears revenge on Dorothy for her sister's death. Glinda tells Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz might be able to help her get back home.
On her way, Dorothy meets and befriends the Scarecrow, who wants a brain, and is invited by Dorothy to join her on her journey. Eventually Dorothy and Scarecrow come to an apple tree orchard where Dorothy picks an apple off a tree and the trees come to life and scold her for it. But Scarecrow taunts and provokes the trees, causing them to become angry and throw apples at him. As Dorothy picks up the thrown apples, she and Scarecrow find and befriend the Tin Woodman, who desires a heart. After they invite the Tin Man to come along, the Witch appears and makes threats to the three of them. Then deep in the woods, they meet the Cowardly Lion, who is in need of courage and he too is invited to come along as well. After the Witch attempts to stop them several times, they finally reach the Emerald City. Inside, after being initially rejected, they are permitted to see the Wizard (who appears as a large disembodied head surrounded by fire). He agrees to grant their wishes when they bring him the Witch of the West's broomstick (which implies they must kill her to get it).
On their journey to the Witch's castle, the group passes through the Haunted Forest, while the Witch views their progress through a crystal ball. She sends her winged monkeys to attack the group; they capture Dorothy and Toto. At the castle, the Witch receives a magical shock when she tries to get the slippers off Dorothy, then remembers that Dorothy must be dead first. Toto escapes and leads her friends to the castle. After ambushing three Winkie guards, they march inside wearing the stolen guards' uniforms and free her, but the Witch discovers them and traps them. However, the Scarecrow uses the Tin Man's axe to cut a rope nearby and send a gigantic chandelier, swinging overhead, down onto the Witch's soldiers, knocking them to the floor and the quartet attempt to escape. The Witch and her guards chase them through the castle, across battlements and finally surround them. When the Witch sets fire to the Scarecrow, Dorothy puts out the flames with a bucket of water which splashes on the Witch and it causes her to melt away. The guards rejoice that she is dead and give Dorothy the charred broomstick in gratitude.
Back at the Emerald City, the Wizard delays granting their requests. Then Toto pulls back a curtain and exposes the "Wizard" as a normal middle-aged man who has been projecting the fearsome image; he denies Dorothy's accusation that he is a bad man, but admits to being a humbug. He then gives the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal, and the Tin Man a ticking heart-shaped watch, making them realize that they had what they wanted all along, they just did not know it yet. He then prepares to launch his hot air balloon to take Dorothy home, but Toto chases a cat, Dorothy follows, and the balloon leaves without them. Suddenly, Glinda returns and tells her that she can still return home by using the Ruby Slippers. Dorothy then shares a tearful farewell with her friends. Following Glinda's instructions, Dorothy taps her heels together three times and repeats, "There's no place like home". Dorothy wakes up in bed at her home in Kansas, surrounded by her family, the farmhands, Professor Marvel and Toto. Though her family and friends dismiss her adventure as a dream, Dorothy insists that it was all real, and that there is no place like home. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | The Cowardly Lion skipped this version, but he didn't miss much. Among the special features included with the recent 3-disc DVD release of MGM's 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz is this obscure 9-minute cartoon, produced in Canada and directed by Ted Eshbaugh, whose best- known work is that old time TV perennial The Sunshine Makers. Needless to say, with such a brief running time we can't expect much more than a highlights version of the famous story, but even viewers who approach this short with modest expectations are likely to be disappointed: like so many color cartoons of the '30s this one is a pseudo-Silly Symphony that falls far short of the Disney standard.At first the cartoon looks fairly promising. A petite Dorothy who resembles a Kewpie doll lounges on the porch of her Kansas farm, sighing with boredom, for only a moment or two before the twister arrives and carries her away -- and her little dog, too. Interestingly, after the "storybook" opening credits the animators chose to utilize black & white for the Kansas sequence and then switch to color as Dorothy plummets to the ground in Oz, thus prefiguring the 1939 feature film. Dorothy lands on the Scarecrow (forget about the Munchkins, there isn't time), and they quickly discover the Tin Woodsman frozen in position and free him from his paralysis. The trio then proceed to the Emerald City.Here's where we start to notice the cartoon's flaws. For starters, there's no dialog. Aside from Dorothy's yelp of fright during the twister she never makes a sound, and neither do her companions. They team up and head for the Wizard's palace on some sort of unspoken signal, apparently because that's what they've been programmed to do, but their eerie silence doesn't encourage much viewer sympathy. The filmmakers obviously assumed we were already familiar with the story, but if that's the case then where's the Cowardly Lion? He makes no appearance in this cartoon and his absence is distracting: we keep waiting for him to arrive. And although the filmmakers mysteriously chose to delete a major character, they nevertheless found the time to include two brief, gratuitous musical sequences: a courtship interlude involving woodland animals and then a parade of welcome when Dorothy and her sadly reduced entourage arrive at the palace. The only sign of a witch, incidentally, is a quick shot of a witch-like character seen in silhouette, welcoming Dorothy and her friends to Oz with a big grin! Perhaps the strangest aspect of this version is the characterization of the Wizard of Oz himself: he is presented as a scrawny little man with evil eyes and a sinister chuckle. When Dorothy and her friends come before him he proceeds to intimidate them with what appears to be Black Magic: he summons up some Raggedy Ann-like dancing dolls (for yet another pointless musical interlude), and then causes a few monstrous animals to hatch from eggs. At this juncture we meet a hen who resembles Billina, a character from L. Frank Baum's later series of Oz books. The last portion of the cartoon involves this hen and an egg she has laid which grows to enormous size; meanwhile, Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man are reduced to forgotten onlookers. The film ends on a resoundingly anti-climactic note.The animation technique on display here is not at all bad for the period; I was reminded of the cartoons produced in the mid-'30s by Ub Iwerks, the former Disney animator who broke away from Uncle Walt and went into independent production. Like Iwerks' products this one has decent color and good technical effects, but also like Iwerks' products this one is deficient in story, pacing, dialog (as there isn't any) and, most of all, characterization. Only readers of the Oz books and fans of the later film will care at all about the creatures who populate this curious cartoon, and yet they're the viewers most likely to conclude that it's a misfire.. Perhaps an inspiration for the 1939 film..... This 1933 version of "The Wizard of Oz" is quite short but it's surprising to see it today because its filmed in lovely color--colors that were quite dramatic for 1933--especially the blues. This appears to be true Technicolor--not the Two-Color Technicolor used in the 1920s and 30s and I was surprised it was in use that early (since it wasn't used in live action films until 1934 and 1935).The film begins in a black & white Kansas and soon a tornado brings Dorothy and her home to Oz--and the film switches to color! I was surprised at this, as this technique was the same one used in the famous 1939 film and appears to have inspired them. As for the story, it's so abbreviated and told without dialog and has little to do with the original novels. So, it's very, very hard to compare this to any other Oz story and you have to accept it for what it is. It's a bit too cutesy for me, but technically speaking it's a marvelous little film. It is certainly not brilliant when seen today, but for 1933 it's awfully good.. Early Versions. Wizard of Oz, The (1933) *** (out of 4) Pretty good Technicolor cartoon based on the book. The animation is rather nice and the scarecrow and tin man are pretty funny here as well. This was the first version to show Kansas in B&W and then Oz in color.Magic Cloak of Oz, The (1914) *** (out of 4) The fairies of Oz create a magic cloak, which will give one wish to the person who wears it. Once again the production design is very good here with wonderful and magical sets. The story is quite touching and I'm sure kids would love this version just as much as adults. The highlight of the film is the scene where a horse (played by a human in an outfit) is scratching his butt up against a tree and tries to teach a monkey how to do it.Wizard of Oz, The (1910) *** (out of 4) Nice if strange version of the classic tale. The production values here are actually pretty nice and it's a rather strange trip seeing humans in outfits playing the various animals including the lion.. Not much magic in here. This is the 1933 Technicolor animated version of the famous "Wizard of Oz". This one only runs for 7 minutes and this is already the first problem. The story is simply too complex to fit it into such a short work. The consequence is that if you are not familiar with either the literary work or the Judy Garland movie, you will have absolutely no idea what is going on story-wise. The evil witch is almost non-existent. Instead, this one includes lengthy sequence of dancing dolls. The animation is okay for 1933, but this is really the only positive thing I can say about this Ted Eshbaugh film. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down. |
tt0446059 | Huo yuanjia | The film begins with Huo Yuanjia fighting and defeating three Westerners: a British boxer, a Belgian lancer and a Spanish fencer. While waiting for the fourth match to begin, Huo remembers his father Huo Endi teaching martial arts. The story is then told in an extended flashback. Watching his father fight, the young Yuanjia wants to participate, but his father is concerned about his asthma. Yuanjia sees his father in a leitai match with Zhao, who won the fight dishonourably by retaliating when Huo Endi held back what would have been a fatal blow. Humiliated by his father's defeat, Huo Yuanjia vows to regain the Huo family's honour and pride. He practices martial arts behind his father's back. As the years pass, Huo Yuanjia defeats several opponents in leitai matches and becomes a famous martial artist in Tianjin. As he becomes successful, he becomes arrogant and ruthless towards his opponents, compared to his late father who advocated showing mercy to opponents.
When a rival martial arts master named Qin Lei injures one of his followers, Huo feels insulted and confronts Qin at a restaurant owned by Huo's childhood friend, Nong Jinsun. After failing to talk his friend out of fighting and fed up with his ruthless behavior, Jinsun ends his friendship with Huo. The confrontation escalates into a fight between Huo and Qin, in which Huo emerges as the victor by killing Qin with a fatal blow. Qin's godson seeks vengeance and kills Huo's mother and daughter in retaliation. Huo goes to Qin's house, where Qin's godson admits to the murders before killing himself. Huo learns that it was his follower who had insulted and provoked Qin, which prompted Qin to beat him.
Wrecked with guilt, Huo flees Tianjin, and wanders aimlessly for many months. He nearly drowns in a river, but is saved by Granny Sun and her blind granddaughter, Yueci. They bring him back to their village. Huo, guided by their kindness, begins to learn the value of compassion and mercy.
In 1907, Huo returns to Tianjin and sees the changes that have taken place. He apologizes to Qin's family and reconciles with Jinsun, who is now a businessman. He challenges the American wrestler, Hercules O'Brien. Prior to the match, Huo requests that he and Hercules fight with honor and civility to which the Announcer, taking advantage of the language barrier, deliberately mistranslates Huo's request to "He wants to kick your butt". During their match, Huo saves O'Brien from being impaled on some nails and wins the gratitude of O'Brien, who names Huo the victor. Huo's fame spreads with successive bouts against other foreign fighters. In 1909, with funding from Jinsun, he founds Chin Woo Athletic Association in Shanghai.
The members of the foreign chamber of commerce fear that Huo's victories might fan anti-foreign sentiments among the Chinese people and thus become a disadvantage to them. They propose a match between Huo and four foreign champions. Huo takes up the challenge, even though he will have to fight four bouts in a row. Before the matches, Huo meets the Japanese champion Tanaka for tea and strikes up a friendship.
The film then returns to the competition shown in the opening scenes. On 14 September 1910, Huo, after defeating the European challengers, faces Tanaka. In the first round, they fight with their weapons of choice. Huo uses a sanjiegun while Tanaka uses a katana. In the heat of the fight, they accidentally exchange weapons. However, Huo is able to handle the katana proficiently, while Tanaka fumbles with the sanjiegun. Huo offers to exchange weapons with Tanaka, and the first round ends in a draw. Before the next round, Huo unknowingly drinks tea poisoned by the members of the foreign chamber of commerce. In the second round involving unarmed combat, Huo has difficulty breathing and begins to lose his strength. He collapses and starts coughing blood, the result of arsenic poisoning. Tanaka and Huo's supporters demand that the match be halted and postponed, but Huo wishes to continue, since he is going to die in any event. Huo is dominated by Tanaka but manages to deliver a blow to Tanaka's chest, using the same technique that killed Qin. He then collapses. Tanaka, aware that he would have died had Huo used more force, declares Huo the victor as Huo dies.
In the epilogue, Huo's spirit practices Wushu on a field while Yueci observes him. Huo turns to her and smiles, indicating a lovers' reconciliation. | murder, cult, violence, action, tragedy, revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0090503 | Pound Puppies | The Pound Puppies is a group of dogs who spend most of their time at Shelter 17. Together with a group of squirrels recruited by Strudel, an incredibly smart Dachshund, they operate a secret and highly sophisticated underground facility beneath the pound, aimed at finding new owners for puppies or even grown up dogs that come to their pound. They rely on their motto, "A pup for every person, and a person for every pup". Although the facility is filled with advanced equipment (mainly built by Strudel and the squirrels) and is often shown bustling with activity, it consistently manages to avoid detection by the pound's clueless human staff. Several episodes have shown that there are multiple Pound Puppies units worldwide. There is also a similar organization, the "Kennel Kittens", which is a group of cats at the Happy Valley shelter that try to find forever homes for the kittens and cats that come their way. The Kennel Kittens have appeared in several episodes, and often mess up the Pound Puppies' missions. The Pound Puppies also have an unofficial side branch, the "Super Secret Pup Club".
A recurring plot often involves the Pound Puppies helping dogs find loving homes and coming across various challenges as they do so. Once a dog is successfully matched with a new owner, the Pound Puppies give him/her a dog tag shaped like a dog house as a parting gift, along with the quote, "Once a pound puppy, always a pound puppy." | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0063141 | Isadora | In 1927, Isadora Duncan has become a legend as the innovator of modern dance, a temperamental bohemian, and an outspoken advocate of free love. Now past 40, she lives in poverty in a small hotel on the French Riviera with her companion Mary Estelle Dempsey/Mary Desti (named only as Mary in the film) and her secretary Roger, to whom she is dictating her memoirs. As a young girl in California, Isadora first demonstrates her disdain for accepted social standards by burning her parents' marriage certificate and pledging her dedication to the pursuit of art and beauty. In 1896, she performs under the name of Peppy Dora in a rowdy music hall in Chicago and publicly embarrasses the theatre manager into paying her $300 so that she can take her family to England. Modeling her free-form style of dance and costume after Greek classicism, she rapidly acquires international acclaim.
In Berlin, she meets her first love, Gordon Craig, a young stage designer who promises her that together they will create a new world of theatre. After bearing the already-married Craig a daughter, Isadora moves to Paris and meets Paris Singer, a millionaire who lavishes gifts upon her and later buys her an enormous estate for her to open a School for Life, where only beauty and simplicity are taught.
Following the birth of a son, Isadora returns to England with Singer but becomes bored with her quiet life and enters into an affair with her pianist, Armand. A short time later, both of her children are drowned when their chauffeur-driven car plunges off a bridge into the Seine. Broken by the tragedy, Isadora leaves Singer and wanders about Europe until in 1921 she receives an offer to open a dancing school in the Soviet Union.
Unaffected by the country's poverty, she develops a strong rapport with the peasantry and has a passionate affair with Sergei Essenin, a volatile poet whom she marries so that he can obtain a visa to accompany her to the United States. Essenin's outrageous behaviour turns a press conference into a shambles, however, and US anti-Bolshevist sentiment turns to open hostility when Isadora bares her breasts during a dance recital in Boston. Following the disintegration of her marriage, she returns to Nice to write her memoirs. Impulsively selling her possessions to open a new school in Paris, Isadora goes to a local cafe to celebrate and spots Bugatti, a handsome Italian whom she has been admiring for several days. She goes for a drive with him in his sports car, and as they roar along a road by the sea, Isadora's long chiffon scarf catches in the spokes of a wheel and strangles her. | romantic, avant garde, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0060453 | Georgy Girl | Georgina Parkin (Lynn Redgrave) is a 22-year-old Londoner who has considerable musical talent, is well educated, and has an engaging if shameless manner. On the other hand, she believes herself to be plain, slightly overweight, dresses haphazardly, and is incredibly naïve on the subjects of love and flirtation; she has never had a boyfriend. She has an inventive imagination and loves children.
Her parents are the live-in employees of successful businessman James Leamington (James Mason). Leamington is 49 and has a loveless, childless marriage with Ellen (Rachel Kempson, Lynn Redgrave's real life mother). He has watched with affection as "Georgy" grew up, and has treated her as if he were her second father: he provided for her education, and for a studio in his own home in which she teaches dance to children. As Georgy has become a young woman, however, his feelings for her have become more than fatherly: James offers Georgy a legal contract, proposing to supply her with the luxuries of life in return for her becoming his mistress. Georgy sidesteps his proposal by never giving him a direct response; Leamington's business-like language and manner (and awkward inability to express any affection for her) leave her cold.
Georgy's flatmate is the beautiful Meredith (Charlotte Rampling), who works as a violinist in an orchestra, but is otherwise a shallow woman who lives for her own hedonistic pleasures. She treats the meekly compliant Georgy like an unpaid servant.
When Meredith discovers that she is pregnant by her boyfriend Jos Jones (Alan Bates), they get married. She tells him bluntly that she has already aborted two of his children, but she wants to marry because she's "bored." Jos moves in with the two young women. He becomes disillusioned with Meredith and begins to find himself attracted to Georgy, who convinces Leamington to buy several expensive items for the baby's care. While in the midst of an argument with Meredith over her cavalier attitude to her pregnancy, Jos suddenly kisses Georgy and tells her that he loves her. Georgy flees the apartment onto the streets of London, where Jos follows her, screaming over and over again that he loves her as he pursues her. The two return to the flat, where they consummate their new found love, after which there is a knock at the flat door by a friend of Meredith who tells them that Meredith has gone to the hospital to give birth. Jos and Georgy go to the hospital, where Georgy tries to comfort Meredith while she is in labour. Jos and Georgy's [secret] love affair continues.
Meredith gives birth to a daughter whom they name Sara. Since she has no interest in the baby, and is tired of Jos, she announces that she plans to put the child up for adoption and divorce her husband.
Georgy and Jos set up home together in the flat, caring for the baby and living as a married couple. It soon becomes clear that Georgy cares more for the baby than having an adult relationship with Jos, though he had already confessed to being pleased he had a daughter, believing boys need more from their fathers. The relationship ends when Jos realises he is of no real importance to Georgy and has tired of a father's responsibilities. Now that Georgy is the sole caregiver of a baby to whom she has no blood ties, Social Services wish to remove baby Sara from her care.
In the meantime, Leamington's wife has died. Leamington, who was unable to express his true feelings for Georgy while his wife lived, now finds himself free to express his love for her and proposes marriage. Georgy accepts because this will allow her to keep Sara. The two marry despite the difference in their backgrounds and ages and officially adopt Sara, making Georgy a mother. In the car as the couple leaves the wedding with Sara, neither bride nor groom says a word. Georgy does not look at or pay attention to her new husband, focusing only on Sara as the film's title song, "Georgy Girl", proclaims in the background that all is well now: "who needs a perfect lover when you're a mother at heart...better try to tell yourself that you've got your way...now you've got a future planned for you...at least he's a millionaire...you're rich, Georgy Girl." | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0243164 | Carmen on Ice | The story of Carmen on Ice is very similar to the opera Carmen. Analogous to the four-act opera libretto the screenplay has four parts:
A Square in Sevilla in front of a cigarette factory: Micaela, a village maiden, brings a letter to the Corporal of Dragoons Don José, which was written by his mother. The cigarette girls emerge from the factory, among them the attractive Carmen, who starts to flirt with the men standing on the square. The only man who does not show interest in Carmen is Don José, who is reading his mother’s letter. Finally, however, Carmen manages to attract also his attention by dancing for him and giving him a rose. The other young women are jealous, and one of them attacks Carmen. Carmen slashes her face with a knife. Others involve and start a street fighting, which is stopped by Zuniga, the Lieutenant of Dragoons. Everybody accuses Carmen of having started the fight. Zuniga asks Carmen if she has anything to say and also starts to flirt with her. Carmen, however, is not interested in him. Zuniga instructs José to guard Carmen. José ties up her hands with a rope. To escape, Carmen seduces José in a dance with this rope. The corporal unties her hands, and Carmen can run away. The angry Zuniga instructs his dragoons to guard José.
Evening at Lillas Pastia's inn: Carmen is waiting impatiently for Don José, who has been released from prison. To drive away her boredom, she starts to dance. The toreador Escamillo enters the inn and is welcomed by the other guests. He shows a virtuoso solo dance and attracts Carmen’s attention. While Escamillo leaves the inn with his friends, Don José comes in and is welcomed by Carmen, who shows a solo, which leads in a pair dance with her new lover. Suddenly the sound of bugles is heard calling the soldiers back to barracks. When José wants to leave, Carmen gets angry. José affirms his love to her in a solo with the rose she has given to him at their first meeting. Zuniga suddenly interrupts the two lovers and flirts with Carmen, which makes José so jealous, that he attacks the lieutenant, and leaves the service and joins Carmen and her friends.
A wild and deserted rocky place at night: Carmen has grown tired of José, her new favorite is the toreador Escamillo. She sits at a campfire and tries to tell fortunes by the shapes made by molten lead dropped into cold water. The shape which she holds in her hand is a skull. Carmen is scared and dances nervously around the campfire. Escamillo comes to the place and makes José jealous by showing him Carmen’s fan. The two rivals start fighting. Escamillo emerges victorious and retires with Carmen.
A square in front of the arena in Seville: The square is full of people who cheer to procession as the bullfighting team with Escamillo arrives. Carmen welcomes the toreador and dreams of a wedding dance with him. After the bullfighting team has entered the arena, Carmen is grabbed by Don José and pulled into an outbuilding. José begs her to return his love, but is rejected by Carmen. Don José loses control of himself and stabs Carmen to death. | tragedy, murder | train | wikipedia | An exciting skating movie with fantastic music!. This is one of the best versions of Carmen I have ever seen. The music is incredible. Katrina Witt is beautiful and plays the vamp to perfection. The skating is some of the best I have seen with every move adding to the story.. Wow, please let me know how to get one from anyone who has it.. My favorite movie is Carlos Saura's CARMEN -- I once saw an article (before I learned to read words) and was intrigued with the many pictures it displayed of this creature -- in the USA we did not see too many like characters walking around, and I wasn't sure if this was a person or a cow or a magical creature -- through my life, of course, I heard references to this Carmen -- but I always delayed finding out the REAL particulars and the story of the opera (so I could cling to my many imaginings about who or what this "dolled up" person really was and what she might be a symbol of) I took the plunge at a local art film house in the mid-80's by seeing the Saura "Carmen" -- I was not totally disappointed with her actuality in the literary sense, but I had more Disney-esquire hopes.Still, I have followed productions of Carmen. I've ordered the transcripts, studied the some of the history, read about Bizet, etc.SO OF COURSE -- after finding this production (I put in "Christina Hoyos" to search IMDb) I'm all excited. I'm not a stalker personality, lol, but I'll have to follow Boitano and Witt online and see if they'll come to this area -- I could write to them and ask them to make me a copy, I guess, and perhaps even meet them. Sounds like a good idea to me, anyway.I was surprised to have enjoyed the CATS on DVD so much -- this London production stars Michael Gruber, a fellow from Ohio who was, at age 14 years, thought to be the second ranking diver in the world. When his year came for Olympic competition, somehow he missed the cut and did not get on the USA team. As a result, he attended college and we can see him on this DVD in CATS. Are high profile sports people (in this, skaters) always as good on the stage as Gruber is ? I'll bet the people involved in this Emmy-winning show made an A-1 "Carmen" ! I really want to see it, no matter what.And I hope we all have the chance someday to see Cristina Hoyos, Katarina Witt, and Brian Boitano ON A DVD -- CARMEN ON ICE ! ! ! My email is JERTOONS@AOL.COM -- and my address is : Jerry Snyder, 92 Medinah Drive, Reading, PA, 19607, USA -- anybody with any knowledge of how to get a viewable copy, do please contact me -- I know I'll have this on my mind until I've seen it.Best wishes to all, Jerry. Help!!. Does anyone know where I can purchase a DVD of this TV show? My daughter loaned ours to her music teacher -- and the teacher LOST it. This is one of the best versions of ice skating combined with music that I have ever seen. I can watch it over and over. The skating is fabulous and Katarina Witt is a very sexy Carmen. It brought the story to life much more so than just the music alone. I prefer it to the opera version. Plan to see a ballet later this year of Carmen so it will be fun to compare the skating to the ballet. I like to see movement with the music and the skaters do it justice. The setting and scenery was good too. One of my favorite scenes is the one where Carmen is waiting in the bar for her soldier to come and she is tapping nervously on the counter. It's very well done and I highly recommend itNow I need to know where i can get a copy of it!!. Wonderful !. This 'on ice' version of Carmen is a much loved watch in my house. I recorded it off UK TV on it's one and only broadcast. Great skating - which includes the sounds of the skates on the ice ! Brilliant music and just a wonderful atmosphere to the whole piece. How they did the fire sequences on the ice, I will never know ! The extras used throughout are worth the watch also, as they provide authentic character to the film. Look out for the flamenco music and dancer also. Why this has never been issued on DVD or shown again on TV (to my knowledge) I will never understand. (My PAL SVHS tape is now copied to DVD for posterity !) |
tt0117718 | The Spitfire Grill | The story centers on a young woman named Percy (Alison Elliott) who was recently released from prison. She arrives in a small town in Maine with hopes of beginning a new life. She lands a job as a waitress in the Spitfire Grill, owned by Hannah (Ellen Burstyn), whose gruff exterior conceals a kind heart and little tolerance for the grill's regular customers who are suspicious of Percy's mysterious past. None is more suspicious than Nahum, Hannah's nephew, although his wife, Shelby, has a kinder curiosity.
When Hannah is bedridden after a nasty fall, Percy and Shelby pitch in to save the Grill and win the approval of Hannah, who learns she does need friends. Joe, an attractive young man in town, becomes smitten with Percy. He recruits a scientist who thinks that the town's trees might cure cancer and arthritis. As the plot unfolds, Hannah holds a $100-per-entry essay contest to find a new owner for the grill. This creates a positive change in the town, but the plans are disrupted by Nahum's suspicions about Percy and the revelation that a local hermit is Hannah's shell-shocked, Vietnam veteran son. Percy sacrifices her own life to save Hannah's son and prompts a number of the town's citizens to examine their own conduct more deeply.
Overall, the film deals with powerful themes of redemption, hatred, compassion, independence, the economic problems of small towns, the plight of Vietnam War veterans, and, to some extent female empowerment. The film somewhat mislead the audience into thinking that it will be Percy who finds redemption, but it is other characters and relationships, and indeed the town itself, that are powerfully redeemed through Percy's actions. | murder, storytelling | train | wikipedia | I'm sure the only people who would NOT enjoy this movie are the ones who grew up in Hollywood and believe everyone is like them.
Spitfire Grill does a wonderful job capturing the small town New England landscape.
At times, Alison Elliott resembles a young Jodie Foster as she plays this innocent, yet troubled youngster as she tries to start fresh with a new life in a new town.
A perfect movie about respect and acceptance, The Spitfire Grill takes on a life of its own as the story builds and builds with more secrets.
Everyone has their opinion, and mine on this particular film, is that it's one of the best to have ever graced the screen of my TV.I'm from typical small town America, and to quite a degree,Gilead depicts this sort of life.
She's not, but I am, and being familiar with my own accent, I can tell you she did it perfectly.I've watched it about six, or seven times, and will likely watch it that many more before Let it rest for a while.If you like beautiful scenery, small town life, and folks who are just a little short of being odd, you'll love this movie..
The movie takes place in a small New England town.
One of the reviews below states "I notice most of the negative reviews have been posted by men who obviously have no sensitivity." Well, as a 51 yr old man, I can tell you that I really loved this film and it did touch my heart and spirit.
One of the best films that I have seen!The three lead actresses were superb, especially Alison Elliott as Percy.
It makes you feel like you are in this small little town, getting to know all the people.
Not having seen anything he has created before, I can only compare this film to similar fare one sees in the "movie-of-the-week" film made for that medium.I have no way of knowing if the accents these actors speak are really from Maine, or from the South, as I have never met any one from that state where the action takes place.
In the town, she manages to touch the lives of a lot of the local folk, who in return, show her kindness, after an initial rejection.Allison Elliott was effective as the young woman.
It is the story of how the arrival of a young woman, who has just been released from prison, comes to a small town as an outsider who is a bit rough around the edges at first.
Percy is trying to make a new start in a picturesque town where everyone knows everyone and where strangers and change are perceived as a threat to normal life.The depth of the characters and all the normal life's tragedies and people's strength and frailties are in perfect balance and wonderfully written and portrayed by the actors.
But the changes and beauty she brings to the town outlive her in the hearts of these people.This film shows love, beauty, redemption as well as great sorrow and loss.
Percy Talbott (Alison Elliot) is a young woman, who has just left jail, and goes to Gillead, a small town in Maine looking for a new beginning of her life.
She gets a job in a diner place called Spitfire Grill, owned by Hannah Ferguson Ellen Burstyn).
When Percy arrives in town, she changes the behavior not only of Hannah and Shelby, but of the local citizen, and deep secrets are disclosed.
The story is delightful most of the time and although having a good message in the end, I did not like the fate of Percy.
I know life may be unfair, there are many envious and prejudicial people, but the story is fiction so I believe the writer used a very "heavy hand" to conclude the destiny of Percy.
If you ever want to watch a film about the mistakes we all inevitably can make, the relationships and friendships we all eventually have to form to heal us, and the power of forgiveness and helping others, and the transcendent, trans formative power of love and connecting to nature in a way that reminds of our unity, watch "The Spitfire Grill." I don't think I've ever cried more emotionally at the end of a movie, and not a hard sobbing, but more like a life-draining, emotionally cathartic cry.
I won't let my words spoil the film if the reader has not seen it yet, just lay back, and enjoy one of the best pictures I've seen and felt, I know too many words like this can cause people to look for a flaw wherever they may find one, but I can only say that this work is deep enough to bear wrongful comments and survive and still be such a warm story.
The two good performances are Alison Elliot as Percy, the ex-convict, and the underrated Marcia Gay Harden as Shelby, the housewife who becomes her best friend.
The movie is best in the scenes between the two of them(like when they're cooking breakfast together at the grill for the first time), and I also liked the way first time director Lee David Zlotoff uses the outdoors.
Also, Will Patton, who I like, is stuck playing such a one-note character he might as well have "Warning: Plot Device" written on him, and Ellen Burstyn does her crotchety old woman again.
A young woman, Percy (Elliott), is released from prison and goes to a small town in Maine to start over.
Starting over in a small New England town with its clannish ways and suspicions of strangers is not easy and Percy has a hard row to hoe.A friend of mine said they don't make movies like this anymore and he is right.
The divine goodness and love in all of us is masterfully shown by the fabulous actress Alison Elliott whose portrayal of the deep genius of love in the powerful soul of a young innocently convicted girl shows us all how glorious each of us can be and how we can cause horrible results come from our laziness, ignorance or indifference.
WATCH THIS GREAT MOVIE, originally titled "In Care of The Spitfire Grill" !
The Spitfire Grill is a rare film that holds your attention throughout the movie.
"The Spitfire Grill" tells of the influence of one young woman (Elliott) on the people of a small town in Maine.
Percy (Alison Elliott), upon being released from prison, goes to the small town of Gillead, to find a place where she can start over again.
She is taken in by Hannah (Ellen Burstyn), to help out at her place, the Spitfire Grill.
Percy brings change to the small town, stirring resentment and fear in some, and growth in others.Roger Ebert wrote, "Watching this plot unfold, I was remembering last week's 'Heavy,' which also premiered at Sundance; its cafe was run by an older woman (Shelley Winters), and had a veteran waitress (Deborah Harry) and a young waitress (Liv Tyler), and had a regular customer whose name was Leo, not Joe, although he was played by Joe Grifasi.
Also echoing in the caverns of my memory were several other movies about stalwart women running cafes and striding above the local gossip: The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, Fried Green Tomatoes, Staying Together and of course Bagdad Cafe." Indeed, something about this film felt derivative or cheap, like it belonged on the Lifetime network and not as a film championed by the fine folks at Sundance.
She gave an extremely believable performance here as a woman released from prison for killing the stepfather who had impregnated her and then had caused the death of the baby by beating the mother.Ellen Burstyn is the old lady who Elliott goes to work for.
This misconception brings on the tragedy at the end that will drive you to tears.Note an interesting performance by Marcia Gay Harden, as a blond, worker of the Burstyn character who befriends Elliott.This is a very good study of rural life and human relationships..
There may be many similar movies but this one is different from any of those.A young woman gets off a bus in a small excluded town Gilead in Mane, US.
In this town, three women who have different kinds of psychological trauma as a mother work together in a restaurant "The Spitfire Grill".The protagonist is Percy (Alison Elliot).
The inspiring story of Percy Talbot(Allison Elliot), recently released from prison & looking to start over, finds her way to the New England small town of Gilead.
Percy meets & works for cantankerous grill owner Hannah Ferguson(Ellen Burstyn) who takes no mess, relies on no one, & shows little compassion.
Percy comes up with an idea to hold a writing contest with the best essay winning the Spitfire Grille as the grand prize.
Hannah is whole again & her heart beats with love.A wonderfully acted film with a great cast in Elliot, Burstyn, Patton, & Gay Harden.
I watched The Spitfire Grill last night and am reminded again of Neil Young's words in A Man Needs A Maid, "A while ago somewhere I don't know when I was watching a movie with a friend.
If the Biblical theme isn't obvious now, the list of names from the people and places is a dead give-away: Gilead, Nahum, Bethlehem, Hannah, Meshach, Eli etc.I could continue on, but I want to think more about it.A great movie, I give it a ten!Soli Deo Gloria.
If you're looking for the very human interactions between strangers and how one girl can change a town and the people in it, this movie is for you.
The interaction between three spirited women: Percy (Alison Elliott), Hannah (Ellen Burstyn) and Shelby (Marcia Gay Harden) is enduring, feisty, genuine and heartwarming to watch.
Perchance "Percy" Talbot is a twenty-something young girl who decides that Gilead, Maine is the most beautiful place in the world where she can live her new life, her second chance.
In choosing Gilead to live, Percy places her very real hopes of a new life, free from her past with this refrain, "There is a balm in Gilead that heals a wounded soul." One of Percy's insights in the movies in when Percy is helping Hannah with a cast on her leg and observes that "the healing of a deep wound might be as painful as what caused the deep wound to start with." Find out Percy's heart, secrets and hurts and see how her warmth and spirited heart melts a few hearts in Gilead and any preconceived notions they have of her, a stranger with a past.
After her release from prison she finds room, board and a job with Hannah Ferguson played divinely and wonderfully by Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn, who has owned the Spitfire Grill for many years.
Like everything else in Gilead, the Spitfire Grill has a history in a town so small that the postmaster of it's post office is offended when too much mail starts to arrive.
Hannah decides to finally sell the Spitfire Grill and uses an "essay contest" as a way to sell it after Shelby and Percy convinces Hannah that it would work.
Shelby, his wife (Marcia Gay Harden) takes to Percy and befriends her at the Spitfire Grill.
It is on this secret that Percy's life and heart soon become part of Gilead and also the reason for the surprising ending of the movie.
This is a heartwarming movie that chronicles events in a small town when a young girl with a past comes to it with hopes of healing and a new life, believing that Gilead is where she belongs and needs to be.
Wonderful casting and beautiful scenery, the Spitfire Grill has a future indeed because of the girl with the past, Percy Talbot.
Its a story about a girl, who serves her time in prison, and after her term is over, goes to a small town in Maine to try to start her life over again.
This was an excellent movie about a young lady who gets released from prison and tries to start life anew in a small town, where she gets a job at the title restaurant.
A wonderful touching movie about a stranger in the midst of a small town.
A young lady, Percy, moves to a small country town.
This goes to show that The Spitfire Grill was a "word-of-mouth" kind of sleeper hit, because it sure as heck didn't get any vocal support from film critics.
There is a reason why this movie won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival...it is a beautiful story of redemption.
Percy is an ex-convict trying to make a new start at the Spitfire Grill in Gilead, Maine ( real location).
A flawless performance from Alison Elliot shines like a small gem from the gorgeously filmed landscape of Gilead, Maine.
Ellen Burstyn and the ever-wonderful Will Patton come close to perfection as they flesh out characters slightly underwritten, but the real discovery here is the perfectly attenuated portrayal of Shelby by Marcia Gay Harden that really makes this film as close to heaven on earth as you can get.
The Spitfire Grill is, in my opinion, one of the best film of all time.
A young woman ex-con who has through her time in prison gained a through knowledge of the state of Maine, chooses the small town of Gilead to start life anew after her parole.
Marcia Gay Harden was remarkable, especially playing a role that was very different from the ones she usually played.In this film I've found an interesting combination: apart from Shelby (Marcia Gay Harden), who was married with two daughters, there were three other mothers- Percy (Alison Elliott) was the mother of her unborn child "Johnny B.", Hannah (Ellen Burstyn) was the mother of Eli, an withdrawn who lived in the mountain alone for years and whom everybody else thought was missing.
Suddenly I realized that this was a story about motherhood, simply check out the last lines near the ending and you'll know what I mean.Percy's arrival and death became the salvation of the town and changed the people's hostile attitude toward strangers.I think maybe Lee David Zlotoff (the writer and the director) intended to write a "perfect" play, maybe this story was based on or inspired by real life experiences.
Originally released in August of 1996, it was a Sundance Film Festival award winner and gave us a taste of the rich talent and depth of newcomer Alison Elliot.Percy Talbott (Alison Elliot) has just finished a five-year prison sentence from Windham for manslaughter, and is released into the custody of the local sheriff of Gilead, Maine...
The sheriff calls upon the good graces of the town's matriarch, Hannah Furguson (Ellen Burstyn), a hard and spirited older woman who runs the local restaurant, The Spitfire Grill.
Always having been the central hub of the small town of Gilead, the Spitfire Grill begins to take on a whole new dimension as her devoted patrons start to sense a more passionate atmosphere coming from the kitchen, and gossip soars.But not everyone is happy about it.
Shelby's dominating and controlling husband, Nahum Goddard (Will Patton) has always needed to be the town's hero and center of attention, and his manipulative temper flares back up again when he notices the town's focus has turned toward the Spitfire Grill, and especially the mysterious new young woman.
When Percy is released from prison, she moves to a small town, Gillead, to get a fresh start.
Newly released prisoner Percy (Alison Elliott) comes to the small town of Gillead, Maine.
After Hannah suffers a bad fall, Percy and Nahum's kind-hearted wife Shelby (Marcia Gay Harden) start running the grill.
But as the camera pulls back, and we see bars, we realize it is a prison, and the inmates are unusual employees of the state of Maine.Set in Gilead, Maine, Percy Talbot (Alison Elliot) is being released from 5 years behind bars and travels here to pick up her life, and in the process helps heal a small town.
But nice older owner of the Spitfire Grill, Hannah (Ellen Burstyn), takes Percy in and puts her to work.
In this very small town everyone is curious about Percy, but none as much as Hannah's nephew, Nahum (Will Patton), who has taken it upon himself to watch out for Hannah.
However, Percy came in at that time to gather the food items for Hannah to put out each night for the mysterious man that she came to call "Johnny Bee" (from Johnny Be Good), used the sack not knowing money was in it, and put it out at the usual place near the wood pile.
He also caused the death of her unborn baby, and she killed him because of the abuse, but still got 5 years' prison time.The movie ends as we see another new face in town, a 20-something young lady with a small son, the winner of the essay contest and new owner of the Spitfire Grill, so named for the WW2 fighter plane that Hannah's husband had been fond of.
A bittersweet look at small-town life and the vagaries of doing good.
Near the end of the movie, she tells Shelby her story.
You have to ask yourself what kind of incompetent lawyer did she have, that landed her in jail for even 30 seconds much less five years for manslaughter.As you might have guessed by now, Percy dies by the end of the movie in trying to warn the AWOL son that the police are trying to find him because they think she gave him money "she stole" from Hannah.
But, I could not help feeling just a little lost at the end because it seemed the town had quickly forgotten Percy and how she died trying to save Eli. There was no mention of her name during the final scene and no kind of memorial to her love and unselfishness. |
tt0049872 | Town on Trial | While playing tennis at a posh club in a town near London called Oakley Park, young and flirty Molly Stevens attracts considerable interest. The men ogle her and the women detest her. She is later found dead, strangled with a stocking. The local police chief requests the help of Scotland Yard, so Detective Superintendent Mike Halloran is sent to investigate. The locals, however, resent having an outsider poking into their affairs.
A book of love poems, including an inscription from a Peter Crowley, is found in the victim's flat. There is also a photo of a group of men together with Molly and Fiona Dixon, a young woman from the prominent Dixon family. Her father, although chocked to learn that his daughter knew the "trashy" Molly, will not let Halloran question her.
Halloran eventually learns that Molly left Peter Crowley for a married man, Mark Roper, who is the club's secretary. Roper denies any involvement, and also claims that he was giving nurse Elizabeth Fenner a lift to the hospital at the time of the murder.
The coroner reveals Molly was two months pregnant. Dr. John Fenner, the local Canadian expat physician who certified the death, is asked by Halloran why he neglected to report that fact. Fenner claims he was trying to avoid a scandal for Roper and the club.
Elizabeth turns out to be the doctor's niece and also a Canadian expat. She confirms that Roper gave her a lift, but this later turns out to be a lie - a result of her attempts to protect the reputation of her uncle, who left his practice in Toronto after a misdiagnosis led to a patient's death. This is something the locals are unaware of, but Roper knows and is using this secret to blackmail the doctor.
Roper, always bragging about his wartime heroics as a RAF fighter pilot, is revealed by Halloran to have been nothing but a lowly ground crew member, who was dishonourably discharged after theft and is currently heavily in debt. The club demands Roper's resignation. He turns up at a party, gets drunk and starts a fight. Leaving the party and going for a walk, Fiona is ambushed and strangled to death. Her body is placed in the trunk of Dr. Fenner's car.
Halloran finds out that Peter Crowley has been treated for schizophrenia. Peter flees to a church, climbing to the top and threatening to jump. Halloran ascends to the steeple to prevent the suicide, risking his own life in the process, and manages to convince Peter not to kill himself. A fire brigade turntable ladder rescues the two just as they are about to fall. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0062472 | The War Wagon | Rancher Taw Jackson (John Wayne) returns to his hometown to settle a score. Three years earlier, he was framed by corrupt businessman Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot) and wrongfully imprisoned. Pierce confiscates Jackson's land, where he discovers gold. After his prison sentence was cut short for good behavior, Jackson returns to steal a shipment of gold from Pierce. He hires Lomax (Kirk Douglas) to assist him, even though he had worked as a hired gun for Pierce and was instrumental in sending him to prison. Jackson needs Lomax not only because of his marksmanship, but also because he is a safe-cracker. The gold shipment is being transported in a "war wagon," a heavily armored stagecoach armed with a deadly Gatling gun in a top-mounted steerable turret. Jackson and Lomax assemble a gang and plan to rob the war wagon at the weakest point in the route it travels.
Things do not quite work out as planned. Pierce dies in a shootout with one of his own men trying to escape from the war wagon. The wagon crashes into a ravine, Lomax opens the safe, and the men move the gold into a separate wagon. Before they can haul it away, however, a group of Kiowas try to take it from them. During the ensuing gunfight, the horses are spooked and run away with the wagon, and most of the gold is lost as a result. Nevertheless, Taw manages to recover a portion of it, and they agree to meet in six months to divide it, since "it wouldn't be very smart to flash gold around after a robbery". | good versus evil, revenge, violence | train | wikipedia | But, make it an old time western, then cast John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Bruce Cabot, Bruce Dern, Keenan Wynn and Howard Keel as a Jewish Indian and you have the makings of a classic.The War Wagon, complete with catchy title tune, is another notch in the Duke's gun for being dead on target for what his fans crave: A solid, stoic hero, framed, robbed of all his possessions and jailed by an evil banker (Cabot), he is released and vows revenge by stealing his regular gold dust shipment.
Throw in Kirk Douglas as an old friend who's been hired to kill him, a drunken, shaky nitro expert, played by the ever pre-pubescent looking Robert Walker Jr., a half Jewish/Half-Indian compadre (Howard Keel), a bitter, miserly thief (Keenan Wynn), his young, enslaved wife (a luminescent Joanna Barnes, also a "Spartacus" alumni)), toss in typical Western scum like Bruce Dern, and you have a high adventure caper flick that will keep you entertained for the length of the picture.The on-screen magic of Wayne and Douglas is never in better form than here, with all the usual hijinks the stars can pack into this epitome of the Saturday Matinee Action movie before they became techo-terrors of dueling visual effects..
Granted the comedy isn't exactly highbrow like the other two films, still the War Wagon is an honorable addition to that genre.Helping Wayne along in his enterprise are Kirk Douglas a gunfighter/ safe-cracker, Howard Keel a cynical Indian, Robert Walker, Jr. a young alcoholic explosives expert and Keenan Wynn an old codger who works for Bruce Cabot and is essentially their inside man.Kirk Douglas in his memoirs The Ragman's Son held the Duke in enormous respect even though their political views differed radically.
I won't say what the plan is on how the War Wagon is dealt with, but anyone who has watched the George Marshall/Glenn Ford film, Imitation General, will have some idea.A good entertaining John Wayne western which is as good as it gets..
In addition, up to this point John Wayne films had given the Western genre only very traditional treatments.But "The War Wagon" was only the first example of director Burt Kennedy's tweaking of the genre.
Taw (John Wayne) recruits an old enemy Lomax (Kirk Douglas) as he seeks revenge on a ruthless mine owner (Bruce Cabot) who not only framed and sent to him prison, but appropriated his ranch and personal possessions after a huge gold strike was discovered on ranch property (here we go with the exaggeration-the only things missing are stealing Taw's wife, adopting his children, and leaving his toilet seat up).
Cabot transports his gold in a "Wild Wild West" inspired armored wagon.The interplay between Wayne and Douglas (who always seems right on the verge of accepting Cabot's standing offer of $12,000 to kill Wayne) is clever and sarcastic, working with the many exaggerated elements to provide the film's considerable humor.
Solid entertainment in the Wayne style, as John and Kirk team up to liberate a gazillion bars of gold from Bruce Cabot, the man who stole Wayne's ranch and goldmine.
The very appealing storyline concerns Taw Jackson, played ably by John Wayne, who returns from prison to get back what he can from Bruce Cabot, who stole his ranch and framed him.
All he can do is to recruit a group of "mission fighters", beginning with the man who had shot him 5 years earlier, Lomax, played by dynamic Kirk Douglas-and raid the "war wagon"--his enemy's vehicle for transporting gold, a Gatling-Gun-equipped armored stagecoach.
Taw's team includes a drunken young dynamite expert he met in prison Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn who is insanely jealous of his young wife, Valora Noland as the wife, Levi Walking Bear in the charismatic person of Howard Keel, his liaison to needed Indian allies, and more.
Adding fuel to the fire is that the Wagon is run by a man called Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot), who stole Taw Jackson's (Wayne) ranch as he "cough-cough" served time in jail.
Further upping the intrigue is that Pierce wants to hire known gunman Lomax (Douglas) to kill Jackson, oblivious that the two men are plotting to rob him.If that all sounds like a caper movie then you would be right, because it is, and a splendid one at that.
Support comes in the form of Howard Keel (a humorous turn as Indian Levi Walking Bear), Robert Walker Jr, Keenan Wynn, Valora Noland and look out for Bruce Dern in a short but effective role.
Wayne then assembles a band to support him , including an impulsive , wise-cracking young (Robert Walker) , a dumb renegade Indian (Howard Keel) , an old man (Keenan Wynn) accompanied by a young girl , and , and of course , the fastest gun in the West , Kirk Douglas , as the hired hand sent by the ambitious owner who framed him to kill him .
Thrilling and well-written Western with lots of action dealing with an amusing caper in which Wayne has a twisted as well as moving plan : to rob the gold being shipped in an armor-plated stagecoach , ¨The war Wagon¨.
Support cast is frankly excellent as Howard Keel , bizarrely cast as an ironic Redskin , Robert walker as a brave, stubborn young gunslinger , the beautiful Joanna Barnes ; add a succulent cast of villains that include Bruce Dern , Emilio Fernández , Gene Evans , Terry Wilson and a great secondary : Bruce Cabot , John Ford and Wayne's usual .
While you might think the film will end in a pretty predictable and conventional way, the way it's handled makes the film worth sticking with to the conclusion.This is a decent but not particularly outstanding John Wayne and Kirk Douglas Western.
Sure, it might not be perfect, but when it's good, it's so good a viewer has to grant it an "excellent" rating.Shucks, when people like Bruce Dern and Gene Evans and Sheb Wooley are "withs," then you know there is a great cast.Burt Kennedy created one of his best productions, with exciting camera angles and those great performances.Dimitri Tiomkin has composed better music, but his score here fits and adds another admirable layer.The levels of characterization, the layers of plot, and relationships of the characters and groups all work together to form a thoroughly entertaining whole..
John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, both big stars of the period, team up in THE WAR WAGON to steal $500,000 in gold and wreak revenge on a nasty land baron (Bruce Cabot) who has stolen Wayne's ranch while Wayne was in prison.
He assembles a team consisting of gunman/safe-cracker Kirk Douglas (the man who shot him!), drunken explosives expert Robert Walker Jr., sardonic Indian Howard Keel, and crazy old Keenan Wynn in order to take Cabot's iron-clad monstrosity and it's $500,000 cargo.Fast, funny, and full of action, The War Wagon is incredible entertainment.
Wayne and Douglas are in fine form and make quite a team, heading a great, colorful cast.Director Burt Kennedy does a fine job of keeping the action rolling along nicely and the unpretentious, tongue-in-cheek script by Clair Huffaker has just the right amount of comedy without letting things turn silly.
This movie begins with a cowboy named "Taw Jackson" (John Wayne) having been just released from prison and riding into the town of Emmett, New Mexico to report to the local sheriff.
Concerned that Taw Jackson might be back to even the score Pierce sends two of his hired hands to ride out and find a gunman named "Lomax" (Kirk Douglas) to kill him once and for all.
John Wayne & Kirk Douglas are playing themselves with out any thought of who & what their characters are supposed to be,.There are many actors from the fifties in this, such as Keenan Wynn, & Robert Walker Jr & Bruce Cabot (who was in the original King Kong)/.The best part of the film was the beautiful scenery & the cinematography was first rate.
The duke and Kirk Douglas are bitter enemies, who strike up an uneasy alliance against Bruce Cabot, a land baron who for some reason has a war wagon full of gold.
Playing to the barrel- chested strengths of Golden Age superstars John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, the film goes about its business with a lack of fuss, packing in everything from chaotic saloon brawls, quick-draws and comedy-tinged bickering between its two towering stars, before climaxing with an exciting little set-piece involving the armoured beast of the title.
The final piece of the puzzle is skilled gun-for-hire Lomax (Douglas), the man who played a key role in sending Taw to prison years earlier while in the employ of Pierce.
Lomax was the man who shot him but this time Jackson offers Lomax $100k to rob a gold shipment on Pierce's War Wagon, an armored stage coach.
Taw rounds up a few associates to participate in the heist: wise guy Indian Levi Walking Bear (Howard Keel), alcoholic young explosives expert Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker Jr.), transporter Wes Fletcher (Keenan Wynn), and a man named Lomax (Douglas), a gunslinger who Pierce wants to hire to kill Taw.Clair Huffaker wrote the screenplay, based on his own novel, and director Burt Kennedy, a man who often specialized in Westerns with strong comedy content, does a fine job of bringing it to life.
Released in 1967 and directed by Burt Kennedy, "The War Wagon" is a Western starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas as Taw and Lomax.
While Taw enlists Lomax to heist half a million in gold from Pierce's "War Wagon," an armored stage coach with a Gatling gun on top, Pierce also hires Lomax to assassinate Taw. The other members of the heist team are Howard Keel as a Native who has learned the white man's ways, Robert Walker Jr. as a young drunkard who's skilled in explosives, and Keenan Wynn as a curmudgeon who plays on both teams.
But with THE WAR WAGON, Wayne slyly tweaked his tried and true image and made one of the most unique films of his career.First and foremost,Wayne's Taw Jackson is most certainly not a righteous upholder of law and order, instead he has just gotten out of prison early on a trumped up charge and determined to get some payback on the man who framed him and stole Jackson's ranch (and the gold on said land) out from under him.
For one of the few times ever, Wayne plays a character quite comfortable working outside the law, mainly because the law has become nothing more than the corrupt tool of Pierce (Bruce Cabot)the tin pot tyrant who is getting rich on Jackson's gold- transporting it in an armor plated stagecoach, refitted with a wicked looking Gatling gun and accompanied on the road by a large armed posse.
It's Jackson's plan to take down Pierce's self named War Wagon and make off with a fortune; but of course he'll need some help and this is where the movie becomes a mashup of the western and heist genres, the one where a group of disparate individuals come together, pool their talents and take on a dangerous mission.
Jackson't team comes to include Robert Walker Jr. as a teenage explosives expert with weakness for drink; Howard Keel as Levi Walking Bear, an Indian who knows the ways of the white man ("grab all you can, while you can."); Keenan Wynn as a foul tempered teamster who works for Pierce and who drags his child bride (whom he bought) with him everywhere so he can keep an eye on her.
The interplay between Lomax and Jackson, especially their dialog, is one of the great strength's of the film and it's a good example of how Wayne was not afraid to share the screen with actors of Douglas's caliber, who were every bit as charismatic as himself; how having a strong personality to play off only made them both look better.
Director Burt Kennedy was able to strike the right balance between action and humor, he would go on to direct SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER, one of my favorites; Kennedy and his crew got some great location shots in Durango, Mexico, the same place Sam Peckinpah would shoot PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID a few years later.With the possible exceptions of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, John Wayne was the biggest male movie star of the turbulent 1960's, and THE WAR WAGON, with its great opening credit theme song, was one of the chief reasons why this was true.
John Wayne is Taw Jackson, a man wronged by the bad guy, played by Bruce Cabot, and sent to prison.
Made at the tail-end of American cinema's great Western era, 'The War Wagon' combines action and dark comedy in what is very much an homage to the grand tradition that Wayne, in particular, was an integral part of.Wayne, in his 162nd film appearance, plays Taw Jackson, a New Mexico rancher who has been released from prison after serving three years of his term.
He hires a dependable gunman (Lomax, played by Douglas), a drunk explosives expert (Billy Hyatt, Robert Walker Jr. of 'The Ceremony'), a paranoid horse driver (Wes Fletcher, Keenan Wynn of 'Shoot, Gringo...Shoot!'), and an Indian who has assimilated to the White ways of doing business (Levi Walking Bear, 'Dallas' regular Howard Keel).'The War Wagon' offers a few engaging subplots, including the absence of loyalty from Lomax, who already shot Taw years earlier and has been offered a fair sum by Pierce to finish the job.
As a matter of fact, while Douglas was a much more versatile actor than his co-star, he did his fair share of Westerns himself over a period of 30 years from Raoul Walsh's ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE (1951) to the Australian production THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER (1982) and which include such notable examples as THE BIG SKY (1952), GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (1957), LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL (1959), LONELY ARE THE BRAVE (1962) and POSSE (1975), in which Douglas directed himself and another co-star from the film under review (Bruce Dern).Apart from the two Hollywood legends, THE WAR WAGON features a good cast of character actors Howard Keel (amusing as an Indian crony of Wayne's), Keenan Wynn (as the most ill-tempered member of the gang), Wayne regular Bruce Cabot (as a villainous tycoon) and Gene Evans (as a corrupt deputy); among the younger actors, then, we find Robert Walker Jr.
War Wagon is one of John Wayne's late period westerns, when he was churning them out according to formula while he was still relatively close to being the world's top box office draw.It is essentially a wild west caper movie - bags of colourful scenery, action, a jocular script, and some decent on-screen chemistry between Wayne and co-star Kirk Douglas.
Slowly they form a plan and prepare to rob Pierce's armored and armed wagon, in which he transports his gold.Comments: As mentioned, this is a classical western with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas starring.
I still vividly remember watching the "War Wagon" trailer in the movie theater when I was 11 years old.Very unusual Chinese themed saloon/whorehouse owned by Lomax, Douglas' character.
The Taw Jackson character played by the Legendary John Wayne wants revenge on Frank Pierce for stealing his gold and ranch and sending him to prison.Here is yet another Moon 168 Readback: "If Foreigners ramp Diplomacys holdout deep Ark men stories Comp." Anybody remember the two friends in a Department store after civilizations regrettable collapse in a comic book?
"Return of the Seven" director Burt Kennedy helmed the most imaginative John Wayne western of the 1960s with "The War Wagon." This improbable but entertaining horse opera co-starred a trim Kirk Douglas at his acrobatic best as well as Howard Keel, Bruce Cabot, and Robert Walker Jr. Novelist Claire Huffaker adapted the screenplay from his novel and remains faithful to it for the most part.
It's a fun film with a simple but engaging plot.The movie begins with Wayne been released from prison after been framed by a ruthless miner played by Bruce Cabot, who has taken his land away and Wayne wants revenge by robbing him of his gold which is been transported in an armour plated horse carriage.
He forms a mismatched group of desperadoes - Kirk Douglas (a gunslinging safe cracker), Howard Keel (a conniving Indian), an alcoholic explosives expert and a greedy "inside" man.It's amusing to see Wayne on the wrong side of the law for a change and that's just one of the surprising aspects of the film.
They don't make movies like The War Wagon anymore
and that's both a bad and a good thing.The movie follows Taw Jackson (John Wayne), a rancher run off his land and framed for a crime that has just been paroled and is returning home with a plan for a profitable revenge on Pierce (Bruce Cabot), the man who stole his land and nearly got him killed.
Pierce has become rich mining gold out of Jackson's land, so Taw recruits 4 men, including Lomax (Kirk Douglas) - the man Pierce hired to kill him - to ambush the armored wagon Pierce uses to transport the gold.Wayne and Douglas are both as good as you could imagine, giving the sort of movie star performances you rarely see nowadays.
Add in their compatriots – self-loathing Indian Levi Walkingbear (Howard Keel), teenage drunk and explosives expert Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker) and Wes Fletcher, an angry, thieving version of the bearded old coot Keenan Wynn played in many a Western, and you've got a fun gang of characters looking to split half a million dollars in gold.Like most old school Westerns, The War Wagon isn't a particularly complex or fancy story.
THE WAR WAGON is a 1967 western directed by Burt Kennedy and starring no less than two of the all-time Hollywood greats, John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. |
tt0488749 | Julius Caesar | The play opens with the commoners of Rome celebrating Caesar's triumphant return from defeating Pompey's sons at the battle of Munda. Two tribunes, Flavius and Marrullus, discover the commoners celebrating, insult them for their change in loyalty from Pompey to Caesar, and break up the crowd. There are some jokes made by the commoners, who insult them back. They also plan on removing all decorations from Caesar's statues and ending any other festivities. In the next scene, during Caesar's parade on the feast of Lupercal, a soothsayer warns Caesar, "Beware the ides of March." This warning he disregards. The action then turns to the discussion between Brutus and Cassius. In this conversation, Cassius attempts to influence Brutus's opinions into believing Caesar should be killed, preparing to have Brutus join his conspiracy to kill Caesar. They then hear from Casca that Mark Antony has offered Caesar the crown of Rome three times and that each time Caesar refused it, fainting after the last refusal. Later, in act two, Brutus joins the conspiracy, although after much moral debate, eventually deciding that Caesar, although his friend and never having done anything against the people of Rome, should be killed to prevent him from doing anything against the people of Rome if he were ever to be crowned. He compares Caesar to "A serpents egg/ which hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,/ and kill him in the shell." He then decides to join Cassius in killing Caesar.
Caesar's assassination is one of the most famous scenes of the play, occurring in Act 3, scene 1. After ignoring the soothsayer, as well as his wife's own premonitions, Caesar comes to the Senate. The conspirators create a superficial motive for coming close enough to assassinate Caesar by means of a petition brought by Metellus Cimber, pleading on behalf of his banished brother. As Caesar, predictably, rejects the petition, Casca grazes Caesar in the back of his neck, and the others follow in stabbing him; Brutus is last. At this point, Shakespeare makes Caesar utter the famous line "Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?", i.e. "You too, Brutus?") Shakespeare has him add, "Then fall, Caesar!" This suggests that such treachery destroyed Caesar's will to live.
The conspirators make clear that they committed this act for Rome, not for their own purposes, and do not attempt to flee the scene. After Caesar is killed, Brutus delivers an oration defending his actions, and for the moment, the crowd is on his side. However, Mark Antony makes a subtle and eloquent speech over Caesar's corpse, beginning with the much-quoted "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!" In this way, he deftly turns public opinion against the assassins by manipulating the emotions of the common people, in contrast to the rational tone of Brutus's speech, yet there is method in his rhetorical speech and gestures: he reminds them of the good Caesar had done for Rome, his sympathy with the poor, and his refusal of the crown at the Lupercal, thus questioning Brutus's claim of Caesar's ambition; he shows Caesar's bloody, lifeless body to the crowd to have them shed tears and gain sympathy for their fallen hero; and he reads Caesar's will, in which every Roman citizen would receive 75 drachmas. Antony, even as he states his intentions against it, rouses the mob to drive the conspirators from Rome. Amid the violence, an innocent poet, Cinna, is confused with the conspirator Lucius Cinna and is taken by the mob, which kills him by tearing him to pieces for such "offenses" as his bad verses.
The beginning of Act Four is marked by the quarrel scene, where Brutus attacks Cassius for supposedly soiling the noble act of regicide by having accepted bribes. ("Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? / What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, / And not for justice?") The two are reconciled, especially after Brutus reveals that his beloved wife Portia had committed suicide under the stress of his absence from Rome; they prepare for a war against Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son, Octavius. That night, Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus with a warning of defeat. (He informs Brutus, "Thou shalt see me at Philippi.")
At the battle, Cassius and Brutus, knowing that they will probably both die, smile their last smiles to each other and hold hands. During the battle, Cassius has his servant Pindarus kill him after hearing of the capture of his best friend, Titinius. After Titinius, who was not really captured, sees Cassius's corpse, he commits suicide. However, Brutus wins that stage of the battle--but his victory is not conclusive. With a heavy heart, Brutus battles again the next day. He loses and commits suicide by running on his own sword, which is held by a soldier named Strato.
The play ends with a tribute to Brutus by Antony, who proclaims that Brutus has remained "the noblest Roman of them all" because he was the only conspirator who acted, in his mind, for the good of Rome. There is then a small hint at the friction between Mark Antony and Octavius which characterizes another of Shakespeare's Roman plays, Antony and Cleopatra. | tragedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt2085930 | Starship Troopers: Invasion | On an asteroid, the Terran Federation's Fort Casey is crawling with bugs. The starship Alesia begins to deploy its Mobile Infantry troopers, by dropship, to seize and control the hangar and rescue any survivors. Lieutenant Daugherty's 'Alpha' team lands and immediately engages bugs, fighting through to rendezvous with the surviving Fort Casey troopers. After setting explosives charges, the troopers head to the starship John A. Warden for evacuation, only to see it leave dock without them – Minister Carl Jenkins has commandeered the Warden from Captain Carmen Ibanez, sending her to Alesia. Before leaving, Jenkins orders that Major Henry "Hero" Varro, the commander of Fort Casey's K-12 troopers, be escorted to Alesia as a prisoner. Alesia docks with Fort Casey for emergency evacuation of the surviving troopers, and the Fort Casey asteroid is successfully destroyed.
While en route to Earth, Alesia is contacted by General Johnny Rico from High Command at L-6 Base. When he orders Alesia to search for the Warden, which has broken all contact, the Fort Casey troopers agree to do so on condition that Varro leads them during the mission. When they find the Warden, Daugherty's team escorts Ibanez to the bridge while Varro's team secures the Engine Room, both teams finding nothing but dead crewmen and a few dead bugs. Varro finds a deranged Jenkins and is warned – too late – not to power up the Warden as 'she' has hacked all the systems. As the engines recharge the Warden, an Arachnid Queen inside takes control of all systems and opens bulkhead doors to release her bugs. As Ibanez and the troopers attempt to return to Alesia, the Queen uses the Warden's main weapons to destroy the other ship, then flies Warden into a wormhole whose outlet is in near-Earth space. The troopers return to the Warden's bridge, where Varro reveals he was arrested when Jenkins had ordered his unit to capture the Queen alive on Fort Casey, but Varro had refused to sacrifice his squad.
General Rico deploys three starships from the L-6 Base in Earth orbit, but they are unable to stop the Warden. The Queen sets the bug-infested Warden on a trajectory to crash land in Paris, but Alpha Team sniper Trig manages to shoot out the wires linking the Queen to the ship, allowing Ibanez to re-direct the Warden to crash in a mountain range. Meanwhile, General Rico leads a squad of troopers in Marauder suits to stop the bugs from escaping the crash site, while high command gives him 30 minutes before they will drop nukes from the L-6 Station to sanitize the site.
Back on the Warden, the five surviving troopers make their way towards the Queen. Ice Blonde protects Ibanez at a nearby airlock while Mech and Ratzass go to the engine room to blow it up. When Varro and Bugspray find Trig's corpse, Bugspray uses Trig's family-made sniper rifle to buy Varro some time to reach the Queen. Jenkins, having recovered from his mental breakdown, provides Varro back-up with bugs under his mind control – revealing an important Terran breakthrough in the war and the reason for capturing a live Queen.
Rico is the only one from his squad to reach the Warden. The extraction shuttle from L-6, and the nuclear strike, are all destroyed by the Queen's control of the Warden's weapons. As Jenkins leads the team to his shuttle from Fort Casey, Rico rushes to distract the queen and rescue Varro. Varro, critically injured, blows a grenade when surrounded by bugs. Rico abandons his broken Marauder suit and uses a combat knife on one of the Queen's eyes, buying Ibanez time to make take-off preparations. Rico barely sprints back into the dropship as it escapes the Warden before the explosives detonate and destroy the Warden.
Mech, Ice and Ratzass pay their respect to their fallen comrades while Ibanez confronts Jenkins over the recent crises. Jenkins sidesteps the issue, telling Rico and Ibanez that his research will someday save the entire galaxy. In the aftermath, one warrior bug is seen navigating a sewer system, having survived the Warden's destruction. | paranormal, violence | train | wikipedia | Hope this will reboot the franchise in a good way (forgetting the sequels and the bad animated series).But it is like entering in a big video game demo with non-stop action scenes.Very entertaining, popcorn in a bucket, and sit tight to watch it with friends.
The movie seems rushed in some parts, the plot was nothing terribly complex, but it's a classic alien/bug hunt; people die in a variety of noble/self-sacrificial ways, as befits a cap trooper, bugs are killed and there's lots of explosions.
The thing is that Starship Troopers was never meant for anything like that; the setting is a sci-fi universe with much more gore, trash and nudity than would be expected.
This movie is meant for the old Starship Troopers fans, those who know the movie (the first for god's sake) and the Roughnecks animated series; it isn't a good introduction to the setting but it wasn't meant to be.
Overall, if you liked the source material, and you know the setting this is a nice follow up and much better than the god-awful movie sequels.
the original Starship trooper though never achieve legendary status like Aliens or Predator, still a very good enjoyable movie.
It was adapted into Paul Verhoeven's wildly prescient 1997 feature-length movie (which appeared to be more of a pro-/anti-war satire of Heinlein's novel), and more importantly (to me, anyway) the cast members of James Cameron's "Aliens" (1986) - my #5 movie, by the way - were required to read the book as part of their "basic training" for the film.Regardless of what you think of Heinlein's points in the book, it's first-rate sci-fi entertainment and pro-war military propaganda of the first degree.
Two sequels to Verhoeven's original film have been produced, and one animated sequel from "Appleseed" (2004) director Shinji Aramaki - 2012's "Starship Troopers: Invasion" (which was ultimately supported by an ultimately flawed script by screenwriter Flint Dille)."Starship Troopers: Invasion" is the most worthwhile sequel so far to Verhoeven's 1997 cinematic offering of Heinlein's most celebrated work (for me, that is).
Like the not-so-freakin'-bad "Starship Troopers: Marauder" (2008), "Invasion" takes a little bit more inspiration directly from the pages of Heinlein's original novel, even though "Invasion" is, in fact, a direct sequel - more or less - to Verhoeven's first live-action movie.What connects this particular feature to its predecessors - despite being animated - is that three central characters from Verhoeven's 1997 film reappear here: Johnny Rico, Carmen Ibanez, and Carl Jenkins (who were played, respectively, by Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, and Neil Patrick Harris in Verhoeven's first film).
Van Dien and "Starship Troopers" screenwriter/long-time Verhoeven collaborator Ed Neumeier serve as producers on "Invasion." "Starship Troopers: Invasion" is a nicely animated feature with a largely Japanese Anime' production team behind it, with American actors voicing the parts.The film begins with the mysterious disappearance of the Federation Starship "John A.
And Johnny Rico, now a general, is forced to join the fray in order to save his friends and the galaxy from a full-scale Bug infestation.Unlike its predecessors, the plot to "Starship Troopers: Invasion" is pretty straight-forward science fiction warfare and lacks the vicious humor aimed at satirizing wartime values and military propaganda that marked its three predecessors.
(It's quite remarkable that the presentation and overall appearance of the Bugs here is still quite faithful to their presentation in Verhoeven's original - where they were first designed by special effects artist Phil Tippett - though they're more for cannon-fodder here, rather than a misunderstood indigenous species defending their home from hostile foreign invaders.)Shinji Aramaki created a lean, mean, and focused Japanese-style animated feature with "Starship Troopers: Invasion." The film takes a little more inspiration from Robert A.
However, you have to admit that if the story writer can really put a little bit of philosophical ideas from the original novel into conversations and the environment around characters, just like the ST1 did, this new movie will be on a new level.
I should say I have seen the shadows of the original novel, and you can tell the designer have really put a lot of effort to making these things look comfortable, and surely it's just very fun to watch how these men's stuffs to work in the movie.
most punch lines, some small details, even some characters that seem forced into the film are from the old CGI starship troopers series.
They actually took care with this production and has me looking forward to not only more Starship Trooper sequels, but also viewing more digital movies as well..
At times it felt like I was watching an extended video game cut scene (when are they giving us a Starship Troopers video game???).
8/10, would recommend to sci-fi fans, Starship Trooper fans, and anyone looking to watch a fun movie..
I didn't have high hopes for this film, as Starship Troopers is the type of franchise where, like Aliens or Terminator, you really need a big budget to properly do justice to on screen.
In fact, she looked more like a flight attendant than a starship captain.Likewise, the body and facial styles in the film are all stereotypical of anime characters--to the point that most of the male protagonists look pretty much alike.
Though I personally would have stuck with the black and field grey color scheme for the mobile infantry gear/costumes instead of the jungle green cameo (this is supposed to read C-A-M-O, as in camouflage; please ignore IMDb's idiotic autocorrection) they used in the film, which is more reminiscent of U.S. marines than German storm troopers (and also not making much sense in space or inside of the silvery monolithic starships and space stations).The overall CGI quality is actually very impressive considering that in theory, Stage 6's target production budget is at most the same as that of Ultramarines (the admirable but ultimately disappointing WH40K animated film), and yet ST: Invasion is head and shoulders above what Ultramarines managed to achieve with their budget.If you want to be picky, sure, there are a few stereotypical mannequin moments that nearly all 3D animes tend to have, where the body movements seem a bit too rigid or the facial animation doesn't seem quite right (like the virtual actor had too much Botox).
Like so many other great Japanese animated works, this one was ruined in the final leg of the race by a studio that just didn't care enough about the English voice-overs to get it done right.It's a real pity, as the story was actually pretty serviceable and the rest of the film was very high quality overall, with only the aforementioned quibbles (all fairly minor and easily overlooked), and would probably do well with a major release in North America if not for the painfully bad English VOs. And supposedly this film was never even dubbed in Japanese (at least Akira and most other animes with poor English dubs are watchable in Japanese with English subs).
However this makes this movie a confusing experience at times for so many male characters actually looking very much alike while sharing a similar type of voice.But for me, the main let down however reside in the fact that I couldn't shake the impression of watching a video game with its many levels: a very brief explanation of the mission is followed by a shooting session to the next brief explanation of the next mission and so on and so forth, making the feeble attempts of humanization of its synthetic characters laughable.In the end, the resulting piece becomes a series of interchangeable battles devoid of any emotional impact.
The CGI is good and so is the story line and action sequences the only downside about this is the acting, Some of the characters are sub-par at best.If you are a big fan of first starship troopers well I highly suggest you give this one a watch.
Like many reading this review, i was a big fan of the original STARSHIP TROOPERS movie.
This movie, more then any other, feels like a true sequel to the original film.
The movie feels a bit like a riff on James Cameron's ALIENS, but the action is good, and they get the FEEL of the original movie right.
1st watched 12/10/2012 – 7 out of 10(Dir-Shinji Aramaki): Well made CGI movie that continues the bug-alien tradition of 3 other live action "Starship Troopers" movies -- but really betters at least the original, in my opinion, because it focuses of the action.
This is a unique movie by a Japanese director, with a very American-like feel to the story but is a lot of fun and is a very worthwhile addition to this franchise..
Starship Troopers is one of my favorite sci-fi films, and even though its straight-to-DVD sequels were far from reaching the same level of narrative ingenuity or technical perfection, I found them decent "B-movies" which respected the basic precepts from the first film and continued the mythology established on the Robert A.
However, the film Starship Troopers: Invasion took the unexpected route of animation to continue with the franchise, something which allowed a level of visual attraction which would have been impossible to see in a live-action film...but at the same time, the digital actors feel too cold and rigid in order to transmit any emotions.I found the screenplay from Starship Troopers: Invasion generally competent, because it respects the events from the first film and also introduces new variables which fit well into the canon of the saga.
Screenwriter Flint Dille took the good decision of making Starship Troopers: Invasion independent from the other sequels; in other words, it's not necessary to watch them in order to enjoy this film, but it doesn't contradict what happened in them either.
And something which also decreases the characters' humanity is the insipid voice work from the whole cast; it's easy to note that the producers decided to save money by hiring broadcasters instead of actors.As I said before, I think it was strange to make Starship Troopers: Invasion an animated film, but there's a precedent: in 1999, the TV series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles was a "provisional sequel" of Starship Troopers, and even though the animation was of an excellent quality, the high production costs and low ratings hauled its cancellation after only one season.
Fortunately, Starship Troopers: Invasion has a better screenplay and conserves the same solid production design; the animation might not aspire to the photo-realism of Wall-E, but it comfortably fits into the quality standard we can find in the "cut-scenes" from any modern video game.
Nevertheless, I would have preferred the use of a "green screen" system (in the style of Sin City or Mutant Chronicles), which would have allowed the presence of real actors able to express emotions (instead of dummies similar to the ones we saw in, for example, The Polar Express), but without loosing the lavish settings nor the special effects which complement the experience.Another thing I didn't like in Starship Troopers: Invasion was the complete absence of the political satire we saw in the previous films from the saga.
Nevertheless, I had a good time while watching Starship Troopers: Invasion, and I think that that is enough to make it worthy of a moderate recommendation despite not being something highly memorable..
Every sequel to the Starship Troopers movie I have watched, but none has come near the quality and excitement of the brilliantly creative original directed by Paul Verhoeven.
This film is all CGI animation, so it's like watching one tedious long scene from of a really bad and boring video game.
This time the Starship Troopers franchise explodes onto screen as an R-Rated, cutting edge CGI feature film from the director of Appleseed Ex Machina and Halo Legends.
At very least, this movie has learned from previous mistakes and manages to be decent entertainment fare with enough action and eye candy to thrill all.I was slightly disappointed that this was not a continuation of the critically "Roughnecks: Starship Trooper Chronicles" CGI TV series.
A big plus,especially for fans of the franchise, is that the characters from the first Starship Troopers movie return and play major roles in the story.
STARSHIP TROOPERS INVASION brings back the powered suits and the mechs that were featured in the original novel but absent from the first movie.
Hair flows, movements are smooth, and the filming style mimics that of live action movies, thus making the CGI look a lot better than it really is.
But like previous Japanese CGI projects, style overpowers substance and no amount of visual beauty, creative directing or eye candy can excuse a confusing, convoluted mess of a story with none of deeper themes that its predecessors had nor the complete lack of character development.
Starship troopers returns with much more faith to the novel.Humanity is still fighting their war against overwhelming swarms of the bugs or "Pseudo-Arachnids, battling them in Exo-powered suits and other feat of military technological advancement much as what Robert Heinleins describe in his book.
Fans and those who have seen the past films will appreciate and enjoy a generous face lift of the Starship troopers universe in CGI than its live-action predecessors, with the return of their favorite characters since the 1997 film.
I really like the Starship Troopers franchise, all of the movies including this one.They are lots of fun, lots of action and lots of special effects.
Which is always good, not like some movies where the characters are weak and boring and you don't care if they live, die, succeed or fail miserably.The plot felt predictable and i found myself thinking i could guess what was going to happen next but then all of a sudden it changed and caught me by surprise.
Well, I admit, it's not being a horrible movie either but there just is no good reason for you ever to watch this animated movie, not even if you're really into the whole Starship Troopers franchise.
The movie feels like nothing more than just another cheap movie to cash in on the whole Starship Troopers franchise, without attempting to do and try anything new.
Okay, not as horrible as Starship Troopers III, but that's a really low bar.The animation of the "bugs" is about the same as it was in the other movies, but the human animation just didn't work.
Plot holes the size of killer asteroids, lapses in simple logic that would make a Steven Seagal film Oscar worthy, and characterizations for people you know won't survive and any back-story given is simply a cheap way to get the audience to become invested for the duration of the movie..
Every since the first Starship Troopers film which was brilliant SCi-Fi action thriller this series always has its fans hoping against hope.
In some aspects it's a little like the Star Wars franchise as ST:I is the concluding piece in Rico's story from recruit, to NCO and finally to General.Whilst ST:I probably won't win any awards for scriptwriting, it is an impressive piece as far as computer animated film making goes.
Fifthly, this is, after all, Japanese movie, therefore sometimes it looks like one of many anime products.
Then again when your watching a computer animation movie from the same people that worked on the likes of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles and Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina how can one be disappointed?
The story itself seems like a fusion of 'Aliens' and the first Starship Troopers.
But no, it's Starship Troopers, so the whole thing was watched.They dared to put "A fast paced thrill ride, that tops the Original" on a poster for this movie.
This is a canon continuation to the animation series, the original characters have become big wigs in this movie in their respective fields.The staffs are mostly Japanese so expect Japanese quality of CGI and style.
It is actually better then the first movie from 1997, with better action, acting "voice acting" and its realistic science fiction style is unmatched in any film/anime/CGI I have seen.
The only people who are not giving this amazing film good reviews must not have liked the original film or high quality CGI that is actually made for adult audiences......
Rated R, animated ( don't have to deal with the constrictions of a live movie budget as we've seen in the sequels) but over all I was a little disappointed.I always have high hopes for this franchise and it seems that it never gets a fair shake to shine.Upsides : graphics are pretty good, You feel slightly nostalgic watching it, you get to see bugs die, some animated nudity ;)Downsides : Lame plot, could have been something much more then it is.
You only start having some fun watching this movie in the last 20 - 30 minutes.All in all even though Roughnecks was made about 13 years ago, I would rather take have another couple episodes of that series then this.The only reason I rated it a 7 is I love starship troopers, Favourite movie of all time, it should be a huge franchise but this movie probably won't appeal to anyone but die hard fans..
This 2012 installment to the franchise takes us back to the level of the first original movie, except it is a CGI animated movie, not a real live action movie.The story is as to be expected from a "Starship Troopers" movie; lots of action, lots of bugs, lots of guns, and not too deep dialogue.
When I sit down on my sofa getting ready to watch a Starship Troopers film, I don't expect a 90 minute machinima with a bad storyline and terrible voice acting.
Including Starship Troopers 2, which was a good horror movie.Almost every single aspect of this film had let me down.
You see the bugs recreated perfectly in CGI; I felt they did a great job animating them, really reminded me of the original movie.
I love anime and having seen his work in Appleseed, I knew I'd enjoy this too.Bottom line: if you like Sci-Fi, the original Starship Troopers, anime, or just action movies, I think you will enjoy this.. |
tt0110054 | Hung Hei Kwun: Siu Lam ng zou | Hung Hei-kwun arrives in his village after a raid by government soldiers, only to find his whole village destroyed. Hung Hei-kwun quickly finds his infant son and gives him a choice between death and joining him in the rebellion. Upon leaving his village he encounters Ma Ling-yee, who is also supposed to be involved in the rebellion; he learns that Ling-yee had betrayed him and their village for the bounty on Hei-kwun's head. After an epic battle, the film skips ahead several years and arrives with Hung Hei-kwun and his now-skilled son making their way through China in order to find money for food. At this time, the film introduces "Red Bean", who is in the process of swindling a very rich man, Ma Kai-sin, out of his money. Kwun tries to leave his son in the care of his brother but is betrayed, forcing him to kill his brother. The rich man, witnessing the carnage done by Kwun, hires Hung Hei-Kwun as a bodyguard. Initially he wants Kwun to help him bully and steal from others; Kwun refuses the offer but decides to be his bodyguard instead because he and Man Ting, his son, ran out of money.
At the same time the government has begun to crack down on Shaolin. Pieces of a map are tattooed onto the backs of several pupils, who are then removed from the temple in order to keep safe the Ming Dynasty treasure the map leads to. Years ago, Hung Hei-kwun's encounter with the money hungry Ma Ling-yee did not end as Hung thought it did: Ma Ling-yee survived the fight as a result of being dipped in poison and restored by The Monk of the West District. Now a disgusting creature, his only purpose for life is to get revenge and kill Hei-kwun. The government massacres Shaolin, while Ma Ling-yee himself kills the abbot. Thereafter, he begins the hunt for Hei-kwun and the escaped pupils.
Hei-kwun and Man-ting, along with Red Bean and her mother (who plays dead in order to swindle people out of their money) arrive at Ma Kai-sin's mansion. Red Bean is to be married to Kai-sin, who is completely oblivious to Red Bean and her mother's plans to steal his wealth. While Hei-kwun and Man-ting begin to settle in, Red Bean sees Hei-kwun as a threat to her plans. She attempts to kill him, but she fails and Hei-kwun warns her that as long as he is around, she will not be causing any trouble. Man-ting sees all of this, and accuses his father of having feelings for Red Bean, since through their travels, Hei-kwun taught his son many teachings to stay alive, such as "to kill without mercy", or "hold your temper, but only until you cannot hold it anymore".
Meanwhile, Kai-sin's son, Ling-yee, begins to bully Man-ting, due to Man-ting's low social status and Ling-yee's jealousy of Man-ting's superiority in Kung Fu. Ling-yee, a former pupil of Shaolin (who has a part of the map tattooed on his back), calls upon his former Shaolin friends (who also have the other parts of the map) to help him beat up Man-ting. Man-ting, although trying to be passive at first, loses his temper, beating all the boys up, as well as spraining Ling-yee's arm. However, Man-ting commands Ling-yee to hold still as he quickly fixes Ling-yee's arm, to prevent permanent damage. This earns him the respect of all the other boys, and they all call him "oldest brother" out of respect, although he is the youngest of them all.
On the Lunar New Year, several guests dine and celebrate at Kai-yin's mansion. However, government soldiers have tracked the location of the pupils to Kai-Sin's home … | good versus evil, cult, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1359554 | High Noon | In Hadleyville, a small town in New Mexico Territory, Marshal Will Kane (Cooper), newly married to Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly), is preparing to retire. The happy couple is departing for a new life, raising a family and running a store in another town; but word arrives that Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), a vicious outlaw who Kane sent to jail, has been released, and is arriving on the noon train. Miller's gang—his younger brother Ben (Sheb Wooley), Jack Colby (Lee Van Cleef), and Jim Pierce (Robert J. Wilke)—await his arrival at the train station; it is clear that Miller intends to exact revenge.
For Amy, a devout Quaker and pacifist, the solution is simple—leave town before Miller arrives; but Kane's sense of duty and honor is strong. "They're making me run," he tells her. "I've never run from anybody before." Besides, he says, Miller and his gang will hunt him down anyway. Amy gives Kane an ultimatum: She is leaving on the noon train, with or without him. While waiting at the hotel for the train, she meets Helen Ramírez (Katy Jurado), who was once Miller's lover, and then Kane's, and is leaving as well. Amy understands why Helen is fleeing, but the reverse is not true: Helen tells Amy that if Kane were her man, she would not abandon him in his hour of need.
Kane's efforts to round up a posse at the tavern, and then the church, are met with fear and hostility. Some townspeople, worried that a gunfight would damage the town's reputation, urge Kane to avoid the confrontation entirely. Others are Miller's friends, and resent that Kane cleaned up the town in the first place.
Kane's young deputy Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), who is bitter that Kane did not recommend him as his successor, says he will stand with Kane only if Kane goes to the city fathers and "puts the word in" for him. Kane rejects the quid pro quo, and Pell turns in his badge. Kane visits a series of old friends and allies, but none can (or will) help: His predecessor, Marshal Howe (Lon Chaney Jr.) is old and arthritic; Judge Percy Mettrick (Otto Kruger), who sentenced Miller, flees on horseback, and urges Kane to do the same; townsman Herb Baker (James Millican) agrees to be deputized, but backs out when he realizes he is the only volunteer; Sam Fuller (Harry Morgan) hides in his house, sending his wife to the door to tell Kane he isn't home.
Kane writes out his will as the clock in his office ticks toward high noon. At the stables, Pell saddles a horse and tries to persuade Kane to mount it and leave town. Their conversation becomes an argument, and then a fist fight. Kane finally knocks his former deputy senseless, then goes into the street to face Miller and his gang. In one of the most iconic shots in film history, the camera rises and widens to show Kane standing alone on a deserted street in a deserted town.
The outlaws approach and the gunfight begins. Kane guns down Ben Miller and Colby, but is wounded in the process. As the train is about to leave the station, Amy hears the gunfire, leaps off, and runs back to town. Choosing her husband's life over her religious beliefs, she picks up Ben Miller's gun and shoots Pierce from behind, leaving only Frank Miller, who grabs Amy as a shield to force Kane into the open. Amy claws Miller's face and he pushes her to the ground, giving Kane a clear shot, and he shoots Miller dead.
Kane helps his bride to her feet and they embrace. As the townspeople emerge and cluster around him, Kane surveys them with bitter contempt, wordlessly throws his marshal's star in the dirt, and departs with Amy on their wagon. | revenge | train | wikipedia | Please don't forsake me O' my Darlin'. **SPOILERS** When hostage negotiator Lt. Phoebe McNamara got under the skin of fellow cop Arnie Meeks on showing him up in how to do his job things started to get hot an heavy between the two flatfoots. This happened when Officer Meeks was on the scene when a hostage taker ended up blowing his brains out before Phoebe, who should have been called earlier by Meeks, had a chance to talk him out of doing it.Given a 30 day suspension by his boss Lt. Phoebe McNamara Meeks just couldn't help himself in taking it out on her to the point where he attacked Phoebe right in the police station stairway, wearing a ski mask, almost breaking her jaw. It's later that Phoebe is again targeted by some unseen psycho but by then it's obvious that Meeks isn't the guy. It's someone from Phoebe's past who holds her personally responsible for the death, while being held hostage, of someone very near and dear to him.The film "High Noon" never really takes off with Lt. Phoebe McNamara and her new found boyfriend lottery winner and bar owner Ducan Swift being stalked by an unseen and deranged lunatic all throughout the movie. The guy goes so far as to gun down young hostage taker Charles "Raz" Jackson just as Phoebe was about to have him give himself up to the police just to make her look bad.Fantasizing himself to be the late actor Gary Cooper, he even insist on being called Cooper by the police, the killer want's to replay the climatic shoot-out scene in the movie "High Noon" with him, as far as I can tell, playing the parts of both the good and bad guys in the film. He's also obsessed with clocks-that dominated the 1952 movie "High Noon"-that he sets his explosives with all to detonate at the 12 O'clock mark! The movie ends with Phoebe going against her better judgment and using, or having her fellow cops use, deadly force in finally putting the killer on ice, in the city morgue, only after he was just about to release the people that he was holding hostage! What shocked me about this is that Phoebe did far worse then what Officer Meeks did, not preventing a hostage holder from killing himself, and what she had him suspended from the force for!Very uneven crime drama from the pen or typewriter of Nora Roberts with a number of confusing sub-plots, like Phoebe's shut-in mom Essie, that made the film even far more disjointed then it already was it that's at all possible.. hmm.....not very wary of things. Well...I haven't finished watching the movie, but there are a few things bugging me. So, the main character is a cop/Hostage negotiator, right? She is attacked in the stairwell of the police building, after finding a torn up teddy bear on her front porch. The night she goes home, there is a weirdo outside whistling. Her house has no screens or alarm system that I can tell, and a low porch roof underneath her windows, where someone could EASILY enter the house. Yet, she has her window OPEN for the world, the curtains are open throughout the house and she is like, "lalala....oh a guy whistling..." What is THAT about. You do NOT put your couch underneath windows directly, it isn't safe unless you live in the boonies....you keep your windows shut if you have recently been attacked and for gosh sake be AWARE of your freaking surroundings. She isn't the brightest. Or the director made her not bright or something. And, one more thing. Her child is very young and races to the door to answer it......how many times do parents need to be reminded that small children shouldn't answer the door...it isn't safe? Especially with wackos after you? Sheesh.Disappointing.. Suspension of disbelief.... Although a well-paced film, the notion that a late-twenties, diminutive (5'2"), female with only two years on a police force would already be a lieutenant, is laughable--indeed misinformation--not to mention her running around virtually everywhere in high-heeled boots which would definitely NOT be police-issue!The "Baltimore" setting--including uniform patches and cars with Maryland licence plates--was clearly a stretch, and way too clean and tidy to have been filmed in that seedy city. The closing credits revealed Calgary, Alberta as the main shooting location.The star, Australian-born Ms. Emilie de Ravin, successfully hid her native accent. She must have had a good voice-coach after relocating to the U.S., although I imagine that an American or Canadian actor would be hard-pressed to successfully pull off a believable Australian accent without months of practice!The boyfriend in the film, played by tall (6' 3 1/2") Ivan Sergei, seemed miscast: a hulking, rather odd-ball character and, being a civilian, too often presumptuously showing up to chat with and comfort Ms. de Ravin right smack in the middle of her intense and dangerous police operations--something that would be seriously frowned-upon by the authorities in the real world.Incidentally, the final scene took place at the corner of 16th Avenue and 7th Street, downtown Calgary where today as of this posting (April 2018) most of the retailers shown in the background no longer exist or have moved elsewhere.In the case where a film's closing credits or IMDb data does not specify actual filming locations, I've developed the habit of attempting to identify them by freeze-framing on various, potential giveaways such as vehicle licence plates and/or specific infrastructure such as bridges, the logos on railway and public transit, retail and restaurant names (where they have not deliberately been altered), phone numbers on signage, and even mundane things like the type and colour of fire hydrants, etc.--information which can often be identified and tracked down via Google and online license plate directories in order to solve the mystery, although some places defy analysis. Too many films, for various reasons, do not or will not reveal where they shoot. |
tt0249047 | Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal | The story is centered around a Malayali Syrian Christian-Nasrani ("Nazarene") family. Throughout the film, there are references to the Biblical book Song of Songs. However the film story doesn't follow the same line and differs in many ways. It also has additional meanings added to make it a different story. In Song of Songs, King Solomon tries to coax a slave girl to become his consort. But the slave girl loves a shepherd. The script goes through her dreams and also shows affection that she have to the shepherd. It also shows her attempts to free from guards for returning back to the countryside. At the end, King Solomon having failed to obtain love from the slave girl, allows her to go free and meet her goatherd
In this movie, Solomon is the hero and is shown as one who comes to home at untimely times but still having friendly chat, enquiries & sharing of gifts with family members. He is shown to have special affection to the elder child of the neighboring family. He acknowledges that she is seen doing some errand every time. He protests against the discrimination shown to her by her step father (caretaker). He is ready to make her comfortable and shows his way of life (the song, Akashamake Kanimalar). He was able to convince everyone about his marriage to this girl. He sees her not as a friend nor as someone who requested his help but as an equal partner described by saying that she would be the supervisor of the next season's harvest. But her step father strongly opposes this relationship and brings up her past. Having failed to get her in a legal way, he leaves his own home but to come back a second time. He clearly expresses that in the dialogue "Nee vicharichu njan thiruchu varikayellannu" (You thought that I wouldn't come again). In his second coming, he is ready to punish the evil doers and also take his followers with him who may or may not have a great past. He also absolves her of any issue and had expected her to come out of her house when he had called out her name. That she was reluctant because of her past was dramatically spoken as "Njan vicharichu" (I thought), meaning she concluded that she was forgotten because of her past. The movie ends in a positive note of his family members accepting the marriage | romantic | train | wikipedia | All time classic.
A sensitive portrayal of a mature love story which is lyrical and poetic as the music of the film.
It is the most influential films of its era and still is called the greatest love story told in malayalam.
Mohanlal takes acting to a greater level with his riveting performance and débutante Shari is fresh and appealing.
This is a film which needs to be preserved and re- released because the true value of it is yet to be realised.THe script is very detailed and brings out the intrinsic lifestyle of the kerala catholic syrian Christian.
The screenplay is the king just like all of director Padmarajan's other concepts and this is the best of his work closely followed by Thoovanathumbikal.
The dialogues are crisp and powerful with a local touch.
The music is still popular and the songs are very meaningful.
The entire screenplay is worked around Solomon's songs from the bible and it keeps referring to the vineyards of solomon.
The film is based on K Sudhakaran's novel and is the a great adaptation to the English translation which mean vineyard for us to dwell.
What amazes me is after reading the novel by K Sudhakaran I understood that the screenplay of this film is based on the events that are not mentioned in the book.
It traverses a path that exists but is not mentioned in the book.
Thats the beauty of padmarajan's work.
You need to read the book and see the film to unravel the film in totality..
A real gem.
Late Mr. Patmarajan has a habit.
He loves to glue his viewers to the seat and hypnotize them by his unique movies.
Like Aparan, Thoovana thumbikal, Kallan pavithran, Ennale etc.
He does the same or even much further in Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal.
Malayalam movie viewers still miss him.In this love story, characters Solomon (Mohanlal) and Sofia (Shari) wins our heart.
Whereas, the step father is the key role (Award winning role by Thilakan) that stays with us all the time.
Perfect cast in every way.
Superb photography, great screenplay and unique setting makes this movie a real gem.
I wish men could have his heart when it comes to love....
Romantic film.
Let's go to the villages, let us go to the vineyards and see if the grapes sprout and blossom into the pomegranate, where I will give you love Never forget the love of Malayalees from the mind Sophia's brother-in-law opposes Sommon and Sophia.
These two neighbors are hostile.
But Salam and Sophia did not like this.
Finally, this love can end up in a tragedy ...
this is the story of our film Vineyaprils..
An evergreen classic by padamrajan.
Namukku parkkan munthiri thoppukal is one of the greatest love stories in malayalam.Padmarajan has written a brilliant script.The brilliant direction of padmarajan, extremely pleasing music of johnson,expressive cinematography of venu, the musical and poetric narration of the film,the attractive character of mohanlal and the excellent performance of the actor make it an evergreen classic.
Reply.
i guess the music by Johnson is everlasting too.
the theme music of the movie which comes right at the beginning is haunting.
it will remain etched in everyones memories.
but due credit must be give to Thilakan and Mohan Lal .
the movie wouldn have been complete without their performances.
one still wonders how Thilakan has not received international accolades or even a national award being the kind of perfomer he is.
Most if not all of Padmarajans movies dwell on relationships and are very character centric and again most if not all of his movies are classics.
his early death was a big loss to Malayalam cinema.
his contribution to the golden period of malayalam cinema was immense. |
tt3540564 | Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number | Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number takes place in a heavily anachronic order before and after the events of the original, focusing more on the latter between October and December 1991. During the events of Hotline Miami, the player's character, "Jacket," is unwittingly manipulated into killing off the leadership of the Russian Mob by 50 Blessings, a neo-nationalist terror cell that masquerades as a peaceful activist group. The persona of "Richard", a mysterious figure in a rooster mask that occasionally appeared to Jacket in the original game, appears at different points to the game's playable characters. The player controls these individuals in a series of intersecting plotlines exploring both the background and the aftermath of Jacket's rampage.
After his rampage, Jacket has been arrested and brought to trial. He has gained national notoriety as a result of his macabre and horrific mass murders, committed while wearing rubber animal masks; the game's tutorial level takes place in a slasher film adaptation depicting him as "The Pig Butcher", in which his rescue of a drug-addled sex slave during the first game is re-envisioned as a lurid rape and kidnapping scene. The film's star, Martin Brown, is a sociopathic sadist who relishes at being able to act out his violent fantasies during filming. Martin dies early in the game when accidentally shot with live ammunition on set during the shooting of the film's final scene. A journalist, Evan Wright, is writing a book about Jacket's spree and trying to learn more about the people behind it. Evan is given leads from Manny Pardo, a psychotic police detective who uses his position to go on killing sprees during stakeout operations, justifying them as self-defense.
The Fans, five thrill-seeking killers who are emulating Jacket's spree, carry out a string of murders against petty crooks and drug dealers, unaware of the larger context of Jacket's campaign of violence. Eventually they kill a former henchman of the Russian Mafia, now run by the original boss' son, and when the Son attempts to reconnect with said henchman the Fans follow his call to attack his new hideout. The Fans are all killed during this attack; their last survivor, Tony, is personally killed by Pardo after surrendering to the police, to deny him his "fifteen minutes of fame."
The story of The Soldier, the bearded convenience store owner from the previous game, shows him fighting a war against the Soviet Union in Hawaii alongside Jacket in 1985, prior to the first game's events. America appears to be losing this fictitious war, with cities and islands falling to the Soviet Red Army. The Soldier's elite Commando unit has been engaged in a campaign of deep penetration harassment against Russian fortifications and supply depots, however their increasingly detached and psychologically troubled Colonel appears to be losing his grip on reality as the war proceeds, volunteering them for increasingly desperate and dangerous missions while ruminating on their likely impending deaths and the loss of the war. Their last assignment involves besieging a heavily guarded Power Plant controlled by the Russians. As they make their way into the building, the Soviet commander in charge of it, having apparently gone insane, murders the plant's technicians and begins a meltdown on the main reactor before shooting himself in the head. The Soldier saves Jacket's life during their escape attempt, after a booby trap explodes and severely injures two members of their unit including Jacket, but later dies in 1986 during a nuclear strike on San Francisco which decisively terminates the war, revealing his appearances in the previous game to be Jacket's comatose hallucinations.
The game also follows two other 50 Blessings agents from the original game, Jake and Richter. Jake, a virulently nativist Southern patriot, realizes the officially-peaceful 50 Blessings organization is giving him his orders when he meets with one of their representatives, and praises them. If he avoids the fate depicted in the original game (being captured and murdered by the Russian Mafia during a mission), 50 Blessings takes him to a safehouse but kills him anyway to silence him. Richter, the agent who killed Jacket's girlfriend, is revealed to be reluctant to work with 50 Blessings until they threaten his ailing mother. Like Jacket, Richter is captured and imprisoned, but manages to escape during a prison riot orchestrated by 50 Blessings during which other incarcerated members were to kill him to keep him from corroborating Jacket's testimony.
In 1991, the escaped Richter tells his story to Evan in exchange for plane tickets for his mother to come to Hawaii. Evan's marriage and finances, however, are under pressure as he spends more time working on his book, and the player must choose whether he abandons the book or his family.
The final act of the game is centered on the Son, who is trying to reclaim his father's empire from Colombian gangsters who filled the power vacuum the old boss' death left. Pardo also appears, having a nightmare revealing himself to be the "Miami Mutilator", a serial killer he has supposedly been hunting. Fearful of his colleagues catching on to his crimes, Pardo boards himself up in his house. After the Son eliminates the Colombians, he invites his old henchman to visit their new hideout, inadvertently giving away his location to the Fans and triggering the attack depicted earlier. Under the hallucinatory influence of his own designer drugs he goes on a rampage, killing the superhuman monsters he sees the Fans as, then walking off the hideout's roof on a rainbow bridge to his apparent death.
An epilogue shows Richter, reunited with his mother, hearing on the news that the American and Soviet presidents were both assassinated in an attempted coup d'état, with the prime suspect being an American general. The Soviet Union declares this an act of war, and launches several atomic attacks against the United States which obliterate Miami and Hawaii. Each of the surviving characters are then shown in their last moments - Manny, Evan, the actress from Midnight Animal, and finally Jacket alone in a prison cell - before being obliterated by the bombs. Subsequently, starting a new game adds an extra introductory scene where Richard berates the playable characters for, once again, starting down a path that can only end in their deaths. | violence | train | wikipedia | An Excellent Continuation To A Master Piece. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number is the last installment on the "Hotline Miami" franchise and is also the conclusion to the story from the first game. In this review I'll not reveal any spoiler. The main story revolves mainly on the acts after the events of the first game.On this game you can controls multiple characters,everyone with their one story or motivation,the first one is an actor of a "snob film",so every mission with that character is part of a movie based on the mass murder from the first game.Other group of characters are the "Fans",who are fanatics of the first game protagonist,they make the same kind of massacres to random gangs,using masks with the same style as the ones from the las installment. Other important characters are a detective and a writer,the detective is trying to solve the case from HLM1,but in the way he makes the same actions as the murderer.The writer,who is also a friend of the detective,is writing a book about the case,getting information all the way into the game. Other minor characters are: a guy from a national group who is against the Russian mafia,the Russian mafia leader,a Russian mafia member,a character from the first game who is also a "mask assassin" and a group of soldiers in Hawaii(1985). The gameplay on this game is practically the same from the first one,the campaign also consist on the same kind of levels with the same enemies. the difference between this game a the first one are mainly on the story,on this campaign you have a bunch of characters with different stories,not like the first one where you could play with only 2 on the whole game.Other thing is that the story is more clear and less cryptic than the first one,where you didn't had any clue about what was going on until 3/4 of the campaign and even there everything was blurry and ambiguous.Nonetheless,this story is equally involving and psychedelic,and even more brutal. This game is a perfect sequel to an extremely well done game,keeping the same "spirit" of the first one. If you are interested to read my thoughts on HLM!,please visit the IMDb page of the game. Thanks for reading! 10/10. Fast, Brutal, Fun, and Intelligent. I've beaten the original Hotline Miami 2 times, and loved it both times. When I heard there was going to be a sequel, boy, was I excited. When it released, I was unable to get it... but now, I've played it, and these are my thoughts.Hotline Miami 2 instantly gets points for having a longer story than it's predecessor, and also for having yet another rocking soundtrack that I listen to even when I'm not playing it. While this is cool and all, I do have to address one thing about the story (no spoilers, I promise): one of the reasons the original Hotline Miami was so great was that it was thought provoking in the ways it created mysteries out of minor events, and major events alike. Wrong Number, however, makes the mistake of TELLING you what most of what those mysteries were, and not keeping them mysterious. Regardless, I still found the story to be equally enjoyable, and intelligent in both it's presentation and content.Then there's the game-play. In sequel tradition, not much has really changed here, other than a few characters having some new abilities, but the U.I. (User Interface) has been worked on, and... looks allot better than last time. This said, though, the actual design (and not mechanics) has gone through an overhaul, making for much longer stages that take a while to beat (a later level actually took me an hour and a half to beat, if you want any confirmation). While this seems cool on paper, and for most of the time, a glaring issue (that cannot be fixed) about the first game only shines brighter: getting killed from an enemy you couldn't see. Does this make the game more tactical? Yes... BUT, it also makes it allot more slower-paced than it should be. In conclusion, Hotline Miami 2 offers better design, story, and music, but I can't help but find little nitpicks every time I play it. Is it as good as the first game? Yes, but don't come into it thinking it will surpass the original by any standards.. One of My Favs.. It's a brilliant follow up to the original Hotline Miami(2012), in which it concludes the story of the 50 blessings conspiracy and the ever-strange phone calls that the original character, Jacket, received from 50 blessings in the first game. It tells the story un- chronologically, from different views of the playable characters. There is the Fans, 5 vigilantes obsessed with the phone calls that Jacket received in the first game, Jake, a 50 blessings operator found dead in the first game, Manny Pardo, a Miami PD detective who bends the rules by slaughtering a bunch of people, Evan Wright, a man who is trying to write a book about the masked killings, and has a interesting "no killing policy" to his gameplay, the Henchman, a mobster who wants to get out of the game, Richter Berg, the 50 blessings operator who shot Jacket and his girlfriend in the first game, and finally the Son, the son of the mob boss that Jacket killed in the first game. Good game, great gameplay, I highly recommend playing it. -theringingguy. |
tt2369396 | Bounty Killer | Two of the highest ranked bounty killers in the Thrice Burned Lands, Drifter (Matthew Marsden) and Mary Death (Christian Pitre) team up to exterminate a party full of yellow-tied corporate criminals. Drifter’s explosive killing style is in stark contrast to Mary’s graceful way of delivering death to white collar scum. Despite their difference in style, they exhibit level of comfort with one another that seems to indicate a long and dynamic history between these celebrity assassins. After the fight moves to a skyscraper’s rooftop, Drifter disposes of his intended target and saves Mary from falling to her death.
The bounty killers ride into the bustling town of San Dalloosa, Drifter on his chopper, Mary in her signature cherry-topped death machine. They arrive at Daft Willy’s Chop Shop and Bounty Supply, a converted jet fuselage from the Corporate Wars where bounty killers exchange the bodies of slain targets for cash. A crowd has gathered at the entrance to welcome the heroes. Drifter doesn’t attract the same amount of attention from the paparazzi as Mary Death—how could he? She’s stunningly beautiful—a chiseled, unrepentant killer in thigh high boots. She greets her fans and the press, telling them “I never pull out before the big kill.” While Mary basks in her fans’ adoration, Drifter meets an exuberant gun caddy for hire named Jack LeMans (Barak Hardley). Drifter is not in the mood to hear Jack’s very enthusiastic offer of service, so he leaves him at the gate and heads on into Willy’s.
Inside we meet the proprietor, Daft Willy (Kevin McNally). He’s a cantankerous English thug in a blood-soaked apron who will log your kills for the Council of Nine while delivering you a healthy, filth-laden dose of sass. Willy tells Drifter a new death warrant has been issued for their friend Snaggletooth Harry. Drifter’s distress over this revelation attracts the attention of Mary, who enters with a cart full of dead executives. She’s curious to know why he’d make such a big deal out of a small-time collar, telling him “He must be your snitch.” Just then, Jack springs out of Mary’s cart. Willy, Drifter and Mary all pull their guns. Jack pleads for one chance to prove he’s the world’s greatest gun caddy. Drifter decides to give him a shot, knowing he’ll probably be dead within a week anyway. After the bounty killers leave, Daft Willy receives a new death warrant on his Council-Comm printer. The look on his face tells us this isn’t your everyday warrant.
Jack and Drifter practice tossing guns back and forth from Drifter’s chopper to Jack’s scooter. They’re on their way to Harry’s Whisky Saloon in Drip Rock to find out why he’s a wanted man. Meanwhile, Mary works on her Mustang’s rear differential which was overstressed by the massive pile of bodies she towed on her trailer. She fixes the car, kicks the trailer away and vows to her car, “No more attachments, just like mama.” At that moment, a tiny car approaches. Out pops Greg Gunney (Jeff Meacham), a sleazy salesman in a sport coat/turtleneck combo. He offers Mary a chance to “join the team” and use her celebrity to endorse his company, Wasteland Resorts—a subsidiary of Second Sun Enterprises, the mysterious company of yellow-ties Mary encountered at the loft party. Mary sees through Greg’s scheme and executes him and his bodyguard with her signature go-go boot spur-kick-to-the-throat move. Upon searching his car she finds a disturbing death warrant—it’s for Francis Gorman, aka “Drifter.”
Back in Drip Rock, Drifter finds that Harry is dead, his body surrounded by copies of the Francis Gorman death warrant. It’s a trap. Mary arrives in Drip Rock and confronts Drifter about the poster. She’s furious that he lied to her. Drifter assures her there is some sort of mistake and he’s going to the Council building to work it all out. She won’t let him off that easy. “I’m going with you, and that’s not a request.” She fires her gun at Drifter which sends him flying out the second story window. Upon landing he’s attacked by several yellow-tied goons. He calls to Jack to grab the bikes. Though grossly outnumbered, the bounty killers eliminate their attackers while arguing about whether or not Mary gets to tag along to see the Council. Just as the last goon drops dead from his sniper post, Jack and Drifter haul ass out of town. Mary puts her hair up and struts to her Mustang.
Outside the town, Mary fires at Drifter and Jack. Jack tells Drifter she won’t be a problem because he modified the car’s boosters while they were in Harry’s Saloon. Mary kicks on her boosters, sending the vehicle into a violent donut spin before bursting into flames. Jack: “That’s not supposed to happen.” Drifter looks back to a soot-covered Mary to make sure she’s alive. She looks back to Drifter with deep anger in her eyes.
Back in Drip Rock, a slick Corvette stingray enters the town square, now littered with the bodies of several yellow ties. Behind the wheel is Van Sterling (Gary Busey), a high ranking executive at Second Sun. He questions one of the struggling henchmen and learns the bounty killers got away and are on their way to the Council. Van then answers a call on his briefcase video phone. He relays the information about the bounty killers to his boss, a severe business woman in yellow stilettos by the name of Catherine (Kristanna Loken). She encourages him to “finish the job” or she will have no choice but to terminate him. Van promises to track down the bounty killers and “keep the killing alive.”
Later that night, Drifter explains to Jack that he’s a wanted criminal and that he should take off. Jack vows to stay. Suddenly, out of the darkness, Drifter is approached by a skull-faced assassin who holds a knife to his throat. This is a Gypsy.
Drifter and Jack are tied to a pole in the middle of a rambunctious celebration at a Gypsy camp. Heavy drinking, fire dancing and other revelry surround the two prisoners. From the largest tent enters the Gypsy Queen, Mocha Sujata (Eve Jeffers). Mocha interrogates Drifter, wanting to know the location of Nuri, a Gypsy girl who escaped their camp many years ago. “She mentioned the name Drifter.” Mocha, not happy with Drifter’s refusal to give up any information, orders another Gypsy to burn him with her fire wands. Despite the extreme torture, Drifter keeps his mouth shut. Mocha calls off the interrogation for the night, leaving the prisoners alone. Drifter confesses to Jack that the Gypsies are looking for Mary. Jack doesn’t understand why Drifter would risk their lives for a woman who tried to kill them, but then realizes that Drifter must be in love with Mary. Drifter explains how he first met Mary many years ago when she lived her life as a Gypsy named Nuri. Nuri approached him while he was in the company of a prostitute Estelle (Mindy Robinson) and demanded he teach her how to be a bounty killer. While training her, they fell in love. But the relationship ended when Drifter suggested they get a place together and settle down.
At daybreak, the Gypsies are all passed out from a hard night of knocking back pots of roach liquor. Drifter and Jack have cut themselves free from the pole. They climb atop a Gypsy coach (an Airstream trailer pulled by three motorcycles) and make their escape from the camp. Upon hearing the engines’ roar, the Gypsies awake and chase after their prisoners. A Western-style stagecoach scene unfolds when Jack and Drifter try to eliminate their pursuers. A bazooka finishes them off and allows the guys to ride off into the desert.
Mary arrives at the Thirsty Beaver, the bounty killer training facility and tavern where she lived during her training with Drifter. Inside she finds the Beaver’s owner, Lucille (Beverly D’Angelo). Lucille helps Mary get cleaned up and back on the road with her old Gypsy bike. She makes sure Mary leaves with her chest-plate armor, telling her “Sometimes it pays for a girl to be practical.”
Jack and Drifter pull the Gypsy coach up to a small shack in the middle of what appears to be a junkyard. Outside the shack is a Chevy Nova painted up in Pabst Blue Ribbon race car livery. Drifter tells Jack they need the help of the car’s driver, a coyote named Jimbo (Abraham Benrubi), who will help them get across the Badlands and over to the Council building. Jimbo tells the guys there’s too much risk and that he’s not willing to do the job no matter what price they’re willing to pay. Drifter convinces Jimbo by offering him a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Jimbo’s favorite drink and a rarity in the post-apocalyptic world.
Mary is lost in the Badlands, a war-torn city engulfed by a violent nuclear storm. She sees a beacon that leads her to Azimuth’s map shop. Inside she meets the mapmaker and pleads with him to help her find her way out of the Badlands and over to the Council building. He refuses to help her until he looks up and realizes she’s the famous Mary Death. He then offers to help in exchange for an autograph.
Jimbo successfully makes his way through the Badlands in record time. To celebrate, he cracks open a can of Pabst. “Now I can die a happy man.” Just then Jimbo is shot in the arm by an unseen assailant. The car takes several more hits from a sniper in the hills while Drifter, Jack and Jimbo take cover. Drifter soon realizes the shooter is Mary. He convinces her to come down from the hill and talk it out. Mary points a gun at Drifter and tells him he’s a dead man. Jack has had enough. He loses it, exclaiming that he’s sick of all the guns and the Badlands and Gypsies trying to eat them. He tells Mary that Drifter was beaten to hell by the Gypsies but never gave her up because he loves her. He also points out that Mary could have easily shot Drifter, but she didn’t because she loves him. Mary drops her gun and agrees to let them use her map to get to the Council.
The group arrives at the Council building and finds the village destroyed by an army of yellow-ties. Inside the Council chamber are the slain bodies of the Council judges. Drifter explains how he knew there must be something wrong. He knew the Council personally. In fact, he was offered a position to be the tenth judge but refused in order to become the first bounty killer. Mary is distraught by the Council’s death, but agrees they must go after those responsible—Second Sun. Just then our heroes are captured and surrounded by another group of yellow-ties including Van and Catherine, who we learn was once married to Drifter. Catherine explains her plan to pin the death of the Council on Mary Death so Second Sun can step in and promise a better life to the survivors of the Thrice Burned Lands. Just when we think all is lost both groups are attacked by Gypsies! During the fight, Jimbo is shot again but saved by Jack who hides him in the trunk of the Nova. Mary leaves Drifter to fight with Mocha. Then Jack leaves Drifter to fight with Van. Drifter is then knocked unconscious and taken aboard the Second Sun helicopter with Catherine. They fly away as the battle rages on. Mary kills Mocha, but is severely injured in the process.
Mary awakes in a Gypsy tent to find Jack at her bedside. He tells her the Gypsies are now under her control because she killed their queen. They make a plan to free Drifter from Second Sun with the help of Mary’s new Gypsy army. Inside Second Sun we find Drifter shaven and wearing a suit. He’s tied to a chair in a glass office. Catherine enters and tells him she’d like to reinstate his position as CEO of Gorman Enterprises, now owned by Second Sun. She thinks his “Drifter” celebrity will inspire market confidence. “Run this company with me, Francis. It’s the only thing you’ve ever been good at.” Just then Mary and Jack burst into the office bullpen with their Gypsy army. They knock Catherine unconscious and rescue Drifter. Jack, now a quick and precise gun caddy, assists Drifter and Mary as they unleash their fury upon the employees of Second Sun. Just as they’re about to make their escape, Mary is shot down by Catherine. Drifter kills Catherine and runs to Mary’s lifeless body. He then realizes Mary is wearing a chest-plate. Jack and Drifter carry Mary to safety.
Mary and Drifter spend two weeks naked in each other’s arms back at the Thirsty Beaver. Jimbo gives Jack his last can of Pabst to thank him for saving him from the Gypsies. Mary, now in a new black leather get-up, comes down the stairs and hops into her new cherry-topped death machine, a gift from Jack to make up for blowing up her old one. She tells Jack she’s off to do battle with another branch of Second Sun then hits the gas and takes off. Drifter runs out, stabbed again in the spleen by Mary. She looks to him in the rearview: “Come and get me, old man.” | violence | train | wikipedia | Everything is fine until "drifter" has a bounty put out on him and he has to make it across " the badlands " and gangs of crazed killers out for his blood to clear his name.What follows is a frenetic, comic book style, sci fi, action flick with ass kicking women, dressed in next to nothing, some toting guns.
While not my favorite, I had an enjoyable time watching this film and feel it was one of the better action comedy's I have seen in a while.
Its post-apocalyptic, Its based on a graphic novel, the main character is called "Drifter," Barak Hardley declares PBR Tastes like boobies.
Matthew Marsden did real good as the brooding "Drifter" & Christian Pitre as "Mary Death" stole the show with her spicy combination of ruthlessness & sexy.
Many critics miss the point of movies like this and complain about the "bad acting." It takes professionals to translate the freeze-frame action of a graphic novel to the action sequences in a movie, and this is one of those flicks.
Plot is pretty good (about how corporations end up running everything and produce an apocalypse), lots of action (if you don't like the sight of blood this film is not for you), fight scenes are well done, plot twists are predictable, but not too contrived within the confines of the film, and in the end, there's a little more to the plot than expected.
I must admit that I hadn't initially expected much from "Bounty Killers", so I was pleasantly surprised when I sat down to watch this movie.This movie is sort of a strange hybrid mix of "Mad Max", "Bitchslap" spiced up with elements from the "Borderlands" games.
The end result is entertaining and fast paced, although the storyline is just so-so, but it is more than weighed up for by action and fighting.The story is about the world being controlled and run by corporations, and a few men and women stand up against the mega corporations, literally fighting the corporate machine.And that is basically it, the storyline is rather weak and thin, but you look past that as you become emerged in the violence and action of this movie.The acting in the movie was alright, nothing spectacular or outstanding, but alright.
And as a bonus, then it was really cool to see Beverly D'Angelo (playing Lucille) in this movie, and although I am not really fond of Gary Busey (playing Van Sterling), then he was here, and I am sure someone out there will get a kick out of that.The camera-work was nice, lots of interesting angles and shots, no pun intended.
Well first off i like action films.And there's a few actors in this i love.I was lucky enough to view this with a friend thats in the industry and i loved every minute of it.Set in the future a bit on the style of the old Mad Max films.But we see a welcome change and unique story line.I Love Gary Busey and even though a small part.He acts well the lead actor and woman were brilliant in there roll.As was there gun minder.Stuntwork brilliant effects cool And directed brilliantly.I Am recommending this one.I Love to see beautiful woman in good and bad roles and there is plenty here to see.I Also recommend at the end of the film you watch the credits they have put some bloopers at the end.Showing you some funny segments.So get the popcorn out give it a go its a great action film.
'Mad Max (1979)' meets 'Kill Bill (2004)' meets 'Sin City (2005)' in this graphic novel adaptation of 'KICKSTART' by Jason Dodson (story) and Henry Saine (artist), also the director.The film is fun to watch with its boobs, blood, beer and bounty plot.
I gave a 7 because to me this movie was very funny and I really enjoyed the story behind it.The acting was not too bad, at least most of it was believable and the unknown actors were great.
Nope, it is the right feel for the right situation.To me the best part of this film is the story: bounty killers hunting the white collars bastards that (still as we speak) ruled this world.
It is such a liberation of the mind to see evil people getting eliminated by the dozens, too bad there was not enough of them to my taste but still it was bliss!Christian Pitre looks so hot in the Mary Death costume it's nice for the eyes :-) Matthew Marsden is quite good too in this flick, he is the cool guy that keeps things straight...well almost.This is a movie to see if you like action, comedy and violence this is for you, it will totally entertain you.
This is the first movie of the year (2013) that hasn't annoyed me in some way.The only way I can think of to describe this movie is to say that it's like being 15 years old and reading a really great comic book.It's huge fun and all way over the top.
which is in a sense ironic because this caper is as daft as they come!The film embraces every cliché of the 70's grindhouse era of B movies and comes through with a fun filled, classic romp.Beverly D'Angelo and Gary Busey play small parts with relish and there are a few other faces you'll recognize, too.Stick around for some bloopers during the final credits...First rate fun!.
This one is after...and the people want revenge!The director has a lot of credits as a graphic artist on some great TV shows and it appears he co-wrote the movie with his cousin.
It's not earth shattering or a movie you have to think hard about while watching just some good old fun and a great way to spend a couple of hours.I found the acting to be pretty well done for this type of flick, something I did not expect so it was a nice surprise.
Had great action and quite a few laughs we had a great time watching this flick it was an unexpected little gem.Matthew Marsden did quite well in the main role but the surprise for me was Christian Pitre as Mary Death she was just great I had never seen her in anything before this and after watching this movie I will look forward to seeing what she does next..
If you like Tarantino, Graphic Novel, Campy, Art House style films, you will love this.
A extreme post-apocalyptic action gore comedy that proves to be far more accomplished—and far funnier—that it probably has any right to be.Celebrity assassins Drifter, his nemesis/lover Mary Death, and their novice gun caddy (who's supposed to schlep a golf bag full of military assault weapons, recommending the appropriate gun for each kill) Road Warrior their way through a nuclear hellscape in which the evil Ayn Rand-inspired war criminals & their murderous henchmen all wear Armani suits with very loud matching ties; the armies of moral ambiguity are Juggalos; Western "stagecoaches" are Winnebagos hitched to synchronized Harleys; and the ultimate currency is a can of PBR.
If you like your low budget action movies, spiced with Science Fiction, Western and one super hot leading lady, you could do worse than this.
The only think good about the movie is the T&A displayed by Mary Death.
In the not too distant future, greedy corporate types have caused the collapse of civilisation; as retribution for their crimes against humanity, they are hunted by bounty killers, the most famous of which are Drifter (Matthew Marsden) and his sexy sidekick Mary Death (Christian Pitre).
But when Mary discovers that Drifter is a wanted criminal, he and his eager gun caddie Jack (Barak Hardley) find themselves pursued into the badlands, where a cannibalistic tribe of gypsies is just one of the dangers awaiting them.Bounty Killer is a calculated attempt at achieving cult status—every element designed to appeal to fans of exploitation and B-movie madness—which is one of the reasons why I found it so irritating: I believe that cult-dom should come naturally to a film.
What makes matters even worse than its thoroughly contrived nature is that, despite all of the film-makers' best efforts, it frequently misses the mark: the comic-book style story is weak, the characters are inane, the humour uneven, the action poorly executed (the lame Road Warrior-inspired chase scene drives home just how brilliant George Miller's film is even after 30+ years), and the satire uninspired (corporate types are the villains—how droll).About the only thing that the film gets right is the graphic violence, which is frequent and very gory (and achieved mostly using practical effects), with splattery bullet hits, heads cleaved in half, guts spilt, and limbs hacked off..
This could have a been a good movie, but the Mary Death character was extraordinarily bitchy!
But, the animated graphics were done pretty well, and overall the movie was competently made -- it was reminiscent of the Mad Max series, with copious amounts of blood, gore, and gun-play.
In an attempt to bring to justice (justice aka death) the yellow-tie-wearing corporate badasses that thrust the world into a post-apocalyptic Mad Max: The Road Warrior type of dark age, a group of bounty killers have arisen to become the idols of the common man that has suffered due to rampant greed and corruption.At the forefront of the commoner's admiration is bounty killer, Mary Death (Christian Pitre).
Things get even murkier when a secret of Drifter's past becomes a focus of Mary Death's hunt which non-coincidentally occurs while a Corporate official (Terminator 3's Kristanna Loken) attempts to lure Drifter to the side of yellow-ties.With a film poster that reminded us of Bitch Slap and a setting that was very reminiscent of The Road Warrior, Bounty Killer attempts all too hard to become the kind of 80's film that has now been delegated a cult-classic (Megaforce, Ice Pirates).
Jack LeMans (Barak Hardley) joins Drifter as his gun caddie and offers the films comic relief to a movie that felt like individual scenes and pieces were cut and paste together with the hopes of materializing into a cohesive feature film.A supporting cast that includes more familiar faces such as Beverley D'Angelo (National Lampoon's Vacation) and Gary Busey (The Apprentice) do little to elevate the film from being little more than a time waster with some half decent chase scenes that are punctuated by CGI rendered violence.Animated segments scattered throughout the 90-minute runtime contain the film's best moments and Kristanna Loken shows that she is at her best when she is a non-speaking cyborg out to change the future.Director Harry Saine, who last directed The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu (2010) again falls short of putting together a full 90-minutes of entertainment (although we would look more towards the scripts he has assigned himself to work with).
If you like Mad Max, with a little dose of Max Barry (Syrup,) then this is a masterpiece.I don't know why this didn't win every award ever, but if they had called it the Mad Max sequel before Thunder Road came out, I would have believed them and loved it every bit as much as the real McCoy.It's not a serious film, but it has serious attention to detail almost on-par with Dr. Strangelove, and it's just plain fun to watch.I give it 10 stars, though I admit to being weird.
And all Marsden wants to do is reach the Counsel and plead his case, despite being repeatedly warned that he will be shot and killed before ever entering the Counsel.In a race from point A to point B, Drifter is joined by a small band of friends, like his newest gun caddy (Barak Hardley), and the number one bounty killer, Mary Death (Christian Pitre).
It is a dangerous trek across the radioactive badlands; facing the Gypsies–a formidable group of cannibalistic bounty killers with agendas against Mary Death and Drifter.Other stars in the film include Gary Busey as Van Sterling, Beverly D'Angelo as Lucielle, and Eve Jeffers as Mocha Sukata.
Filled with some great action, credible dialogue, creative blood and gore killings, sexy women and a compelling plot, I enjoyed Bounty Killer very much.
The movie also includes a great love story and its really funny, thanks to the actor who plays the gun caddy.
While I was reading the intro the film begin to play without me even hitting the Play button.So I figure I would stick with it turns out to be one of the most violence and insane movies I ever saw it was like they mix Kill Bill, The Road Warriors, Mad Max all into one film it goes to show why it is so much gore and violence that would make even the most instant Action movie fans go crazy.With the story being inspired by a graphic novel and as the plot advances we learn more and more about the characters in this film.
The story in this film is one you have to watch to fully understand it.However the gore factor really could hurt those who can't handle this intense there is plenty of blood and gore to match with the violence of this film that might hurt your interest in the film.The acting in the film does well to match the story with Christian Pitre and Matthew Marsden giving very good performances as the main protagonists.
The camera work helps makes the story believable Overall Bounty Killer was a interesting and insane movie that I'm sure many would enjoy however some of the violence could hurt the film but nevertheless it is a good movie just have to look past thatI give Bounty Killer a 6 out of 10.
I found this movie very enjoyable to watch, Granted it's full of gore, but the gore is comical and I did not find it offensive and in many instances it was quite funny.The story is different from other post-apocalyptic movies I have seen and it was a much better movie than the latest Mad max thing which tried to be serious and failed miserably to be mildly interesting.I am still waiting for a Bounty Killer III.
A good "bad movie." Solid cheesy action throughout with some hot women and rather extreme violence set in a derivative apocalyptic landscape.
Not brilliant film-making by any means, but still better than most of the movies I've streamed recently and which probably had products budgets ten times greater.
I'd love to know why and how ANYONE can think this awesome movie isn't good?
SPEND YOUR MONEY and watch it twice.Why is it good, let me count the ways: 1) It is an action/adventure movie!
I can't help but think that Roger Corman could have done more with this high concept premise, and it essentially gets discarded in favor of Mad Max homages until the climax.If all you want is to ogle a B actress in a post-apocalyptic film with some good if derivative action sequences, then this is a good choice.
In this attempt, bounty killers are like rock stars and one of the best is the hottie who calls herself Mary Death.
Of course, the corporate types fight back, there's your conflict, and it's all great fun if you don't think about it seriously for more than a nanosecond.The film has two major flaws.
The lead actress is not only very hot, but had a pretty bad ass style and with a name like Mary Death, how can you go wrong?
The First Reviewer gave it 1 star and said Avoid at all costs, I thought this was a gross Misrepresentation, and needed to be squashed voraciously."Bounty Killer", Is a Wonderful Film, reminded me a lot of MAD MAX, with a dash of 300's graphic novel style Thrown in.
Of Course this Film is a Movie rendition of The Bounty Killer Graphic novel, and I do like the Graphic novels adapted to Film, there is something Very Artsy about them, its almost as if a lot more thought has gone into the Look of the film and the characters.Maybe the storyline isn't Genius and maybe its a bit over the top in some scenes, but on the whole, "Bounty Killer" was an Extremely entertaining *GoreBuster* for the entire duration.The character of Mary Death, Played by Christian Pitre, is Gorgeous!
Our film's heroes, Mary Death and a man known only as Drifter are out for the fame and the cash that come with the job.I'm finding it difficult to write about the movie without sounding like a 12 year-old fan-girl gushing about the latest boy band.
When you think about the limited budget director Henry Saine had to work with, Bounty Killer is even more amazing.
And, Bounty Killer even has a similar vibe to a movie like Rodriguez's Machete - a fun action movie that doesn't take itself seriously.
The plot didn't make a lot of sense, but then this wasn't a plot driven film.Drifter (Matthew Marsden) and Mary Death (Christian Pitre) are the Bonnie and Clyde of Bounty Hunters.
I remembered Matthew Marsden from Rambo and Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid also is part in Resident Evil and the horror movie Tamara which was quit good.Not sure why this guy is not getting more exposure he is a great actor.Super hot Christian Pitre who i did not know before this movie is very easy on the eye and has her role Marie Death down to the T.The film is beautiful, in many ways looks like a mad max movie with great action scenes and lot more gore.Its sad i feel this movie is going to go under the radar because its a b movie and does not seem to have a lot of exposure.Great action gore sci fi 8/10.
Takes me back to the old way of making films and makes me think of EVIL DEAD, BAD TASTE etc.Mix in some V8's, motorbikes, MAD MAX style high speed chases across the desert and huge killing sprees that were all well directed/choreographed and acted.Chuck it in your guilty pleasure pile.. |
tt0032356 | Contraband | Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) is an ex-smuggler who now has a peaceful life with his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), and their two sons in New Orleans. They learn that Kate's brother Andy (Caleb Landry Jones) was smuggling drugs, but dropped them into the Mississippi River during a surprise inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Andy's boss, mobster Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), threatens to kill Chris' family if Andy doesn't pay him back $700,000. Chris decides to raise the money by running contraband, working with his former smuggling partner, Sebastian Abney (Ben Foster), who now owns a legitimate construction company. Promising Kate he will not run drugs, Chris joins a cargo ship, planning to buy $10,000,000 in fake bills in Panama and smuggle them into the U.S. He is joined by Andy, his good friend Danny Raymer (Lukas Haas), and gets help from crew mates. After Briggs broke into Chris' house and intimidated his wife and children, Kate moves into Sebastian's house for safety.
In Panama, Chris discovers that the only one who can provide high quality fake bills is crime lord Gonzalo (Diego Luna). Leaving Andy in the van with the money for the fake bills, Chris meets with Gonzalo to negotiate. Briggs calls Andy, threatens to kill one of Chris' sons and forces him to take the money and buy cocaine. With the money gone, Chris and Danny agree to help Gonzalo rob an armored car in exchange for the fake bills. After a shootout in which Gonzalo's group along with numerous police and security officers get killed, they successfully steal a Jackson Pollock painting that resembles a splattered tarp. Chris and Danny barely make it back to the ship with the fake bills and the painting. They drive the van with contraband into a container, which is loaded onto their cargo ship. Chris hits and berates Andy for using the money to buy cocaine, but apologizes when Andy explains the reason.
It is revealed that Sebastian is working with Briggs, and he desperately needs money to pay gangster Jim Church (David O'Hara). Sebastian calls Chris and learns that Chris plans to get rid of the cocaine Andy bought. Sebastian instructs Briggs to threaten Kate. Through Kate, Briggs warns Chris not to dump the cocaine. Chris realizes that Sebastian has betrayed him. Sebastian contacts the cargo ship's Captain Camp (J. K. Simmons), with whom he has a partnership. He tells Camp of Chris' smuggled contraband, and promises him a share if he secures it. Unable to get Chris to give up the contraband, Camp calls U.S. Customs to inspect the ship in New Orleans. The Customs agents find the container with Chris' van, which is empty except for the paint splattered tarp, which they ignore.
Once Chris is on shore, Briggs and his thugs demand the drug package. Chris takes Briggs to Camp's house, having made a duplicate key while on the ship, and knowingly activates the security system. Chris opens Camp's carpet cleaner and retrieves the cocaine from it. While Briggs and his gang sit in Camp's living room with the cocaine, Chris sneaks out. Camp awakens to the noise and comes into the living room as the police arrive. Both Briggs's group and Camp are arrested for possession of the cocaine.
Warned by Chris, Kate leaves Sebastian's house. When she goes back to retrieve some personal items, Sebastian gets angry with her and accidentally pushes her against a bathtub. Thinking she is dead, he dumps her (unconscious) body in a yet to be poured foundation at one of his construction sites. Chris goes to Sebastian's construction site and manages to locate and save Kate by calling her cellphone. Sebastian is arrested and sent to prison, where he is greeted by a lynch mob.
Danny retrieves the fake bills, which were dumped into the Mississippi River by Chris before docking in New Orleans. At a U.S. Customs auction, Andy buys the escape van earlier confiscated from the cargo ship, and finds the painting still in it. Church pays Chris $3 million for the fake currency and asks about the missing Jackson Pollock. Chris learns the painting can be fenced for over $20 million on the black market. The film ends with Chris, Kate, Andy and the boys beginning a new life in a waterfront house. | violence, intrigue | train | wikipedia | But, Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson are the hidden pleasures in this film.
Above all, Contraband demonstrates how film makers (outside of Powell and Pressberger) missed the boat in not taking advantage of Veidt's sophisticated persona, understated acting skills, and comedic flair..
Veidt and Hobson encounter one another on his ship, and then whiz across London, first pursuing/eluding one another, then working together to undo a German spy ring.
Much hugger-mugger, with a multitude of British character actors working in blackout darkness and then brightly-lit, often chaotic interiors (train compartments, restaurants, ship's lounges, nightclubs, elevators ....) Veidt and Hobson are charming in tandem, with a grownup sexual tension that for this viewer was a striking contrast to the more standard youthful leads of that time (and ours).
Clearly made on a budget, the entire production nonetheless looks & feels terrific - gritty shipboard all-male scenes, a couple of nightclub production numbers that have to be seen to be believed, a swell Art Deco townhouse - and underneath it all, maneuvering through the London blackout as a necessary given, a condition of life that the Brits seem to take for granted as the darkest days of the war approach.
I had never seen Veidt so sympathetic - here a memorable leading man, versus his more well-know villains..And I was until now unfamiliar with Hay Petrie, here in a double role as Veidt's shipboard second-in-command, and that character's brother, a volatile (& hilarious) Danish restaurateur (don't ask!) All in all - a delight..
It's true that this film is concocted out of the same ingredients of contemporary Hitchcock film - spy suspense and romance between stand offish lovers wrapped up in a crust of a comedy of manners but it's interesting to see the results from a different chef.
It would seem that one film's goals was to create a positive sympathy among Scandinavians by having the lions share of defeating the Nazi spy ring accomplished by the hereto neutral Danes handily recruited from a restaurant evocatively named The Viking.
But all of these elements are held subtly in the background, as is a virtual encyclopedia of ordinary life in London, especially the demands of the blackout.However all these are subsidiary interests to the real focus of the film, the relationship between Veidt and Hobson.
In many way this was a repackaging of their pairing in a previous Powell film, THE SPY IN BLACK, which ends, in romantic terms, unsatisfactorily, i.e. she goes back to her husband and he dies.
Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson had appeared together with surprising effect in 'The Spy in Black'.
They were reunited in this splendid comedy thriller with a Hitchcockian mode the following year.Lots of action and wry humour, with a pleasing spy story set in a London blackout.
To do this, she steals the landing pass of the ship's skipper (Veidt) whilst the ship is in harbour for a contraband check.Veidt follows her to London where they encounter a Nazi spy ring intent on obtaining this information.
They are tied up, but Veidt escapes, and with the help of fellow Danes (Veidt is Danish in this film, and a good guy!), foils the plot.Funny, charming, sexy and thrilling (with just a little bit of bondage!), and with a great chemistry between the two stars.Great fun!.
I bought this movie because it was directed by Michael Powell, scripted by Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and starred Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson (a great important British director/producer/writer and two great stars).
It's about a Danish sea captain who's forced to follow two missing and suspicious passengers while his ship is being temporarily held by the British.
What follows is a spy mystery through London during the days of Blackouts....and is ever bit as clever, amusing and suspenseful as any of Hitchcock's superb British sound films.
I URGE you to check out this great and little seen British film classic..
It's described as a Hitchcockian comedy-thriller - though still every bit an "Archers" product - which only goes to show that the Master Of Suspense lost something by going to the US (the English films being more deliberately stylized); the second of 5 collaborations by the Powell/Pressburger team designed as propaganda for the war effort - each more ambitious and uncharacteristic of the typical British effort than the one before!It's fast-paced and plot-packed, with several marvelous suspense scenes, but also excellent characterization all around - and a splendid cast: Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson are supported by a wonderful dual role from Hay Petrie, Esmond Knight, and even early villainous turns by Leo Genn and Peter Bull (dubbed "The Brothers Grimm" by Veidt's Captain Hans Andersen!) - with bits by Torin Thatcher and an especially nice one involving Bernard Miles; The Archers also take care to provide the chief villain (played by Raymond Lovell) with a speech impediment - though not as a means of ridiculing him.The London locations (shot by the great Freddie Young) are superbly deployed - given an extra Expressionist edge by being largely set during a blackout (actually, the film's title in the US).
The terrific climax involves a chase intercut with a free-for-all.I had long wanted to purchase the R1 DVD but kept postponing it due to the utter lack of extras and the prohibitive price (only managing to get it through Deep Discount's recent sale on Kino products!); still, the transfer is disappointing (and yet the only way the film is available for the moment!): bright, soft and probably PAL sourced (given that the running time is only 87 minutes against the official 92 - the sleeve notes thus making the mistake of stating that it's 8 minutes, rather than 12, longer than the version originally shown in the US!)..
There is an air of suspense and danger as the two main characters, Captain Andersen (Conrad Veidt) and Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson), traverse a British city in the darkness of a wartime blackout.
Andersen and Sorensen, likewise--in the early part of the film--play a cat-and-mouse game that is enjoyable to watch.The mechanics of the plot don't seem to matter much, like one of Hitchcock's McGuffins, and the photography seems more about style than substance.
The stars are Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson, and the chemistry between them is almost as good as that between Bogart and Bacall in CASABLANCA (1942, in which, by the way, Veidt also appeared).
And that is enough food for today.) This film was made before Denmark was invaded by the Nazis, so there is a great deal of Danish patriotism on display, including all the waiters and the proprietor of the Viking joining up to help Veidt and singing a patriotic Danish song.
Valerie Hobson plays Mrs. Soerensen, a British divorcée whose ex-husband is Danish.
Veidt's Danish ship on its way back to Denmark is diverted into harbour in Britain for contraband inspection, and Valerie Hobson and a spy accomplice steal Veidt's landing permits in order to make a dash for London on their secret business.
He and Hobson end up becoming entangled first in complex spy activities, being captured and tied up by Nazi spies in London, and then become romantically entangled as well because they are irresistibly attracted to one another.
Leo Genn and Peter Bull, such sturdy stalwarts of the British film business over decades, appear in supporting roles.
This film was directed by the talented Michael Powell and the original story and screenplay are by his Romanian/Hungarian/Jewish collaborator Emeric Pressburger.
"Contraband" is a Powell/Pressburger collaboration, and a lot of the techniques they use are reminiscent of later films, such as the 49th Parallel and "The Red Shoes."The story concerns a Dane, Captain Anderson (Conrad Veidt) on a freighter that is stopped for inspection by a British warship.
He asks for passes for himself and his first officer, but when he is ready to leave, he finds that the passes have been stolen by two passengers, Mrs. Sorenson (Valerie Hobson) and Mr. Pidgeon (Esmond Knight).
Before long he's involved with a German spy ring.This is a good film with both Veidt and Hobson giving wonderful performances.
Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson star in the Powell/Pressburger spy thriller done in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock.
Veidt is a Danish sea captain who is not real happy about being neutral and the risks it imposes on people like him trying to earn a living transporting trade goods.
Veidt who was known in America primarily for those smooth villainous roles like The Thief of Bagdad, Escape, and Casablanca could easily have transitioned to an all purpose continental leading man like Charles Boyer had be immigrated to America in time of peace.It's not a Hitchcock like classic.
But Contraband was a film pleasing enough to British audiences back in the day..
Early British Wartime Effort from Director Michael Powell.
A Male-Female Team of Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson are Thrown Together Against Some Nazis and the Adventure Takes Them Through London Blackouts and Underground Cement Caverns with Secret Entrances and Ominous Elevators.Beneath Nightclubs with Gaudy Fashions and Cuisine and Floor Shows Like "White Negro" that are Quite Bizarre, as is a Musical Group of Female Banjo Pickers with Artificial Glass Legs.
Our Heroes get to Engage Banter with Some Sexual Innuendos and a Bondage Scene as They Combine Efforts for an Entertaining Romp that May be a bit Heavy on the Humor but the Thing Works Wonderfully.It is Michael Powell's Inventive Camera Work and Expressionism that Makes this Stand Out and One can See that the British were Developing, as were Their American Cousins, a Seemingly Unconscious Style of Filmmaking that would Become Known as Film-Noir in its Various Degrees of Genre Bending and Definition..
Hobson and Veidt co-starred in "Spy in Black" in 1938 (released in '39), a beautiful WWI drama about spies and counterspies made by Alexander Korda's London Films.
This film was the first pairing of director Michael Powell and scripter Emeric Pressburger who would soon come to be known as The Archers.1940 saw the release of "Contraband", also featuring the same stars, as well as director and screenwriter.
Conrad Veidt, only three years away from death, looks much older than forty-seven in "Contraband".
Even between "The Spy in Black" and "Contraband" Veidt had aged considerably.The acting, direction, and camera-work are superb---diminutive Hay Petrie steals every scene he is in, as he did in "The Spy in Black" and "Knight Without Armour" (1937).
Conrad Veidt (Captain Andersen) is the skipper of a Danish boat that has been intercepted by the British and brought to dock in England while the cargo is processed.
Well, Valerie Hobson (Mrs Sorensen) and Esmond Knight (Mr Pidgeon) have other plans, and duly abscond.
Veidt has one night to track them down and ensure that they are back on his ship when it is due to sail in the morning.This film has an alternate title of "Blackout" and it's very significant seeing that you can't see what's going on during several scenes.
The advertisement about this film from Kino Video led me to think I was going to see an exciting spy story with noirish overtones and a Hitchcockian twist.It is nothing of the sort.If Hitchcock had made this film, smooth, suave Cary Grant would have had the lead, and he would have been opposite a cool, sophisticated blonde.
Before the film had ended, Grant would have melted her coolness for a final kiss or, as in "North By Northwest," an implication of sexual surrender.Here we are asked to accept Conrad Veidt, at age 47 and looking every year of it just three years before his death, in the Cary Grant role and Valerie Hobson, twenty-four years his junior, in the cool blonde part.
However, it was interesting to see him playing someone other than a villain, but at the same time, I realized that such roles were his forte.Of course, Valerie Hobson isn't blond.
Cast against type, Conrad Veidt plays a heroic Danish ship's captain, a seemingly sinister fellow who is actually a humorous chap on the side of peace.
Teaming up with beautiful Valarie Hobson, he finds himself involved in exposing nasty Nazi's, much like his own spy in the brilliant "All Through the Night" where his suave character tried to blow up an American Navy ship.The amazing Veidt is a German actor worthy of a movie biography because of his anti-Nazi sentiments while playing many of them, being married to a Jewish woman and escaping his homeland because of his love for her.
(WARNING - SPOILER) A mere 5 minutes in, and in the very first verbal exchange between the two central characters, Captain Andersen (Conrad Veidt) says "Tell me, Mrs Sorensen: have you ever been put in irons?" (/SPOILER)From there on, their fractious, edgy relationship - essentially a battle of wits to find out which shall be the dominant partner and which the submissive - carries a smouldering erotic charge that drives the story and makes it compellingly watchable.
Veidt and Hobson make a brilliant double-act: move over, Steed and Mrs. Peel!I won't go on at length about the quirky, typically P+P story elements, the expressionist camera/lighting work or the distinctly Hitchcockian touches (look out for the conversation on the bus, folks), because others have said it far better than I could.
It resembles his work, specifically "The 39 Steps." Conrad Veidt is the captain of a Danish freighter carrying a few passengers and a load of necessary supplies to Denmark.
The director, Michael Powell, even anticipates Hitchcock's later use of point-of-view shots.That the adventure ashore turns into a frolic is somewhat surprising, considering that this was released in 1940, a troublesome year for Britain.
In the case of "Blackout", it's a pretty exciting film but completely illogical from start to finish.The film begins with a Danish* ship awaiting inspection by a British naval patrol.
The Captain of the ship (Conrad Veidt) is cooperative and things seem just fine.
But, since it's a propaganda film, the Captain and his mate sneak ashore and the Captain goes in search of the pair (don't worry, it's only London and it's not like it's one of the largest cities in the world!!!
This is pretty much what happens throughout the rest of the film-- even when the Captain DEFINITELY discovers a Nazi spy ring.
Enchanted by their work since seeing the sadly underrated Gone to Earth,I was thrilled to discover a Powell/Pressburger work,which led to me covering the windows for a blackout on contraband.The plot-1939:While Denmark remains neutral in the Phoney War-stage of WWII,Danish captain Anderson is surprised to receive an order from Lt. Commanders Ashton and Ellis to go to a British Contraband Control Port,so that an inspection can be carried out.
Getting set to go ashore as the inspection is done,Anderson's pass (and boat) is taken by secret agents Mrs. Sorensen and Mr. Pidgeon,who set sail to give the government info that the Nazis want blacked out.View on the film:Known for the immortal nightmare image in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Conrad Veidt gives a delicious performance as Anderson,with the romantic glances Anderson gives Sorensen allowing Veidt to show a romantic flamboyance with a real relish.
Running with a dashing Esmond Knight as Mr. Pidgeon, Valerie Hobson gives an enticing performance as Sorensen.
Coming faced to face with the Nazis,Hobson gives Sorensen a considerate thoughtfulness,that unrolls itself as Sorensen tries to get contraband under the Nazis noses.Originally planned as a follow-up to The Spy In Black, the screenplay by co-writer/(along with Emeric Pressburger & Brock Williams) director Michael Powell sails on creepy Spiv espionage and playful Caper romance.
Staying away from going too grim,the writers give Sorensen a patriotic slickness that undermines every attempt from the boo-hiss Nazis.Hitting the high seas with most of the crew from The Spy In Black,director Michael Powell & cinematographer Freddie Young cast a chilly atmosphere with thick smog allowing the contraband to be kept from the eyes of the enemy.
***SPOILER***Made weeks after the start off WWII has Danish sea captain Andersen, Conrad Veidt, of the freighter "Helvig" get involved with a German spy ring in London that's trying to embroil the UK into a war with the USA in a false flag attack on American shipping and making it look like the Briish not Germans were responsible for the attacks.
Andersen who, in being Danish, is a neutral party in all this gets involved when two of his passengers Mrs. Sorensen and Mr. Pidgeon, Valerie Hobson & Esmond Knight, who ship out with the only two off shore passes that the British Government gave Capt.
Andersen as well as his 2nd in command Alex Skold, Hay Petrie, to go out on shore leave for the night.It soon becomes evident that a Nazi spy ring is in operation in London headed by Herr Van Dyne, Raymond Lovell, who just happens to be at the home of Sorensen's aunt where both her and Capt.
More like a comedy then a serious wartime movie that in all the fighting the only one person who got killed was the one that deserved it most Nazi spy ring leader Van Dyne.
The film also showed how serious the Nazi threat to the free world was at that time early in the war in them willing to go so far as tricking the British future allies the USA to go to war against each other!
I accept that Powell and Pressburger completists will want to see and/or own this film but just because the team turned out a couple of half decent movies doesn't mean that every early effort was gold dust.
The year before the same team had enjoyed a minor success - not, surely, that hard in wartime - with the Spy In Black and figured why not team Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson again and this time, improbable and unrealistic as it is, have them fall in love in between escaping from a spy ring. |
tt5304086 | Dictator | For years, the Republic of Wadiya has been ruled by Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen), a childish, tyrannical, sexist, anti-western, and antisemitic despot who surrounds himself with female bodyguards, sponsors al-Qaeda (specially giving shelter to Osama Bin Laden after "they killed his double one year ago") and is working on developing nuclear weapons to attack Israel. He also refused to sell Wadiya's oil fields, a promise he made to his father on his deathbed. After the United Nations Security Council resolves to intervene militarily, Aladeen travels to the UN Headquarters in New York to address the council.
Shortly after arriving, Aladeen is kidnapped by Clayton (John C. Reilly), a hitman hired by his treacherous uncle Tamir (Ben Kingsley), whom Aladeen's father passed over as successor in favor of his son. Tamir then replaces Aladeen with a dimwitted political decoy named Efawadh (Baron Cohen), whom he intends to manipulate into signing a document nominally democratizing Wadiya while opening the country's oil fields to Chinese and other foreign vested interests. Aladeen escapes after Clayton accidentally kills himself in a botched torture attempt; when his corpse is discovered Tamir thinks Aladeen has been killed. However, Aladeen is practically unrecognizable as Clayton shaved off his trademark long beard prior to his death.
Wandering through New York, Aladeen encounters Zoey (Anna Faris), a human rights activist who offers him a job at her socially progressive, alternative lifestyle co-op. Aladeen refuses the offer and encounters "Nuclear" Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas), the former chief of Wadiya's nuclear weapons program, whom Aladeen thought he had previously executed over an argument about the warhead's shape. Aladeen follows him to New York's "Little Wadiya" which is populated by refugees from his country, and meets him in Death to Aladeen Restaurant, run by and visited by numerous people whom Aladeen had personally ordered executed. Nadal saves Aladeen from nearly being recognized by angry refugees and reveals that rebels infiltrated the secret police, and all the condemned were sent into exile instead of being executed. Nadal agrees to help Aladeen thwart Tamir's plot and regain his position as 'rightful' dictator, on condition that Aladeen makes him head of Wadiya's WMD program again. Aladeen agrees and accepts Zoey's job offer, as she is catering at the hotel where the signing is to occur. Aladeen grows closer to Zoey after she refuses his sexual advances and teaches him how to masturbate, and eventually falls in love with her after seeing her angry. Turning around Zoey's struggling business, Aladeen begins imposing strict schedules on everyone, forming a personality cult around Zoey and intimidating an inspector into giving the store a good review.
However, Aladeen's relationship with Zoey becomes strained after he decides to be honest with her and reveal his true self; she cannot love a man who was so brutal to his own people. After acquiring a new beard taken from a corpse, Aladeen ziplines into the hotel and tells Efawadh he has recovered (his double being fooled into thinking the Supreme Leader was ill). At the signing ceremony, he tears up Tamir's document in front of the UN delegation, and holds an impassioned speech praising the virtues of dictatorship, drawing unintended parallels to current issues in the US. However, upon seeing Zoey in the room, he declares his love for her and, knowing Zoey's strongly held views, vows to democratize his country and open up Wadiya's oil fields for business, but in a way where the general populace will benefit. Angry with Aladeen staying in power, Tamir attempts to assassinate him but Efawadh jumps in front of the bullet and survives, as it is his job "to be shot in the head". Tamir, afterwards, is arrested.
A year later, Wadiya holds its first democratic elections, although they are rigged in favor of Aladeen (who has now added the titles President Prime Minister to his previous Admiral General). Afterwards, he marries Zoey, but is shocked when she crushes a glass and reveals herself to be Jewish; throughout the film he was shown vowing to "destroy Israel". Scenes during the credits show Aladeen's convoy, now consisting of eco-friendly cars, visiting a reinstated Nadal, and later Zoey revealing in a television interview that she is pregnant with the couple's first child. Aladeen responds to the news by asking if Zoey is having "a boy or an abortion".
=== Unrated version ===
The unrated cut of The Dictator runs an additional 15 minutes from its original 83-minute theatrical version. Much of the added material is additional sexual content and dialogue. There is a scene following Aladeen falling asleep in the back of the store where one of his bodyguards, Etra, tries to kill him by beating him with her enlarged breasts. Another added scene is Mr. Ogden, the manager of the Lancaster Hotel, talking to Zoey at The Collective and canceling the catering contract because of Aladeen. | murder | train | wikipedia | Senseless movie which has a lot of wasted efforts. This is one of those movies where you would feel like you just wasted your time and energy by watching this. The movie has the same storyline that is getting repeated since ages. None of the actors had the chance of proving their best. Most of them including character artists or even comedians didn't get enough time and script to gain some applause. Of course, it isn't their fault anyways. There are a lot of villains and bad guys but none of them are menacing. Many might not like the concept of a female villain but still Rati is not menacing in any way. One of the main even more wasted efforts is Sonal Chauhan. Even though she gets all the marks for glamor and performance, her character is as if it is just placed so that they can get a song and couple of scenes to tick the glamor quotient. But at least, she does this much better than that of Legend movie. Anjali did best here given that her character has some importance.Coming to technical aspects, production values are average and camera work is OK. Thaman's music is average but would work well with typical mass dances. It seems background music is done by somebody else, but it looks average too and doesn't help the poor screenplay anyways. Finally, the direction is average too. The screenplay and direction neither elevated hero level scenes nor they worked with villains nor they worked with comedians and other actors. Dialogues by Ratnam are as good as that of Legend's but these days I'm not sure why there should be a lot of misplaced and unnecessary build up dialogs for most of the movies.The only saving grace in the movie is, NBK who often does his best. He tried pretty hard to dance well but it isn't his fault with choreography. He looked good and did his best. Apart from him, Anjali gave her best and Sonal too did her best even though her role is negligible.Finally, there is no way I can say this is a must watch even for a casual time pass. Just a wasted effort, but, at least, better than Lion movie.. Balayya Steals the Show #Dictator. Undoubtedly, Balakrishna is the heart and soul of the film. He is exceptionally good in both his characters and carries the entire film on his shoulders. The way Srivas has showcased Balayya as Dictator is pretty impressive and elevates the super star to another level. Be it his costumes, dialogue delivery and dances, Balakrishna does a superb job. Anjali looks beautiful and shares a superb chemistry with Balakrishna. All her scenes during the second half have come out extremely well.Interval bang and the flash back episode in Delhi are decent. Some confrontation scenes between Balakrishna and Rati Agnihotri have been executed well and elevate the film to a decent level. #Lion is back |
tt0203082 | Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Tsuioku Hen | In the early Meiji era, after participating in the Bakumatsu war as the assassin "Hitokiri Battōsai", Himura Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed. When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who is in the middle of a fight with a murderer - who claims to be the Hitokiri Battōsai - tarnishing the name of the swordsmanship school that she teaches. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake Battōsai. After discovering that Kenshin is the real infamous assassin, Kaoru offers him a place to stay at her dojo noting that he is peace-loving and not cold-hearted, as his reputation implies. Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army member; Myōjin Yahiko, an orphan from a samurai family who is also living with Kaoru as her student; and a doctor named Takani Megumi, caught in the opium trade. However, he also deals with his fair share of enemies, new and old, including the former leader of the Oniwabanshū, Shinomori Aoshi and a rival from the Bakumatsu turned police officer, Saitō Hajime.
After several months of living in the dojo, Kenshin discovers that his successor as assassin of the shadows, Shishio Makoto, plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government, starting with Kyoto. Feeling that his friends may be attacked by Shishio's faction, Kenshin goes to meet Shishio alone in order to defeat him. However, many of his friends, including a young Oniwabanshū named Makimachi Misao, whom he meets in his travels, decide to help him in his fight. After his first meeting with him, Kenshin realizes he needs to get stronger to defeat Shishio without becoming the cold assassin he was in the past and returns to the man who taught him kenjutsu, Hiko Seijūrō, in order to learn the school's final technique. He finally accepts his friends' help and defeats Shishio in a close fight; Shishio dies being engulfed in flames due to the rise in his body temperature caused by his severe burns.
When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, he finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans to take revenge by killing his friends. At this point it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin had been married to a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe. She had initially wanted to avenge the death of her fiancé whom Kenshin had killed, but instead they both fell in love and got married. It is then discovered that Tomoe was part of a group of assassins that wanted to kill Kenshin, and Tomoe is betrayed by them and captured to use as bait. Kenshin rushes to rescue her, killing both his assailant and accidentally Tomoe, who jumps in at the last minute to save Kenshin from a fatal attack. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a corpse doll bearing a stunning resemblance of Kaoru for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set out to rescue her. A battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows and when Kenshin wins, he and Kaoru return home. Four years later, Kenshin has married Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji. | neo noir, gothic, anti war, violence, flashback, psychedelic, tragedy | train | wikipedia | But at least I knew what I was looking at (and I suggest that people considering to watch this should familiarize themselves with the TV series first).Although the violence is very graphic and the dialog can be a bit of a drag if you lose track, everything else perfectly makes up for it.
Although the plot doesn't suffer from this, the story and especially the details and references to factual Japanese history do.But this shouldn't stop you from watching this movie, instead, it should encourage you to set out and find out as much about this movie as you can..
I see Kenshin OVA Trust/Betrayal as a movie and recommend every movie fan to watch it.If you are looking for a summary, read somewhere else.
The two main characters, Kenshin and Tomoe, have humane and non exaggerated personalities, they are conflicted with their emotions, and they grow and change.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the two main characters are not cliché.The stories' setting takes place during the late 1800's in Japan, where a civil war is taking place, where the samurai era is coming to an end, and the shogunate is fighting to keep its place.
People who don't know Japanese history of that time period probably going to get a bit confused, but the historical setting provided the movie more depth and political intrigue.
Far better than any live action choreography.Finally there are many subtle touches that makes the movie feel more like a work of art, rather animated violence.
Most importantly the soundtrack is memorable.Kenshin OVA Trust/Betrayal is on the top tier of anime, however if the movie had gotten greater exposure, it would belong in the top tier of movies..
If you look for an anime who has a romantic, horror, action, drama with a great philosophy and can make you learn about life even more, you should see Rurouni Kenshin Tsuiokuhen.This anime is just too adorable to be missed (but be sure you're over 13, don't fear of blood, and don't have a heart disease).
The coolest thing of this anime is the two characters, Himura Kenshin (Hitokiri Battousai) & Yukishiro Tomoe.
I can compare this anime with some great historical drama movies I've seen such as Life is Beautiful, Gone With The Wind, and The Last Emperor.
But in all, it's a great anime about love and life.Even though I gave it a straight out 10, but I have to complain about one thing: characters...
This is apparent in the way the movie takes it's time to build it's characters and develop their respective relationships, in fact very little time is devoted to the actual fights scenes with the numerous battles and duels being over in a blink of an eye.
What the movie actually focuses on is the doomed love story that develops between Kenshin and Toroe and the numerous symbols within nature that depict the character's fates.Kenshin is a true work of art that draws upon Japan's rich artistic history to create an epic tale of love and death.
Through these artistic devices we see the tale unfold of an assassin who is torn between continuing his life of bloodshed or taking his chance to escape into a more quiet life away from the killings.With all the emphasis on the artistic achievement of Kenshin it should also be mentioned that the movie also delivers on a purely entertaining level with blood splatter tinged into practically every scene, but what stands out even more is the spiritual aspect of the story that tells the audience -amongst other things- that what we do in life will eventually come to haunt us in our future.A stunning poetic reflection of an often banal genre..
this set of movies are very amazing and will not upset.But of course to understand some parts of Reflection (such as the parts in the past) it might be good if you watch the t.v. series, Rurouni Kenshin.but, either way, these movies RULE!.
I still shake my head in amazement at this truly awesome mini-series.Set in Kenshin's past, the OAVs focus on how he became the Hitokiri Battousai, the best fighter in the world, and his time during the uprising in Kyoto to depose the Shogun.For all intents and purposes, the Kenshin OAVs are simply one movie that has been split into four 1/2 hr parts.
It easily competes with any non-anime movie, and I think it deserves to be considered as one of the greatest films of all time.
It traces the events leading up to Kenshin's rise as the most deadly and fearsome samurai in Meiji-era Japan and what ultimately spurs him to renounce his ways and become the peaceful wanderer known to us in the television series.
Although created after the TV series, this four part original video animation takes place in the past of Himura Kenshin, the TV series' main character.
In the TV series Himura Kenshin was a rurouni(wandering samurai), but before he was a rurouni, he worked for the Meiji revolution as their best hitokiri(assassin).
And those of you who have seen the TV series would truly be missing out by skipping over this OVA series, which can almost be called a prequel.Just in case my review convinced you to watch these, you can find these Rurouni Kenshin OVA's soon(I hope) on DVD by MediaBlasters..
Rurouni Kenshin:Trust and Betrayal has to be one of the most interesting and powerful anime films I've seen!
From the bloody opening with Seijuro Hiko (Kenshin's master), Kenshin's discovery (as Shinta) in a field of dead murderers and victims, and the relationship between Kenshin and Tomoe (who's original lover was killed by Kenshin)...one gets the sense that this tragedy could not get any more difficult to bear.As viewers progress through the film, they will share the senseless feeling about Kenshin's bloody deeds and Tomoe's pain at losing one lover while gaining another surrounded by so much death.Revolutions may frequently be bloody, and Kenshin's acts fit in that respect, but for so much killing to come at the hands of a traumatized boy makes the viewer pity him and hope he finds some semblence of a real life...an opportunity that Tomoe can present him.I watched the un-broken version that joined Trust with the 2nd part, Betrayal...where we find the old story of Kenshin's past coming back to tear his world asunder, leaving him to start his quest for pennance once again..
Pros: Interesting and dynamic story, good voice acting after episode two, fast pacing, an amazing ending, some powerful and emotional scenes, and great fight sequences Cons: Dull voice acting before episode three, the story is a little confusing, and some slow pacingOverall Rating: 8.8P.S. This anime is very good.
It surely sparked something in me.I probably watched this when I was about 12 or 13 years old with my older brother (around 14 or 15 at the time) and none of us really knew what we were watching, what was an anime or even a manga.I instantly fell in love with this film and yes, if you put the 4 OVAs together what you get definitely qualifies as a film.First off, I honestly think that this is a very strong film with an excellent plot, great character development, amazing animation and fighting sequences especially for that time, a lot of depth, great music, solid dialogues, themes, amazing tension, I could go on.
You definitely don't have to be an anime fan to love this though I would say that the unique style, pace and tone of the film is not for every one.It is a pretty dark, gripping, tragic and yet beautiful story that nails fighting scenes but is far from revolving around it.
In fact, if you get into this expecting to see a lot of fighting you might be sorely disappointed, do not expect comedic relief, or tons of dialogues either.I won't waste time fully comparing it to the original manga or anime series but will say that this story is much more realistic and definitely darker than its original medium.
So I can say without a doubt that it offers something COMPLETELY different to the viewer.The films gets a bit slow at some point because it establishes something important for the rest of the story and after seeing it I'm sow glad that it did.I can't possibly write a proper review for this work of art because to this day, it is still my favourite anime film and one of my all time favourite film period.
During watching the whole Rurouni Kenshin series, I felt it is missing something.
Thought slightly melodramatic sometimes, we dive into the self-destruction and love-caused reconstruction of an assassin who kills for the only thing he can believe in, the happiness of people, being at the same time innerly tormented by all the deaths he has caused.
I had seen the original four episodes years ago, but there were certainly some differences in the Director's Cut.Kenshin is a young orphan when he is discovered by a samurai warrior/assassin, who then takes him in and teaches him how to fight.
The two end up striking up a cautious friendship, but she has a secret that threatens to destroy him.If anyone has seen the actual television series "Ruroni Kenshin", it is completely different from these episodes in that while the show was lame, at times goofy, and not drawn very well, "Samurai X" is the complete opposite.
The majority of the violence and emotional baggage belonged to the lead character Kenshin who was an utter badass and goes down as one of the greatest swordsman in movie history.
Taken alone this film is very good, but the sequels do nothing but degrade the original's reputation with cheaply drawn characters, ridiculous story lines, and anime-slaughtering humor.
This is for only the OVA series of Kenshin(includes the first 4 OVA's).This is the most bad-ass anime I have seen.Great story line, gory beyond belief(but if you can look past the fleeting moments of violence you are treated to a sensational story, definitely not for kids)I recommend for anyone that watches anime, and worth a shot even if you don't.one of my top anime picks of all time..
Although the story, storytelling and animation all suffer from a lack of balance, there are faint glimmers of brilliance to be found in the mini-series, explaining it being frequently mistaken for one of the masterpieces of Japanese animation.The first of four episodes serves as backstory for the backstory for the main plot, and with "backstory" (the first "backstory that is, for a lot more backstory is coming) I mean the protagonist's complete character development over the course of a small decade, conveyed through half an hour of exposition of differing subtlety and clarity.
The protagonist's struggle with the question whether blindly killing people is truly the best way to create a better world (superficial as this conflict may be) is beautifully represented by the leitmotiv of a continuously reopening wound on his cheek, while the interaction with the woman he is sheltering with is subtle and believable.
For a delightful thirty minutes, "Ruroundi Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal" was actually great.After the sudden increase in quality during the third episode, I prayed: "Please, let the last episode not just be sword fighting and shameless melodrama." How I hate to be right.
The final episode still is a melancholic portrait of a samurai's stoicism, but ultimately, "Ruroundi Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal" has thrown away any opportunity for nuance.The animation is hit-and-miss as well.
The backgrounds are plagued by a similar imbalance: the ones are not obscuring brown and oppressive grey, are so brightly coloured they interfere with the characters, making the frames feel unbalanced, as it is difficult to decide where to focus."Ruroundi Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal" is cobbled together from ill-fitting elements, most of which were not very good in the first place.
The Beginning Tales of Rurouni Kenshin, his Days as Battousai the Manslayer: the assassin life he lived before his retirement, the woman whom he fell in love, and the origin behind his cross-shaped cheek scar
I recommend you to watched the original dub with subtitles, more literary translation is better than a deviated scriptThis is definitely one of the best animation ever made.
It is great, from the beginning to the end, in this film everything is carefully prepared: the direction and the screenplay a memorable, told with an unusual beauty in anime, delve much into the characters and gives a faithful description of the time, both the politics and the era, and the problems that face the innocent who dies day after day about the politic situation.
And of course, I can't forget the score, one of the best anime score I never listen, it helps you with its delicacy and tragic beauty to believe the tragedy who have to live with poor Shinta (later knows like Kenshin)..
Samurai X is the movie prequel to the anime series Ruroni Kenshin.
The story is about Kenshin, an assassin trying to make the world a better place by the end of his sword, killing whoever is in his way.
This is a very bloody yet thought provoking movie that earns its rights to be consider one of the best anime films ever.
What makes the movie so great is not those awesome action scenes or the complex character development that Kenshin goes through but it is the ending that really delivers.
The characters are very well done and you gradually feel them evolving around the plot line, you can't help falling in love with them.I recommend the Japanese original version because it is flawless and the subs are very good, but still Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal is a must see even if you are not a anime fan, the story will grip you so hard that even after it is over you will be staring right trough the credits still thinking about the extraordinary experience you have just been through..
I was used to the series animation, but it is very easy to be drawn into the story and style of the first OVA.
I would recommend this highly to anyone who has seen the series, especially because it is easier to understand the message and plot of the story, but also to anyone who wants to see a great anime film..
Kenshin is Anime done right.The plot takes place at the end of the Meiji era of Japan.
And if you have seen Anime, most likely you have seen this one already.(The Kenshin OAV Episodes are now released on two Region 1 DVDs titled Samurai X:Trust (Ep 1,2), and Samurai X:Betrayal (Ep 3,4).
Plot: Years later, during his time as a Hitokiri, Kenshin kills a bodyguard named Kiyosato Akira, who is the fiancé of Yukishiro Tomoe.
See this wonderful anime film and find out.This film is not suitable for children and persons under the age of 18 as it contains graphic killing sequences.This film is good viewing for married couples and those who have been just married, as it shows just how true love between husband and wife should be.10/10, excellent.
*contains lots of spoilers* Rurouni Kenshin was the first anime that I ever saw.
Kenshin wanted to redeem himself for all of the people he had killed, but that was not the biggest thing that affected his decision to become a "rurouni" (actually, Nobuhiro Watsuki made that word it doesn't exist in Japanese language it's a combination of "rurouni" and "samurai" at least that's what he said in a comment in his Maiga).
The real reason why Kenshin became a rurouni was because he felt great sorrow for those who had cared about the people he had killed.
Kenshin the ex-hitokiri bauttosai would definitely has not only a visible scar on his face, but the pain he inherited from Tomoe that is reflected on his sad face.Definitely bloody, any romance scene is modestly done, and the whole animation is made in the most realistic way possible.SPOILER: I can't help but to relate what kind of pain it must have been like.
when I saw both tv series and the OVA, it's almost like 2 different character/story...the tv is nice for an entertainment and good laugh...
The characters are drawn more realistically than in the television series and especially Kenshin looks better than ever.
You think the music can't get any better, but then it suddenly does and lifts everything to a wholly new, superior level.Something I really got a kick out of is that most of the characters in the film are based upon people that have actually existed during that time.
His short appearances throughout the storyline, leading up to his fight with Kenshin at the end of the film, weren't necessary to the story and could easily have been omitted.
Even if I don't get the language the deliver the acting so honest, sincere and focused that I don't see myself watching an animated movie..
In the end, he learns the hard way that every time he kills someone, he robs innocent people of their happiness.Vastly different in tone from the Rurouni Kenshin anime series or even the manga, this is understandable as Kenshin is not the Rurouni we know and love, but an assassin on the razor's edge of madness.
The sombre tone fits the time period in which this story takes place.I would love to give this story a perfect ten, but a plot diversion from the original manga, namely the reduced role of Yukishiro Enishi to a mere bystander, forces me to give it a nine instead.This OVA can be taken as part of the entire Rurouni Kenshin saga or as its own beautiful Japanese love tragedy.
I have for many years been trying to get my hands on a complete series of the original Samurai X Rurouni Kenshin.
As much as I love the way Watsuki san tells a story I was disappointed by the fact that this was nothing but the last five episodes of the last season of Rurouni Kenshin with a couple of effects added. |
tt0058382 | Murder Ahoy | The action takes place mainly on board an old wooden-walled battleship, HMS Battledore, which has been purchased by a Trust for the rehabilitation of young criminals, and intended by the founder to put backbone into young jellyfish.
Shortly after joining the board of management of the Trust, Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford) witnesses the sudden death of a fellow trustee, who has just returned from a surprise visit to the ship, much disturbed by something he has discovered there. He dies without being able to reveal his discovery. Miss Marple manages to obtain a small sample of his snuff, which is found to have been poisoned.
Resolving to learn what the murdered trustee had discovered, she visits the ship, while her dear friend and confidante, Mr. Jim Stringer (played by Margaret Rutherford's real-life husband Stringer Davis), investigates on shore. The Captain (Lionel Jeffries) takes an immediate dislike to her, and makes a sarcastic comment to his mate about her outdated formal naval attire, asking "Who does she think she is, Neptune's mother?" His distress intensifies when she announces her intention to remain on board several days, and to sleep in the Captain's own quarters, obliging him to move into his first mate's cabin.
That night, one of the officers is murdered – run through with a sword and then hanged from a mast. As the police investigation proceeds, the assistant matron is killed, apparently by an injection of poison. The investigation interferes with the ship's traditional celebration of Trafalgar Day. Somewhat unreasonably, the Captain blames Miss Marple for this. He begs Chief Inspector Craddock (Charles 'Bud' Tingwell) to find a way to get her off the ship, saying: "She's a jinx! She's a Jonah! She's blowing an ill wind!"
Miss Marple sets a trap: she announces to the crew that she knows that the poison was administered using a mousetrap as a booby-trap. She hints that she intends to reveal the murderer's identity shortly. She persuades Chief Inspector Craddock to allow the crew to go ashore for their Trafalgar Day celebration while she remains on board the deserted ship, with Chief Inspector Craddock and his assistant, Sgt. Bacon (Terence Edmond) secretly hiding in wait for the murderer to attempt to silence her. Sure enough, the first mate, Commander Breeze-Connington (William Mervyn), appears, and informs her that he has embezzled a large sum of money which he feels is owed to him because he was unjustly passed over for promotion, and that he committed the three preceding murders to avoid being exposed, and that he intends to kill her on the spot. Miss Marple calls out to Inspector Craddock to make the arrest, but he and Sgt. Bacon have accidentally been locked in their hiding place, and cannot help. Breeze-Connington draws his sword, intending to run Miss Marple through, but Miss Marple is herself an accomplished amateur fencer. She and Breeze-Connington engage in a ferocious sword-fight. Breeze-Connington succeeds in disarming her. He is about to administer the coup de grace, but Mr. Stringer, who, worried about her safety, had secretly rowed out to the ship in the dark, clubs him over the head from behind with a marlin spike.
The Captain faces a court martial for failing to prevent the embezzlement which occurred under his command. As he enters the state-room to hear the verdict, he sees his sword on the table with the hilt toward him, and mistakenly infers that he has been found guilty. Miss Marple corrects him; the board has found that he was not at fault. Although greatly relieved to have avoided disgrace, he announces that he must resign even so, because he has been having a long affair with the ship's Matron (Joan Benham), in violation of the golden rule of the trust that there should be "no hanky-panky between the sexes" on board ship, and they now intend to get married, which would disqualify him for his position as captain. He makes his farewell and turns to go, but Miss Marple stops him, saying, "I think I speak for my fellow trustees when I say that golden rule is hereby rescinded. You're a fine sea dog captain, but it seems to me the Battledore could do with a woman's hand at the helm." He and Matron embrace joyfully.
As Miss Marple steps into the dinghy to leave the ship, Matron and the Captain wave good-bye from the deck. The Captain turns to Matron and remarks, "You know, the moment I clapped eyes on her, I said to myself, 'What an old darling'!" Matron, remembering his actual first reaction, raises her eyebrows archly. | mystery, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt2394099 | Young Rebels | The Young Rebels was the story of a group of youthful guerrillas fighting on the Patriot side in the American Revolutionary War. They were part of the fictional "Yankee Doodle Society", based in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1777. Their goal was to harass the British forces however they could and serve as spies for the rebels. The four main characters were Jeremy (Richard Ely), son of the mayor of Chester, Isak (Louis Gossett, Jr.), a former slave, Henry (Alex Henteloff), a bright young, bespectacled man who looked a lot (by design) like a younger Benjamin Franklin, whom he greatly admired, and Elizabeth (Hilary Thompson), Jeremy's even-younger girlfriend. Any parallel between this "youth movement" and the one going on in the United States in real life at the same time that this show was aired was completely intentional. Aiding these young American rebels in their cause was a young French rebel, the Marquis de Lafayette (Philippe Forquet), who had come to their aid not just because he believed in their cause but also to learn how to export many of its principles to his native France.
During the early 1970s, there were only three commercial television networks in the United States. The Young Rebels was up against the very popular family shows Lassie and The Wonderful World of Disney on the other networks. Rick Ely and Philippe Forquet became teenage idols and were widely featured in movie and fan magazines. Despite extensive promotion and a large (by television standards of the era) production budget, The Young Rebels failed to garner enough of an audience and was canceled at midseason. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0118698 | Bent | Max (Clive Owen) is a promiscuous gay man living in 1930s Berlin. He is at odds with his wealthy family because of his homosexuality. One evening, much to the resentment of his boyfriend, Rudy (Brian Webber II), Max brings home a handsome SA man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Unfortunately, he does so on the Night of the Long Knives, when Hitler ordered the assassination of upper echelon SA corps. The Sturmabteilung man is discovered and killed by SS men in Max and Rudy's apartment, and the two have to flee Berlin.
Max's Uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen) has organised new papers for Max, but Max refuses to leave his boyfriend behind. As a result, Max and Rudy are found and arrested by the Gestapo and put on a train headed for Dachau. On the train, Rudy is brutally beaten to death by the guards. As Rudy calls out to Max when he is taken away, Max lies to the guards, denying he is gay. In the camp, Max falls in love with Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who shows him the dignity that lies in acknowledging one's beliefs. After Horst's death, Max finds the courage to be true to himself, and takes his own life. | murder, flashback, insanity, romantic, sadist, sentimental | train | wikipedia | When Martin Sherman's play first appeared (with Ian McKellen as Max and Tom Bell as Horst) it caused outrage and much discussion with its sympathetic and frank treatment of forbidden love in the age of the SS.Here it has undergone a few changes but retains its stark power.
Clive Owen (probably not my first choice for the role) plays Max, the homosexual who pretends to be a Jew so he is not at the bottom of the pecking order of prisoners.
Brian Webber plays his intellectual lover Rudy with some class and it is a brief but touching performance.Lothaire Bluteau, who I had only seen before in 'Jesus of Montreal', was brilliant in the role of Horst, the prisoner with the pink triangle who awakens Max again from his imprisoned desires.
There are quiet and intense scenes between the two that are almost unbearably moving to watch, and are done within this film extremely well.Elsewhere in the cast, Ian McKellen himself plays Uncle Freddie (but those of us who saw him as Max would love to have seen that portrayal immortalised on screen), while Mick Jagger is surprisingly good as Greta (a role which could easily be played wrong but he's spot on).This play/film is intended to make its audience confront their prejudices, to shock, move, and inspire them.
Only half way through this film did I remember having seen a small theatre production of the play in Los Angeles a dozen years ago.
I kept thinking: "Hey, how can they keep blaming Hitler, when he was not there ordering the guards to torture and ENJOY hurting people like that?" Powerful film!.
Clive Owen plays Max, a loose, carefree, and cowardly playboy who is caught by Nazis along with his gay partner and shipped off to the Dachau concentration camp to do hard labor.
But he meets a member of the pink triangle named Horst who he befriends and begins developing feelings for as they work day after day moving rocks from one place to another.
One viewer may realize this very quickly upon watching this movie as the film does feel quite staged.
In one powerful scene, that I have to admit I watched over and over about five times, during one of Max and Horst's (main stars) rock moving extravaganza's, they are allowed a three minute rest period while working a twelve hour shift.
It is a must see for everyone, no matter what the content of the movie - gays, murder, sex, SS men, Hitler's BS , concentration camps.
You have to watch this movie with an open heart and mind to actually feel for these people, not just because they were two gay men in love and pain, because they were human beings first and foremost.
I was extremely moved by this picture; it has the wonderful, heart-wrenching quality that only a great play can produce, mixed with a very compelling lead actor and fabulous supporting cast.Clive Owen as Max was a wake-up call; at the end you may be asking yourself, "where can I see more of this actor??".
He adds that special charm that we expect from his performances, no matter how small the role.This movie requires an open mind, and the ability to not deny the reality of horrific, true events of the past.
This tough-going drama doesn't delve too deeply into the Party's initial conflict over homosexuality, but it does touch on the labeling of gay men with the Pink Triangle, making them perhaps even more reviled than the Jews (Clive Owen picks the yellow Star of David symbol over the triangle, figuring being a Jew might actually help him survive).
Adapted from the controversial play, the last act has perhaps more going on than is actually revealed, and the viewer may either feel the movie loses its energy and soul during this portion or that it is successful on an entirely different level.
Bravo to Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau, who despite their lack of character development command viewer interest at a consistent and affecting level.It's no masterpiece for sure, but so what..."Bent" rocks.
Bent was a movie i was once familiar with but have never seen due to it's NC-17 rating but i caught the R rated version and it was a good film.
Overall if you can stand some slowness and some bizarreness ( Mick Jaggar is in drag and sings all in the first five mins.) Bent is a film well worth watching.
The casting is superb from Clive Owen, Jude Law, and Ian McKellan and especially entertaining was the performance of Mick Jagger.
Wow. I'm not going to give anything away here, but it really is one of the most touching and beautiful films i have ever seen.The story is so touching and is an emotional roller-coaster, but it is written so superbly, that you feel you are experiencing exactly what all the characters feel.
Obviously the action itself is very harrowing and extremely brutal, but the way that the train scenes are edited together is superb, and you feel the claustrophobia and stress that they are feeling.The ending of the piece really distressed me, but it is so moving that no film has ever moved me the way this did.Wow..
BENT starts off bizarrely with transvestites parading around one of which is Sir Mick Jagger so I was expecting a sort of camp version of CABARET , but explicit scenes of gay sex followed and after that the film descended into a very pretentious and obvioulsy stage based drama where Clive Owen looks grim faced and keeps repeating " This can`t be happening " over and over again .
This journey is filled with seductive images and feelings-feelings that we tend to forget until we are reminded that life can change on a dime-There is a scene on the way to Dachau where the Max (Clive Owen) has to denounce knowing his friend..." He is not my friend".....reminicient of Judas denying Jesus....was it to save himself or his friend....the answer comes when one cannot no longer deny who you are- facing your truth brings-reclaiming your dignity-Max's final journey.Lothair (Jesus of Montreal) and a new-comer, Jude Law (The Talent Mr. Ripley) add to make up a fine cast.Splendid job by all-especially Mr.Clive Owen.Take the journey -it's worth your time..
Martin Sherman's play "Bent" has been much-praised since its first staging starring Sir Ian McKellen, and Mathias's film builds on this success.
Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau are astounding in this film based on the 'Night of the Long Knives', where so-called homosexuals were killed or sent to work camps.The film begins with the wonderfully decadent Berlin nightclubs: Greta's club.
I was expecting some really good things from it; as a gay guy looking for "gay entertainment," I highly dislike movies that assume gay people must want to see lots of sex, or stories about AIDs. I figured this would be something far different from that kind of garbage.To say I was disappointed would be an understatement; it's a bad sign when I wished the SS would just shoot the main character and make it a movie about his boyfriend instead!
Portraying a gay man (Clive Owen) in Nazi Germany pretending to be Jewish and meeting another gay man in Dachau, the movie never really develops anything as much as it could.
Mr. Bluteau wears the "Pink Triangle" identifying him as a homosexual, which is considered an especially low form of human life, by the Nazis.
At the concentration camp, prisoners Owen and Bluteau fall in love; but, they must avoid any physical contact.The opening club/orgy sequence is presented in a disjointed, confusing fashion.
Director Sean Mathias and supporting actor Webber make excellent first impressions; it's strange to see so little work (film credits) immediately followed this production.This film version of Martin Sherman's "forbidden" love story is far from perfect; but, it's still quite captivating.
The film's non-physical sex scene, performed at the concentration camp, is extremely touching.
******* Bent (1997) Sean Mathias ~ Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Mick Jagger.
Not all of the acting is brilliant, but Clive Owen is good, and cameos from Mick Jagger and Ian McKellen are rewarding..
In fact sexuality as a form of repression has not ever been better displayed on screen than in Bent.But Owen learns about gay pride from another prisoner, Lothaire Bluteau who wears the pink triangle in defiance.
I don't mean to sound melodramatic - I didn't live through the concentration camps and I didn't even have that bad of a coming out - but, I couldn't help feeling like I'd been through all of this in my own life.I can't wait to watch it again..
"Bent" is an interesting little Holocaust-film curio (based on a stage production) that looks at the death camps from a homosexual perspective.
It is intermittently affecting overall, but has its moments of pretension and self-indulgence (the baroque, decadent opening in Berlin comes to mind); the film can't really shake its stage roots, either, as reflected in certain scene setups (Ian McKellen's cameo in the park feels especially artificial).
Max (Clive Owen) is a member of Berlin's decadent gay underworld before World War II; when the Germans invade, he is promptly shipped off to a labor camp.
Along the way, he meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), a fellow prisoner who's homosexual; as the duo stacks rocks in blazing summer and freezing winter, they strike up an unconventional love affair (standing still during a 3-minute break every 2 hours, they make love verbally (and literally); these scenes are greatly affecting, with Owen and Bluteau fully convincing us of their passion.
This is set in Germany right around the time the Nazis started herding Jews and gays into concentration camps.
By coincidence, I was reading "Double Life: A Love Story from Broadway to Hollywood" at the same time that I saw this movie.It will undoubtedly seem a stretch to compare the lives of a well-off creative gay couple in America to a pair of homosexual inmates in the extraordinarily brutal circumstances of a Nazi concentration camp, but during the very well acted parts of the film where Clive Owen stood next to Lothaire Bluteau and they were able to "make love" without touching or doing anything obvious to anyone watching, it did seem remarkably similar to the life the American couple led for so many years.They too could never touch or show affection in public.
Even after they eventually lived together and despite the fact that most people knew they were living together, for many social and business events they would never attend together and usually appeared with a woman "date."Even in Hollywood, of all places, for one of the men to get anywhere as a movie studio executive, any public evidence of their gay relationship had to be kept hidden away
and for that matter, most of the Jews in Hollywood during that time kept their Jewish identity hidden as well.What I saw in this movie was less to do with the Nazis specifically and more to do with the survival of emotional stability and of love in a hostile environment that refuses to accept that love can even exist.Even for the American couple, life was only tolerable when they did everything they could to conceal their love and their relationship for much of their 50 years together.
The other was robbed and threatened with death by a pair of men whose main motivation was their loathing for "faggots." Blackmail overt and subtle existed throughout their lives.Yes, the movie was set in Nazi Germany, the epitome of all that's evil, but the message isn't meant simply as a historical reference.
I encourage any and all to find this movie and watch it, then watch it again with all of your friends.The actors (especially Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, and the GREAT Sir Ian McKellen)pulled you in to their world and lives, in a way that many mainstream A listers would give their front teeth to be able to do.
Drama is one thing, but films dealing with such subject matter as concentration camps is certainly not something I'm going to want to watch.
But as a film, it was moving and had a singular story to tell that is not usually presented, that being the persecution of homosexuals under the Nazi regime during WWII.
It makes me laugh now at how blaze I was that this film starred the talents of Sir Ian McKellen and Clive Owen amongst others, but as an 11 year old I didn't know who they were!
But when done badly, you ask yourself, "When are they going to make a movie about the Holocaust from Hitler's dog's point of view?" The opening scene was all too reminiscent of Cabaret, which this film quite obviously draws major inspiration.
But when we have exhausted all the possible depth, significance and meaning of the movie, it is, in the end, just a poignant, powerful story about a guy who decided that "life, without love, is not worth living after all."In the end, too, I think Max was redeemed, and the movie kept triteness at bay by NOT patronizing him.It's worthy of my praise and, I think, your time also..
Also, this movie was made 20 years ago when showing two leading, masculine men in a gay LTR, living a "normal" life with a happy ending was not yet accepted.
Gay lust/love and decadence in Berlin, Jews-Nazis-concentration camps - all intriguing elements, a good basis for developing a tense narration where different aspects of human nature move to the surface.
The 2nd part includes the strongest scenes of the film where the 2 protagonists (splendidly performed by Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau) have to stand attention...
Nevertheless, unless you are uncomfortable with "different" approaches on "known" events, then Bent is definitely for you; plus I think that Clive Owen should be used more in profound drama films - he did a great job here..
It is not a film about the gay life in Nazi period.
This film is about the experience of two gay men who got imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.The film is minimalistic, but it is very touching.
Its always the Jew's travail I hear about concerning the Nazi Germany Period, but other GROUPS apparently got treated miserably as well, and this movie deals with one of them.Pathos, tremendous camera action (black/white & technicolor), superb character acting, excellent thematic development and flow, and perfect music accompaniment.I will see it again..
Every scene seems to have a point even despite the pointlessness of the violence and the killing.As i watched it, and time progressed I figured that the time Horst and Max spent in Dachau was supposed to be a catharsis for Max, teaching him not only that love is the only real reason to live, but also teaching him how to love!
They loved each other and died for each other.The film was just positively full of beautiful and captivating moments set in the stark contrast of the concentration camp.
The scene where Horst knows that he is going to die, and gives Max the secret signal that says he loves him.
And the very powerful scene where Max put's on Horsts shirt and kills himself.This is a hard movie to watch.
The movie's main protagonist Max lived the good life in Berlin (i.e. having as much sex and cocaine with as many sexy men as he could find despite being in a relationship with another man, much to his boyfriend's heartbreak) before the 'Night of the Long Knives' in which the Nazis rounded up as many of the openly gay men as possible.
The movie ends in tragedy but before that Horst has made Max proud of what and who he is and he starts to wear his pink triangle with pride.
I saw the movie as an unconventional love story, set in Germany during the Holocaust era.Max (Owen Wilson) is a homosexual man living in Berlin with his dancer lover Rudy (Brian Webber), and indulging himself into an affair with a Nazi officer.
They brought out the fact that there were homosexuals also among the Nazis, and it also served as a great contrast to the Dachau environment, but I would have loved it if the story would have allowed a glimpse into another aspect of Max's life aside from sex and parties.
I simply was looking for something more to Max in the first third of the movie.However, Clive Owen was so amazing that even this is forgivable.
On the way to Dachau Max is forced to beat Rudy to death by the brutal SS guards to prove his claim that he is not homosexual; Max has decided that a yellow star (Jewish) would be less dangerous a marker than a pink triangle.In the early scenes of the film we are given a look at the Berlin club scene; Mick Jagger has a stunning cameo as Greta, a performer at the club who knows what's coming and makes an abortive attempt to warn Max, but Max won't listen; neither will he listen to his uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen), an older and more discreet man who satisfies his desires in secret with rent boys.
Clive Owen, brought in to fill Richard Gere's shoes (Gere had played the role on Broadway but was doing another film at the time), displays a haunting vulnerability as the terrified Max, and Lothaire Bluteau's Horst is in many ways the central figure of the piece, as he stands for what happens when love and hate collide.
It didn't concentrate much on the characters as it should've done and the movie really dragged on so I decided to just not watch it anymore.Mick Jagger was excellent at his role and of course, singing streets of Berlin in drag!I just wish he really made more appearances in this film, it didn't work much without him :/. |
tt0457572 | Fido | The film takes place in a 1950s-esque alternate universe where radiation from space has turned the dead into zombies. This resulted in the "Zombie Wars", where humanity battled zombies to prevent a zombie apocalypse, with humanity the ultimate victor. The radiation still plagues humanity, as all those who die after the original contamination turn into the undead, unless the dead body is disposed of by decapitation or cremation. In order to continue living normal lives, communities are fenced with the help of a governing corporation named ZomCon. ZomCon provides collars with accompanying remote controls to control the zombies' hunger for flesh so as to use them as slaves or servants.
In the town of Willard housewife Helen Robinson (Carrie-Anne Moss) buys a zombie in spite of her husband Bill's (Dylan Baker) zombie phobia, as Bill has had bad experiences with zombies having been a veteran of the Zombie Wars. Their son, Timmy (K'Sun Ray), befriends the zombie, naming him "Fido" (his true name is never revealed, and little is revealed of his "pre-zombie" life, except that he died of myocardial infarction, and at one point Helen wishes she had met him before she got married and when he was still alive). One day, Fido's collar malfunctions and he kills their next door neighbor, who turns into a zombie. Timmy "kills" the zombified neighbor later, but not before she kills and infects another person, causing a small outbreak. ZomCon security forces quell the situation and then investigate what caused the outbreak.
When a pair of local bullies are blamed for the missing neighbor, they capture Fido and Timmy. Fido escapes and runs to find Helen, who comes and rescues Timmy from the bullies (who, through misadventure and Fido's hunger for human flesh, are now zombies), and they try to forget about the whole thing. Several days later, the neighbor's body is found and the murder is traced back to Fido, who is taken away to ZomCon where the public is told he will be destroyed. Timmy learns through Cindy Bottoms (Alexia Fast), daughter of Jonathan Bottoms (Henry Czerny), ZomCon's abusive security chief, that Fido is simply working in a factory at ZomCon. Timmy sets out to rescue him with the help of Mr. Theopolis (Tim Blake Nelson), previous security chief of ZomCon who was forced into early retirement when it was discovered he was found guilty of fraternization with his female zombie, whom he has remarkably preserved well to retard her decaying process, thus giving her a relatively attractive appearance.
Meanwhile, Timmy locates Fido, but is captured by Mr. Bottoms, who attempts to throw Timmy into the zombie-infested "wild zone" that exists outside of the fenced communities. Bill comes to the rescue and is killed by Mr. Bottoms, who in turn is killed by Fido. Timmy is set free and the news media propagandizes that the ZomCon security breach was the fault of rednecks who venture out into the wild zone to hunt zombies for fun. Helen finally learns not to belittle Bill's bad experiences from the Zombie Wars by paying for a headless funeral in order to prevent his zombification. The film ends with Fido as a surrogate father and husband, Timmy, Helen and Helen's newborn baby by Bill as a new family. They, along with a few neighbors happily enjoy their new domestic lives together, including the zombified Jonathan Bottoms who is now more attentive to his daughter. | comedy, cruelty, murder, cult, violence, clever, satire | train | wikipedia | Fido is a cute comedy that deserves wider recognition, especially considering the mainstream crap that is supposed to entertain us these days.As has already been pointed out, this is hardly a real zombie film, but rather a sweet satire that employs the undead to point fingers.
While there are necessarily some bloody scenes, there is almost no gore and the way this movie is presented (feel-good 50s style), I can't imagine anyone being actually scared or turned off by Fido & his fellow sufferers.While the cast is generally good, I felt that Moss and Nelson stood out.
And to what extent you agree with that last statement may be a good preliminary gauge of whether 'Fido' will appeal to you.In a way the comedy picks up where 'Shaun' left off, except we're back in the original 1950s Living Dead-era stereotypical middle-American small town.
Themes you might expect from a more mainstream kitsch comedy come through - the veneer of good clean living, keeping up appearances, repressed emotion, muddled parental values, social decorum and the plight of the alienated individual.It's a story told with happy heart and wide appeal that is brought to life vividly by the film's all-round strong cast.
A super cast helps: Carrie-Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Dylan Baker, Henry Czerny, Tim Blake Nelson, Mary Black and Sonja Bennett are the principals, aided by young K'Sun Ray as Timmy, the innocent kid with a good heart who acts as fair witness to all the lunacy of the grownups.
(Seriously, that's what the press book in Toronto called it.) Though not as violent, dry, or British as Shaun of the Dead, Fido remains true to its roots: a devotion to old 50s black and white television including both Lassie and the infamous sci-fi pulp that was being pumped out during the period.Fido's talented headliners (Carrie Anne Moss, Billy Connelly, Dylan Baker, and Tim Blake Nelson) stand as a testament to the brilliance of the script.
Fido tackles all these possibilities in a sweet and surprisingly classy way, with much thanks to the work of Connelly (as one of said zombies) and young TV actor K'Sun Ray, who seems at times to be a better young Elijah Wood than the young Elijah Wood was.If you're expecting another Shaun of the Dead, don't waste your time.
Who would have thought?Carrie-Ann Moss, playing against-type, is terrific, as"Helen Robinson," the June Cleaver-like wife; Billy Connolly is great as the grunting good-hearted zombie "Fido;" Tim Blake Nelson ("Mr. Theopolis") is a hoot is the neighbor with the sexy zombie girlfriend "Tammy," and Henry Czerny and Dylan Baker as dads (check) are excellent, too K'Sun Ray as young "Timmy Robinson," shouldn't be overlooked, either.
But it's a great story and the cast was perfect and made this into just a really funny movie.In a 1950s alternate universe where radiation from space has turned the dead into zombies.
Timmy sets out to rescue him with the help from his neighbor with a zombie girlfriend in hopes to get Fido back.I really do highly recommend this movie if you get the chance to see it, it's so silly but a lot of fun.
Great work by Carrie Anne Moss, Dylan Baker, Tim Blake Nelson, Billy Connelly and up and comer, Alexia Fast.Weirdly, I found myself thinking about the movie for days after seeing it.Writers, Dennis Heaton, Robert Chomiak and Andrew Currie layered in a lot of political subtext - but didn't whack you over the head with it.The world they created had depth, and made sense.
Furthermore, it builds on the notion that zombies can be tamed or trained which George Romero first introduced in Day Of The Dead.K'Sun Ray plays a small town boy who's mother (Carrie-Ann Moss) longs for a zombie servant so she can be like all the other house wives on her block.
However, I must confess that I most enjoyed the delicious turn by Tim Blake Nelson as neighbour Mr. Theopolis, essentially playing a willing animated version of Victor Van Dort from the Corpse Bride (or, for those who've seen the film, wouldn't that read even better here as the Corpse Pride?) and, of course, Scotch actor Billy Connolly in his least animated, yet somehow deeply moving role as the titular character.
In an alternate 1950s, where an outbreak of the undead (caused by a mysterious 'space-dust') has been contained through the use of special electronic collars, a young loner, Timmy, finds a friend in Fido (Billy Connelly), his family's recently acquired domesticated zombie.Fido quickly becomes a surrogate father to Timmy, whose real dad is unable to adequately express his love for his son (or for his hot-to-trot wife, played by the gorgeous Carrie-Anne Moss) having been psychologically scarred as a child (when he was forced to shoot his own father, who tried to eat him!).Timmy runs into a spot of bother, however, when his putrid pal's collar goes on the blink, and he attacks and kills an elderly neighbour.
With the authorities on Fido's trail, trouble brewing with a pair of local bullies, and his mother forming a bond with their undead house-help, will Timmy be able to hold on to his new found friend?A refreshing take on the whole zombie schtick, Fido is a thoroughly entertaining, deliciously dark comedy that should appeal to anyone with a slightly twisted sense of humour.
Taking the Romero zombie-verse and transplanting it into 1950s small town America is a stroke of genius, and the result is simply one of the most original films to tackle the whole 'reanimated dead' theme that I have seen.Connelly's Fido is a cinematic zombie worthy of inclusion in the Undead Movie Hall of Fame, along with Day Of The Dead's Bub, and Return Of The Living Dead's Tarman; it is not often I feel empathy for a walking corpse, but The Big Yin's performance is so fine that I actually found myself rooting for the big blue bag of pus!
The rest of the cast also give commendable performances, with young K'Sun Ray (as Timmy) and Ms.Moss deserving special mentionsRay, because, for one so young, he puts in a particularly assured turn, and Moss because she is so bloody yummy!This is the third zombie film that I have watched this week (the others being the somewhat disappointing Planet Terror and the rather fun Flight Of The Living Dead), and, to my surprise, it is also the best.
I have pass on this movie so many times because of the cover , when i looked at reviews on here and i had to see this movie.When i was reading plot, i thinking it dose not sound that good, i so sat thinking, i don't think i would like this movie and i was think i was going waste hour and half of my life.Soon as put on i was total shocked how different this zombie is, i thought this movie was fantastic, i could not believe not seen it before, the whole story was great idea and this movie did have some nice gory scenes however this movie more about boy being friend with zombie building connections with Fido the boy named the zombie Fido.Great fun movie 8 out of 10.
People were so naive back then that it's frightening and the idea that those clean cut folks would find it normal to have zombies as pets actually works here.Kudos to this Canadian production, the colorful crisp cinematography and the excellent cast, including Carrie Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Henry Czerny and the kid.It's a shame this film wasn't a bigger hit.
It is a different beast altogether (forgive the pun).Fido kicks off with a black & white information film that explains the back story - humans have won a war against zombies by developing a control collar that subdues the flesh-eaters into dumb servants.At first I thought we we were in for a fifties cold war paranoia parody a la Matinée, but we are soon hurled into a world of bright primary colours and fifties middle-class nostalgia.Young Timmy Robinon is a lonely kid who doesn't fit in at school.
Until his collar goes on the blink...Fido is NOT a horror film, but my problem with the movie is figuring out exactly what it IS.Much of the humour is of the light family variety, and sometimes the plot line is too heavily reliant on the boy and his dog/family moments.Yet the film is shot through with wonderfully dark, truly funny moments, which while welcome, will ensure an R rating for what is, for extended periods, a family comedy.The film looks gorgeous, and is wonderfully performed by all involved.Despite its difficult tonal problems, I hope this movie finds a niche, as it's quite a little gem in this year's deluge of cinematic crap..
These movies are great because they're horror films and you are scared of seeing the Zombies eating people and running amok.
Here the Zombie's are the good guys & cooperate villain Zomcon, is the bad guys.As "Fido" unfolds, it's a funny & touching comedy that has brains to spare, not for eating, but for thinking.
All of this has been made possible by Zomcom, a big-brother-type organization that has found a way to render the zombies (who were originally brought to "life" by radiation from outer space) manageable and docile - at least most of the time.This twisted, modern-day spin on the TV series "Lassie" - it might easily have been entitled "A Boy and His Zombie" - takes slyly satirical swipes at such pre-'60s concerns as obsessive social conformity (here keeping-up-with-the-Joneses means having more zombie servants than the folks next door), the sterility of suburban life, the corporate control of civic affairs, small town corruption and nuclear family values - all played out in a beautifully designed setting of parti-colored houses and immaculately manicured lawns.
Despite some playfully graphic violence, the movie stays true to the spirit of innocence we generally associate with both the 1950's itself and the cheesy, low-budget horror movies that were so much a part of the pop culture scene of that decade.K'Sun Ray, Carrie-Ann Moss and Dylan Baker are amiable and appealing as the wide-eyed Timmy and his Cleaver-esquire parents (with slightly sinister undertones), while Billy Connolly accomplishes the well nigh impossible task of bringing a great deal of humanity and depth to the role of a resurrected corpse.This is what "Lassie" might have been had Timmy's best friend been afflicted rabies..
Being a big fan of the old zombie flick, I was pleasantly surprised with Fido.The film has almost a Tim Burton - Edward Scissorhands kind of feel and must be set in the same demented time/space continuum where everything seems perfect.
Was totally taken in with this one - some good belly laughs and just had me grinning like an idiot all the way through!Don't quite see the reasoning for an R rating on this one as the zombie flesh eating scenes are not that bad and have seen a lot worse in some M movies..
The only real postal-type acting that was good in this movie was by Henry Czerny, who plays Mr. Bottoms the Security Manager of ZomCom. There was great acting by Billy Connolly, who plays Fido and Carrie-Anne Moss, who plays Helen Robinson.
Aside from some okay acting and a radiantly crafted satire piece, this movie was a great "horror" move for anybody who loves zombie comedy movies like Shaun of the Dead.
Yet another bad movie featuring zombies.But its got a new twist----it's boring and slow.The makers of this film have managed to make a movie with zombies that is about as exciting as watching paint dry.I didn't think that was possible.Just imagine a 1950's as portrayed in "Happy Days" or "Leave it to Beaver" but instead of Mr.C. mowing the lawn or washing the car they have zombies doing those menial chores instead.Sometime before some sort of space dust had hit the Earth and brought all the dead back to life.The hordes of walking dead were brought under control in the Great Zombie Wars and now zombies are controlled by a collar that keeps them under control so they can be made to do chores.One kid ,Timmy, and his zombie ,Fido, form a special bond and havoc ensues.A company called Zomcon makes the collars and fences that surround the towns and keep them safe from roaming zombies-yeah there is supposed to be some hidden message about corporate corruption or greed or whatever.Who cares.Now I know this isn't supposed to be a straight zombie movie,it's supposed to be funny .The only problem is it ain't funny.The storyline is slow and boring and the plot doesn't make any sense.Wouldn't it be better just to wash your own car as to take the chance that a collar will malfunction and a zombie will flip out and kill someone like sometimes happens in the movie?
Young Timmy (K'Sun Ray) is a lonely kid but luckily his sweet mom (Carrie-Ann Moss) purchases a lovable and friendly ghoul named Fido (Billy Connelly) until one day his collar malfunctions as he starts to munch down on a few folks causing a problem for the owners.
His mother, Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity from The Matrix) as always brings her A game as the beautiful and seductive "Mrs. Robinson." Tim Blake Nelson is over the top as the quirky neighbour with a zombie girlfriend.Fido is the kind of film that if you watch it again you will continue to catch new things and laughs that you missed the first time.
This 2006 zombie comedy is really one of a kind, and it is also the type of movie that you can watch again and again.The story in "Fido" is very enjoyable, and there are some very impressive names on the cast list, such as Billy Connolly and Carrie-Anne Moss, to pinpoint but two of these.The characters in "Fido" are very nicely fleshed out, pardon the pun, and they are characters that you take a liking to right away.For a zombie movie, then special effects and make-up is a thing that must be working on the screen.
FidoBeing responsible for a pet zombie is a good way for a couple to know if they're ready for a baby.Unfortunately, the couple in this horror-comedy had a little boy before their flesh-eater.Despite her husband's (Dylan Baker) unease around them, Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss) brings home a domesticated zombie, Fido (Billy Connolly), whose hunger for flesh is kept in check by a remote-controlled collar.When officials quarantine Fido on account of his feasting of neighbours, young Timmy (K'Sun Ray) sets out to retrieve his putrefied playmate with the help of a previous company employee (Tim Blake Nelson).But the head of the company (Henry Czerny) has other plans for Fido's saviors.Set in an alternate 1950s, this quirky Canadian contribution to the annuals of zombie cinema injects some much needed satire and humor into the undead genre.Incidentally, letting your pet zombie lick your face is a slippery slope.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido.This film combines 1950s propaganda, zombies, the humor of "Shaun of the Dead" and a unique story to create a world that is both funny and fascinating.
Unlike satires like "How to Get Rid of the Others", "Idiocracy" or "Dr Stranglove" the message is too subtle to really have an impact on the viewer and many people probably won't even understand what message this film actually holds.Being too shallow for a satire and not goofy enough for a story a la "Monty Python", "Brain dead", "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz" the humor in Fido never really worked for me and considering this is supposed to be a funny movie that's a major drawback.So why does it still deserve a 6?
It even had a scene reminiscent of Lassie, where little Timmy (K'Sun Ray) was in danger and his zombie (Billy Connolly) went to fetch his mother (Carrie-Anne Moss).One could read into this film a criticism of 50s communist scares, or racial prejudice.
"Fido" is finally the first film again since the aforementioned "Shaun of the Dead" to successfully blend effective comedy and respectful horror elements into one surprisingly refreshing movie.
And, at the beginning of the film, we're treated to some brief (but very funny) black and white newsreel footage informing us that, ten years after the 'zombie wars,' we're now living in a safe society, happily using the undead as servants (courtesy of collars which control their flesh-eating impulses).It's almost an ideal world.
What follows is a tale of friendship between the family (or most of them) and their 'pet zombie' who little Timmy Robinson christens 'Fido.' Of course no relationship ever runs smoothly and it's never easy when one party has to wear a collar that prevents him from tearing innocent old ladies apart every time the collar fails.Basically, if you're a zombie fan, not only should you have watched 'Shaun of the Dead,' but you're also probably aware of George Romero's classic 'Dawn of the Dead.' Apart from the cool action sequences, a lot of people admired the social satire he wove in, commenting on a consumer society.
"Fido" is not as good zombie-comedy as "Shaun of the Dead" but it is a lively and funny story of the world where people don't die normally but transform into flesh-eating and menacing zombies.Luckily there is a corporation, Zomcom, what has managed a possibility to live with zombies in a normal society.
Fido (2006): Dir: Andrew Currie / Cast: Billy Connolly, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dylan Baker, Tim Blake Nelson, K'Sun Ray: Satire of living dead horror films that continues in the gross decaying delights of zombie fans.
Fido is one of those satire boy and his pet comedy that makes you wonder if the director writer Andrew Currie just watch an old Lassie episode, and just rewrote the part of the dog with the word 'zombie'. |
tt0155306 | Ultime grida dalla savana | The film is a depiction of various scenes, usually violent or bizarre, that somehow relate to hunting. Each scenario is presented one after the other with little regard for narrative continuity. The opening scene introduces a Patagonian hunter who hunts stags to survive. The opening credits play over as he chases after a stag, which he ultimately shoots, kills, and beheads. Afterwards, one of the numerous scenes of anti-hunting gatherings is shown, this one in Cape Cod. The attention quickly shifts to wildlife hunting, where a monkey is killed by a leopard, and then a squirrel monkey by an anaconda. The theme changes again to the social hunt of wild game in Australia and Africa. Aborigines hunt kangaroos and other large marsupials with spears and giant bats with boomerangs. Indigenous tribes of Africa hunt large game, including antelope, buffalo, and elephants, in the savanna. Religious ceremonies are also shown, where the African hunters proceed to suck fresh blood from the entrails of an antelope, and the Australian aborigines symbolically bury their prey in dust to placate the spirits of the animals. Lastly, two brothers are arrested after partaking in a form of ritual post-mortem cannibalism of three of their relatives to acquire the hunting skills of the dead.
Other hunting traditions then follow, again rooted in religion. The warriors of the Kuru tribe in Africa commit a sacred act in which they copulate with the ground in belief that it will make the Earth fertile and produce animals for the hunt, and a stag hunt in France, rooted in ancient pagan beliefs of the Gauls, is blessed by a mass before the hunt takes place, during which the hunters and dogs chase and ultimately kill a fleeing stag. In a fox hunt, the Wild Fox Association sabotages the hunting efforts by serving wine laced with a laxative to the hunters and distracting the dogs with an Afghan bitch in heat. Their efforts are then connected to species conservation, and to exemplify that hunters are truly concerned in wildlife conservation, Argentine hunters capture an Andean condor to sell to a zoo. A collage of other conservation efforts is shown, including the tagging of white rhinoceroses, grizzly bears and elephants, which are shot with morphine darts. Argentinian deer and elephant seals are physically subdued and marked. Tourists on Africans safaris then come to view the conservation efforts, which the narrator claims to have seemingly negated the animals' violent instincts. This deception is demonstrated with the mauling of a tourist named Pit Dernitz by lions.
Another anti-hunting demonstration becomes the film's focus, this time on the Isle of Wight. Nudity and intercourse are practiced freely amongst the demonstrators, and this is contrasted with ancient hunter-gathering groups, who had strict rules concerning nudity. The narrator argues that once hunting had left this group of people, so did their rules toward nudity. Also highlighted is the contradiction that though this people are against hunting, thousands of farm-raised animals had to die to support them. The focus changes to Humboldt penguins, which cannot hunt because of polluted waters, and thus seem detached and without focus. This effect is compared to modern day Eskimos, who no longer hunt since the discovery of oil in their homeland and have fallen into depression and melancholy. To reverse the process, several groups of men go out and revive their hunting ways. Reflected in this is a montage of gun ownership, which the film relates to feelings of masculinity, followed by shots of illegal elephant poaching from Africa. To offset the dwindling number of game due to poaching, warriors from the Lobi tribe celebrate the "Ceremony of Life", in which they masturbate with ceremonial rods and pour the product into the river, hoping the animals will drink the semen and multiply. Attention shifts to large electronic probes in the Peruvian savanna used to measure the winds of El Niño for optimal fishing conditions. Fishing birds are also electronically tagged so the prime fishing areas can be located based on the birds' fishing habits. This fish frenzy in South America is reflected in the salmon run in Alaska, where kodiak bears hunt and fight for prey.
An examination of a hunting tradition in northern Europe follows, where falcons assist humans in hunting by catching wild game, such as rabbits and pheasants. Further collaboration with man and animal is highlighted, this time with cheetahs. To demonstrate the cheetah's speed and effectiveness, a chase between a group of cheetahs and ostriches is arranged, in which the birds are hunted down and killed. The next animal collaborators are dogs, which hunt wild boar in Patagonia and a puma which has attacked a herd of sheep and a shepherd. In cities, however, stray dogs are the ones hunted by dog catchers, which the narrator claims demonstrates that the hunt is still active, but the prey has changed. Indios also use dogs to hunt monkeys, but their efforts are compared to mercenaries hunting the Indios themselves to clear them from their native land for development. In one such instance, mercenaries retaliate against a death of a workman by hunting down a group of Indios, one of which they torture, castrate and murder. Various scenes of wildlife are then shown, after which orangutans are hunted to be sold to zoos. The film then ends with the coexistence of man and animal between Erik Zimen, an ecologist, and wolves, the group of animals he wishes to save. | violence, cruelty, murder | train | wikipedia | WANNA SEE LIONS MAUL A MAN...
The scene where a man is mauled by three hungry lions is very graphic.
There are also some scenes where a hippie is breast feeding a goat.
There are no human death scenes in this, or any Faces of Death for that matter.
It's all staged, and all psychological.They show you a dead body in a morgue,or real animals getting brutally killed.
Then show you a guy getting shot by executioners (not in this film,in one of the Faces of Death and I'm just using as an example only),a guy hit by a train, or a guy mauled by lions.
People see these films usually very young, and grow up believing they are real.
Even though the human deaths are fake these films are still very unsettling, and you can not unwatch it.
This film, almost like a documentary, is a story of hunting: some oppose violence to animals, others say it is a part of nature to kill.Directed and written by Antonio Climati and Mario Morra, who would go on to make more documentaries -- "This Violent World" and "Sweet and Savage", as well as having independent careers as a cinematographer and editor, respectively.Scenes show hippies in Cape Cod, rallying for animal rights...
Also, aborigines spearing kangaroos and using boomerangs on bats.There is also plenty of footage of animals hunting other animals: anaconda, monkeys, jaguar.
But the main point seems to be the variety of ways that man hunts animals for food, sport or otherwise..
What I like in this doco is a volume of realistic data rarely seen somewhere else.DVD I own accomplishes 88 min of 94 minutes a full version presents, and some film scenes are really cut short with censoring in "a free speech world", leaving more to viewer's imagination than it was probably supposed by producers themselves.With knowledge of a subject and respect, a natural beauty of hunters' bodies have been depicted while broadening viewers' knowledge of a rough reality of a world existing in different time/space dimensions on the Earth simultaneously to civilised digitally-equipped one, by screening a variety of traditional indigenous African rituals, much more logical and cognitive with environment than outdoor copulating of the educated Westerners during youth gatherings.A scene of annihilating "primitives" of Amazon is uselessly censored perhaps as shoving a member cut off might really emphasised a notion of this work, which is, as understood, convincing in "devil beneath" that is in killing ground of a human nature although lacquered upon the history with challenging laws and orders but well preserved and easily demonstrated on demand of circumstances requiring.A must to have on a shelf..
Savage Man...Savage Beast (1975) ** (out of 4) Italian Mondo movie has all that you'd expect from a film like this.
This "documentary" shows everything from cannibals to animal killings to hippies cleaning themselves at an outdoor event.
If you're an animal lover then it goes without saying that you should skip this film because all sorts of animals are show being killed and slaughtered.
Some of these are animal on animal attacks but there's a lot of footage of men hunting down the animals and killing them.
The most outrageous scene comes from an African tribe who believe they must have sex with the ground in order to get the grass to grow.
Seeing twenty some men drilling holes in the ground and then having sex with it is something I really didn't need to see.
This film isn't a well made movie but it's remains slightly interesting just by seeing these different cultures..
Whether he be a South American hunter with a fake Spanish accent or various other ethnic groups with equally fake accents, they're all just voice actor Edward Mannix and not "real" interviews with "real" people.This is like a Mutual of Omaha video gone horribly wrong.
This film consists of fake footage mixed in with a little bit of real footage.
Seriously, every time a weapon is thrown it's like a 'Woody Woodpecker' cartoon.Much of the fake footage doesn't even have anything to do with hunting or animal attacks.
Such as naked hippies, a group of Frenchmen defecating in the woods, and dozens of Africans humping the soil, literally!
With this many black men humping it's like watching a Sarah Vandella porno without Sarah Vandella.
It might be a little more convincing that this is an actual ritual and not just done for pure exploitation if all the tribesmen weren't voiced by Edward Mannix!
There's also plenty of fake footage of Africans masturbating into a river.
This is done with extreme close ups and in slow motion directed like a porno complete with close up shots of their cxx faces.The funniest scenes by far are the fake animal attacks.
The best being the lion mauling of a tourist.
As with all mondo films this "real" footage consists of multiple camera angles, and close ups of the victim's distraught family.
It's side splitting how fake it is.Some morons such as the writer of the IMDb summary actually defend it as "real." There are not enough drugs on earth to make one believe this footage is "real." No one could actually believe such a thing.Next it's mercenaries waging a war against native tribes.
Their fake costumes consist of glued on thick eyebrows and mustaches that look like Groucho Marx masks without the glasses.
In conclusion, I've never been a fan of mondo cane films but this one has some great laughs.
If you enjoy silly exploitation films this is worth a watch..
This Film has it all, from an elephant speared multiple times,the only footage i've ever seen of a man being mauled by a lion (one of many highlights),a tribe that have intercourse with the ground (its not virgin soil anymore).
Seriously you need this in your life so many animal deaths an under appreciated classic.You can get this and 19 other Grind-house films for £13 this film alone is worth that.
Animals were harmed in the making of this film and it is all the better for it 10/10.
Mostly lame Mondo about man's relationship with nature and animals, might have been more shocking in the 1970s, but now it seems like various outtakes leftover from a few National Geographic specials.Tribesmen on the hunt in footage showing real animal death juxtaposed with hippie shenanigans was both repulsive and silly.
Tourist being mauled by lions in Angola was fake, but at least it was better staged than the similar scene in Faces Of Death.
A curious vignette allegedly in Burundi mentions a tribe called Niamey , and a pair of brothers named Kano and Naro Kabila- which is odd, because Niamey is in Niger, and Kabila has roots in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, not Burundi.The narrator in Faces Of Death was silly and largely false, but at least he was more charismatic and amusing than the dry, flat, monotone narrator heard here..
Graphic mondo movie is an odd mix of real and stage violence and naked natives that works, as most mondos, only in parts.
Legendary mondo movie that has lots of violence against animals and full frontal male nudity.
Long dull and rambling as many mondo movies tend to be, this film has something of a reputation because of its often graphic nature.
The film is the source of a lion attack (most certainly staged) that has been circulating around the internet where a man gets out of a car to film a lion and is promptly eaten in front of his family.
The two sequences of masturbation (one where tribes have sex with the earth to make it fertile and another involving sprinkling it in the water) are also mentioned as "oh my god moments".
I'm less impressed with those sequences (I've seen too many mondo films) and prefer the odder moments like hunting bats with boomerangs or the anti fox hunt sequence.
To be certain this is a film to make you sit up and take notice if you don't like animal cruelty.
This little nugget opens with a Patagonian talking about how he bagged a stag because he "just wanted a stag."From there we go to the animal rights activists and their pre PETA protests.
Almost tear-jerking until you see too many of them winking at the camera.The hunters in Argentina actually trying to capture endangered species to preserve them was interesting.
That scene opened in an over decorated hunting lodge.
And just as many rugs on the floor as well.The lion mauling scene was most likely faked.
Apart from a lack of consistency between the narration and the scene (Playful looking lions, visible land rovers with armed men in the background.) the OTT acting of the "victim" and his wife also looked dodgy.
This scene probably inspired the bear attack in Faces of Death.
First off, I'd like to say that I DID NOT watch the uncut version, but rather the Australian version, that's cut by 77 seconds*, and comes with the "Grindhouse Experience" DVD pack.
Even though the version I saw was cut, this is still a very violent/bizarre film, that's not for the faint of heart.
However, it is also incredibly interesting, makes very interesting and true points about animal/human and predator/prey relationships, such as how man wishes to be loved by animals, yet hunts them, and how even though people protest the slaughter of certain animals, many more cows/chickens/pigs are killed for their food.
Lastly, it talks about in one scene about how the new laws of the world punish those who follow the older, more primitive ones.
There are countless animals killed in this movie, including a snake vs.
monkey scene that's quite similar to the one in "Mountian of the Cannibal God".
We also see cheetahs killing ostriches, bears eating fish alive(In another very fascinating scene, commenting on nature documentaries), elephants getting speared, and many other things.
Of course, who could forget about the human/human violence, as well as the infamous "Lion mauls a man in front of his family" scene.
Well, let me just tell you, the lion attack footage is some of the most harrowing footage I've ever seen, yet at the same time, is fascinating.
There the aftermath of cannibalism, showing the corpses and the weapons used to cut open the bodies.
Also, several indios get shot(In a staged scene).
You've probably heard about an infamous castration/scalping scene.
First, men dig holes into the ground, and proceed to make love to mother Earth.
There's also the talked about "hippie breast-feeding a goat" bit.
While that may sound sick on paper, its really not that bad, and there's a much worse scene like it in Mondo Cane.
This scene may make male viewers(such as myself) very uncomfortable, as there are graphic close-ups of the tribes penises, jiggling up and down in slow-motion.Anyways, I recommend this film not just to mondo/exploit fans, but also to fans of nature documentaries.*In case you're wondering, here's what's cut from my version(which is also the most common): 1.
2. The lion mauling scene is trimmed, but not entirely removed.
It gets rid of some of the more graphic bitings, and removes a few close-ups of the body.
This is a 1975 Mondo film originally titled "Zumbalah".
It is done documentary style showing us animals killing animals and man killing animals almost as a forerunner to the "Faces of Death" series.
It also attempts to be anthropological by showing us naked hippies littering the beaches of Cape Cod in order to save the environment.While some of the scenes are staged, there are some interesting scenes, people humping the ground for example, that I had not known or imagined.
The film had a lot of nudity, mostly male and the narration was extremely boring..
Enjoyably lurid mondo documentary trash.
Now, here's a blithely sleazy speculative mondo documentary that really goes out of its way to give you your grubby money's worth.
Amongst the definite highlights are the incredible sight of well-endowed African natives making love to the ground (it's a fertility ritual, of course), another group of natives engaging in ritualistic masturbation, the genuinely startling shaky hand-held camera footage of a luckless tourist getting mauled to death by two vicious lions, a flock of long-haired hippie freaks not only shed both their clothes and their inhibitions, but also wrap themselves up in paper and plastic in order to protest against hunting and killing animals (one hippie chick even breast feeds a baby lamb!); Eskimos slaughtering ducks so they can surmount depression, and man's futile attempts to prevent endangered species from becoming extinct.
This picture crams in everything from cannibalism to abundant male and female nudity to copious animal killing and cruelty while exploring the centuries old topic of hunting and the human race's uneasy coexistence with animals.
Sure, this film is crass and pandering to the ninth degree, but it's certainly never dull and always interesting.
Only a few obviously staged moments and several hideously sappy songs on the soundtrack detract a bit from this otherwise hugely worthwhile mondo romp..
Not nearly as impressive, shocking or thought-provoking as any of the titles in the Mondo Cane Collection box, "Savage Man Savage Beast" poses as a documentary, but it's simply a blatant and shameless series of unrelated but massively exploitative footage of hunting rituals from all over the world.
The opening sequence is dark & grim, with the introduction of a lone hunter and harsh images of him killing a beautiful animal.
The events then abruptly switch to a gathering of free-spirited 60's hippies (with an obvious aversion to wearing clothes) that protest against the senseless killing of animals.
One of the hippie-girls even demonstrates her affection for animal through breastfeeding a baby lamb, which is quite an odd sight.
Anyway, the "documentary" only just started then but it already goes irreversibly wrong at that point, because the narrative chooses the side of the hunters.
Hunting, whether for survival or sport, is practically glorified and the narrator defenses needless violence through making weak and irrelevant statements like "nature itself is ferocious as well", "survival of the fittest", "hunting is often necessary in order to avoid the extinction of a species" and "hunting skills are often traditionally passed on from generation onto generation".
If Antonio Climati and Mario Morra intended to bring an ode to savageness and simply wanted to edit together a spitfire of gratuitous images of animals killing animals and humans killing animals, that's fine with me, but don't present it as an informative documentary.
The whole film is a wildly incoherent hodgepodge of genuine footage from around the world; from fox-hunting games in England, ritual cannibalism in Burundi in order to 'inherit' the hunting skills of the deceased, the killing of large bats with boomerangs in Australia, fishing techniques from Alaska and a much more.
"Savage Man Savage Beast" also includes the notorious amateur footage showing a dim-witted guy getting devoured by lions in a safari park and a totally pointless and exaggeratedly gratuitous 16mm movie depicting hired killers eliminating a native tribe.
Furthermore, there's a chapter about migrating penguins (I still fail to see the relevance) and a handful of truly bizarre hunting rites involving men 'impregnating' the earth by digging a little holes in the mud and stick their
You know.
I can't possibly recommend this movie to anyone, as it pretends to be a documentary but never once succeeds in hiding its true colors, namely pure & rancid Italian exploitation..
An utterly distasteful film, made at the time when the mondo movie had lost the occasional magic of MONDO CANE and simply became a bloodbath of violence against both man and animal.
This loathsome film details graphic death after graphic death unrelentingly, accompanied by the dulcet tones of a mock-serious narrator who attempts to make some sense of the carnage by endless pretentious waffling.
Now, it goes without saying that a spark of interest does lie in some of the scenes portrayed here - in fact it's very informative about native customs and way of life at times, and the daily life-and-death struggle of the animal.
But such moments are overwhelmed by endless viciousness and cruelty, so it goes without saying that only the strongest stomachs need apply.Things open with an American hunter nonchalantly shooting a stag dead before cutting it's head off - all in a day's work.
Things get worse from there, with footage of animals eating each other (predictably, a boa crushes a cute little monkey to death whilst it cries in agony) and lots of African creatures - wildebeest, antelope, and most upsettingly elephants - getting hunted and ritually slaughtered by natives.
The thing worse than the images on screen for me are the endless cries of terror and agony as the creatures are speared or stabbed - pretty sickening stuff.
Easier scenes to take include lots of naked hippies, natives having sex with the earth, a woman breastfeeding a goat, some cannibalised human corpses, and a fox hunt being sabotaged (hurrah!).As the film progresses the footage becomes more disturbing, and the high (or low) light is a tourist on safari getting mauled and disembowelled by lions who proceed to eat his guts - footage that can't possibly be faked, but here it is and in your face.
Then there's the amusing diversion of a cheetah chasing an ostrich, and a camera-van chasing the two animals and crashing, which is followed by a cruel shot of a trapped big cat getting ripped to pieces and stabbed to death by a pack of hungry dogs and their owner.
The film finishes with hunters chasing after indios who have been terrorising a building site; after catching a native they castrate him, scalp him, and finally behead him.
Although these scenes do look repulsively realistic I still have a niggling belief that they may be faked as they seem very "cinematically" portrayed.
A film for sadists and animal butchers everywhere.
A film for sadists and animal butchers everywhere. |
tt0089385 | The Journey of Natty Gann | Set in 1935, the movie tells the story of a 15-year-old tomboy girl, Natty Gann (Meredith Salenger). Out of work because of Depression-era unemployment, Natty's widowed father Sol (Ray Wise) parlays his surefootedness into getting a job as a lumberjack. To take the job he must leave on almost no notice on a company bus from Chicago to the state of Washington. Unable to find Natty before the bus leaves, he leaves her a letter promising to send her the fare to join him as soon as he has earned it. Meanwhile he makes arrangements with Connie (Lainie Kazan), the shallow and insensitive innkeeper of their roominghouse, so Natty can stay on under Connie's temporary supervision.
After overhearing Connie reporting her as an abandoned child, Natty runs away to find her father on her own, embarking on a cross-country journey riding the rails along with other penniless travelers and hoboes. Along the way she saves a wolfdog from a dog fighting ring. In return the dog, whom she calls Wolf, becomes her friend and protector in her attempt to return to her father. She has a brief, innocent romance with another young traveler, Harry (John Cusack), and encounters various obstacles that test her courage, perseverance, and ingenuity, such as being falsely accused of cattle rustling and remanded to a juvenile facility. Natty escapes the detention center and confronts the blacksmith who has been given control of the captured Wolf. The smith turns out to be kind and fair-minded, releases Wolf to Natty, and gives her food, a ride to a train station and enough money for a ticket. She is cheated of her ticket money by an unscrupulous ticket agent and narrowly escapes his attempt to turn her in, returning to "riding the rails" illicitly on freight trains, where she is unexpectedly reunited with Harry in a railside shantytown.
When Natty's father calls Connie, she tells him Natty is gone. In a later phone call he is grieved to learn that Natty's wallet was found underneath a derailed freight train - unbeknownst to him, she lived through the crash. He is given a week's leave from the lumber company to search through the wreckage for her, to no avail. He returns to the lumber camp and requests the most dangerous jobs, known as "widow's work", now that he seems to have little to live for.
Arriving on the west coast, Natty's journey takes several more challenging turns. Harry finds work through the federal Works Progress Administration in San Francisco, but she declines his invitation to go with him, in order to find her father. The logging operation does not list Sol Gann among their workers, and Natty searches fruitlessly for him, showing other loggers his photo in a pendant he has given her which is her last trace of her parents. Wolf is entranced by wolf calls from the woods and she urges him to go; it is a painful parting. Her search is thwarted by the company clerk who catches her in one of the backwoods camps, and she is waiting to be sent back down the mountain for her own safety when the clerk unexpectedly shows up with the returned letter her father had sent enclosing her train ticket to rejoin him. The clerk has located him and Natty is on her way on foot to the high camp where he is working when the camp bus whirls past her going down carrying injured loggers including her father. Glimpsing him, she calls to him but sees no sign he has heard her. They are, however, reunited in a heartwarming embrace further down on the mountain road. | depressing | train | wikipedia | Considering all the costume jewelry Disney released in the aforementioned decades, you would think they would have more respect for this gem.I'm sure parents who took their children to see Natty Gann when it was released were surprised and shocked to discover that it was not a film for younger children.
This is not only the story of a young girl traveling across country to find her father, it is the story of people searching for hope and trying to survive in an age when just having food on the table was a constant struggle.
When Natty's father Sol(Ray Wise) is offered a job in a logging camp in Washington, he is only given a few hours to come to a decision, either take the job and leave Natty behind, or stay in Chicago with Natty and hopefully find work elsewhere.
After Natty overhears Connie reporting her as an abandoned child, she decides not to wait for her father to send for her, and begins an arduous journey across country to find him.If ever there was a film that is a picture of contrasts it's this one.
Later, as Natty travels westward, there is beautifully photographed scenery of forests and mountains, but Director Kagan astutely reminds us of the bleakness of the depression with many scenes of the struggle in rural America, ranging from a scene of a farmer and his much pregnant wife plowing a field, to scenes of orphaned and abandoned children left to be wards of the state.
When Natty jumps her first train, she is help and befriended by Harry(John Cusack), who is also riding the rails.
What is more frustrating is the fact that Disney can do quality video releases, so just a decent film to DVD wide screen transfer would not have been a lot to ask for.
They should be ashamed of what they have done to this fine fine film.My Grade: Journey of Natty Gann-A
This haunting and delightful film - intended for children but equally compelling for adults - tells the story of Natty Gann, a brave and resourceful young girl who traipses across Depression-era America to find her only relative, her long-lost dad.
Natty Gann is simply a wonderful film for young and old alike..
One of the earlier reviews was talking about how all of the bad things that happen to Natty are inappropriate for a disney movie, but I think that those are the things that make this film so great.
Part of the reason why was that Disney made a poor decision by releasing this movie in pan and scan on DVD.
Journey of Natty Gann is a wonderful movie and is perhaps one of Disney's best.
The cast features Meredith Salenger, John Cusack, Ray Wise and Scatman Crothers who all put in terrific performances (special mention also goes out to Jed the dog who plays Natty's wolf companion).
This movies also boasts some incredible outdoor photography and a memorable music score by James Horner.The story is about a twelve year old girl named Natty (Meredith Salenger) who travels across 1930's America in search of her father.
Meredith Salenger was absolutely fantastic in the title role, completely believable and even heart-rending, I am lost for words at how she hasn't gone on to be a major star, for her performance showed that she really could act, which could more than be said for some of the actresses working today.
John Cusack is also impressive as the drifter who tries to convince Natty that the open road is no place for a young girl.
'The Journey of Natty Gann' was a film that I watched several times when I was a child.
I enjoyed it because there are few movies in which there is a female lead character who is a tomboy, and I could easily relate to this character, being a tomboy and seeking adventure myself.This film is about Natty, a girl during the Great Depression, who is separated from her father.
Unforgettably undeniably Disney movie set in the 1930s, in which a 14-year-old girl (first lead major starring role of actress Meredith Salenger) travels across the country in search for her father (Ray Wise) who is 2,000 miles away, because there was work there .
With the help of a wolf (stunningly portrayed by a dog called Jed) and a drifter (John Cusack) she goes out to the dangerous adventure .
A touching and warming film about a tomboyish girl who runs away from her guardian to join her daddy who has gone to Washington state and only love, hope and courage can help her find him.
A top-notch Disney-Silver Screen Partners representation of life during the Great Depression in which a girl runs thousand miles of danger separate her from her father.
There's a return of the old values of Disney studio with this stirring tale of a brave teen who tough as any boy runs away from Depression until Washington state .
Remaing cast is excellent as John Cusack as a young drifter for whom she feels the first moving of love .
NATTY GANN : Solid Family-Film That Embraces It's Dark Qualities....
THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN This was in the back of my video cabinet and I haven't watched it since I was a child.
NATTY GANN is a rather unknown Disney release from 1985 that takes places in the '30's.
Natty Gann is a young girl living with just her father in a bleak time.
However, at her core, she truly loves her father.So when he is forced to leave her at a moment's notice to travel to Washington (the only place he can find work) Natty is left in the care of a bitter Landlord.
It doesn't take long for Natty, played by Meredith Salenger, to runaway in an attempt to travel the 2,000 miles to be with her father again.On her journey, Natty meets all kinds of people who are suffering due to the nation's economic situation.
Together, they continue to travel towards her Washington State in pursuit of Natty's father.As the plot description above makes clear, the framework of this film is not horribly unique or important.
This is a very dark family film that lacks all of the standard, corny Disney clichés (aside from the animal friend, but here he doesn't talk...
and he isn't particularly nice at first).THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN portrays the depression-era and it's effects on the poor very honestly.
She hasn't found much success in film following this movie, but it is definitely one of the best child performances of the 80's.Now aside from the good qualities of the film, THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN moves a little too slow for me to really love it.
And there is a supporting role / love interest played by John Cusack who is essentially useless to the plot.But Disney deserves some credit for boldly taking family films to a darker, more artistically developed place in 1985 (both RETURN TO OZ and NATTY GANN were released in that year).
This movie was really great, it had an exciting and plausible plot, reasonable acting -- and it wasn't just cheesy crap compared to most of the other drivel that was being played for us kids at that time.
Heh.Great film !I want to watch it again to see if I still like it as much, but I know I probably will ...
I know the plot quite well, I did watch the movie at least 8 or 10 times as kid..
This is a nice movie about a courageous girl just trying to get to her father, with a little help from friends, and even more enemies.
When I saw Meredith Salenger in the Title role of (The Journey of) Natty Gann as a TV Movie shortly after it was made I literally fell in love with her and I've followed her career ever since.
In the film her father has to leave her alone while he goes looking for work across the other side of the States BUT she is soon in hot pursuit and thus her journey, adventure and the excitement begins and what a series of episodes it is.
A wonderful film, extremely good performances with Scatman Crothers in one of his final roles..
This was NOT her original work, and I challenge her to claim it was (I have nothing against her - I am confident she was simply given the basic plot and told to write the screenplay, and accuse her of nothing that could be construed as unethical).It was my father's great misfortune to have had this happen in the days when no L.A. lawyer in his/her right mind would sue the Walt Disney Corporation.
I first learned of "The Journey of Natty Gann" in kindergarten when a video that I watched featured an ad for it.
In fifth grade, the teacher showed the class another video that featured an ad for this movie, and she mentioned that it starred a young John Cusack.
In this case it's the Great Depression witnessed by a tough but kind-hearted girl venturing from Chicago to Seattle in search of her father.
Even though this is a Disney movie, there are some intense scenes showing what the authorities did to people.
And beyond that, we get some great shots of the British Columbia wilderness (where the movie got filmed).
I watched this movie on the Disney channel as a kid and fell in complete love with it then!
Meredith Salenger is captivating as Natty, an undaunted tomboy who runs away (from an unbearable landlady) cross-country to find her dad, who is logging in the wilderness of Washington State!
Along the way she becomes comrades with a beautiful wolf, who protects & aids her, and meets up with a young, savvy hobo, played by John Cusack.
I love this movie with all my heart, so I hope you will watch it and then write the record companies DEMANDING a SOUNDTRACK be released!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
The film also paints an exquisite picture of how arduous it was to live during The Great Depression, and how work was vital like water (which is what prompts Natty's father to leave for work across the country).
The cinematography is also breathtaking with its glorious scenes set in nature, and the animal actor Jed does a wonderful job at playing a believable wolf, considering that he was in fact an Alaskan Malamute in real life!.
The Journey of Natty GannThe bond between dogs and women took longer because wolves wouldn't get into designer purses.Mind you, the tomboy in this adventure is more likely to be carrying around a bindle.When Sol (Ray Wise) finds work in the forests of Washington State during the Great Depression, he leaves his 15-year-old daughter Natty (Meredith Salenger) behind in Chicago until he can send for her.
Along the way she befriends a wolf and fellow hobo (John Cusack), who teaches her how to survive life on the road.Besides an authentic depiction of life during the depression, this live-action Disney movie from 1985 also has a touching story about a girl and her wolf that will resonate with animal lovers.In fact, wolves still make excellent travel companions for women of any age.
It's not often one gets to see as the primary star of a movie, a strong young female character in a full feature film.
The Journey of Natty Gann is a relatively straight forward movie with a young daughter (Meredith Salenger in her first major role) who braves a cross country trip by rail to go after her father (played by Ray Wise, who became a household face in television's Twin Peaks, 1990-1) who has left to take a job in Washington State cutting down trees.
During her journey she has an extended encounter with a wolf and several scenes with John Cusack in one of first acting gigs in film.
Natty Gann takes elements from Never Cry Wolf (1983) a drama focused on a scientist studying wolves in their natural environment, The Incredible Journey that focused on the long trek of three animals trying to find their where back home, and the strength of female character found in the likes of Where the Lilies Bloom (1974).
Similar movies were later made using similar themes such as the journey of an animated cartoon superdog in Bolt (2008), a girl's belief in caring for some baby geese in Fly Away Home (1996), an orphan girl in The Secret Garden (1993), a girl's search for a mysterious animal in The Secret of Roan Inish (1995), a girl attempts to ride a whale, something only boys in her culture are allowed to do Whale Rider (2002), a girl who goes looking for her lost father in Winter's Bone (2010) Perhaps the strongest girl movies have been The Lovely Bones (2009) of a deceased girl searching to mystery surrounding her own murder, the animation feature film Spirited Away (2001) of a Japanese girl who enters a fantasy world in a long epic adventure, and in this case "a boy" who goes on a journey surrounding a mysterious key in the aftermath of 9/11 in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011).
THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN is something of an anomaly in the Disney catalog, a breath-takingly grim account of a depression-era girl riding the railroads to be reunited with her father in a labor camp in California.
The fact that the Disney company tried to pigeon-hole this film as a family offering disturbs me, for I find very little in the way of family entertainment here.
John Cusack appears as one of the few sympathetic characters and Natty's ill-conceived love interest.
Don't misunderstand me, this is a good film - a depression-era story of a young girl traveling across country to re-unite with her father - but I guess I didn't expect to hear "hell", "g*d d**n", "s**t", "son of a b***h", etc.
Set during the Great Depression, this live action Disney film involves a girl left in the care of her selfish landlady after her widowed father finds work miles away, and the journey she makes to find him upon overhearing the landlady's plans to throw her out.
Meredith Salenger is well cast as the resourceful title character, striking a perfect balance between vulnerability and resilience, and the film is darker and more graphic than your average Disney fare.
Ray Wise is fine as Sol, Natty's loving father, but all the actresses who play matrons are very flat while Lainie Kazan goes way over-the-top as the evil landlady.
There's a job in Washington state but he has to leave behind his daughter Natty (Meredith Salenger).
The Journey of Natty Gann follows teenage Natalie Sue Gann (Meredith Salenger) as she travels from Chicago to Seattle in search of her father.After Natty's father Sol Gann (Ray Wise) was offered a job in Washington state he had to take it, leaving Natty in the less than tender care of Connie, their landlady (Lainie Kazan).
However, after hearing Connie call the police for an 'abandoned girl' Natty runs away, unable to wait until Sol sends for her.Over the course of her journey, Natty meets up with a knowledgeable young man by name of Harry (John Cusak), a group of rag-tag misfits with a rather mafia-esque 'you take care of us, we take care of you' motto, and a loyal 'Wolf' (which may or may not be a Husky, since everyone but Natty refers to it as a dog, and it is played by the dog of 'White Fang' fame) that seems to have a sixth-sense when it comes to danger.Despite being made by Disney, Natty Gann is a cute movie without suffering the candy-coated sweetness of most recent Disney films.
Overall, the good acting, great scenery and decent script make for an enjoyable film that everyone in the family can enjoy.Hey, the star even swears four times!.
I just watched it for the first time in many years, and I had forgotten how wonderful a film it truly is.
A smart, headstrong, loving girl sets off across country to reconnect with her father, what more do you need from a movie?
Don't Remember Very Well, But Remember Liking It. I barely feel qualified to write a comment on this forgotten Disney live-action film from the mid-1980s, since I've only seen it once, and that was back when it first came out.
It seems to me that Disney had a pretty good track record of live action films during that decade ("Never Cry Wolf" is another forgotten one) but that few of them have had any staying power.Grade: B+.
With so many movies around, "The Journey of Natty Gann" is worth its while.
For Natty Gann(Meredith Salenger) she makes a quest to go find him.
Meredith Salenger was a great actress as Natty Gann.
Natty runs into all sorts of adventures on her journey from Chicago to Washington state.
A great movie with beautiful visuals, and wonderful performances from Meredith Salenger and John Cusack!.
"Natty Gann" is very similar to other Disney animal classics.
I like the movie because of the friendship between Natty and the wolf and the adventures she experiences on her way to the west with the spirit on the girl's mind to find back to her father.
I got this movie out for the family, and yes there are unsettling bits in it, vis - the dog fight, the abuse, the orphanage, the tree scene, when you think about it probably the whole film.
Although I first saw this film when I was probably six years old, it has stuck with me as an inspiration, and set a standard that very few movies live up to.
The love story between Natty and Harry is so romantic, and the independent spirit of a young girl was rare in movies back then and is still rare now.
This is an overlooked film that has always filled me with that feeling of secret magic, that there can be movies and stories like this, and that a young girl can make it on her own.
kids smoking in a Disney movie?
If you want to watch a good old fashioned boy with dog , or in this case girl with wolf, film, then you could do no better than this. |
tt0273799 | Max Keeble's Big Move | Seventh grader Max Keeble (Alex D. Linz) is a paperboy who has a huge crush on Jenna (Brooke Anne Smith), the daughter of one of his paper recipients. Max is antagonized by the corrupt megalomaniacal school principal, Elliot T. Jindrake (Larry Miller), resident bullies Troy McGinty and Dobbs (Noel Fisher and Orlando Brown), and the Evil Ice Cream Man (Jamie Kennedy). Max also learns that an animal shelter he visits is being closed down to build Jindrake's opulent football stadium.
When Max's father, Donald (Robert Carradine), reveals that he is moving to Chicago for his boss, because he is unable to stand up for himself, Max realizes that he can do whatever he wants to Jindrake, Troy, Dobbs, and the Evil Ice Cream Man, facing no consequences because he will be gone by then. Enlisting his equally socially outcast friends, Robe and Megan (Josh Peck and (Zena Grey), pranks include traumatizing Troy by playing the main theme song of the fictional children's television show, MacGoogle the Highlander Frog, which frightened him as a child, trapping him in the gym with a MacGoogle suit wearer, instigating a fight between Dobbs and the Evil Ice Cream Man by stealing the coolant coil for the ice cream truck and Dobbs's handheld device, and ruining Jindrake's chances of becoming superintendent to replace the current superintendent, Crazy Legs (Clifton Davis), by planting animal pheromones within his breath spray, instigating a food fight in the cafeteria, and later by sabotaging his announcements by placing a cardboard cutout of Max pointing at him claiming that he was wearing a thong.
After his missions are completed, Max ends up ditching Robe and Megan's going away party by accepting an invitation to Jenna's milkshake party, causing a falling out. Taking Max's earlier advice to heart, Don announces that he quit his job and started his own business, meaning that Max is not moving after all. Max freaks out at this news, and learns that other students at his school are suffering because of his actions. Max states that no matter who you are, you can always stand up for yourself. Max confronts Jindrake, Troy, and Dobbs one final time, and with the help of other students at his school, Max eventually defeats Troy and Dobbs for good by throwing them into the dumpster and stops Jindrake from demolishing the animal shelter, which later gets him fired for fiddling with the school budget to build his stadium (due to Max tricking Jindrake into publicly admitting to fiddling with the school budget earlier). The film ends when Max rides on his bicycle delivering newspapers around his neighborhood, and the Evil Ice Cream Man starts pursuing him once again. | revenge, prank | train | wikipedia | And Max earns respect not because he's the toughest, but because his turnabout beats the bullies at their own game, and because he won't let his buddies take the rap alone.This movie, and Shrek, See Spot Run, Cats & Dogs, and Spy Kids, are some of the most enjoyable movies I have seen in the last 10 months.
Amusing for adults, a blast and a half for pre-puberty members of the family, Max Keeble is just good junior high fun.Resiliently taking it all in stride, Max (and friends) absorb typical 6th grader abuse: the school yard bully, the angry principal, retaliatory ice cream man, and a looming move out of state.
(He's also very good in Princess Diaries.) Noel Fisher covers the leather jacket, wallet-chain-wearing bully role well too.The triangle of friends, in contrast to the buffoony bad guys, hang closer to the kinds of kids we know (or used to be).So when Max learns that his family will suddenly be moving to Chicago, he decides to return a few transgressions inflicted on himself and his friends.
It takes man to clean it up."Some somewhat stereotypical themes are peppered tastefully with carefully shot fun, good acting, and a strong sound track that accentuates the folly.I simply love the scene where the school's sexy science teacher strolls across the classroom setting each Bunsen burner a light as she passes, simply because she is perceived to be the "hottest" teacher in the school.Coincidentally, Alex D.
Linz and Zena Grey (Max Keeble and best friend Megan) enjoyed my particular screening from the front row.As the credits rolled, they stood up and boogied to the soundtrack.
Max Keeble's Big Move was an excellent movie!
Terrific kids film about a junior high student who gets tired of being tormented and vows to get his revenge after learning that his family is going to move away.
Max Keebles Big Move, is a very funny family movie, kids will enjoy along with the rest of the family, the movie is based on a boy named max ( alex linz) who is told he is moving to chicago, max really doesn't like the idea as he just started his first week at high school along with best friends megan (zena grey) and robe ( josh peck) this is supposedly his year in his town starting high school and making good friends, out of spite of moving he takes advantage of the fact that he will be in chicago after the first week of high school.So max gets revenge on all of the bully's, i wont say no-more you must watch it i have watched this over 100 times, i think i need a new copy!.
I think that Max Keeble's Big Move is a fun movie that young kids can enjoy.
I am only 12 years old and some adults may think it is boring but it is definintly a funny and classy movie for pre-teens..
It stars Home Alone 3's Alex D Linz as the title character and a fat Josh Peck as his best friend Robe.
The movie is about Max entering the 7th grade, where he must be subjected to bullies, peer pressure and an odd faculty.
There's many other scenes that make this wonderful.Max Keeble was back in the days when characters in family movies were made with such depth and like-ability.
This is a great movie but could have been better if they replaced every character except Alex Linz, Zena Grey, and maybe the principle.
But on the movies storyline which makes up Max Keeble goes to this animal shelter to see the animals but the principle buys the rented property and Max tries to protest but that fails when the principle takes down his posters and then Max does it his own way by sneaking into the school at night to checkout the funds for the school and put something is his mouth-spray to attract the animals; and it goes on from there between the feud between Max and the principle..
I think this is a charming movie about Max Keeble (Alex D.
I happen to think the story was a little dumb but the movie ended up being okay.
While "Max Keeble" has his moments (there are moments of genuinely good humor, although they are few and far between) I wouldn't recommend it to an older audience.It shows a blatant disrespect towards authority.
In Max Keeble's world, he gains popularity and practically is given a medal.The "Evil Ice Cream Man" is just silly, and serves no purpose save dragging the plot along.I really did like Alex D.
This was a kiddie-film through and through, and there was no mention of anything sexually related and there sure as hell weren't any sexual innuendoes to speak of.If you want a cute movie for your kids get this movie, but don't plan on sticking around while they watch it..
The brilliantly written story line, the outrageously funny Larry Miller (who played the principal Mr. Jindraike), and the super talented Alex D.
His fast moving telling of the story grabbed me at the beginning and held me all the way to the end, roaring with laughter.What made this a most excellent film, was the great interaction between the three main characters: Max (Alex D.
Super, super talented actors that were just plain fun to watch!This movie reminds you that no matter what happens, friends are one of the most important qualities of life.A cool, light hearted comedy for the whole family!.
The only conclusion I can come to about why someone wouldn't like it, is because it is "too perfect!" Anyone who didn't like it, may have been put-off by the unrealistically perfect world created in this movie.The main character, Max Keeble (played by Alex D.
He's got good looks and a smashing personality, two cool buds to hang out with who will do anything for him -- Robe (played by Josh Peck) and Megan (played by Zena Grey) who also "really likes him".
There for a time, it does look like Max is going to lose everything: his best friend Robe, Megan who "really likes him", and probably his life when one of the many bullies catches up to him.
Then he faces up to each of the bullies, beating them at their own game, and thus becomes the school "hero".Couple this fast paced story with interesting sets and costumes, impeccable lighting and sound, and Tim Hill's directing, and you end up with the "perfect" Saturday Matinee Movie, with a happy ending to boot!
It would be way cool, with Justin Berfield as the school newspaper editor narrating and covering all the antics of Max, Megan, and Robe; popping up just at the right time to snap pictures and to keep the plot moving.
This is a surprisingly entertaining little film about one kid's first week in junior high school, and his determination to start the new school year with "phattitude", Alex D.
Linz is extremely likeable in the role of Max Keeble, and his charm and energy carry the film.
The jokes are great, Alex Linz (Max Keeble) plays this character like a charm!
I liked the way he stood up to the bullys of the movie.
The movie had a good story to it that it is okay to stand up to what you believe in and that bullys will get what is coming to them.
This is not the sort of film I usually like, but by dint of my avuncular duties (I've got two young nieces and one hyperactive nephew), I ended up last weekend at Max Keeble.
Unfortunately, the film had to be done by Disney, which means that the possibilities are at a limit, and that anyone who enjoys it the most will be little kids who "think" they know what middle school is like.
Any elementary schooler who watches this movie will think they've got middle school planned out, but in a few years, they'll find that they had it all wrong.Max Keeble is supposed to be your typical unpopular kid, who after finding out that he'll be moving in a week, decides to live his remaining time at middle school to the fullest.
Principal Jindraike and the Evil Ice Cream Man are both supposed to be mean, but we see them being so cruel that they really should be spending time.My least favorite part of the movie would have to be the fact that the Keebles find out they're moving a week before it happens.
Max Keeble's Big Move seems like a combination of several different films and none of them worth watching.
It's stating he is making a "big move," so you'd assume that with a prior introduction you'd have some essence to what that "big move" might be.Upon seeing this advertised years ago I had a thought in the back of my mind that if the film would become very successful Max Keeble would be the next character to have his very own Television show.
It tells the journey of a tween named Max Keeble (Linz) who is entering the dreaded middle school with his friends Robe (Peck) and Megan (Grey).Max learns that his favorite animal shelter he helps out at is closing, bullies at school only grow meaner when the grade gets higher, his corrupt Principal Jindrake (Miller) is up to no good, and the ice cream man won't stop harassing children.Man, Max has a ton on his plate.
And on top of that he may be moving to Chicago and he desperately wants to win the heart of a Freshman girl who is carelessly ripped from other better kids films.This is another one of those teenage films where the lead character treats middle school like the depths of hell.
Max Keeble's Big Move is truly harmless, but redundant, and at a mere eighty-six minutes it doesn't capture the "big move" too well as much as it captures ones chaotic, over-exaggerated journey through middle school.One last thought; I always wondered if movie characters are aware of other films.
Linz plays Max Keeble, a paperboy entering Curtis Junior High School, who thinks 7th Grade is going to be a fresh start and easy entry to coolness.
His two geeky friends are the proudly grotesque "Robe" played by Nickelodeon comic-relief Josh Peck, and Megan(Zena Grey), a girl with a clarinet and a crush on Max. Unfortunately, he finds the promise of a fresh start is a false promise when he and his friends are attacked by two bullies -- Troy McGinty(Noel Fisher), and Dobbs(Orlando Brown, in his second villain role).
You guessed it, he punishes Max, rather than the kid who threw him there, just like many school faculty members do in real life.
At first he hates the idea, but then realizes that he can use it to take advantage of his tormentors, from McGinty to Dobbs to Jindraike, to a local ice cream vendor with a grudge against him for getting the health department on his case.This movie is quite a rarity for kid-flicks, because instead of suggesting so-called "alternatives" to handling bullies, it proudly advocates revenge.
If you're looking for a jock-bashing movie, don't look here.Of course the whole story turns upside down just before Max finds out the Keebles aren't moving to Chicago after all, and he has to save Megan & Robe from the people who kept victimizing all of them.
One thing that bothers me most about this movie is that Max thinks he should take responsibility for what McGinty, Dobbs, and Jindraike do to the kids in school and the nearby animal shelter, when he really shouldn't.
Max Keeble's Big Move is a funny movie for kids.
I think that because of it's comedy and the features of it, it is a fantastic movie for kids!
One of my favorite parts in the movie is where Max (Alex D.
Linz) gets back at all of his enemies, like the Ice Cream Man (Jamie Kennedy), Troy McGinty (Noel Fisher), The Principal Elliot T.
I love it, it is one of my favorite movies to watch!...Max Keeble's Big Move..
There are a lot of jokes that little kids may not understand as well as teenagers and adults would.It teaches the kids that if you stand up to the bullies and talk w/ them they will eventually back down or they will continue to torment you, but will get hit in the face w/ the same kind of treatment later if life.Adult reviewers on this website are always bad-mouthing kids movies.What do you expect?!?!?!?
i think most of that has to do with alex d linz he is a real good actor with out him this movie would have been just so-so.
Of the main characters, Alex Linz (Max) was the only one that gave a good performance, the others sounded kind of fake.
The jokes fall flat on their face, the evil ice-cream man is just plain dumb, the story is a jumbled mess, the 9th grade dream girls look like they're in their 20's, 'Lil Romeo's 'lil cameo is silly, and alas, Max Keeble just isn't cute enough.
This movie needs a serious rewrite to take advantage of potentially fun characters like the principal and Max's gross-out slob best friend Robe.
As I missed the beginning, I waited less than one hour (reading the Jedi making-of paperback) and I caught it for good at the Disney+1 channel.It was indeed a great movie: the kids were very good as well as the adult cast.
Max Keeble's Big Move is one of the worst live action films that the Walt Disney Company has produced.
Funny how the movies that were the most successful around Eisner's time were The Emperor's New Groove, Brother Bear, Home on the Range, Lilo and Stitch, Chicken Little and this film.Just to watch Larry Miller (The Nutty Professor) as a an evil school principal and Jaime Kennedy as the evil ice cream man is one of the worst roles these two talented actors were forced to do.
Are they trying to say that, much like in the movie, school isn't a safe place to be; that the teachers are complete morons and that they can't identify bullies when they strike others?
Linz avoids being an annoying cute kid; yes he is a bit irritating but mostly his performance is good and he is likable and easy to watch.
Grey and Pack are nice in support but I specifically enjoyed the turns from the two guys playing the main bullies their characters were cool and they were good.Overall, an enjoyable kids film that is filled with noise and energy.
A boy who thinks he is moving to another state takes revenge on all the bullies who have made his life hell, but when he finds out he's not going anywhere after all, he must face the consequences..Somewhere in the debris of this movie is a typical Disney moral about staying true to oneself and realising who your real friends are.
Max Keeble's Big Move, was actually a pretty decent movie, to my surprise.Basically, it's the whole junior high school scene.
Linz) is starting junior high school, with his two best friends Megan (Zena Grey) and Robe (Josh Peck.) He has a mean principal (Larry Miller) who is very selfish and hates the animal shelter next to the school.
My kids have this movie so I figured I would sit down and watch it with them.
Max is a kid with a couple good friends who finds out that he's moving.
This movie is a good family movie to sit down and watch with your kids.
i loved Max Keebles big move enough for me to buy it so that i can watch it ova and ova and Alex D.
Linz is soooo kool in it.This movie is really great and well worse seeing but some adults may not enjoy it very much becoz this is a disney kids movie....
It's a movie that both adults, as well as kids can enjoy.
It's a movie that both adults, as well as kids can enjoy.
Max Keeble's Big Move is meant to be stupid 8-12 year old fun, and I suppose on that level kids can go see it and have fun, but for some of them, and all of the people older than the target audience, will definitely get impatient with this movie which gives junior high schoolers more credit than they're worth.
For instance, there is a part when Max Keeble has to put up with the school bully who was once his friend, but now is a doofus who doesn't get higher than a D-, but then how can he so cleverly find ways to humiliate him (and even Max, who might be given too much smarts in the movie, is smart enough to strike back later on)?
This film also possesses the rare quality that really good movies have the emotional high point and low point are next to each other (Not the climax and denouement this is a purely visceral observation and it's only my opinion) Anyway, "Max Keeble's Big Move" is a really wonderful surprise and in short a blast..
Good, fun, over the top kids' film.
I think the film has to be seen for what it is - a good, fun, over the top kids film.
If you're expecting something reasonably suitable for adults, you will be disappointed.For those who are unaware, the film is about a boy (Max) who finds out he's moving house & uses it to take revenge on those who have bullied him.
He then finds out he's not moving &, having "forgotten" to attend his going away party with his friends, has to make amends with everyone & still deal with the bullies.There are some good solid performances in this film, particularly from Alex Linz (Max), Zena Grey (Megan) & Larry Miller (Principal Jindraike).
This movie is making kids dumb!
This movie was a plotless, humorous, and bad-acted film. |
tt0068503 | Dr. Phibes Rises Again | The story begins by recapping the events of the previous film, following Dr. Anton Phibes' murderous quest for vengeance against the doctors he blamed for the death of his wife, Victoria. Phibes eluded capture by placing himself in suspended animation in a sarcophagus he shares with the body of his wife, where he would remain until the moon had entered into a specific alignment with the planets. Three years later, the conjunction occurs, and Phibes rises from his sarcophagus. Summoning his silent assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp, replacing Virginia North), Phibes prepares to take Victoria to Egypt; there, in a hidden temple, flows the River of Life, promising resurrection for Victoria and eternal life for the two of them. Rising from his basement, Phibes discovers that his house has been demolished, and a safe containing a papyrus scroll, showing the way to the River of Life, is now empty.
Phibes knows of only one person who could be seeking the same goal: Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), a man who has lived for centuries through the use of a special elixir. After translating the papyrus, Biederbeck prepares to travel to Egypt to find the River of Life for himself and his lover Diana (Fiona Lewis). Phibes and Vulnavia enter Biederbeck's house, kill his manservant and reclaim the papyrus, then leave for Southampton to take a boat to Egypt. Biederbeck travels with Diana and his assistant Ambrose (Hugh Griffith) on the same boat; Ambrose is killed by Phibes when he discovers Victoria's body in the hold, and his body is stuffed in a giant bottle and thrown overboard. Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) discovers Ambrose's body when the bottle washes ashore near Southampton. He and Superintendent Waverley (John Cater) question Lombardo (Terry-Thomas), the shipping agent for the boat; upon hearing the descriptions of the tall woman (Vulnavia) and a clockwork band being brought aboard, they realize that Phibes has returned.
Trout and Waverley pursue Phibes to Egypt, catching up to Biederbeck's archaeological party near a mountain with the hidden temple. Phibes, having set up residence inside the temple, hides Victoria's body in the hidden compartment of an empty sarcophagus. He also finds the silver key that opens the gates to the river. Phibes kills each of Biederbeck's men using methods inspired by Egyptian mythology: one man is killed by a hawk, another is stung to death by scorpions. Biederbeck's team eventually breaks into the temple and takes the sarcophagus, and Biederbeck discovers the key. Phibes uses a giant fan to simulate a wind storm, while Vulnavia enters the tent with the sarcophagus and crushes the man watching over it in a giant screw press. Though the sarcophagus is retaken and Victoria's body is safe, Phibes discovers the key is gone.
Biederbeck is unmoved by the murders and insists on finding the River of Life. He sends Diana with the last remaining team member, Hackett (Gerald Sim), back to England. Hackett leaves his truck to investigate a battalion of British troops, but finds they are really more of Phibes' clockwork men. When he returns to the truck, Diana is gone and he is sand-blasted to death, his truck crashing into Biederbeck's tent. Realizing Phibes must have taken Diana, Biederbeck confronts him. Phibes demands the key in exchange for Diana's life. Unable to break her free of Phibes' trap, Biederbeck surrenders the key and apparently gives up his quest. Phibes unlocks the gates to the river and takes Victoria's coffin through. And in through apparent secret passage way, he summons Vulnavia to join them.
Biederbeck instantly changes his mind and begs Phibes to take him. His pleas are ignored, all unbeknownst to Diana and the officers who see this. She attempts to comfort her lover, who unknown to her, begins to age rapidly. Its unknown if Biederbeck dies or just looks down in defeat as Phibes sings "Over the Rainbow" as he fades from sight. | comedy, revenge, cult, dark, murder | train | wikipedia | Some feel that this sequel to 1970's The Abominable Dr. Phibes surpassed the original film with its all-out camp elan, wild-and-woolly murder sequences (it's hard to imagine anything more skin-crawlingly gruesome than the Scorpion Throne sequence in this film), exquisite Deco Egyptienne sets and scenery-chewing performances by such stellar talents as Hugh Griffith, Terry-Thomas (a priceless cameo), Beryl Reid and Peter Jeffrey.
The original film achieved cult classic status through a magnificent performance from Vincent Price as the vengeful doctor of the title, and an over the top, absurd, camp styling that set it apart from most other films in it's field.
The sequel sees Dr Phibes 'rise again' upon the moon aligning itself in a certain way (or something) and travelling to Egypt to find a river that will grant him and his neither living, nor completely dead beloved, immortality.
However, things aren't so simple because the scrolls that lead the way to the river have been stolen and Phibes has a contender; someone that needs to find the river just as much as he does out there in Egypt with him.What's basically missing from this film is assurance.
However, these death scenes almost appear superfluous to the plot, and appear to only be there to continue what the original started, as Phibes probably could have gotten where he wanted to go without them
but I'm not one to complain about a film that sees a man trapped in a giant gold scorpion while being eaten to death by live ones, and another man killed via a sharp spike shooting out of the telephone, so whether they're needed or not; they're nice.
The film also features, like the original did, a lovely camp feeling; but it's never on the same level as it was in 'The Abominable'.
Perhaps it's the move to Egypt and the low quality of the set's (as opposed to the grand and lavish ones of the original) what's done it.As mentioned, Vincent Price returns to take up one of the roles that have helped cement him in the minds of his fans - Dr Phibes himself.
Robert Fuest returns to the director's chair, as you'd probably expect; but the most notable performance in the film (other than Price) comes from Peter Jeffrey, in the role of the inept Scotland Yard inspector - Inspector Trout.
I'd even go as far as to say that Jeffrey is just as important a part of these two movies as Vincent Price is.Overall, this film isn't nearly as good as 'The Abominable Dr Phibes', but fans of the original will find lots to like and despite the fact that it's a lesser film and has many flaws; I love this kind of stuff so it gets a big thumbs up from me..
Of course this is an almost unnecessary re-working of the first movie but it is great for those like myself who can't get enough of Vincent Price's Phibes.The British cast is very stiff here and the almost chanting 'Harvard Univeristy drama teacher' voice of American actor Vincent Price (when he is thinking/transmitting to Vulnavia as opposed to the stark tone when he uses his electromechanical speaking apparatus) provides grandeur and menace.
I agree with most of the comments that state that the deaths are less imaginative than in the first movie but I like this fact that this sequel was made only two years after the original - the look and feel are similar even if some of the lushness is missing.I like the two policemen acting as a semi working-class, people with a common sense and humor, counterbalance to the Gothic "Phantom of the Opera style" Phibes.
I like the way they have given up trying to catch Phibes and these of course are the two we can identify with, yet there is too little material here and some of the scenes with the policemen look like a family gathering from the first movie and of course as in so many sequels: the acting becomes a little too self aware.
The villain, his hoping-to-be wife and his henchmen are all very dull characters so this is basically a Vincent Price/Peter Jeffrey movie with wasted but welcome guest appearances from Terry-Thomas and Peter Cushing.
Both wonderful actors with careers mostly made of making the most of bad material.The 1970s version of late 1920s British Art Deco (since the Paris-fair that introduced the Art Deco style was held in 1925, I'd say it should be rather early 1930s but the cars look more late 20s in both movies) plus the theatrical, magical, Gothic, deep menace of the price-less (pun not intended) Phibes as only Price could have played makes this very low budget film a little treasure, even if it's basically only for those, like me, who can't get enough of the magical world of the wonderfully abominable Dr. Phibes..
Vincent Price's performance was good (as per usual) and Robert Quarry did well as Biderbeck (Dr. Phibes' foe in this film).
As anyone who has seen the original can guess, there's a lot of really elaborate deaths and more of Vincent Price talking through a machine plugged into his neck.The film picks up with a brief recap of the original (Phibes out to kill the doctors who where operating on his wife when she died).
Phibes has a plan this time to find a secret river of life in Egypt that comes to a pharaoh's tomb once every 2000 years so he can bring his wife back to life and have eternal life.
Dr. Phibes returns (even though we DISTINCTLY saw him kill himself in the last movie!) and this time he is a little less focused on revenge and devotes most of his energy to resurrecting his long dead wife.
It manages to mix horror (Doctor Phibes, Robert Quarry's character(Whose name I forgot)), adventure (The whole expedition in egypt was done before "Raiders Of The Lost Ark), comedy (Just look at Waverly, Trout and the cameo by Terry-Thomas), and Music (Vulnavia's entrance and exit, and more) to create a wonderful masterpiece.
The plot involves Vincent Price's character Dr. Phibes pursuing the elixir of life in Egypt, followed by an explorer with a secret as well as the bumbling police officers Trout and Waverly.
After watching the sublime THE ABOMINABLE DR PHIBES, I wanted to see the sequel and hoped that it would be as good and as original as the first flick.
Three years after his last rampage, Dr. Anton Phibes is resurrected and seeks a map to Egypt that will give his wife life again, and discovering the truth about the mystical map alerts an old group of nemesis of his resurrection who race to Egypt to stop the madman's plans.It isn't the out-and-out classic the first one was, but this is still a great film regardless.
Seeing Price return to the role is a great deal of fun and the amount of screen time the film gives him causes that.
That this is a road movie allows for greater and more elaborate deaths, which is a great advantage as instead of guessing when Phibes would attack here it's a where and with what, and that gives the film a little extra suspense.
Three years later, when the moon aligns itself with the planets in a way not seen for a thousand years, Phibes (Vincent Price) rises again, and this time he is in search of the elusive River of Life, which promises resurrection for Victoria and immortality for the two of them.
Discovering that a sacred scroll containing the map to the River of Life has been stolen by the equally demented Darrus Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), Phibes, along with his beautiful assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp), heads to Egypt where the tomb is hidden, murdering anyone who dares stand in his way.With director Robert Fuest returning for the sequel, there's a real sense of continuity to the film, especially when a few actors - their characters slain in the first - occasionally pop up as for cameos that play out like small comic vignettes.
Watching Price gleefully butcher a group of hapless doctors in a variety of inventive and preposterous ways in the first instalment was an absolute delight, but Phibes's battle-of-wits with his nemesis here doesn't offer quite the same amount of opportunities for inventive set-pieces.Anyone searching for a bit of tongue-in-cheek horror will certainly get a bit of relief though, as Biederback's team find themselves the poor saps to be routinely offed, this time inspired by Egyptian mythology such a scorpions and a hawk.
At the end, it feels like the story of Dr. Phibes is not quite finished, with American International Pictures' planned sequel unfortunately never coming to fruition..
Like the first film, the sets and costuming are elaborate, the deaths are bizarre, the humor is quirky and Vincent Price is great.Worth watching...
Vincent Price returns as Dr. Anton Phibes, who is awakened from his three-year slumber by a carefully planned alignment of the stars that brings him back to life, only to be angered that his house was demolished, and the sacred scrolls of life he needs to resurrect his dead wife were stolen.
This one had all the charm, all the kills, all the comedy, and everything you could possibly want from a Phibes film.I'm surprised the director Robert Fuest didn't get bigger, because the directing here was top-notch.The comedy is more obvious in this movie than the first and it's actually REALLY funny!
The movie kicks off with Dr. Phibes rising from his rest to play the organ and head on over to Egypt seeking scrolls to resurrect his dead wife.
Peter Cushing appears for 20 or 30 seconds so the fans of Cushing's have no reason either to watch "The return of Phibes".I don't know what to point out of this film...
I like the Vincent Price Classics: Theatre of Blood and The abominable Dr. Phibes.
Yes, here we are back at Mauldin Square, where Anton Phibes, having pre-arranged his own resurrection, awakens from his hidden tomb where he lay with his beloved Victoria (again played by Caroline Munro), with his sights set on a new adventure: a trip to Egypt to discover the River of Life, a secret source of restorative power that also bestows immortality on those who discover it, as a blessing for himself, but more importantly a way to bring his wife back to life once more.Here's where the story gets a little dicey (and I'd have to agree somewhat with the nay- sayers at this point).
As for Phibes' faithful (and possibly supernatural?) assistant, Vulnavia is played this time by Australian beauty queen Valli Kemp (subbing for a suddenly very pregnant Virginia North.) Another point of contention is a walk-on by Peter Cushing as the captain of the ship Phibes and Biederbeck take to Egypt.Even though it might seem like a waste of great talent (one can only imagine what the movie would've been like if Cushing had played Biederbeck instead!), these kind of appearances were not unusual for any of the horror greats during this time period.
PHIBES RISES AGAIN is not the champagne of horror sequels by a long shot, but nearly any excuse to watch Vincent Price having fun at work is good enough for me, and if you're a like-minded fan, you'll probably feel the same..
As are the sequels to most movies, 'Dr. Phibes Rises Again' does not equal the original 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes'.
Dr. Phibes comes up with other strange, original ways of killing, although there really isn't any reasoning behind the methods this time.
Although this movie could be watched without seeing the original, it is highly recommended that you see 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes' first.
The original PHIBES movie was a surprise success for AIP, so they quickly rushed out a sequel the following year.
Alas, like many horror sequels, the movie repeats many of the same patterns and characters from the original, but with little of the same success and charm.
Phibes does, indeed, rise again despite the first movie making it seem like he was content to go to his death with his wife.
Although Dr. Phibes Rises Again is set three years after the demented organist's original killing spree, in reality, it was only one year after the first film that this sequel saw the light of day, and one can't help but feel that it was a little too soon: once again, Vincent Price puts in a enjoyable turn as the skull-faced Phibes, but this time around, the movie is less focused, most likely as a result of having been rushed into production, and doesn't allow its star to shine as brightly.The contrived opening to the film sees Phibes resurrected from his tomb (there's some unconvincing mumbo-jumbo about the alignment of the moon to explain away this unlikely occurrence), only to find that his home has been demolished, and that a precious papyrus scroll, necessary to locate the mystical Egyptian river where he can bring his beloved wife Victoria (Caroline Munro) back to life, has been stolen by millionaire Biederbeck (Robert Quarry).After summoning his beautiful loyal aide Vulnavia (the scrumptious Valli Kemp), and retrieving the scroll (killing Biederbeck's manservant in the process), Phibes travels to the land of the Pharoahs, hotly pursued by the miffed millionaire, who needs the river's magical powers to sustain his life, and a pair of policemen, Waverley (John Cater) and Trout (Peter Jeffrey).This shambolic and logic free sequel lurches rather uncomfortably from scene to scene, delivering the bizarre murders and crazy production design one would expect, but never quite matching the atmosphere or originality of the original film.
To confuse matters further, actor Terry Thomas returns, but as a completely different character, Phibe's assistant Vulnavia is back, but played by a different actress, and Peter Cushing and Beryl Reid, the film's biggest names (Price aside), are wasted in throwaway cameos that add nothing to the story.If you loved the first Phibes movie, this one will no doubt feel like a disappointment in comparison, but I reckon it's still worth checking out, if only for Phibe's ingenious traps (which make Jigsaw from the Saw movies look like a rank amateur), and the presence of the delectable Valli Kemp.
Peter Jeffrey is amusing as Inspector Trout, but once again the acting honours go to Vincent Price who has perfect timing and relishes his role quite evidently as Dr Phibes.
This time out the events pick up three years later as the moon perfectly hits on the tomb of Phibes (Vincent Price) who rises from the grave in order to bring his wife back to life.
And, besides that, I think he was way too old for his roles, as well.Anyways - As the story goes - After spending a decade in suspended-animation, Dr. Phibes awakens (with absolutely no muscle atrophy, whatsoever) and heads to the tombs of the Pharaohs in Egypt with his beautiful aide and the perfectly preserved corpse of his long dead wife.It's here that Phibes attempts to resurrect his dearly beloved.In the meantime he goes on a predictable, little killing spree, murdering people, left, right, and center, in the most cleverly thought out ways imaginable.Ho-Hum..
Vincent Price resurrects (pun intended) his role as Dr. Anton Phibes, trying to bring his deceased wife back from the dead...which necessitates killing a bunch of people along the way.
Through 1920s England and Egypt, Phibes pursues this goal, merrily dispatching all those who stand in his way through a truly ingenious catalogue of murderous mayhem.What makes the movie superior to the original is that director, Fuest has used his knowledge of television production (he helmed some excellent 60s 'Avengers' episodes) to create an altogther realistically fantastical world played out in the normal sphere of everyday life.
Dr. Phibes revives himself from his state of "suspended animation" and voyages to Egypt in search of a gateway to eternal life.Following a few flashbacks from events in the first movie, this sequel sets off with almost complete disregard to its parent!A new protagonist is introduced - Darius Biederbeck.
Early in the movie, it is revealed he has taken from Dr. Phibes a papyrus showing the whereabouts of the gateway to eternal life.Vincent Price has a great time playing Dr. Phibes, although the touching moments where he would reminisce over his deceased wife have been massively reduced.
PHIBES RISES AGAIN is a sub-par sequel that will disappoint most fans of the first movie.
Cameos from Peter Cushing, Terry-Thomas (playing a different character who doesn't meet a grizzly end) and Beryl Reid seem pointless.As an artistic looking horror film with much art deco, a wonderful period feel and some brilliant comedy, this succeeds.
However a man named Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry) has stolen the map of where the temple is located from Phibes home & sets out on an archaeological expedition to find the temple & the river of life itself, Dr. Phibes doesn't like competition & starts to kill the members of the expedition off one by one in a variety of gruesome ways...This English American co-production was co-written & directed by Robert Fuest, continuing where the original The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) left off the year before Dr. Phibes Rises Again tries to do what any good sequel should & expand on the original while keeping the same elements, to be honest I don't think this works as well as the original at all.
Terry-Thomas returns in a small role despite being killed in the original film while horror legend Peter Cushing also has a small cameo.Dr. Phibes Rises Again is a fun way to pass 90 odd minutes, I don't think it's as good as the original but there you go.
Sure, the film is a lot less original than its predecessor (which is the case with most sequels), but it is nonetheless wonderfully macabre and hilarious, and the great Vincent Price (my favorite actor) is once again brilliant in his role.
Vincent Price is back in the role of Dr. Phibes, and he is, of course, once again brilliant as the vengeful Doctor. |
tt0053045 | The Man in the Net | Commercial artist John Hamilton (Alan Ladd) and wife Linda (Carolyn Jones) leave New York and move to Stoneville, Connecticut, in the New England countryside, to escape the bustle of the city and because of John's growing concern about Linda's alcoholism.
John quickly befriends the town's children, but he's treated like an outsider by many of the adults. Linda misses their social life in New York, as well as the salary John made there.
She insists they attend a party at the home of Brad (John Lupton) and Vickie Carey (Diane Brewster), where the guests include another married couple, Roz (Betty Lou Holland) and Gordon Moreland (Tom Helmore), the wealthy father of Brad Carey. A scene is created by an intoxicated Linda, who insults John and lies that he gave her a black eye, confessing to Vickie after the party that she actually fell while drunk. In anger, she tells John she's been having an extramarital affair with a local policeman, Steve Ritter (Charles McGraw).
John agrees to go to New York for a job interview arranged by his wife behind his back. When he returns, Linda is nowhere to be found. A suitcase belonging to her is spotted by a city dump. Unable to find John's wife, police and neighbors suspect him of murder. Villagers stone his house. Ritter arrives to arrest him. John flees and is given refuge by the children, who know of a secret cave.
Evidence is found linking Linda to another man. A tape recording is left as bait, and John, who suspects someone else, is surprised when Brad turns up looking for the tape. It reveals he's the one Linda had the affair with and the one who physically abused her, but John soon discovers that it was Mr. Carey who actually killed Linda to cover up for his cowardly son. | neo noir, murder | train | wikipedia | Alan Ladd gives up the city life and rat race for himself and also for dipsomaniac and nymphomaniac wife Carolyn Jones.
Where Ladd paints out in the woods with his only true friends the town children.
Jones on the other hand gets an affair going with one of the town movers and shakers.Jones winds up very dead when Ladd makes an overnight trip to New York.
Local cop Charles McGraw thinks Ladd did it as does most of the town, his only friends are the children and Diane Brewster, one of the suburban wives.
In fact Man in the Net plays like an expanded version of one of his half hour TV stories.
In that one he's also a husband on the run after his wife has been killed.
Back then though Ladd put a lot of passion into his role of John Morrison, returning war veteran.
As John Hamilton though he seems just tired and bored.One thing that doesn't ring true is the lynch law mentality that takes over this suburban town.
That plays more like a western than a modern story.
Again, maybe Alfred Hitchcock could have made it more believable.It's kind of cute and fun to see the kids outsmart the grownups including the local law for a good deal of the film.
With both its star Alan Ladd and its director Michael Curtiz nearing the end of their careers, The Man in the Net has a valedictory feel that surely wasn't intended.
Behind the camera, Curtiz fares a bit better; the old pro (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) knows how to shape a story and sustain tension, but he didn't bother to plaster over the cracks in the far-fetched screenplay by Reginald Rose.Ladd plays a commercial artist who has moved to rural Connecticut to pursue his dream of becoming a serious painter; another reason for leaving New York's `rat race' was the gin-fueled nervous breakdown of his wife (Carolyn Jones).
She takes her revenge in a clandestine affair (all the while trying to look and act like Bette Davis as Rosa Moline in Beyond The Forest).
When Ladd takes a commuter train into the city to turn down the job and incidentally to visit her psychiatrist (isn't it customary for the patient to go?), he returns to find all his paintings slashed and a typewritten note telling him she's left for good.
The townspeople, who range from rural bumpkins to the country gentry, jump to the conclusion that the aloof Ladd murdered Jones.
They profess shock at Ladd's revelation that she was a drinker, even though she has already staged a drunken scene at a big party where the hosts know her well enough to have a `special tomato juice' waiting for her.
Then we're asked to buy the spectacle of this Connecticut town, in 1959, turning into a Balkan village, with a lynch mob gathered in pursuit of a short, middle-aged white male.
Luckily for Ladd, he's forged bonds of trust with a bevy of children whom he's forever sketching in the bosky glades (this seems a stretch, as he appears as stiff and uncomfortable being with them as they do being in front of a camera).
There's enough going on in Man in the Net to keep you watching, including Charles McGraw as a surly sheriff, but it's not fresh enough to make you suspend your considerable disbelief..
Alan Ladd sleepwalks through one of his last roles....
There's a nice New England feel in the Connecticut opening scenes of THE MAN IN THE NET and director Michael Curtiz makes striking visual use of the B&W camera in artfully photographing a country farmhouse with its rustic interiors full of paintings supposedly done by local artist ALAN LADD.Ladd's wife, CAROLYN JONES, doesn't share his passion for the arts, staging quite a scene with neighbors when she breaks into a birthday party with a shiner and accuses her husband of mistreating her during one of their arguments.
It provides a nice set-up for someone to eventually murder her, making Ladd look like the main suspect.Alan Ladd, only 46 at the time, seems almost lifeless and delivers a completely stiff performance that has him befriending neighborhood kids in such a fashion that they become willing to help him avoid detection when the villagers turn on him.
The children are not exactly adept at delivering most of their lines.DIANE FOSTER does a nice job as a decent neighborhood woman who helps Ladd prove his innocence and CHARLES McGRAW, JOHN LUPTON and TOM HELMORE are fine as other suspects in the supporting cast.But for a man accused of a crime he didn't commit, Ladd has all the facial animation of a department store mannequin.Trivia note: The bit about the slashed paintings reminds me of the Ronald Colman/Ida Lupino flick THE LIGHT THAT FAILED, but Jones' emoting in the party scene is on the level of Bette Davis at her histrionic overkill..
Script without a Net. After seeing the excellent "13 West Street" (1962), with Alan Ladd, I had high hopes for "The Man in the Net".
This movie had, I thought, MORE going in: like, famed Director Michael Curtiz, and co-star Carolyn Jones.
They were not at their best.As others have noticed, Ms. Jones does a totally-out-of-the-blue Bette Davis impression.
Mr. Ladd, great in "13 West Street" and one of the only things worth watching in "The Carpetbaggers"(1964), is not very good.
Despite the weakness of the premise, there are some interestingly played scenes; the film does have a structure, which is easy and somewhat satisfying to follow, despite the implausibility.
**** The Man in the Net (1959) Michael Curtiz ~ Alan Ladd, Carolyn Jones, Diane Brewster.
Good drama about a man chased by hot headed vigilantes and the police for a crime he claims to be innocent of.
Along the way he is aided by a group of kids who believe in his innocence.
Mediocre, one of Ladd's last films.
Like a lot of classic film stars, Alan Ladd's career ended on a low rather than a high note, and one of his last films, 1959's Man in the Net, is a good example of this.
It was also one of the last films for director Michael Curtiz who directed such classics as "Casablanca." It's a poor effort from such an accomplished man.Ladd plays an artist who has left the pressure of NYC and his full time job in order to paint.
He spends most of his time in the woods, painting, while a group of local kids play nearby and talk with him.
His major problem isn't the brushes and colors, though, it's his wife (Carolyn Jones), an alcoholic who wants to return to the social atmosphere that helped her drinking along in the first place.
Here in the boondocks, she's hooked up with the ritzy set, to Ladd's displeasure.When he returns from a business trip to New York City, his wife is missing, there is blood on his painting clothes, his paintings have been destroyed, and everybody thinks he's responsible.
With the help of the children he has befriended, he eludes the police and is able to get the proof he needs to exonerate himself.With a tighter script and someone other than Ladd, this might have been a decent movie.
The kids are adorable, and that angle of the script plays out nicely.
Ladd, unfortunately, sleepwalks through the role and at times, actually looks like a blind man.
There was never anything spectacular about Ladd's acting - what he had was a presence, a toughness, and good looks.
These are all gone, and in their place is a puffy, heavy-lidded, slow man.In contrast, the striking Carolyn Jones is full of energy in her role.
She was very good at playing neurotic party girls and straying wives, though she's remembered today as Morticia on "The Addams Family" TV show.All in all, "The Man in the Net" plays like a television drama, with the suburbanites going after Ladd like they all live in the wild west.
Someone commented that today he would be suspicious for hanging out with children, and that aspect dates the film as well.
It's a shame, because the nicest aspect of the movie was the way the kids rallied around him and helped him.If you loved Ladd in "This Gun for Hire," "The Glass Key," "The Blue Dahlia," and "Shane," skip this.
Part of this are completely terrific, but then there is Alan Ladd....
The Man in the Net (1959)What a great movie with a flawed Alan Ladd bringing it down.
This is toward the end of his career, and he plays his part, of a man falsely accused of a crime, with such deadpan reluctance, you think he's being forced to act.
The movie around him a late 50s modernity mixed with old school Hollywood pace and mise-en-scene, thanks to veteran director Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca" and "Mildred Pierce").
The real star is the almost unknown Carolyn Jones--almost unknown, except as Morticia in The Addams Family (mid-60 television, for the uninitiated).
She played a number of important secondary roles films of the 1950s, but also had a t.v. career, and who know why she never quite made it.
But, she shows up here right away and is astonishing, like a young Bette Davis, even with the same wide eyes and snappy mannerisms.
She plays Ladd's wife, and at first she seems merely feisty.
And then it cracks open from there, and Jones makes the character cunning and yet also weirdly enchanting.The other fascinating turn to the storytelling is the role children play in it all (a little ironic given that the movie promotions say loudly: not appropriate for children).
At first the group of five kids, all under 10, are part of the innocence of this little Connecticut town far from the ravages of New York.
Then a lot of adult stuff happens, the good stuff really, the stuff that Curtiz has the best feel for.
In fact, as the townspeople become more and more childish (and cruel), the kids become reasonable and mature.But then there is Ladd.
Even physically he seems a bit awkward, making me think he was getting old, even though he needed to be in his 30s or 40s for the part and was only 45 at the time of shooting.So, this is an odd beast of a film, but a truly interesting one.
Certainly anything by Curtiz is worth a look, and the direction, per se, is actually first rate, if we can overlook his handling of his lead male.
And the cinematographer is the wonderful John Seitz,which helps with a lot of the scenes (the cave scenes, the party).
The movie almost has the potential to be a cult classic, like "Night of the Hunter," but Ladd never was as commanding as Robert Mitchum, was he?.
Classic Alan Ladd Film.
Alan Ladd, (John Hamilton) plays the role of an artist who decides to leave New York and the rat race mainly because his wife likes to drink and is getting out of control where she has to see a doctor for help.
Carolyn Jones, (Linda Hamilton) plays John's wife and lives in a very quiet town in New England where John paints pictures of children all day and never seems to sell a picture.
One day John receives a letter offering him a job in New York City with an Art Firm for $30,000 dollars but refuses to take this position because of his wife's chemical dependency.
In real life, Alan Ladd is really doing all the boozing and you can see it in the close up's of his face and eyes are puffy.
The children in this picture take complete control over the entire film and gave great supporting roles in trying to hid and help John Hamilton from the police..
So we like his character and wish the best outcome for the trouble he gets in.
But LLadd seems to be walking through it.Carolyn Jones is pretty good as his alcoholic wife.
She had an odd look that Hollywood didn't seem to know how to use.
(Well, not till "The Addams Family." And it's a shame that's what she's remembered for.) Around this time several movies about adults' friendships with precious children came out.
It was probably viewed as charming at the time -- sort of like a man's friendship with dogs or kindness to his own children or to orphans.Today, for better or for worse, a man who spent much of his time with preteen children would be highly suspicious to his neighbors.
In the movie, Ladd's character is hounded by the townspeople for possibly having killed Jones.
Today he wouldn't have lasted that long in a suburban area like this, hanging around with children..
Sad Alan Ladd.
I am a fan of Alan Ladd and did find this film entertaining, but it was really second rate to say the least.
Ladd looked stiff and unhappy the entire film.
Fair film, but if you are a fan of Alan Ladd, you should find it at least entertaining..
Not great, but far better than the average Alan Ladd film of the time.
While this was a far cry from Alan Ladd's best films (such as THIS GUN FOR HIRE and THE GLASS KEY), it is better than most of the films Ladd was making towards the tail end of his career.
Ironically, a major plot element of this movie is Ladd's wife's alcoholism!
Carolyn Jones (yes, that's Morticia from the Addams Family) plays the exceptionally flaky wife who is both chemically dependent and appears to have many features of a Borderline Personaliy--a personality that craves excitement, addiction and self-destruction.
Psychologically speaking, this makes the movie very exciting to therapists, though the average person might think that she overplayed her part--though she captured the volatility of these types of individuals well and Borderline Personalities ARE seemingly impossible to believe due to their shallowness and volatility.It's obvious that Ladd can't stand his wife, but he stays with her because he married her and he tries to be a good husband.
His wife, on the other hand, has little commitment to him and eventually her wicked and dangerous ways result in her murder.
Unfortunately, he did such a great job that EVERYONE thinks he's the murderer and he spends most of the film trying to prove his innocence and avoid a lynch mob!
His assistants in this endeavor are local kids who like him and can't believe he'd hurt his wife.
Overall, the film is pretty exciting and different and well worth a look--particularly if you are a fan of Alan Ladd..
The estates of Reginald Rose and Hugh Wheeler should be looking at Gillian Flynn's novel and ask how much of this this film influenced her novel.
We have a neurotic somewhat psychotic wife, Carolyn Jones here channeling Bette Davis, upset and angry with her husband because he refuses to return to New York.
She makes a scene at a party implying her husband is a wife beater.
The big difference is the band of local children who believe John, Alan Ladd, is innocent and join forces to protect him and help prove he is innocent and if his wife is dead then there must be another killer.
And yes, in this film she really was killed.
What I find most amusing about the film is its being set in a mythical town in CT that seems a lot like Westport in the 1950's except for the townspeople who have a lynch mentality and don't want to hear the facts that would clear John.
Intense and suspenseful Alan Ladd drama..
This movie is directed by the acclaimed Michael Curtiz.
THE MAN in the NET is a suspense driven drama starring Alan Ladd as John Hamilton, an accomplished commercial artist that leaves the hustle and bustle of New York and relocates in a small community in Connecticut.
His wife Linda(Carolyn Jones)is not so happy with this move.
He has concerns about her alcoholism, but she misses the night life and her social functions, along with John's salary potential.At a party, a drunken Linda claims that her husband is a wife beater to try and spoil her husband's reputation.
When John is tricked into going back to New York for a job interview, he returns finding his wife gone.
The local police finds her luggage near a garbage dump and immediately John is suspected of killing his wife.Rounding out the cast: Diane Brewster, John Lupton, Tom Helmore and Charles McGraw..
A Lynch Mob in Connecticut?
You betcha...wow what a bad film.
I'm gonna try my best though.I'll say right off that Alan Ladd just looks terrible in this.
He was in his mid to late 40's and he looked like he was in his 60's.
His scenes where he runs looks like he's an old man.
I don't know if he wasn't athletic or he was under the influence of something but this performance reminded me of the last film Montgomery Clift did.
With the exception of Shane and a few film noirs in the 40's, Alan Ladd was not a very good actor.
Just terrible all the way through.A struggling, use to be art director at an ad firm decides to move to Connecticut country with his wife.
She had a breakdown in New York and he wants to see if the country will help.
She's feels trapped in the country and wants to go back to New York but he insists on a Psychiatrist visit.
He gets a job offer from his previous company with better money but he would rather just paint and try and sell his stuff.
Then the Connecticut lynch mob appears and they want this guilty rascal for all it's worth.
It's just a B film all the way folks.
The only stand out performance is Carolyn Jones' portrayal of the psychotic alcoholic wife.
I mean I thought it was Alan Ladd but nope. |
tt2577172 | GirlHouse | In Rehobeth, Alabama, 1988, two little girls trick an overweight child they have nicknamed “Loverboy” into dropping his pants and preparing for a kiss, only to tease and humiliate him. When one of the girls rides home alone afterwards, Loverboy knocks her from her bicycle and throws her off a bridge, making the girl’s death look like an accident.
In the present day, struggling to pay her way through school following the death of her father, college coed Kylie Atkins is recruited by entrepreneur Gary Preston to join his online pornography venture Girl House. Girl House allows its users to watch the ladies living inside the house 24/7 via 50 camera feeds. The girls perform stripteases and regular daily activities with the option of performing sexual acts on camera for additional money. Gary assures Kylie that Girl House’s technology cannot be hacked and that the house’s secret location is untraceable. He brings Kylie to the house and introduces her to Steve, who shares security guard duties with Big Mike. Kylie also meets fellow Girl House residents Kat, Devon, Janet, Heather, and Mia.
Kylie performs her first striptease online and captures the attention of Loverboy, who watches from his basement in Atlanta and is known as a Girl House regular. Also watching are Alex and his college roommate Ben Stanley, who recognizes Kylie as the girl he has had a crush on since kindergarten. Having been banned for her heroin addiction, former Girl House performer Anna sneaks back into the house and convinces Gary to give her another try. Ben and Kylie begin a relationship.
Kylie has a private chat session with Loverboy. He hacks into the computer system and surprises Kylie by sending her a picture of his face. Anna later finds the picture while snooping on Kylie’s laptop. Later, Ben admits to Kylie that he knows about her involvement with Girl House. However, they talk through the issue and continue their relationship.
Loverboy angers the other women in Girl House by continually asking for Kylie when she is not there. The girls begin making fun of him for being pathetic. Loverboy notices his picture on the bulletin board inside Girl House with a handwritten caption that reads, “What a stud.” Kylie comes home and takes down the picture as soon as she sees it. Eventually, Loverboy snaps. He hacks into Girl House’s system, dons a mask, and breaks into the building housing Girl House’s servers, where he kills the website’s technical team. Loverboy straps Gary to a chair and stabs him several times. Slowly dying from blood loss, Gary is forced to watch through the monitors as Loverboy travels to the house’s location and continues his rampage. Loverboy kills Steve at the security gatehouse. He then strangles Anna with a piece of rope inside the house’s Off-Camera Room.
From his dorm room, Alex watches as Loverboy mutilates Devon during a private dance. Alex shows Ben the carnage taking place live at Girl House. Ben tries texting a warning to Kylie but, just as she returns to Girl House, Loverboy jams incoming and outgoing communications. Oblivious to what is going on inside the house, Kylie retires to her room. Ben instructs Alex to try hacking into Girl House to find its address while he goes in search of other ways to locate Kylie. Meanwhile, Loverboy kills Heather and her boyfriend while they are having sex. Janet investigates the commotion and catches Loverboy in the act of severing the boyfriend's head; Loverboy throws her over an upstairs railing. She survives, but breaks her legs in the fall. Next, Loverboy locks Mia in the sauna room. She smashes a lump of coal through the door and escapes to the pool outside, but there Loverboy kills her with a sledgehammer. Gary eventually dies from blood loss while watching the horror unfold onscreen at the technical facility. Kylie realizes the danger when she spots Loverboy at the pool from her window. Loverboy electronically locks Kylie inside the house. Janet attacks him, but is unsuccessful and gets stabbed in the head.
Kylie finds Kat and tries to hide in her bedroom. Loverboy breaks in and corners Kylie, who now recognizes him. Kat seemingly knocks Loverboy unconscious with his crowbar and goes for help while Kylie tries to find Devon. Kat meets Big Mike at the front door, but Loverboy recovers in time to kill them both. Kylie is able find Devon and tells her to stay in her bedroom while she searches for help. Distraught over her disfigured face and severed fingers, Devon suffocates herself with a plastic bag. At the same time, Ben finds Kylie’s friend Liz Owens at Selby College and together they try to find out where Kylie is. Ben helps the police find an address for Girl House, but their tactical team ends up storming the technical facility instead. Alex eventually hacks into Girl House’s ISP and determines the house’s real address. Ben races there with Liz.
Loverboy chases Kylie throughout the house. She hides in the utility room and shuts off all of the cameras. She then lures Loverboy to a darkened basement where she uses a video camera’s night vision to help her stab him in the stomach with a pool stick. Injured, Loverboy overpowers and begins to strangle her, but she ends up clubbing him to death with the camera. She runs outside, where Ben and Liz show up with the police and a news crew following behind. The film ends with Kylie breathing deeply and the screen cuts to black. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | I was expecting your average, run-of-the-mill slasher film that didn't offer anything more than I've seen a hundred and one times before...but I was okay with that because I'm a dedicated horror fanatic.
I've only watched a handful of films that I feel are without fault.The great opening sequence set the movie up nicely.
I will say though, if you're a fan of slasher films, then you should see this at some point.
But solid.Star Ali Cobrin has one of those odd faces -- she looks familiar to the viewer as if a composite of 4 or 5 well known female stars had been squeezed into one.The biggest problem with the film ironically is how little sex, nudity or even slashing there actually is.
The first time director Trevor Matthews shows promise and delivers a satisfying horror movie that ticks all the boxes one comes to expect from a slasher film.
It's fun, bloody, gratuitous and inventive.The setting of a house that broadcasts x rated content online works perfectly for horror, much like the Sorority House Slasher movies from the 80s but with a modern twist.The film is nicely setup and allows you to get to know the characters quite well before they are dispatched!
Therefore the film never drags....The kills and makeup were also quite good, with one kill in particular being quite amusing..The only problem I'd have with the movie is that it was a little tame for my standards, probably cause I'm used to seeing crazy films from the French Extreme Horror movement like Martyrs and Inside!
This movie tries to do something different, many people may say it is the same as all slasher films, but this ''girlhouse'' thing is something I had never seen before, and it was very entertaining.
Nonetheless, it has its flaws of course, it could have been pulled off smarter, this movie doesn't escape from some clichés, like knocking the killer out and instead of just finishing him, they just run away and hide, I mean they filmed a hammer he had attached to his back, she could have grabbed it and just killed him right there; also, some of the acting could have been better, but I really enjoyed this film, the main character was likable and not stupid, actually, there weren't that many stupid moves in this film, would watch it again, totally..
I didn't have high hopes given the premise and thought it would be a cheap excuse to show more porn than actual horror, but boy was I wrong: as a fan of slashers, I can say this is quality stuff!
There is some really slick direction going on in some scenes ala other films like You're Next where a scene will suddenly transition into slow motion during the action, the acting is surprisingly impressive given the fact these actresses had to be comfortable showing some skin at various parts of the movie (that usually tends to attract lesser-quality actresses), there is some nice tension, some great and inventive kills, and a truly hair-raising killer.
Treat yourself to one of the few good slashers to come along in quite some time because I know I enjoyed the heck out of myself with this one.
"Girl House" has been called a slasher film for the digital age.
Rather than some empty headed bimbo the lead character Kylie ( played well by Ali Cobrin) comes across as intelligent and likable as does her boyfriend Ben ( a good performance from Adam DiMarco) who is not the stereotypical jerk.
Wow, actually a very good film.
Good story, good acting, good end.Iam not going to spoil anything, but feel that I have to do bring balance in some other weird reviews, realizing that everyone is entitled to his own opinion.The killer does have a very clear motive and background.
His knowledge is not far fetched, and basically he would be the perfect real live profile of a serial killer.Don't expect a cheap and bloody slash film.
All the mayhem is saved for the final quarter of the film (barring the open scene - which was very well done) and it's a fun ride.The characters, particularly the main one Kylie, are a lot more likable than you usually get in this type of film.
The killer was intimidating enough to warrant a few decent scares and overall the movie is of a good quality.
When that violence-prone type feels shunned and scorned by Kylie and her co-workers, he uses his IT knowledge and his strength to trap and kill his "tormenters." The violence becomes bloody and brutal, but done with style and with believable reactions from the film's characters.
Yes like almost every horror movie it has flaws but that doesn't stop it from being entertaining.
The "Plot:"A HALLOWEEN-style slasher for the digital age.It follows a beautiful young college student who, needing money for tuition, moves into a house that streams content to an X-rated website.
Note that once again, like some other bad movies.....the good reviews on this site are from people who ONLY reviewed this movie!Hence they worked on the film.The movie had promise with some really hot girls with giant mams and sexy strip teasing voyeur sort of stuff.But wait...it's a PG 13 strip!
When the acting sucks and the plot is derivative, you need some real nudity to keep your attention.Hit dressed girls just don't do it.It was boring..
After I watched the trailer and the opening scene of this slasher flick I had no illusions about what this movie would be.
After a solid opening scene, the movie lingers way to long before showing us what we all sat down to watch.
An entertaining slasher film, GirlHouse was probably made for a small budget but you can't tell as it is well shot/produced with decent enough acting by all involved.
Ali Cobrin is very likable as the requisite "Final Girl" and there is actually a well-executed romantic subplot between Cobrin and a childhood friend that elevates the film, giving it another dimension beyond the killer slashing his way through the cast.
I enjoyed it much more than I expected and I would recommend it to slasher film lovers..
Living together in a remote house, a woman joining in a supposedly secure online webcam site with the others living inside the house find themselves under attack by a spurned psychopath targeting them for his past traumas and must outwit the tech-savvy killer to get out of the house alive.This was a rather fun and enjoyable slasher effort.
The fact that the majority of these kills results in a series of incredibly brutal and vicious attacks gives them an extra intensity that helps this one incredibly well, fueling the action along by going for a far more vicious streak than initially expected and making for some memorable setups here with the way the kills are played out which is a nice factor here featuring plenty of solid kills to go along with the straight-up chilling scenes of him in action beforehand.
Likewise, the film also manages to feature quite a long buildup to get to the actual slashing which is so crammed into the final half hour that it seems like a lot longer than it really is.
The killer (donning a genuinely creepy woman's mask that seems an homage to TOURIST TRAP) is a bit generic but his ruthless nature offers some nasty kills in the process.
This film has good acting and particularly the female lead and the killer.
I'm writing this in broad generalities because I don't want to spoil the film.This film captures actual horror in a realistic way.
At least make it somewhat realistic.I don't watch movies for gratuitous nudity, but if they're making a movie about webcam girls, and they're having all these guys drooling over this new hot girl, I think they should probably show the movie audience why she's so hot.
Nothing against his acting, but that guy looked like he was 16 or 17 years old.They could've cut about 20 minutes out of this.There is some nudity in this movie.
What I mean is that some scenes will make you go like: "naah, that totally wouldn't go like that in real life", or "things don't work like that on reality".Overall, it's an attempt on a slasher horror flick that went totally downhill!.
However, one of the members "Loverboy" turns psycho when the majority of the girls make fun of him so he enacts his revenge by hacking into the site and gaining control of the house's mechanisms to subtly begin his massacre.
Given the amount of horrid slasher movies in the past years, there are some good things to be said about "Girl House" where it rises in some points but falls short in others when it comes to the clichés of horror flicks.
It definitely is an original, fresh take on a slasher movie with an abundance of fun, sex, chase scenes and gore.
The first half of the movie was quite enjoyable where people thought it was boring, but it did develop a little bit of characterisation which paid off for the second half where the massacre begins.
For a low budget movie, the acting was believable along with the dialogue so kudos to the cast for making an interesting slasher movie not cringe-worthy.
However, it falls short when it comes to the worst clichés which actually don't begin to happen until the final moments of the movie where it brings up "Why would you do that?" and "They're all stupid" moments.
The best parts of the movie definitely lied in the massacre which was a whole heap of fun and it was exactly what it meant to be; a collection of girls being picked off one by one with entertaining sequences and deaths.
"Girl House" is one of the best slasher flicks I have seen ever, but not to be taken seriously.
While the film breaks no new ground and (like many) is not the least bit scary, it delivers everything you could expect:The killer is a sadistic psycho, pushed over the edge, and hellbent on having his revenge.
And while the opening may have generated some understanding into his tendencies as a murderer, it doesn't make him sympathetic and thus the anti-hero title that falls on some slashers.The heroine is the "wholesome and virginal" girl who outsmarts the killer.
Though the film's subject matter keeps her from being the typical final girl in it's exact definition, she's like-able and enjoyable to watch.The rest of the cast are the typical, expendable stock characters that you expect to die but with a few new traits(as this film is 2014, not 1984): the lesbians, the main drug addict being a female(and heroin instead of pot), the additional characters witnessing the massacre take place via the internet.
Some of the reactions were genuinely funny.While some of it doesn't work and the first hour of "mounting tension" isn't all that tense, the character "development" wasn't completely boring and it was nice to see some focus on suspense rather than gore.
While slashers often cast unknowns, I find it nice when there's always that one actor or actress you've known about prior to the film..
I don't expect much out of a horror movie, especially slasher-type movies.
With a title like "GirlHouse," I was not going in anticipating much at all.But it was actually kind of good...
The plot was decent, the acting was above average, the pace was set pretty well and the bad guy was really creepy.
And it was, but with a little style.If you like horror movies, it's worth your time.
Yeah it had few moments i like the most then the movie soon end up as a slasher .
Unfortunately for the girls, one of their viewers is Loverboy, a mentally unstable character with a violent and abusive past.Even though the characters are very stereotypical of this type of film the cast breath new life into them, especially Slaine who plays the troubled Loverboy.It also helps that the directors Jon Knautz and Trevor Matthews have the skill to create tension and to be able to build up the pace and excitement when needed.
It just elevates it above a normal slasher flick.There are a couple of issues that niggled me, I know that Loverboy needs to be a computer hacker to be able to find the Girl House, though his character doesn't come across as that type of person.
why did he even need to wear one, again it seemed out of character - it'd be nice if a stalker for once, didn't go, Myers, Voorhees or Leatherface, on us.This is a decent film and at least worth watching once, even more so, if you like the genre..
Girl House is great on a technical level, its well shot and directed and the acting ranges from average to good, nobody gives a truly bad performance.
The films best asset by far is the killer, once he dons his mask he becomes a fast and brutal juggernaut, with his attacks coming with a real sense of power, weight and savagery.
Unfortunately (and bizarrely) for a slasher film set within the porn industry, Girl House is surprisingly light on both the sex and violence it actually shows.
It's a slasher done in a modern way, anno 2014.There's a site called "Girlhouse" were you can follow girls in all the rooms watching them shower or ask them to strip before the camera.
So this flick delivers on all accounts to be called a slasher, it contains nudity, POV from the killer and a heroin.
For someone who has about seen every horror movie that has ever been made, this movie was actually pretty fun to watch.
Girl House has little plot but still tries to with the weird little thing going on at the beginning and little details from the weird dude's life.
Especially the guy that looks like Ed Sheeran?If you want to watch it because you want to see lots of blood and gore: don't.
For a porno kind of slasher movie, there is little to no nudity in it, which surprised me a little because of the preview.
Films like this give horror a bad name.
Also I think that not many people running such an operation would be content to keep in online and it would also probably involve out calls-or call girl work.
Throw in a demented slasher type killer and the whole sideways proposition the film proposes goes sideways again.
Thats very scary stuff-but not in the way a horror film is supposed to work..
Pudgy loser dude goes nuts after a lifetime of being taunted by big, bad, mean girls, including a particularly hilarious scene where some entitled office whore starts bleating about so-called sexual harassment because she got caught flashing her panties.
Is self-aware enough to show a sense of humour, like most good horror movies should at one point or another.
So it raises the issue of the stupid debt ordinary people have to take on to live any kind of decent life.Was hoping this combination would produce something good, but it's really just two old ideas - straight slasher + celeb/porn reality.After about 30 mins the story starts counting down the numbers.
A slasher film, set in the digital age of hackers, the internet, and modern technology; concerning the "camgirl" culture where dudes stare and chat with chicks who strip and do all kinds of fun stuff in front of their web-cams.
Story-wise it's also very basic; this good girl student needs to get money for school, she joins this web-cam porn website and meets the other girls, bonds with them, this psycho starts watching her, something goes wrong, and you know what happens next.
There are no interesting twists or turns, no interesting characters, and characters who seem like they would have more to do in the film and end up doing nothing.
You like a fun and campy horror flick?
I was hoping GirlHouse would stand out among the numerous teen slasher films but that wasn't the case.
The Girlhouse factor in itself was boring as well, there was no eroticism in the girls' performances that would have at least made this worth watching.
This film is great and one of the best slashers I have seen all in at least a year and I love slasher films.It had everything; creepy killer with a cool mask, really creative and brutal kills, nice atmosphere, beautiful girls, good main character (and characters in general) and an actual romantic sub- plot that didn't suck!
In a slasher film!
The story was nice too, the killer having control over the technology of the house was a good twist and the setting in a "girlhouse" was pretty cool and something that hadn't been done before.
They are all conveniently pre-occupied in different parts of "The Mansion" to notice as each one of the characters is bumped off in as many different ways possible (and improbable) as there are characters As we have come to expect from a Slasher movie..
This movie is actually a pretty decent flick.
So if you are a audience member that enjoys watching blood, violence, nudity and a okay narrative when it comes to slasher flicks.
I also liked the direction they took with the slasher villain this time around.
Thus, although they don't get driven to what the slasher masked guy does in this movie.
But I liked the movie and would recommend watching it.
Haven't watched a slasher film in quite some time now so my friend and I decided to watch this movie for our bad movie night.
For a slasher film, I thought the acting was pretty damn good.
This isn't your average and cheap slasher film.
A bad movie with a few good points....
-Very good acting and emoting by the killer is great and it really is one of the high points of the film. |
tt0284741 | Julius Caesar | The play opens with the commoners of Rome celebrating Caesar's triumphant return from defeating Pompey's sons at the battle of Munda. Two tribunes, Flavius and Marrullus, discover the commoners celebrating, insult them for their change in loyalty from Pompey to Caesar, and break up the crowd. There are some jokes made by the commoners, who insult them back. They also plan on removing all decorations from Caesar's statues and ending any other festivities. In the next scene, during Caesar's parade on the feast of Lupercal, a soothsayer warns Caesar, "Beware the ides of March." This warning he disregards. The action then turns to the discussion between Brutus and Cassius. In this conversation, Cassius attempts to influence Brutus's opinions into believing Caesar should be killed, preparing to have Brutus join his conspiracy to kill Caesar. They then hear from Casca that Mark Antony has offered Caesar the crown of Rome three times and that each time Caesar refused it, fainting after the last refusal. Later, in act two, Brutus joins the conspiracy, although after much moral debate, eventually deciding that Caesar, although his friend and never having done anything against the people of Rome, should be killed to prevent him from doing anything against the people of Rome if he were ever to be crowned. He compares Caesar to "A serpents egg/ which hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,/ and kill him in the shell." He then decides to join Cassius in killing Caesar.
Caesar's assassination is one of the most famous scenes of the play, occurring in Act 3, scene 1. After ignoring the soothsayer, as well as his wife's own premonitions, Caesar comes to the Senate. The conspirators create a superficial motive for coming close enough to assassinate Caesar by means of a petition brought by Metellus Cimber, pleading on behalf of his banished brother. As Caesar, predictably, rejects the petition, Casca grazes Caesar in the back of his neck, and the others follow in stabbing him; Brutus is last. At this point, Shakespeare makes Caesar utter the famous line "Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?", i.e. "You too, Brutus?") Shakespeare has him add, "Then fall, Caesar!" This suggests that such treachery destroyed Caesar's will to live.
The conspirators make clear that they committed this act for Rome, not for their own purposes, and do not attempt to flee the scene. After Caesar is killed, Brutus delivers an oration defending his actions, and for the moment, the crowd is on his side. However, Mark Antony makes a subtle and eloquent speech over Caesar's corpse, beginning with the much-quoted "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!" In this way, he deftly turns public opinion against the assassins by manipulating the emotions of the common people, in contrast to the rational tone of Brutus's speech, yet there is method in his rhetorical speech and gestures: he reminds them of the good Caesar had done for Rome, his sympathy with the poor, and his refusal of the crown at the Lupercal, thus questioning Brutus's claim of Caesar's ambition; he shows Caesar's bloody, lifeless body to the crowd to have them shed tears and gain sympathy for their fallen hero; and he reads Caesar's will, in which every Roman citizen would receive 75 drachmas. Antony, even as he states his intentions against it, rouses the mob to drive the conspirators from Rome. Amid the violence, an innocent poet, Cinna, is confused with the conspirator Lucius Cinna and is taken by the mob, which kills him by tearing him to pieces for such "offenses" as his bad verses.
The beginning of Act Four is marked by the quarrel scene, where Brutus attacks Cassius for supposedly soiling the noble act of regicide by having accepted bribes. ("Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? / What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, / And not for justice?") The two are reconciled, especially after Brutus reveals that his beloved wife Portia had committed suicide under the stress of his absence from Rome; they prepare for a war against Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son, Octavius. That night, Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus with a warning of defeat. (He informs Brutus, "Thou shalt see me at Philippi.")
At the battle, Cassius and Brutus, knowing that they will probably both die, smile their last smiles to each other and hold hands. During the battle, Cassius has his servant Pindarus kill him after hearing of the capture of his best friend, Titinius. After Titinius, who was not really captured, sees Cassius's corpse, he commits suicide. However, Brutus wins that stage of the battle--but his victory is not conclusive. With a heavy heart, Brutus battles again the next day. He loses and commits suicide by running on his own sword, which is held by a soldier named Strato.
The play ends with a tribute to Brutus by Antony, who proclaims that Brutus has remained "the noblest Roman of them all" because he was the only conspirator who acted, in his mind, for the good of Rome. There is then a small hint at the friction between Mark Antony and Octavius which characterizes another of Shakespeare's Roman plays, Antony and Cleopatra. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | one of the early scenes in the movie involving the pirates is so ignorant of history as to make the viewer throw up their hands in disgust and say 'why was the primary text ignored?' the story of Caesar and the pirates is one of the best stories of his life and it was not given any justice.
in the end this movie was in terms of historical accuracy below even the HBO series Rome which was also fairly free in its interpretation of roman history but much more entertaining..
Covering the period from Sulla's occupation of Rome in 82 BC to Julius Caesar's murder in 44 BC, this is a fairly good biography.
There are several factual errors, like Pompey did not crush the slave rebellion (Crassus and Cicero did), there was no law against armies south of the Rubicon - Caesar just transgressed his jurisdiction to do so.
Like some of their other Producions one sees a few well know actors, such as Richard Harris and Christopher Walken , as well as some local actors of Germany and Italy(Heino Ferch, Tobias Moretti).The picture itself, even not indepth to the real Caesar story, gives an nice picture of the times of the roman empire.
Nice acting, as well as a well combined cast, give a nice viewing pleasure.Jeremy Sisto gives a new angel to a few on Caesar,Chris Noth (Sex & the City) gives a very good performance and Harris plays a Sulla, which you enjoy dying.All in all, the about 3 hour mini series is a nice evening view for the family, bringing love, war/action as well as history into your living room..
Julius Caesar is a magnificent historical person, a film like this was long overdue.Well, I have to say, I didn't like the first part much until Vercingetorix showed up.
The historical facts were severely mutilated, although the costumes and scenery looked fine and the actors did good jobs.
Pity.I can recommend this mini series to everybody who loves action scenes with lots of Roman soldiers and definitely to fans of Heino Ferch.
Caesar had a very famous grand nephew named Gaius Octavian, aka Emperor Augustus, who is not depicted in the film but mentioned in the end credits.I think it is OK for TV movie, but like most Roman films the "liberties" with historical facts annoys me.
With actors like Christopher Walken, Chris Noth, and Richard Harris, you'd expect something more from the lead, but unfortunately Sisto doesn't seem to have been a good casting choice.
Though Sisto does try, and gives a better performance than Klaus Maria Brandauer as Caesar in "Druids/Vercingetorix", the best parts about this movie are the sets and the supporting actors.
This vivid storytelling about the Caesar life is one of the greatest stories ever told.This Roman story told in impact form on a great scale with several spectacular scenes, though is a fairly standard for epic TV.Lavishly TV miniseries from Sulla government until death Caesar.It concerns about his infamous existence, feats,political greed,corruption,tragedies,wars and lovers.One of the last television's most prestigious production with electrifying performances,this is definitely the best TV version available about the famous historic character developed of the following way : The tyrant Sulla(Richard Harris) defeated to Marius and conquers Rome ,Julius Caesar(100-44 BC),as nephew of Marius,is condemned to death,but helped by Pompeius(Chris North)flees towards Orient where is kidnapped by pirates asking a ransom.When is freed,he returns to Rome where is married with Calpurnia(Valeria Golino) and begins the political career.Meanwhile,his daughter Julia marries with Pompeius and Caesar asks him his army to fight against the barbarians.But Caesar conquers whole the Gaul.The final defeat takes place at Alesia where Vercingetorix(Heino Ferch) is definitely vanquished and coerced to handcuffed parade through the Rome streets.Julius Caesar is appointed as Consul for life and crossed the river Rubicon.Pompeius and Cato(Christopher Walken) fear that Caesar will use the troops for ruling the empire and declare himself king and they flee to Greece and are defeated in Farsalia.Pompeyo escapes to Alejandria, Egypt where is beheaded by Tolomeo and Potino.
Of course also is developed the usual version of the Egyptian temptress'lust for Caesar,young royal,Cleopatra(Samuela Sardo)wants to rule Egypt and she seduces the conqueror to gain the kingdom and he helps her gain control of Egypt.Later they return to Rome,but the thing don't turn out so well.An old man prevents him on the Ides of March.Caesar is murdered by his nephew Brutus(Ian Duncan) and Cassius(Tobias Moretti) and senators,starting the second triumvirate by Marc Anthony,Lepido and Octavius Augustus .The son of Caesar and Cleopatra -Caesarion- was assassinated by order of Augustus.This stylish,visually stunning epic-scale Roman biography contains,drama,action,romance and overwhelming battles including the computer generator soldiers,though the crowd is most part by ordering ,in spite of it, still looks great.The movie displays a few top American stars in main characters somewhat at variance with an array of notable British acting talents.There are memorable performances from leading roles and the movie's wealth of expert personages-drawing extends rightly to the minor roles,one of which is played by Richard Harris,he seems terrific in his last performance.Harris whose memory the movie is dedicated but he died during the filming.Directed with imagination by Uli Edel,the picture proved that the public would go for epic series if the impact was strong and the performance attractive enough.Lovers of Sword and sandals genre and good acting will find much that is rewarding.
With his performance in Caesar, Jeremy Sisto has a new fan.He was a sexy, compassionate, yet brutal Caesar with a touch of insanity toward the end.I wish they had made this a 6 hour series as the second half seemed rushed.
Julius Caesar is a very good film and it is worth watching if you're a sucker for history--though it's not completely historically accurate, for example Cato being a member of the senate when Sulla was in charge when he was only a teenager and putting Julia, Portia, Brutus and Marcus' ages the same when Julia and Brutus were at least six years older then Portia and Marcus.
It was also disappointing not to see Brutus' mother Servilia, who was the love of Caesar's life, missing out an extra tension between her brother Cato and Caesar as well as the crude rumours that Brutus was Caesar's bastard son...But otherwise, it's a great show...So, what about the characters, you ask?
Well, Caesar you might hate if you can't stand winners but he's nice to watch as too is his lovely wife Calpurnia who is the second best character in this series giving us so very wonderful scenes--especially her last scene with Portia and the dying Caesar.
As for everyone else, Pompey is such a big-headed dude who I wouldn't trust at all--good job Julia was there (who is nice but she's irritating.) Antony can be a bit annoying, Cassius' special subject is the obvious and he might get on your nerves (her certainly gets on Brutus') Marcus (Cato's son) is an overgrown baby but he is noble and very sweet--he gives us a lovely scene towards the end with Cato and he stands up to Caesar.
Brutus is the sort of guy you want to pat on the head but it's hard to decide whether you like him or curse him, and then his wife/cousin Portia who admittedly spends most of her time standing next to him looking pretty, does a remarkable wordless scene when she stumbles across Brutus planning the murder of Caesar.So who is the one you want to watch this for, well, partly Richard Harriswho plays the villain Sulla very well considering he spends most of his time playing friendly, old heroesbut mostly, you watch it so see Christopher Walken who plays the amazing and hypnotic Cato, father of Portia and uncle of Brutus.
Walken is by far the best actor in this showhis way of grabbing your attention just with one sentence is remarkable and he pulls off the noble, stubborn and grumpy Cato perfectly making this film worth watching just to see his tear jerking death scene acted to perfection with the moving soundtrack this film has.Overall, I advice to you watch this if you are one of those people who is a sucker for the Roman history..
I didn't know that Cato falling on his sword had anything to do with Caesar's triumphant return to Rome after defeating the Roman army under Pompey.
I'd never been entirely clear who Pompey was, for that matter, except that it was the name of a Roman general and a slave who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their vacation and also the name of John Wayne's assistant in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence".So this pulled a lot of things together for me, as history.
And since most of the faces were unfamiliar the problem was even more acute.I did recognize Richard Harris, looking absolutely GREAT in his last film role, all white and withered and glowing with inner strength and with nastiness.
Speaking of him -- VercinGETorix, that is -- the actor who plays him, and whose name I don't have the opportunity to look up at the moment, gives what is for me the best performance in the movie.
Oh, and another thing -- I always thought that when a Roman general returned from a victory, trailing prisoners and booty, a slave stood beside him in the chariot whispering to him, "Remember, thou art mortal," just so he didn't get any ideas like Caesar did.I wish some of the performances had been better.
The Roman Empire finally fell apart, as everyone knows, but as it split up, there were still a lot of leaders or would-be leaders claiming direct descent from Gaius Julius Caesar.
Too bad we didn't get more of Caesar's accomplishments, or a better look at his weaknesses -- after all, he allowed himself to be appointed dictator without trying to reconstitute the Senate -- and there was that business with Cleopatra, a political opportunist if there ever was one.
Who would have thought someone who is not well know as Jeremy would play Caesar the best.
There is a problem with the Roman army's uniforms: in this movie (like in many others about the Roman Empire), the Roman soldiers are not properly equipped; I mean especially the helmets: they have Imperial Italic helmets, but these helmets appeared 40 years after Caesar's death, during the reign of Augustus!
I'm also a big fan of Richard Harris, Christopher Walken, Chris Noth, and any number of the interesting actors in this production.
Was this *supposed* to be "Julius Caesar, the Good Parts Version* (*with just enough bad left in to make him seem human and not perfect)" ?It felt like the writers desperately wanted to make Caesar a good guy and not deserving of the murder plot ultimately hatched against him on the Ides of March.
Don't get me wrong -- Julius Caesar had many good points and did a lot for history.
What they showed was he was doing many *good* things for Rome, with a few mistakes (like his affair and child with Cleopatra) thrown in to make him look a bit more human.Anyway.
IMHO, better to have taken an extra hour or two to tell the tale properly than to try to fit it into the time they allowed.Hmmm...and thinking on it, this miniseries was decidedly written by someone who adored Caesar, and preferred to praise him, not to bury him..
Julius Caesar is an epic story set in magnificent, ancient Rome.
As Caesar rises to fame, his life is constantly at risk for high political reasons, and he is forced to flee Rome when Sulla, the malevolent Roman dictator, threatens to execute him.
It is towards the premature end of his life that Caesar, isolated at the pinnacle of power, finds love in his relationship with another of history's great leaders - Cleopatra.
Now a mature man, Caesar's attitude towards power, towards Rome and towards the Roman Senate seems to have changed.
However, Jeremy Sisto was good as Caesar, for the most part, a surprisingly versatile actor.
On the whole, I felt it was too soap-like and thus hard to appreciate, in spite of the great setting and costumes, fine story and interesting characters..
This is a great movie/miniseries on Julius Caesar.
Anyone with any interest in Roman history should watch the HBO series 'Rome' instead.
It was made just a few years later (2005- 2007), and while it at times goes overboard with sex and nudity, that series captures the historical essence of the events of Caesar's life infinitely better than the 'Julius Caesar' mini-series..
Although I've read elsewhere people criticizing the critics themselves by saying 'it's only a movie, and not a history lesson'-I disagree-the Romans were inveterate diarists and cataloguers, which is why we know so much of what happened during this period-It's true history is written by the victor, but there are so many contemporary sources to mine for facts that I can only assume the producers just couldn't be bothered...
JULIUS CAESAR is a dull, lengthy TV movie exploring the origins and eventual downfall of Rome's first Emperor.
Watching Jeremy Sisto wandering around with what looks like talcum powder in his hair is hardly what I'd call convincing, and indeed the film as a whole seems to be a waste of time and talent.
Famous faces like Richard Harris (this was his last film) and Christopher Walken show up and chew the scenery for a little before disappearing again, but it's all very leaden and uninteresting.
It is absolutely unbelievable to see that in the times of the Roman Empire according to the movie, there are women in the Senate, girls are going out with men to restaurants!!!!!
Please, don't watch this movie if you know something about the Roman Empire.
A really historically Caesar a was more complete person, is true that he had a dark part ( mas murders in Galia, and made a much illegal facts in his consulship )but in this a really person he have good and bad parts as all mans in the world.
For once in a historical feature about Caesar they started back early enough in history to bring Sulla into the picture.For historical accuracy: Marius, seven times Consul of Rome tried to break the back of the aristocracy.
After Sulla's death Gnaeus Magnaus Pompey tried to become the big name in Rome but was unable to accomplish it by himself, ultimately having to share power with Marcus Crassus (of the Spartacus Revolt fame) and Gaius Julius Caesar.
Caesar's major failing was his predilection for pardoning his opponents and letting them into his favor, like the brutish Brutus who was nothing like the noble assassin in Shakespeare's play.A good feature, well worth the watching..
Jeremy Sisto did a fine job conveying both the strengths and weaknesses in Caesar's character, and the supporting cast (especially Chris Noth) did an excellent job acting as complements and foils to Caesar.I would say that adding an additional hour or two to the aired miniseries (which was 4 hours long with commercials, split into two parts) could have immensely improved the overall quality of the production, but it is already a very good historical character study as it is.
I never real knew the early life of Caesar and this movie did a decent showing it.
I think that Jeremy Sisto did as best as he could considering that he was play the great Julius Caesar.
The only thing I did not like about this movie was how they skimmed of the latter part of Caesar's life.
I also liked Jeremy Sisto as Caesar..
Some of the facts of Caesar's life are left out or out of order, but that's understandable because the movie was made to hold attention.
I loved how in depth the movie went into the character of Caesar.
I didn't get to finish it but hopefully I'll be able to buy it and watch the rest, even though I already know how the story of Julius Caesar ends.
This is definitely a movie I would watch multiple times, even if it was just for Jeremy Sisto!.
The pretty boy appearance for great warriors kinda takes away from the overall value.On the up side, it's a wholesome film that kids can watch and actually learn something - a concept that's becoming more and more a rarity.Walken's and Noth's roles were supportive enough to make it work.
being a history buff, i was eagerly looking forward to julius caesar.
I wanted more information about Caesar's time in Gaul, when he marched back to Rome, when he went after Cato and Pompey, when he was in Egypt, when he was back in Rome.
I suppose a look in the history books would answer the question, but I was hoping to find my answer in the 3 plus hours of "Caesar."I was especially disappointed with the battle between the Romans and the Gauls.
The movie, Julius Caesar.
Jeremy Sisto (plays Caesar) is inconsistent in his performance.
in reality Cato was only 13 at the time, 5 years younger than Caesar, he was also Pro-Sulla.
furthermore the movie makes it look like Pompey was some big senate leader.
Cato was only in his early teens when Sulla took Rome (and was five years younger than Caesar) but this could be excused as the need to have an establishment voice through the movie.
Julius Caesar is a slightly better than average TV movie.
I'm a bit of a roman history buff and have read a number of books on the Caesar.
What saves Julius Caesar is the fact that it is well acted by most of the cast and is the first movie that I have seen that try's and tackle the early life of Caesar.
Jeremy Sisto is a very good Caesar, unfortunately he doesn't age well.
The plain fact is that you can't fit Julius Caesars life into 3hours. |
tt0169516 | Young Hercules | The show features the efforts of Ares, the god of war, played by Kevin Tod Smith, who attempts often to destroy his younger half-brother to win over Zeus' good graces. Among his group is his nephew Strife (Joel Tobeck), who is the rather weaker member of the team. Strife's mother is Discord, goddess of retribution (Meighan Desmond), who acts more level-headed and power hungry than her counterpart on more than one occasion. The series has two other villains: Hera, queen of the gods and Hercules's stepmother; and Apollo, god of the sun and Hercules's half-brother.
The storyline follows Hercules (Ryan Gosling) as he attends Cheiron's Academy to train in the arts of the warrior under the wise headmaster Cheiron the Centaur (Nathaniel Lees). He makes friends with the future king of Corinth Prince Jason (Chris Conrad) and a thieving former member of a bandit group named Iolaus (Dean O'Gorman), who was sentenced to train at the academy as an alternative to prison for his crimes. Hercules also meets the academy's first female cadet, Lilith (Jodie Rimmer). Other characters of interest include Kora, the inn keeper who unknown to Hercules and his friends is a devotee of Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt. As the series develops, Kora is revealed to have special powers which allow her to do Artemis' bidding. There are hints of romance between Hercules and Kora, although their friendship keeps it all innocent. | violence | train | wikipedia | Entertaining for Children.
The television series of "Young Hercules" was not a useless one.
From my perspective, it was a good show for the younger audience, especially considering it was called YOUNG Hercules.
The actors did well in their roles and the show was great for kids.
The show was not meant to be as fantastic or awe-inspiring as were the originals, it was meant for younger people.
It is an interesting show when one is twelve or thirteen.
"Young Hercules" was a means of gaining a wider audience.
The story lines had to remain simple enough for children, not complicated as in the adult versions.
So when one comments on how foolish something is, they should really look at it in order to understand it better.
And after all, it is not serious - it's mythology..
Yet another great show that didn't last.
A spin-off/prequel of the equally as great "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys", "Young Hercules" was a fun and entertaining show for young viewers that never really got a chance.
The show was I believe on Saturday mornings and was easily one of the best shows Fox had on at the time.
While Ian Bohen had played Hercules in the YOUNG HERCULES movie and some of the "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" episodes, he was replaced here with Ryan Gosling who did an impressive job with the role.
Also good with their roles was Chris Conrad as Jason, Kevin Smith as Ares, and Dean O'Gorman as Iolaus.
In addition to the rather good acting, the directing and writing were also surprisingly well done.
It would have been cool to have executive producer Sam Raimi direct an episode, but that never happened.
Perhaps if he had been more involved in the show, it would have become more popular and might not have been canceled..
Great show with cute guys.
I have seen this TV show and I really like it.
I enjoy it because it is the adventures that Hercules had growing up.
If you like Hercules Legendary Journeys you should watch this show!This show also has cute guys in it!.
Cute Actors!.
I love to watch reruns of this show!
Ryan looks hot in leather!!
I'm glad to see that WAM plays the reruns.
I known that this show is aimed for younger views but I can't resist watching it every time it's on.
You don't need to be a master in Greek history to understand this show, which is great because I'm not..
An adventurous counterpart made just for the younger population!!.
Young Hercules is a very upbeat and adventurous counterpart to the adult version of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
Unlike Hercules:TLJ, Young Hercules is obviously aimed at younger kids who couldn't be interested to sit for an hour and watch some boring episode of Hercules and get completely confused by watching plot lines twist and turn, people dying, then coming back to life.
Young Hercules offers them the chance to love Hercules and Ancient Greece by giving them action packed episodes that are only a half hour long.
Perfect for anyone who loves Ancient Greece and Hercules, heroes and gods, but doesn't want to be confused, or sit through an entire hour of television of the same thing over and over again.
nice.
part of a fashion about Ancient Greek hero, it can not be original or surprising.
its virtue is the freshness, the inspired manner to create a series for kids in which the adventures are expressions of basic values and the spirit of age.
it is not really serious or dramatic or exotic.
but each of that sins is important for a coherent message.
because it is an introduction in the universe of myth and the art to give the perfect language for present it is not a small detail.
so, an useful series.
for a public who search the emotions of great events, who preserves the resources of imagination and for who the life/word is a conquest of every day.short, a nice work.
interesting as class tool and for the definition of start in life for a great hero..
good intentions.
the Ryan Gosling.
the Ryan Gosling.
as the young Hercules.
because the script and the acting are far to give more.
and the desire to use the success of other series is the worst idea.
the disrespect to the Greek mythology is only a small detail.
the real sin is the ignorance to propose a coherent story.
the fights and the expressions of friendship are not convincing because each is only a drawing.
the good intentions are suffocated by costumes and silly situations.
Hercules is a hero and his grow up in the series is only the ordinary grow up of a young man from our time.
and imagination of scriptwriter is ill.
so, the great fans of the Kevin Sorbo are the only happy public of this bizarre series..
Ian Bohen was better.
The show wouldn't have been made if Ian Bohen didn't play Young Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
Ian looks and acts way better than Ryan Gosling.
Ian looks more like the part and Gosling isn't that great of an actor.
If Ian didn't want the part, the show should have been scrapped.
The show would have lasted longer and would have been more popular if Ian had taken the part..
All Myth, All Teen, All Hero!.
Call me biased, but I believe that Young Hercules was potentially the best flower-bud out of the Xenaverse garden that never had a chance to bloom.
When I was little, this was my favorite show, as I was such a fan of Hercules and Xena.
Yes, it appealed more to kids with the half-hour time slot, the modesty in attire and language and the airing on FOX-KIDS, but more and more there became a teen and adult fan-base to it as well and it was destined to go places as shown in a later Hercules episode.
(S05E17- The Academy).
As far as inconsistencies go between the shows as some have pointed out, they do take certain things into account and both shows adapt.
Things such as: Hercules' mentor from the beginning of the series had been a centaur named Ceridion, when later on, during the flashback episodes of Hercules and then on, Cheiron the centaur had been his mentor; Hercules' encounter with a golden hind before meeting Serena in the adult series; encounters with the sand sharks and more than several accounts of the location and pieces of the Cronos stone.
Some do forget, though, that Hercules adjusted itself as well and there are inconsistencies in the show itself (Remember when Ares was just a scary moon dude?
You know...
BEFORE the great, late Kevin Smith?) So yeah, Hercules is growing up.
He's still an unsure kid, growing into his powers and he's running into things that normal teenagers run into as well, including tests and school, all the while trying to maintain the good heart and spirit that his mother taught him to have.
There is a strong Hercules vs.
Ares complex, which again, focuses on family and relationships.
Ryan Gosling (arguably one of the most popular actors of our current day and age), growing into himself as an actor at the time as well, couldn't have been a better replacement for Bohen who decided to back out of the series.
Reprisals of Iolaus, Jason, and Cheiron by Dean O'Gorman, Chris Conrad, and Nathaniel Lees were refreshing at the least and most welcome.Young Hercules had its darker, more serious moments, but at the very heart, it was a light-hearted, feel-good show that was a great adventure for a child, an obsessive teen, or a general fan of the Xenaverse shows!
(I still watch it when I'm looking for a pick-me-up!) Filled with modern gags, old slapstick, moral lessons and packed with all kinds of adventure, Young Hercules is the show with the most potential that never came to be..
They should have kept Ian Bohen and finished out the story line, too..
Too bad Ian Bohen didn't stay on with the series.
Ryan Gosling is a fine actor, but he does not have the quirkiness that Ian Bohen did when he played Young Hercules in "Hercules, the Legendary Journeys." And the chemistry among Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason just isn't quite the same.
But you still got to love Kevin Smith as Ares, the god of Warhe was just so good at being bad.The worst part is that the series just stops mid-stream.
They should have done one more year and wrapped things up.
They could have at least covered the items brought up in "Hercules, the Legendary Journeys" for example: Lilith getting pregnant with Jason's child and Hercules and Nemesis' relationship.
At least the viewers wouldn't have been left just hanging with no conclusions or closures.
They talk about fan/viewer loyaltyhow about reciprocating some of that loyalty to the viewers???
Don't get us hooked just to slam the door in our faces!!
I liked the series very much and would have liked to see it continued.There is one odd part in this series thoughHercules has other mortal half-brothers fathered by Zeus (Pollux, Castor, and Lucius).
In "Hercules, the Legendary Journeys," there was only one other half-mortal/half-god mentioned and it was indicated that they were the only two half-mortals/half gods that existed (Hercules and Aphrodite's son, Deon, in "The Power" Season 2 Episode 22).
So Hercules just forgot about the other three in the Legendary Journeys???
(I know Young Hercules was filmed after The Legendary Journeys, but the writers should have paid more attention to details.).
When this aired on television years ago, I watched a few episodes.
I thought the character of young Hercules was miscast.
Here's why: at the time I was a regular viewer of Hercules The Legendary Journeys.
Ryan Gosling looks nothing like Sorbo or Ian Bohen(whom played young Herc in that series).
It was just really odd seeing Ryan in the role and I couldn't get into it at all.
Fast forward 14 years later.
Young Hercules shows up in one of my subscription services.
So I give it a try.
Guess what?
I absolutely loved it!
Better than Hercules TLJ!
Better than Hercules TLJ!
For the exact reason I couldn't watch before, Ryan Gosling.
What's different now?
I rarely watch Hercules TLJ anymore.
Maybe once a year I'll watch an episode or two.
So I didn't find it so odd seeing Ryan in the role this time around.
It turns out he has heaps and heaps of charisma and warmth.
He's very cute and funny and you can already see how talented an actor young Ryan is.
He made this show very enjoyable.
He is the number one reason why I liked this better than Hercules TLJ.
In comparison to Sorbo, he's like a breath of fresh talented air.
His portrayal of young Hercules was never boring.
His acting never wooden.
Can't say the same for Sorbo or his portrayal.
Even Ian's performance was dull in retrospect.
I think he tried too hard to imitate Sorbo's style.
And he's not an actor anyone should ever imitate.
Thus this series wins out over it's predecessor.
Let me be clear, I'm not a Ryan fangirl/boy.
In fact, I've only ever seen him in two movies.
It's just that my perspective has changed given that I'm no longer a regular viewer of Hercules TLJ, and I was able to give Ryan and the show a chance that I couldn't seem to before, and stunned myself at how amazed I was at Ryan's performance, and how much fun I had watching this.
Logically I know this show was meant for teens/pre-teens, however my interest now and then for giving it a try was because it was in the Xena Hercules vein.
I was interested in seeing how some of the same characters were portrayed, and how, if any, it would pre-explain anything that ever took place in Hercules or Xena, story-wise or character-wise.
Now I'm very glad I gave it a try and watched the entire series.
The series itself has 50 episodes.
I had no idea there were that many.
How lovely for me.
They are a half hour each.
Filled action, adventure, mythology, silliness, and those famous wink wink moments as it's predecessors.
And of course the beautiful New Zealand scenery that takes your breath away, plus another amazing sound track by Joe Loduca.The series revolves around Hercules and his friends Iolaus and Jason, and their time at a training academy for warriors.
The three of them have great chemistry and camaraderie together.
The stories are quick, yet neatly wrapped up.
All of them very lighthearted.
You see many of familiar characters, such as Ares, Discord, Strife, Alcmene, Hephaestus, Bacchus, Cheiron, Orpheus, the Centaurs, the Amazons.
You'll also see many of the same actors from Xena and Hercules TLJ, in different roles.
It was kind of fun to spot them.
Plus there were many new characters that were shown.One thing that bothered me was Ares.
They wrote him as over-the- top immature.
He is a little immature in Xena, way more so in Hercules TLJ, but here it's almost ridiculous.
Kudos to the late Kevin Smith for his portrayal, however.
He gave it his all.
He was absolutely wonderful in an episode where he sang, plus another where he played an Ares look-alike.
Don't get me wrong, I liked Ares here too.
It's just that it was a little jarring that the writing for the character wasn't more evenly done.
Another thing I didn't like was the Strife character.
He was, believe it or not, even more annoying here than in Hercules TLJ.
He's a character I could have done without altogether on both shows.
There are some inconsistencies in relation to Herc and Xena, such as The Golden Hind.
In Hercules TLJ, Herc gives no indication that he knew about them before.
Well they made it up here that he did meet up with them.
There's a few things like that throughout the series.
For me it was something I could easily overlook.
This is not masterpiece theatre, OK, just a fun ride!
Other than those few minor complaints, everything else was good.If you watched Hercules TLJ and/or Xena and loved either one of those, and are looking for something similar and lighthearted, I highly recommend this for you.
Ryan Gosling truly made a wonderful and believable young Hercules.
With his warmth and charm, and humour, he's quite adorable to watch.
It's too bad there weren't more episodes.
From what I've read around online, it seems many thought the same as me years ago, that the role was miscast.
But really it wasn't.
It was perfectly cast!
I only wish I knew it then.
I was so upset when this show got replaced..
Young Hercules was a fun show.
This is a prequel to Hercules The Legendary Journeys.Ryan Gosling does a good job of Hercules.
Ian Bohen (who played Young Hercules in flashbacks of Hercules TLJ) looks more like Kevin Sorbo, but Ryan Gosling had more screen presence.
He showed a fun side of Hercules before he fully matured and got older.A lot of familiar characters appear throughout the series - Ares, Apollo, Hephestus, Artemis, Strife, Discord...Obviously this show isn't as violent or serious as Hercules TLJ, it came on Fox Kids so what do you expect?
The action was still fun nonetheless.
They also did a good job of progressing story lines for a 30 minute show. |
tt0226873 | Joshû sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi | Nami Matsushima (Meiko Kaji) is set up by her boyfriend, a crooked police detective named Sugimi (Isao Natsuyagi) to win favor with the Yakuza. She is raped by several drug dealers. She makes a failed attempt to stab Sugimi on the steps of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters. She is sentenced to do hard time in a women's prison. Matsushima is given the number 701. The prison is run by sadistic and lecherous male guards. The prisoners are forced to walk up and down a stair-like contraption naked with male guards watching from below. While in prison Matsushima meets inmates like Yuki Kida (Yayoi Watanabe) who was convicted for fraud and theft, Otsuka (Akemi Negishi), jailed for burglary and extortion, and Katagiri (Rie Yokoyama) who was impounded for arson and illegally disposing of a body. Outside the prison, Sugimi and the Japanese mafia orchestrate a plan in which Matsushima will succumb to an "accidental" death in prison. They enlist the help of Katagiri, pulling on her ties to both Sugimi and the mafia, and quickly set their plan in motion.
Matsushima is attacked in the shower but defends herself, wounding the attacker. She is punished by being held bound by ropes in solitary confinement. A group of trustees including Katagiri torments her. One of them torments her by pouring hot soup on her. Matsushima is able to trip the trustee and make her spill the vat of hot soup over herself, causing horrible burns. Matsushima is forced to dig dirt holes for two consecutive days and nights. She kills a woman who attempts to attack her during this digging by tripping her and breaking her neck. Matsushima is hung and tied from the ceiling while being beaten by her fellow prisoners.
After a riot, Matsushima escapes and kills all the Yakuza and Sugimi with a dagger. The film ends with Matsushima walking alone back in prison. | cult, violence | train | wikipedia | Fourth and final Sasori film featuring Meiko Kaji.
Yasuharu Hasebe (Black Tight Killers) took over for director Shunya Ito for this, the last Female Convict Scorpion picture starring Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood).
The film opens with Nami Matsushima (a.k.a. Matsu, a.k.a. Scorpion) once again on the lam.
Badly injured, she is saved by a man who works in a strip joint and holds a grudge against the police for torturing him.
Should she?One of the reasons Kaji decided to stop doing the Scorpion pictures is that Toei kept slashing the budget with each new installment.
It is easily the least of the four Scorpion films featuring Meiko Kaji; however, it is still engrossing whenever she is on the screen..
The fourth installment in the incredible 'Female Prisoner' series, starring Meiko Kaji.
Director Shunya Ito declined to direct this final part because of budget cuts.
Yasuharu Hasebe takes over here, and directs a respectable final chapter to one of the most loved serials in Japanese cinema.
Hasebe was also responsible for a controversial trilogy of rape themed films including "Rape!
His influence is seen here, as 'Grudge Song' features some over-the-top scenes of torture and rape.
Of course though, not on the extreme level of his more subversive works, as I think the Scorpion series was aimed at a somewhat larger audience.
This one begins with Nami on the run once again, from the angry cop that has been pursuing her through the entire series.
She finds a little solace with a man (!) who hides her from the police and helps to nurse her back to health.
No worries though; the film never gets bogged down by sappy romance, as that would make 'Sasori' look somehow weak.
I believe she only mutters two lines of dialog to her companion throughout the film.'Grudge Song' takes a little while to pick up speed, but it surely does, just about at the halfway mark, when she is once again caught and thrown into prison.
It is always a rush to see the 'Scorpion' dressed in the familiar prison stripes.
If you are a fan of this series, then this film is a must.
It also a good opportunity to see a film from Yasuharu Hasebe, as most of his other films are extremely hard to find.
The fourth and final of the brilliant original "Sasori" films with the unrivaled Meiko Kaji, "Joshuu Sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi" aka.
"Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701's Grudge Song" was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe instead of genius director Shunya Ito, who had directed the three ingenious predecessors.
Even this fourth "Sasori" flick does not quite reach the brilliance of its predecessors (all three of which are unique and unrivaled masterpieces of Exploitation cinema), "Grudge Song" still outshines almost any other film of the WIP ("Women In Prison") sub-genre by a thousand times.
What makes this a little less brilliant than its predecessors is probably the replacement of Shunya Ito as a director.
Ito had a great passion (and a great talent) for the use of surrealism, and Yasuharo Hasebe obviously preferred to use these elements to a lesser extent.
The first three "Sasori" films were THE proof that making Exploitation and Art-house cinema at the same time was possible, and while "Grudge Song" still is a wonderful example of Exploitation-Art, it does not quite live up to the brilliance of the iconic original "Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori" and the ingeniously surreal sequels "Jailhouse 41" and the third masterpiece "Beast Stable", which is arguably the greatest of them all.
Nevertheless, this fourth "Sasori" film is an absolute must-see for any fan of Exploitation and serious lover of film in general, that delivers pure brilliance in many aspects.While Meiko Kaji's character Nami Matsushima aka.
"Sasori" was mainly looking for revenge in the first film, the films become more and more political throughout the series.
"Grudge Song" is again full of social criticism and broaches issues such as poverty, police brutality, rebellion and the death penalty.
The beautiful Meiko Kaji once again brilliant in the role of Sasori, I just cannot praise this great actress enough.
The rest of the performances are also great, and the the film once again has "Urami-Bushi", which Kaji sings, as the main theme song.
The photography is also amazing, the film is visually stunning throughout its 89 minutes.Though it doesn't quite reach the brilliance of its predecessors "Grudge Song" is definitely also an excellent slice of Exploitation-Art and a must-see for every serious lover of cult-cinema in general and J-Exploitation in particular..
Not a great swan song for Kaji's Nami Matsushima..
Grudge Song, Meiko Kaji's final outing as sexy female prisoner Nami Matsushima (AKA The Scorpion), opens with our beautiful anti-hero narrowly avoiding capture by the police during a wedding.
Badly injured during this latest escape, our tasty fugitive breaks into a strip club where she is tended to by club employee Teruo Kudo (Masakazu Tamura), who bears a grudge against the police for torturing him when he was younger.Grateful for his kindness, and recognising Kudo as a kindred spirit, Nami lowers her defenses and forms a relationship with the young man—but can Kudo be trusted not to betray Nami, especially when he is put under pressure by sadistic policeman Kodama (Yumi Kanei) and his brutal cohorts?After being somewhat disappointed by director Shunya Ito's third Female Prisoner movie, Beast Stable, which I believe lacked the effortlessly cool vibe of the first two films and saw the formula becoming somewhat tired, I was excited to see that this fourth chapter for Meiko Kaji's cult character was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, the man responsible for such delightfully depraved Pinku classics as 'Assault!
Surely this guy could inject some new life into the series.Unfortunately, Grudge Song proves to be a rather restrained affair from Hasebe, one that features little of the shocking sexual and violent content that I would normally associate with the director's work, with even the film's nastiest scene, a gang-rape, lacking his usual impact (possibly suggesting that the director was holding himself back, compelled to try and be as stylish and classy as his predecessor when dealing with such a well established franchise).
Hasebe also unwisely turns Kaji's Nami into a much less sympathetic character than before, making it harder for the audience to care about her fate.Had Hasebe given Grudge Song the same outrageous, exploitative approach that made his aforementioned titles such deviant guilty pleasures, this would have been a lot more fun, and a great way for Kaji to leave the series.
Sadly, as it is, this one is my least favourite of all the Female Scorpion films.5.5 out 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb..
After narrowly escaping brutal Detective Kodama Sasori hides out in a seedy strip joint in the back streets of Tokyo.There she encounters Kudo who was humiliated and tortured by Kodama and his cronies years ago.The two strike a bond and soon set out to exact Kudo's long dreamt-about justice against detective Kodama.But their plan is not going to end happily."Female Convict Scorpion Grudge Song" is filled with sadness and unrelenting nihilism.Yasuharu Hasebe,the creator of violent pink sub-genre directs with a sure hand and Mejko Kaji is fantastic as a relentless Sasori.She even kills a cop with a white rose.There is also sleazy gang-rape scene and plenty of nudity.If you enjoyed previous installments of "Scorpion" pinky violence series give this one a look.8 out of 10..
Grudge Song is the fourth film in the series.
Still starring the amazing Meiko Kaji as Matsu a.k.a Sasori (Scorpion) but with a different director.
Yasuharu Hasebe is no stranger in the Japanese exploitation bizz, but it's still hard to follow up such a brilliant director such as Shunya Ito after three incredible films.
Was he the right man for the job, or should they've stuck to three parts?Very much like the third film it all goes down in an urban environment, staying clear from prison until the last part.
It's not easy to dodge the repetitive bullet, not for Hasebe and not for me as I'm writing about the same series for the fourth time in a row.Should I once again explain how Meiko's acting influences the impact of the film, how she's the one who keeps you on the edge of you seat and so on?
The entire cat and mouse game remains intriguing because of her presence, the love and hatred can be felt from both sides.A nice addition to the final part are the female wardens.
Bringing forth some of the best looking shots with those familiar painted backgrounds and enchanting music.I'll be remembering her song of vengeance for quite some time, that's for sure.
It's a fantastic film but it didn't have the same effect as Ito's Scorpion films had.
Excellent climax to a great exploitation series.
Grudge Song is the last entry in the "official" Female Convict Scorpion series and is often considered lesser to the other three.
This is true, it's not quite as good as those that went before it; but even so, the film is certainly a worthy entry.
Grudge Song is directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, as opposed to Shunya Ito who directed the first three.
That doesn't really affect the quality, however, as the new director adequately emulates the style of the previous ones and the film certainly fits into the series well.
The first three films all had different styles, though this one seems to take the most influence from the one that came directly before it, 'Beast Stable' as the action is fairly slow.
However, after another run in with the cops; he's captured and finds himself with a dilemma...This film is not as surreal as the previous entries as the new director seems to prefer a more direct and exploitative approach, and that's OK with me.
The surreal elements are what made the previous films what they are in a way, but I've come to expect a different thing each time from this series so I don't mind that change in style here.
Meiko Kaji once again takes the central role and once again does excellently with it.
She doesn't say a lot as is usually the case, but she looks so sinister and this is what really makes her performances in these films.
This film has less of a revenge theme and more of a political one and it works fairly well.
The violence is still the main focal point for me, but this film probably has a bit more 'meat' on it than the previous three.
There's still plenty of room for what Scorpion does best, and those hoping to see her get revenge on people won't be disappointed as she certainly gets it once again.
Overall, this film is not as great as the fantastic original; but it still fits into the series nicely and overall I'd say it's on par with the three sequels.
More than practically every film I've seen before in my life, "Grudge Song" emphasizes the essentialness of one certain director linked to a cinematic franchise.
Shunya Ito directed the first three installments of the ""Female Prisoner: Scorpion" series and they were simply phenomenal and pretty much flawless.
For this fourth entry, Yasuharu Hasabe took place in the director's seat and promptly the narrative ingenuity as well as the stylish characteristics notably lowered in quality.
By no means I intend to claim that "Grudge Song" is a bad film far from it, as you can derive from the rating I've given but it nearly isn't as breathtakingly awesome as the previous ones.
But in all honesty, Hasabe can't be blamed entirely, as he actually just remained faithful to his own personalized style and filming methods.
This man also directed uncompromising and vastly outrageous Cat-III movies with delicious sounding titles such as "Rape!
The 13th Hour", "Assault: Jack the Ripper" and even "Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter", so you honestly can't expect this man to alter his style towards a more elegant and suggestive type of exploitation cinema.
The fourth film is much sleazier and straightforward, with less likable character drawings and visually dazzling gimmicks.
But when he get captured by the police and brutally interrogated, he betrays Nami's hideout place.
"Grudge Song" is definitely still a good movie, far superior to the majority of contemporary exploitation movies for sure, but a weaker entry in the series.
She also talks a little more in this film, and her silence was part of her charming personality in the other installments.
Talking in terms of visual decoration, "Grudge Song" is fairly mediocre with only a couple of noteworthy highlights (like the truly menacing POV-shots of the noose in the middle of the prison's yard).
This film also immediately marked the end of the "official" Female Scorpion cycle.
The successors, appropriately entitled NEW Female Prisoner, don't star Meiko Kaji in the title role any longer and aren't directed by any of the above-mentioned directors.
I'm curious about the remaining two films (which I own in a fancy box set), but I'm keeping the expectations rather low just to be sure..
It is a good idea that Meiko's seeming saviour here has had history with the police already from his days of 60s student rebellion.
Flashbacks enable stand-in director Hasebe to double his violent police demonstrations with current and b/w past.
This is number four in the series, however, and needed more not less in the way of interesting action and visuals.
The endings, both false and actual are fun and if this is a disappointment it is no disgrace and while not the greatest of finales, probably a much better fourth episode than many might have expected.
I found the main character less appealing than i had in previous entries in the series.She seems nastier, as if any remaining vestiges of humanity had been erased from her.But it's still a very good movie, and is fit to stand beside the previous 3 movies.
So I would still recommend it to fans of the series..
Female Prisoner Scorpion, Take Four.
Nami Matsushima, the Scorpion, still on the run from Kodama, meets Yasuo.
Together they try to exact revenge on the corrupt detective, but when things go awry, Nami is back in prison and has to find a way to escape before being hanged.Meiko Kaji returned to play the title role, but director Shunya Ito was replaced by Yasuharu Hasebe (1932-2009).
Hasebe was more controversial, and is best known for his movies in the "violent pink" subgenre of the Pink film, such as "Assault!
Take from that what you will.Because of the change in director, some people do not consider this to be a "full" sequel in the Scorpion series, despite the lead actress returning.
Scorpion gets down Hasebe-style.
The great Yasuharu Hasebe carries the torch he burnt at Nikkatsu to Toei's "Female Convict Scorpion - Grudge Song", and the result is a very different Scorpion film that still manages to mythologize our beautiful heroine, Nami Matsushuima (Meiko Kaji).
Hasebe's penchant for rape, perverse sexuality, torture and jazz scoring serves the plot of this entry very well, as does his fondness for hand-held camera-work.
A porno theater projectionist, who has tangled with the police before, gives Nami safe harbor when she finds herself on the lam once again.
A sexual relationship based on shared misery brings the two outsiders together, but when the projectionist is captured and tortured, he gives up Nami's hiding place and she is returned to jail after an exciting shoot-out.
If you know Hasebe's work, you'll enjoy various sequences that would later be mirrored in the director's "Assault Jack The Ripper" (the body in the elevator shaft at the end) and "Raping!" (the rape of the prison warden by the police, and the erotic acts performed in mirrors).
Hasebe's Scorpion is a looser, less surreal piece of work, but it is, nonetheless, a wonderful achievement.
The finale, set in the wilderness against a baked, orange sky, is great cinema, as is the emotional conclusion where Nami's achingly beautiful theme song is reprised.
As usual, the director's passion for jazz-fueled visuals is well served by composer Hajime Kaburagi's sensational score, which also detours into some of the most surreal territory yet trodden in a Scorpion film.
The Last Of The "Original" FEMALE PRISONER: SCORPION Films....
After the ending of BEAST STABLE - there really wasn't a whole lot of room left for a fourth entry in the FEMALE PRISONER: SCORPION film story-wise, but I guess someone thought there was some money to be made and squeezed this one out.
Not a bad entry - a little duller than some of the others - but still worth a look to the series fan...Yet again our favorite jail-breaking, little-speaking delinquent is on the run.
Injured from her run-in, she is discovered by a strip-club worker who takes her in and harbors her from the cops.
That is the question...Another pretty solid entry in the series - GRUDGE SONG is neither extremely notable, nor is it "bad" in any way.
GRUDGE SONG did drag in parts but overall it is still solid with a decent storyline.
Definitely recommended if you've seen and liked the other FEMALE PRISONER films...7.5/10.
Last and least of the Scorpion films.
#701'S GRUDGE SONG is the fourth and least of the FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION series, an average film in every respect.
The director of the previous three films didn't return, leaving the reliably enthralling Meiko Kaji the only real reason to tune in.
This time around, Sasori is on the run from a group of new dedicated cops, and she ends up being helped by a vengeful guy who works at a strip joint and has his own vendetta against the police.
This film is rather small in scale and fits in a few prison flick cliches and violent moments, but the direction lacks the same style as in the previous outings and there's a general seen-it-all-before feel. |
tt0085253 | Blood Rage | Todd and Terry are blond and identical twins. In 1974, one night at a drive-in theater, Terry sees his parents kissing inside the car and escapes from the backseat with Todd. Deep inside, Terry soon becomes violent from always seeing people, including his parents, having sex. Taking a carpenter's hatchet, he murders a teenager having sex with his girlfriend in the backseat in their car, and frames a shocked Todd by smothering the blood onto him and placing the hatchet into his hand. When their mother Maddy (Louise Lasser) and the police arrive on the scene, Todd without question is found guilty and is locked in a asylum.
10 years later, in 1984, Terry lives happily with his mother in their neighborhood Shadow Woods. On Thanksgiving, Terry's insanity revives again when not only his mother is getting re-married again with her fiancé Brad, but news that Todd has escaped from his mental hospital. To ensure that Todd gets framed for the murders for him to go back to the asylum, Terry murders Brad by chopping his right hand off with a machete before splitting his head.
Meanwhile, Dr. Berman and her assistant Jackie go out in search for Todd. Terry greets Jackie before stabbing him with his machete, and murders Dr. Berman in the woods by dismembering her waist. After this, he switches from his bloody t-shirt into a vest. He then proceeds nearby to his new neighbor Andrea, who is babysitting a young newborn baby. They begin to have a relationship until her mother Julie and her date Bill come home. During this, Terry's friend Karen bumps into Todd, who she believes is Terry; Todd announces himself and she flees to tell her friends about her encounter. She also tells Terry about her brother, and he then disappears into the night in search of him, while Karen and her friends Gregg and Artie to go to Andrea's house to party.
Maddy begins to panic upon hearing about Todd coming into Shadow Woods, and Todd breaks down in the woods when he comes across Dr. Berman's body; he takes a hidden revolver with him. Meanwhile at Julie's house, Bill is decapitated by Terry, and Julie is stabbed after this. Terry spies on Gregg and Andrea playing tennis, before he murders both of them by the swimming pool. Artie finds the bodies of Gregg and Andrea, and in his car is held at gunpoint by Todd who tries to truthfully convince him that Terry is actually murdering everyone. When Artie, still under gunpoint, knocks on Terry's door, the latter answers and sees Todd before the said person flees. When Artie and Terry look for Todd, Artie gets stabbed in the neck with a carving fork.
Karen soon discovers Terry's true nature, and he chases her around the neighborhood to kill her; in the process she discovers Brad's body. She flees to Julie's house to find her body, and takes the baby with her. During this, after Maddie contacts the police, she discover's Terry's secret upon finding his bloodied t-shirt in the garbage bin, and horrifyingly discovers Brad's body with his head split open. At the swimming pool, Terry finds Karen with the baby, but Todd arrives and fights his brother inside the pool. While Todd gets pulled out by Karen, Maddie appears and shoots at Terry, killing him and thinking it is Todd. She turns frightened when she realizes that she shot Terry and when Todd reveals himself to her, she commits suicide by shooting herself in the head. The film ends with Karen fleeing with the baby, and Todd remains shocked over his mother's death as police sirens can be heard, leaving his fate unknown. | murder, violence, horror, cult, insanity, revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0057401 | Paranoiac | The wealthy Ashby family has been damaged by the death of Mr. and Mrs. Ashby in a plane crash when their three children were very young. The children were left in the care of their Aunt Harriet. The oldest son, Anthony, committed suicide by jumping off a cliff into the sea when he was 15. The second son, Simon, (Reed) is now a cruel, spendthrift alcoholic trying to drive his sister, Eleanor (Scott) insane, so that he can inherit the estate of their deceased parents. He has only three weeks to wait until the lawyers will turn the family money over to him. But a mysterious man (Davion) appears, who throws a monkey wrench into Simon's plans.
A mysterious man, first sighted by Eleanor, appears who greatly resembles the dead brother. Eight years earlier, when Tony was a youth, he had left a suicide note and had apparently jumped off a seacoast cliff, but his body had never been recovered. Now, the new Tony appears, claiming that he had simply run off. Eleanor wants to believe that the man is Tony. Harriet Ashby (Burrell), their Aunt, is immediately hostile and calls the man an impostor. Simon appears to be more open-minded about the situation. Desperate to keep his hands on the family money, Simon sabotages the car brakes and Eleanor and Tony are nearly killed, saved only by Tony's quick thinking. Eleanor finds she is falling in love with her supposed brother. Overcome with conflict over her seemingly incestuous thoughts, she is about to commit suicide, when the man restrains her and confesses that he is not her brother Tony, but instead is a con man hired by the embezzling Keith Kossett (Bonney), son of the family attorney (Denham).
Meanwhile, Simon has been having an affair with Eleanor's nurse, a French woman. When she realizes what Simon is up to, she decides to leave—but Simon drowns her in a nearby pond. Simon tells Eleanor that the nurse has simply left.
Eleanor has been hearing mysterious music from the disused family chapel for a long time but had been too frightened to investigate. She and Tony investigate together and see Simon playing the organ while a really creepy masked choirboy sings. The next night "Tony" and Eleanor stealthily observe this ritual through a window. Eleanor is spotted by the masked maniac out of the corner of her eye. The masked maniac slips outside and tries to attack Eleanor, but is stopped by "Tony." The person in the mask is revealed to be Aunt Harriet. Aunt Harriet becomes furious and explains that this ritual keeps Simon calm by allowing him to pretend that his brother Tony is still alive. However, it's even stranger than that
Simon knows the new man is an impostor because he had actually tricked the real Tony into writing the suicide note and then murdered him. He had then hidden the body behind a brick wall in a chapel on the estate (these facts are not revealed until near the end of the film). From time to time, when depressed, Simon would retreat to the chapel and act out a scene in which he would pretend his brother was still alive. He would play a phonograph record of Tony singing, while Simon would play the organ, in the company of a masked maniac, who would also play the part of the dead brother. One night "Tony" is attacked by the masked maniac with a steel hook while watching Simon play the organ. The Aunt then explains about the ritual, and blames "Tony" for awakening Simon's psychosis after it had seemingly been dormant for years.
The fake Tony investigates the chapel, and finds Tony's mummified body. He is about to leave, but is stopped by Simon, who fills in the missing plot details about having killed Tony. Simon then slugs the man and binds him to a pillar. When the man comes to, Simon is playing the organ, with the real Tony's body now seated on a chair next to the organ. Simon informs the impostor that he and Tony have had a talk and have decided to have the man "join" Tony. Harriet appears, and persuades Simon to leave; that she will take care of the situation. Unfazed at seeing the corpse, it is evident that she also knew the truth.
Indeed, after Simon leaves, Harriet shows that she, too, is a murderer: she throws down a lantern, setting the chapel afire, and she rushes off. Fortunately, Eleanor quickly turns up, unties the fake Tony, and sees the real Tony's body briefly. Eleanor and the man flee the estate rather than returning to the house. With the chapel ablaze and Tony's body inside, Simon's madness takes him over. He leaves the house and staggers to the chapel to try to "rescue" Tony, but collapses as he clutches Tony's skeletal remains. The fire rages on. | intrigue | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0430334 | Mansquito | Dr. Jennifer Allen (Musetta Vander) in Baltimore, Maryland wants to find a cure for a disease known as the Gillen virus, a disease similar yet more deadly than the "Fire Rising virus." She and a colleague capture infected mosquitoes and give them small doses of radiation. She explains that the levels have to be exact because if the mosquitoes receive too much radiation, the results could be more devastating than the virus itself.
A convict named Ray Erikson (Matt Jordan) joins Dr. Allen's program in exchange for his lifelong prison sentence. He takes a hostage and convinces Dr. Allen to open the door to the experiment room. The security guards open fire and cause an explosion that showers Ray and Dr. Allen with the chemicals and the genetically altered mosquitoes. Ray manages to flee the scene.
He begins to transform into the titular monster, a deformed chimera, half man, half mosquito, yet he manages to find his way to his ex-girlfriend's apartment, where the process continues. When the ex comes home, she finds it in ruins. She and Ray have a short, anxious conversation before Ray's transformation is complete and he kills her.
Meanwhile, Dr. Allen returns home with her boyfriend, police officer Tom Randall (Corin Nemec). That evening, she notices her wrist is red and raw-looking. She thinks little of it, but next morning, it has spread to her entire arm. Later, while kissing Tom, she has a sudden craving for blood and bites him. He is called to Ray's girlfriend's apartment and leaves. Dr. Allen rushes into the bathroom to find her arm bleeding. She convulses, falls to the floor and her skin starts to bubble.
Tom arrives at the crime scene and is puzzled by the way Ray's girlfriend died. He is called to investigate another crime scene, where he encounters Mansquito. The monster seems unstoppable, until Tom shocks him with a stun gun, making him flee in pain. Tom's partner doesn't believe him at first but puts a bulletin out on the creature.
At the research station, Dr. Allen discovers she is also changing into a human-mosquito hybrid, but more slowly as she received a smaller dose than Ray. Mansquito appears but doesn't try to kill her, and after she faints, the monster leaves. Tom takes her to the hospital.
The doctor wants to give Dr. Allen a blood transfusion to slow down the transformation, but she replies that nothing can stop the mutation. She believes the monster sensed that she is turning into a creature like him and that once the transformation is complete, he will want to mate with her. Outside, a guard falls victim to the monster and Tom leaves to investigate. Mansquito undergoes another transformation, this time growing wings.
Dr. Allen also undergoes another transformation and alerts the officers of Mansquito's arrival. They fail to stop him. The monster heads for Dr. Allen, but she manages to escape. Tom fires a rocket launcher at the oxygen tanks behind Mansquito and assumes the creature was killed by the explosion, but that is not the case.
Meanwhile, back at the lab, Dr. Allen undergoes yet another transformation and releases the last batch of genetically altered mosquitoes, which have been perfected. Tom arrives and Dr. Allen tells him that Mansquito is still alive. She tries to commit suicide by stabbing herself with a syringe, because without a mate, Mansquito will die.
The monster arrives and Tom fights him to no avail. Dr. Allen is seriously injured by Mansquito, who is now focused on killing her rather than mating with her. Tom uses the stun gun and once again, it works. Seeing this, Dr. Allen breaks an electrical line and electrocutes Mansquito and herself. Tom writes a report about the incident and the Gillen virus is wiped out by the altered mosquitoes. | violence | train | wikipedia | undoubtedly you've seen the previews on sci-fi which show the sexy scientist tearing off her blouse-- that and the title tell you all you need to know about how cheesy and ridiculous this picture is-- but I hate to admit I found it strangely watchable.
Look: obviously no one watches a teevee movie called "Mansquito!"(it needed an exclamation point, don't you think?) expecting King Lear, unless they have neurological problems or something.
It's got decent enough acting, plenty of nasty gore scenes, cool creature effects, but lots of problems too.
Director Tibor Takácswho was responsible for 1987's effects-laden cult hit, "The Gate", and the really cool "I, Madman"has since done some not-so-great low-budget horror films like Killer Rats (2003), but he redeems himself somewhat with "Mansquito".
Thankfully the monster isn't CG most of the time, just a good old man-in-a-suit (Except for shots of the creature running or flying, in which the makers implored so truly awful CG).
You don't have to watch Mosquito Man to know that it takes heavy influence from David Cronenberg's classic film 'The Fly', but I liked said film a lot and so decided that I would be happy if this film merely offered a fun retelling of it.
The special effects are important in a film like this, and despite being a film that is unlikely to ever amount to anything - Mosquito Man does feature great special effects.
The acting is surprisingly decent also, with the hot Musetta Vander providing the eye candy (both for the audience and for the title monster), while Corin Nemec is good in the opposite role.
It's not hard to guess where it's going at any point, but the film races towards the inevitable conclusion with style, and the director chucks in a nice gore sequence every time things start to dry up.
THe Mansquito looked real good, and there were some nice gore effects.
But it's starting to seem that the Sci-Fi Channel produces these things like link sausage, one after after another after another and all pretty much the same.Take a cliché hero from column A, a heroine from column B, inject giant mutant X (insect, spider, snake etc), mix will with lots of faceless police/soldiers/general public with a collective I.Q. five points under room temperature as monster fodder and boil in pot until rank.The only thing they left out of this one (other than an interesting story) was the evil rich guy who wants to exploit the monster of the week.Oh...
Mansquito really does not deserve a summary, but here it goes.A man is turned into a mosquito-man through some weird science experiment(Very closely related with The Fly).
Mansquito(or Mosquito Man) was a little better than I expected, but that's not saying much.
This one doesn't even try.I stopped looking at it after the man transformed into a giant mosquito.
Sexy Musetta Vander+ Gruesome Fiend, What Else Could You Ask For. As a man who's seen almost all of the creature films made for cable and DVD the last eight years or so, I can tell you this one ranks among the best.
Attempting to cure a deadly disease, a scientists' efforts to release it are stagnated when an escaped convicts' accidental exposure to the cure results in being mutated into a vicious mosquito/human monster and forces her policeman boyfriend to stop his rampage.This one here wasn't all that bad of a cheesy creature feature.
The opening stages of the film use the threat nicely and integrate it with the rest of the film since the search to find a cure is a common theme found in similar movies, and the current issue being dealt with is a great way of staying in touch with what's going on.
Though held to a minimum, the film does manage to contain some solid creature interactions here with the different attacks on the lonely victims around the city, the big massacre at the underground sewers and a fine encounter at a closed dance club all being rather enjoyable scenes which is all aided along rather nicely by the incredibly high body-count being disposed of in pretty gory ways.
Though these are fun, the film doesn't get really action-packed until the ending attack in the hospital which has so many fun moments with the creature appearing and taking out the guards outside, the multitude of gunfights with the security forces storming in several different groups and then finally going back into the subway brawl last piece here that is quite action-filled, with lots of deaths, blood and even some stalking scene thrown in for a great finish.
As well, there's also the fact that there's a distinct cheapness to it all that really stands out here, from the low-rent transformation effects to the CGI for the creatures' final flying stage and the absolutely lame and mediocre gore effects which are simply bland stabbings or impalings for the part all of which bring up the film's rather cheap look.
Some decent special effects and acting make this a pretty good movie.
Let's just say Mansquito benefits from diminished expectations.I don't like sci fi movies in which you don't see the monster until the end.
It is THE perfect movie to watch with a group of people, for the film has good times practically built into it.
The cinematography is good, the movie manages to disguise the Bulgarian locations as American, and the creature of the movie uses a pretty impressive looking rubber suit instead of CGI.
Its also hard to believe that this man also directed the hit TV series called Tropical Heat(and known in the United States as Sweating Bullets).I saw this film on DVD, hoping it would be a good watch.
With no established actors in the film, adds to its dullness.Full Plot(sometimes I wonder why I do it for a film like this...): Dr. Jennifer Allen (Musetta Vander) in Baltimore, Maryland wants to find a cure for a disease known as the Gillian virus, a disease similar yet more deadly than the West Nile virus.
Ray manages to flee the scene.He began to transform into the titular monster, half man half mosquito, yet he manages to find his way to his ex girlfriend's apartment, where the process continues.
Tom's partner doesn't believe him at first but puts a bulletin out on the creature.At the research station, Dr. Allen discovers she is also changing into a human-mosquito hybrid, but more slowly as she received a smaller dose than Ray. Mansquito appears but doesn't try to kill her, and after she faints, the monster leaves.
Tom takes her to the hospital.The doctor wants to give Dr. Allen a blood transfusion to slow down the transformation, but she replies that nothing can stop the mutation.
Tom fires a rocket launcher at the oxygen tanks behind Mansquito and assumes the creature was killed by the explosion, but that is not the case.Meanwhile, back at the lab, Dr. Allen undergoes yet another transformation and releases the last batch of genetically altered mosquitoes, which have been perfected.
Their cheap labour actually looks semi-professional, which is the absolute worst thing you can have in a movie about a killer half man/half mosquito.
So I've pretty much gave up on believing the DVD boxes at the rental store,especially the horror ones.They promise scares and terror and end up leaving you feeling mad and ripped off.But the box for this one didn't even promise much.I guess with a name like "Mosquito Man" there ain't no use in pretending you're gonna be good.But I didn't care about the read on the box.I thought maybe we would go old school,back to the 80's in horror,when all the rage was some big cool looking monster,like Rawhead Rex or Pumpkinhead.OK,first off this movie is nothing but a blatant rip-off of "The Fly" but without the cool gore or anything else that made "The Fly" at least watchable.When an experiment to save the world from some mosquito carried virus goes wrong a guy is mutated into a giant mosquito.Really.So he kills people by sucking them dry of blood .A cop decides that the dead bodies turning up around town aren't being killed by your average wacko and the cop is determined to find what is killing all these folks.The acting is bad.The plot is worse.Some of the special effects were decent.But the Mosquito itself looked really cheesy at times,actually all the time, but sometimes it looked worse than others.Stupid ,plodding and nothing cool here at all.The only saving grace was that it was a fairly short movie.No nudity and very little cursing for some reason.The most cursing was from me, I suppose, at having been disappointed again by yet another cruddy horror movie.Don't rent this mess.Even if you could see it for free it would still be a rip-off..
"Hey, Mansquito!" Cory Nemec yells as he takes on an 8-foot mosquito with a body like armor plate and an insatiable thirst for human blood.
And that gives you an idea of the level of this Sci-Fi Channel flick, which has an escaped murderer getting doused with some chemical and morphing into a reasonably scary, blood-sucking monster.
This movie is essentially about a convict who has been unwillingly volunteered to be the test subject of a new serum to cure a deadly virus spread by mosquitoes, the problem is, as a result of his attempted escape, he becomes a bloodthirsty bug in the process.
One person, who was only in the movie for a few minutes and managed to decline his acting abilities, was Matt Jordon, who played the convict and Mosquito Man. His performance was a bit laughable and he seemed way too eager to be in the role, he didn't concentrate on his character.The scary parts in this movie were neither abundance nor a deficit.
Some scenes, after Mosquito Man attacks, seem like a slaughter with missing limbs, dismembered bodies, blood splatter and overall carnage.
No, the bug zapper doesn't work in real life.I did get to see three things: One of the most ugly creatures I have ever seen in a horror movie - I mean I hate those things at actual size, why would anyone want to see one seven foot tall.
Mansquito is just a good old fun film..
This follows the typical formula, convict becomes mutant creature, add a hero to save the day and the hero's girlfriend in danger because the mutant just HAS to get her.It starts with a mosquito borne virus that has infected 300,000+ people and now our heroine is trying to create an anti-virus that will be carried by some good mosquitoes(?) and save everyone.
SWAT teams in body armor fall before our mighty mutant but the hero survives multiple encounters in his business suit.Well to sum it up, it really is about what you'd expect from a movie titled Mansquito.
It's tough, but frankly, they don't pay me the big bucks just to make fun of movie titles like Mansquito, so I actually decided to watch Mansquito.
The maddest of the mad scientists (Jay Benedict) at one point reminds his attractive, not entirely mad female associate (Musetta Vander) that out their people are "dying," emphasizing "dying" with the most unnecessary use of air quotes any actor has ever employed.To test the new mosquitoes to make sure they aren't lethal to humans, a lethal human in the form of a convicted, mass murderer (Matt Jordon) is brought in.
The good news is the gore (which would probably give nightmares to impressionable children, in fairness) is so poorly done that it's laughable to jaded adults like me.Honestly, I think it's a surprise that there is any story at all in Mansquito, as the point is simply to see some giant rubber monster suck the blood of overacting extras.
You wouldn't need a script to get lines of dialogue like, "He's more man than mosquito now!" Nor is any clever writer required to come up with the ingenious plot twist that Mansquito wants to mate with our heroine.
Let me be the first to say: Ew.Mansquito is ideal for lovers of ineffective, goofy monster movies that take itself far more seriously than its budget allows it to be, and skippable for any other segment of the population.Worth noting is the success of Mansquito has inspired me to develop the following screenplays in hopes of getting greenlit by the Sci-Fi Channel: Mantato A man falls into an experimental government potato patch and turns into the diabolical Mantato before being stopped by a good-looking scientist (played by Christian Slater) and a gorgeous local girl.Bearodactyl a gentle bear is bitten by a radioactive pterodactyl and goes on a rampage before being stopped by a hunky scientist (played by Dean Cain) and a gorgeous local girl.FemAle an attractive female falls into a vat of gamma irradiated ale and turns into the deadly FemAle before being thwarted by a handsome scientist (played by Casper Van Dien) and a beautiful local girl.Craptor a cloned raptor falls into the septic tank of at a nuclear facility becomes the putridly extinct Craptor, running amok before being killed by a heroic scientist (played by Lorenzo Lamas) and a local beauty queen.I'm also in the infancy of developing the following projects: Galligator, Poison Guyvy, Womantis, and Catmandude.
BEST KILLER MOSQUITO MOVIE OF ALL TIME!!!!!
"Mansquito" is a SciFi Channel Original derived from some of the old '50s giant insect movies, but given a 21st century makeover.
And it's a little odd that the Mansquito spouts tiny wings about halfway through the movie, and the wings are somehow powerful enough to allow him to fly like a champ.
i just saw this movie on DVD but the title was mosquito man.
i like that.a horror fan should be happy that people are out there willing to make movies called mosquito man or mansquito!
watching a movie like this is a fun way to unwind after a long day of work.
Mansquito starts as we learn that a deadly virus spread by mosquito's is claiming 1000's of victims across America, scientist's Dr. Aaron Michaels (Jay Benedict) & Dr. Jennifer Allen (Musetta Vander) are trying to create a mosquito which will mate with normal mosquito's & eradicate the virus or something like that.
Convicted mass murderer Ray Erikson (Austin Jordan) has enrolled in a medical research program where he lets people like Michaels do stuff to him for a lighter sentence, however en-route to Michaels lab Ray manages to steal a cops gun & in the following gunfight a special reactor in the lab blows up & covers Ray in some slimy blue DNA altered gunk which has the unwanted side effect of turning him into a grotesque 7 foot tall half man/half mosquito creature who needs to drink a lot of blood to survive.
Directed by Tibor Takacs Mansquito is a throwback to the giant bug flicks from the 50's & 60's with added gore & CGI, the script by Michael Hurst & it's title character also bear more than a passing resemblance to The Fly (1986).
However Mansquito manages to stand out as a fairly fun monster on the loose type flick & it also has the added bonus of lots of gore along with a very high body count which Nu Image films usually lack.
The makers obviously didn't do much research as male Mosquito's can't suck blood & I don't understand what Ray was going to used for or what the scientists were trying to achieve in their experiments but did you expect common sense & realism from a horror flick called Mansquito?
No, neither did I so just sit back & enjoy it for what it is, a simple by-the-numbers yet effective & fun creature feature with some neat gore.Director Takacs does OK, the film looks nice enough & he keeps things moving along at a reasonable pace.
When the time comes for the makers to use CGI when Mansquito decides to fly it looks OK.
Nu Image isn't known for the quality of their films so the fact Mansquito is actually quiet good is an achievement in itself, fans should definitely check this one out as it's one of their best in my opinion..
When I saw the previews for this movie, I was like, "You have GOT to be kidding me!" It was several months before i saw it was on TV and i decided to check it out to see how bad it really was.********Full summary and spoilers below ********OK, there's a widespread disease going on, and its spread by mosquitoes.
Blue goo gets everywhere, mostly on the prisoner, but a little bit gets on Allen's arm.Fast forward a bit, the prisoner escapes through the sewers and begins to mutate into a giant 'Mansquito" The two cops on the scene of the lab shootout, Morrison and Randall (Patrick Dreikass, Vander's BF and Corin Nemee) are on the move to capture the escaped prisoner.
Just knowing that only female mosquitos suck blood blows the whole concept of the movie.
I swear the DVD I rented has this movie named as Mosquito Man, but that doesn't matter.To start out I'll have to say this movie was better than I expected.
The special effects, mainly on the actual "mansquito" were weak, but the blood and guts were good.The plot was your typical mutation monster plot like werewolves and the fly.
A decent plot if you like mutation/horror films.But the Mansquito was far too powerful.
There is also the horrible anti-climatic line "Hey Mansquito!" and then a gun shot followed by explosion.Overall it was a good film if you like horror movies that are more funny than scary..
My theory is that the Director's Cut of this wonderful film will make so much more sense because the original movie was so long all of the "good scenes" were removed to fit it in its two hour with commercial slot. |
tt1343703 | Brestskaya krepost | The film opens on Saturday, June 21, 1941. Sasha Akimov, a 15-year-old musician, and his older brother, Andrey, whose parents were killed in the Spanish Civil War, are serving in the 333rd Rifle Regiment of the Red Army at the Brest Fortress. Elsewhere, a commissar, Yefim Fomin, discovers he is unable to bring his family to Brest due to a shortage of train tickets. Another officer, Gavrilov, continues to express concern about the readiness of the fort's defenses should an attack come, despite warnings from his friend, officer of the NKVD Special Department Lieutenant Vainshtein, about an imminent war with Germany. That evening, the fortress loses power due to German commandoes.
The next morning, at 3:58, German forces invade the Soviet Union. The fortress is subjected to heavy bombardment by German artillery and Stuka aircraft, killing many Soviet soldiers and civilians. At 6:30, German infantry attack the fortress capturing hospital staff and patients many of whom they kill. Fomin takes command of the defenders around the Kholm Gate, while Gavrilov rallies the defenders around the Eastern Fort. Elsewhere, NKVD border guards under command of a Soviet Lieutenant, Kizhevatov, repel a German sortie into the fortress, and Vainshtein thwarts a German commando's attempt to undermine the defense of the 132nd Independent NKVD Convoy Battalion's barracks. As the siege commences, Sasha finds himself stranded in one of the barracks. During the fighting for the East Fort, Junior Lieutenant Andrey Akimov (brother of Sasha) is killed while destroying two Panzer IIIs with an anti-tank gun, helping Gavrilov repel a German attack.
By the end of June 22, the Soviet defenders are divided into groups: one force under Fomin defending the Kholm Gate, a second force under Gavrilov defending the Eastern Redoubt, while Kizhevatov defends the 9th Frontier outpost, along with a group of civilians, and Vainshtein holds on to the barracks of the 132nd NKVD Battalion. The next day, fighting continues for the fortress, and Sasha makes it to the Kholm Gate. An I-16 Soviet fighter aircraft of the 123rd Fighter Aviation Regiment is shot down over the fortress, and the pilot is rescued by Fomin's men. He reveals that the Red Army is retreating toward Minsk—and Fomin realizes that the men must leave the fortress or die.
On June 24, Sasha leaves the Kholm Gate to alert the other pockets about Fomin's plan for a breakout. While Sasha finds the 132nd's position overrun, and Vainshtein himself dead, he manages to deliver the message to Kizhevatov and Gavrilov. That night, a breakout is attempted by all three remaining groups, but is driven back by the Germans, suffering heavy losses. The next morning, realizing he can't properly defend them, Kizhevatov reluctantly orders the surviving civilians (including his own wife and daughter, and also Sasha) to vacate the fortress during a cease-fire.
On June 26, the Germans drop a two-ton bomb on the fortress, causing massive damage. The Germans quickly move to eradicate the surviving pockets. The defenders at Kholm Gate are forced to surrender, and Fomin is immediately executed by a German firing squad, as a Jew, a communist and a commissar. Gavrilov orders his remaining men to attempt to break out individually. Kizhevatov and his surviving men manage to regroup in the barracks; Sasha returns to meet them there. After ordering Sasha to take the regimental colors and remember the truth about the defenders, Kizhevatov takes a machine gun to cover his men while they attempt a breakout. The breakout fails and the remaining defenders, including Kizhevatov, are killed. Sasha, however, manages to escape.
It is later revealed that Gavrilov was captured on July 23, 1941, but survived captivity. Kizhevatov and Gavrilov were later declared Heroes of the Soviet Union, while Fomin is also decorated with the Order of Lenin. | violence, romantic | train | wikipedia | In case you've come upon this movie by accident, I'd suggest you go ahead and watch it, and then return return back to read the reviews.The Brest Fortress pushes war movies to a completely different level of realism, poetry and emotional force.
And The Brest Fortress pays homage to that great movie in many ways.Russians suffered unimaginable horrors during WWII and that trauma in their psyche along with their great heritage of story telling and great cinema combines to create another great Russian war movie.I feel privileged to have watched this movie, knowing that its still unknown in the west, there is not even a wikki page about it yet..
Talking about the legend of the Second World War, the epic Brest fortress that was first attacked by the Nazi hordes, the first day of the war with the USSR 22nd June 1941.The story tells of a young boy who is a trumpeter in the orchestra in Brest fortress and all the time movie battle through hell trying to find a girlfriend who is lost in the war.
During his quest he survives the horrors of the battle in which he actively participate.The film is full of scenes of war, desperate efforts of the Russian soldiers who defended the fort, during the most certainly futile struggle.
Scenes of war are almost epic, presented with the harsh reality.Brest Fortress is something similar like the American fort Alamo, just became much larger and more powerful symbol of the perseverance of Russian troops, tragedies, and ultimate victory.The film certainly has to be seen, and the quality of acting, directing and scenes of war, beyond almost all the western movies so far recorded.The film shows the people and the destiny woven through this historical epic about the Brest fortress.
Avoided, and quite nice, skilled and successful, politics and ideology, and instead of great political speeches film shows pure heroism, struggle, and an iron will, not only from the military fortress of the crew, but also the entire Soviet people to defend the country from the fascist hordes .Ordinary people, cooks, musicians, soldiers, doctors, civilians become suddenly, on that fateful morning of the 22nd June 1941, heroes, they want it or not, they like it or not.
Major Gavrilov, political commissar of Fomin and many others that his example of heroism, defiance and leadership endured ten times stronger against the German enemy, to the last drop of blood, the last bullet, the last drop of water ...Long after the movie, in your ears will ring a continuous repetition of words spoken бѕ radio operator from the fortress:"- This fortress, fortress here, we keep the defense, - This fortress, fortress here, we keep the defense...".
Narrator probably is telling less that he could, so some plot points are not that clear, but the film keeps you at the screen for all the time.And final note to some historians here: if you mention history background and occupation of Brest by Soviet Union in 1939, please go further and mention that it was taken by Poland from Russia in 1919, it was behind the Curzon line (the Poland people were not the majority of population) and should have stayed the Russian city..
A convincing and brutal drama about the war's ugly and scary face, which is as much poignant as it is riveting and engrossing from start to finish.The doomed fortress of the border town of Brest was built a hundred years before the first onset of German deceitful invasion into the Soviet land at early dawn of June 22, 1941.
By the commencement of war, the Brest fortress was a home to a number of Soviet military units - infantry battalions, reconnaissance and artillery regiments, miscellaneous attached units and troops, all-in-all up to 8000 servicemen and several hundreds of their families, wives and children were stationed therein.The film starts unfolding peacefully on the eve of the war - a regular day in the lives of ordinary people in a military compound - orchestra rehearsals, dancing, shopping, kisses, Saturday evening film screening - the late peaceful everyday routine...Persistent rumors that the Germans were cranking up preparations for a breakthrough on the border were considered as sabotage and eventually suppressed.
Followed by meticulously coordinated combat assault immediately afterward, it took the inhabitants by surprise and split the garrison into several relatively small and isolated pockets of nevertheless pretty fierce resistance.Under massive German attacks the city was defeated fairly early, whereas the small number of the besieged Brest fortress survivors with scarce resources, deprived of food, water and medicine, and with narrowing hope for reinforcement or backing from the retreating regular forces, kept on defending the small plot of Soviet land against the invaders for many days.Though the essence of the story is certainly a portrayal of the valor of Soviet soldiers that lost their lives defending the first citadel and symbol of Russian resistance, the film manages to avoid as much as possible worn-out heroic clichés and propagandistic pathos that were often compulsory elements even in the best examples of Soviet war movies of the past.
Yet, unlike many politically engaged modern movies, it resists the temptation to deride the peculiarities of Soviet lifestyle of that time and to speculate on the popular issues of "Stalinist regime's atrocities".Instead, the film focuses on accurate capturing of a full range of authentic human emotions from joy, love and devotion at the early beginning of the film through angst, fear and pain as it progresses to hopelessness and despair.
It tells the frightening story of regular people, which lives were turned upside down overnight when they end up face to face with unstoppable deadly force menacing their families, their loved ones, their own lives and their country.It pulls no punches when it comes to depiction of enormous destructions and horrors of war with first rate set designs and visually arresting special effects, but the main asset of the film is, of course, excellent nuanced performances from the entire cast especially the leads - Korshunov, Merzlikin and Derevyanko.The story is told as if from the perspective of a teenage boy witnessing the outbreak of war and providing narration already as a war veteran that has survived the worst war in modern history.
If you read my title, you might consider the comparison perhaps the most famous American world war epic odd, but I'll explain that shortly.To get the necessities out of the way--the film describes the fall of the Brest Fotress in far western Belarus (or Byelorussian SSR, in this case).
And finally, it does not mention that Brest, like the rest of Western Belarus, was subject to a Polish colonization effort after Poland annexed it (during the first Polish-Soviet War, which they won) and under military rule due to conflicts between Poles and Belarusians.
All of this is, as it happens, not relevant to the movie makers, and given how few people have heard of the first Polish-Soviet War, the Polonization of West Belarus, or the deportation of Brest's Polish residents, it's not surprising.
Brest is a rough, rural, but otherwise idyllic countryside town--unbelievable from a western perspective, perhaps, but not in conflict with survivor narratives we have today, and intended to set up the disaster that follows.The movie DOES offer some historic context, however--it begins with Major Gavrilov's warning of an impending disaster for Brest, and the Brest Fortress, in the event of a German invasion, though he is dismissed by skeptical comrades more trusting of their country's "ally".
Seeing the Soviet defenders--mostly Red Army men, joined by die-hard Frontier troops and a few NKVD Rifle Battalion NCOs, from what I see--counter-attack German positions with shovels and chairs as well as rifles and machineguns seems unbelievable at first, but it doesn't clash with the western narrative of a primitive Red Army, or accounts of hand-to-hand fighting from both world wars.
Aside from this, Germans usually seem distant and, on occasion, just as desperate as their Soviet enemies."Fortress" stands well with its American counterparts, and even decently with epics like "Come and See", ending with a sobering tribute to the film's historical personalities--the vindicated Pyotr Gavrilov is explained as having survived German captivity only to be imprisoned for the act of surrender (though the movie inaccurately suggests such a fate befell "most" POWs, when it was primarily inflicted on officers and others who carried more "blame"), only to be rehabilitated and made Hero of the USSR in 1957, in a damning critique of the country, and Stalin's, complacency towards Germany.
I digress.I like true history, this film of the heroic defence of the Brest Fortress in June 1941 was something even at my age, 70 I had never heard of.Half way through, it's 138 mins long,I halt it for a cup of tea and said out loud, Hey a real film, no bloody CIC,no American crap heroics,and boy I am looking forward to seeing the rest.In my tea break I find that this fantastic heartbreaking true war film did not even get a UK cinema release.
It's not the usual WW2 movie that can be seen at Hollywood, with big 'good' allied soldiers killing like a machine gun a lot of 'bad' enemies.
Fortress of War is a powerful war film that illustrates in microcosm the sacrifice made by the Soviet people in defeating the Nazis.
While many believe the United States is responsible for defeating Hitler and the Nazis, in reality it was the Soviets who played the biggest role, and Fortress of War provides an excellent history lesson in that regard, as well as being an exquisitely made film.
There are some movies that are dearer to me than any foreign high-budget "action games." "Brest Fortress", as well as several other military and patriotic films made in different parts of our fatherland, will remind us of the Great Victory, which is extracted in the glow of the battles our ancestors, people who are not sparing himself, rushed to defend the country from the very first hours of war, World War II.
Not for nothing, when you create a movie, documentary evidence used to reconstruct as accurately as possible the situation that arose in the fortress at that difficult time.As the fighting scenes were filmed - it is generally impossible to comment on.
High level production of hostilities simply indescribable - before he delivered quality.It is significant that at the beginning and end of the film sounded wonderful song "On the Hills of Manchuria", which was originally devoted to another heroic feat of our soldiers, but that it is the best fit in this movie.I am infinitely grateful to the creators for the idea to remove this film and the actors who performed their roles very well, gave it to the max.
Produced in honour of the Red Army soldiers defending the USSR Western borders, Fortress of War recounts historical events combined with fictitious chronicles surrounding the June 1941 siege of the Brest Fortress in Sothern Belorussia against the invading Wehrmacht Army Group Centre forces in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa.This historical event is creatively accompanied by reminiscing narration from an orphaned 15-year old boy named Sasha Akimov.
His narration ties together three main defensive stages led by real life Soviet war heroes centered on the resistance zones holding out against the protracted German siege.
Nevertheless, through skillful editing and directing as the film moves along at a steady peace the separate stories begin to coalesce into one and by no means are a distraction.In summary, Fortress of War is a first-rate factual dramatised war movie which subjects its audience to the brave climatic struggle for survival and once again is another example of the evolving historical films from the Counties brutalised by ideology fuelled hatred and genocide that was the Second World War..
This is horror and I hope we never see a war like WW2 again.as others have noted do not think this movie is all a true story because it is not.there are a bunch of historic inaccuracies as well as some soviet style propaganda but if you forget that fact and just watch it this becomes one gruesome war flick with tons of blood and gore.also as noted in other reviews the soviets did in fact kill tens of thousands of polish troops in the katyn forest including poles who had fought the Germans in brest before the soviet-German pact.
One almost felt the need to duck the firepower, so realistic was the sight and sound of battle.A similar feeling was created by viewing this movie about the destruction of the Brest fortress, except here, the bombardment by the invading Germans was staggeringly relentless.
Fortress of War eloquently and with painful honesty, captures the true face of war.This film like other Russian productions, understands and conveys wars reality, without judgment or pretension.
good when you know what to expect from Russian war movies.
3. I'm immune to some propaganda and one-sided view of history that can typically be expected from Russian war films.All in all, "Brestskaya krepost" does a good job showing us the dramatic and heroic struggle of Red Army soldiers.
I won't repeat what a number have already said - as historical document, it is clearly pro-Soviet, overlooking anything inconvenient, such as how come the fort was occupied by the Soviets in the first place.I would say that these remarks are a little odd considering US propaganda in films such as Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor and U571, which is not discussed with the same vigour but in which facts are equally ignored or distorted: in terms of these films, Brest Fortress more than holds its own or betters.I would say that the comment that this is the best WWII film to come out of Europe in the last 20 years ignores Downfall and The Pianist, amongst others: Brest Fortress is not quite of that calibre.The film nevertheless does contain strong acting by an able cast and the battle scenes are well done.
In this movie we get another untold story about the Soviet troops defending the Brest fortress against the German Nazi invasion.
So in some ways FORTRESS OF WAR is détente in one movie where East meets West and the worst faults of Stalinism merges with the worst faults of American film making.
The Brest Fortress was defended by the Red Army against the Wehrmacht, held out longer than expected, and became a symbol of Soviet resistance during the Great Patriotic War. In 1965 the fortress received the title of Hero Fortress for the 1941 defence.Some facts have to be set right...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Brest_Fortress.
The events that took place on the Eastern front were wide and complex but when one steps back from the neatness of usual Soviet or Russian documentaries about the great patriotic war and zooms in on a smaller yet infamous event such as the defence of Brest fortress one is up for a real ride in blood.The film portrays only a small area that suffered as a result of Hitlers aggressive push eastward that shook the world with his sheer comitment of military might.I own about 15 Soviet movies all dealing with ww2 and this has got to be my first choice when voting for the "best".The fighting and battles look realistic almost as if modern movie cameras were transported back in time to capture the situation!!!!
The war gear used and computerised all look identical to their historic counterparts(mention should be made of the mocked Panzer 111 and screaming Stukas that appear here and there).Though the excellent hardware will lock ww2 buffs enough to create a trafic jam,the gory atmosphere will test the faint of heart.Using the Russian kid(Alexander Akimov)for telling the story does however bring another dimension for those who need a soft character to identify with.The musical score also contributes greatly to the overall feelings that the film represent,the bit of it in the last minutes of the movie clearly voicing the hopelessness of the resistance made by the brave defenders.
In its way, this is as good as Enemy at the Gates, and I know there is criticism of that film in Russia, but it still helps people in the West understand the heroism and contribution of the peoples of the former Soviet Union in our Allied Victory over Nazism.It is far better than the film Stalingrad which seems all too sympathetic to the Germans.I design military history boardgames - wargames - and most of them are about the Russian Front in World War 2 ...
the Great Patriotic War, as it is known to the Russians (and Belorussians and ....) (Most of my games are free to print off and play, on my webpages.) There are wargamers in Volgograd/Stalingrad, and one of them has told me that the 6 year old little brother of his grandmother was taken away by the Germans to be drained of his blood for transfusions - murdered - something I had once thought was exaggeration and/or propaganda.
(Were these actual reconstructions?) I was surprised and impressed that the Jewish commissar Fomin was portrayed so positively, as antagonistic as Israel and its supporters have been toward the Russians and Belorussians.Everyone in the West should see this film to better understand what the Russians, Poles, and other Eastern peoples went through, during World War 2.
Boy, was I wrong...Say what you want about the Eastern front in WWII, but if there has ever been a battle for survival, that was it: in spite of their government, and in spite of having contributed themselves to starting the war (there is another excellent film, "Katyń," about that issue), Soviet citizens really did fight heroically for their land against an enemy who wanted them wiped off the face of the earth.
Good war movie, with a bit of "same old song" of soviet propaganda.
The Russian cinematography is well known for well made war movies, but it suffers from blowing in the same old propaganda trumpet which makes this kind of productions hard to watch for people with better knowledge of WWII history. |
tt0081071 | The Long Riders | During the years following the Civil War, banks and trains become the targets of the James-Younger gang, outlaws who terrorize the Midwestern United States. The band of robbers is led by Jesse James and Cole Younger, along with several of their brothers.
A detective, Mr. Rixley from the Pinkerton's agency, is assigned to capture the outlaws. Leading his own large team of men, Rixley doggedly remains on their trail, killing several innocent relatives of the gang in the process. By the time, at Clell Miller's suggestion, the James-Younger Gang rides far north in September 1876 to rob a bank belonging to "squareheads" in Northfield, Minnesota, word is out about them and the town has been warned by the Pinkertons.
The holdup goes wrong in every way. The bank's vault has been set on a timer and cannot be opened. A cashier and another citizen are shot and killed. While trying to escape, the gang is fired upon by the townspeople, who, setting a trap, have barricaded both ends of the main street. Two outlaws, both recently recruited by Jesse, are killed, Clell is fatally gutshot, Frank is hit in the arm, and all of the Youngers are badly wounded.
Finally escaping Northfield, the surviving gang members temporarily make camp in some woods. Clell Miller is dying. Jim Younger, sporting more than several wounds, cannot speak due to a bullet piercing his cheek. Bob Younger, flat on his back, moans pitifully, shot multiple times. Cole Younger, seeming the most mobile of his siblings, has (as later reported by a physician) been hit by no less than eleven bullets. Frank James has only one minor injury. Jesse James appears to have escaped unscathed.
Hard decisions have to be made. A posse will be soon coming for the outlaws. Miller is on his last breaths. The three Younger brothers are so injured that they are unable to continue. Only Jesse and Frank James are in any condition to ride further. Even though it is his gang, and they follow his commands, Jesse elects to leave all the badly wounded behind. Frank reluctantly agrees. Cole objects, implying that it is disloyal to abandon them, but Jesse ignores him, while Frank declares that he has to abide by his brother's decision.
The James brothers return home to Missouri. An attempt is made by Pinkerton Rixley to make the Youngers, now in a prison hospital, reveal where the Jameses can be found. Rixley states that the Youngers will face life in prison (the state of Minnesota does not have the death penalty), but he offers them a more lenient sentence if they betray the James brothers. The Youngers, despite their abandonment, refuse to inform on the Jameses.
Jesse, not terribly affected by the disastrous Northfield raid, chooses to recruit a new gang. Bob and Charlie Ford, previously spurned in their efforts to join Jesse's outfit, are now invited to Jesse's home for dinner. The expectation is that Jesse will ask the two brothers to join him in further robberies. However, having made a prior deal with Rixley for a lucrative reward, Bob and Charlie shoot an unsuspecting Jesse James in the back while he straightens a picture frame.
Upon learning of his brother's assassination, Frank James surrenders his gun and turns himself in to Pinkerton Rixley, but only on the condition that he can first attend his brother's funeral. Rixley suggests that he might not agree to such terms, whereupon Frank declares that he will kill him if he refuses.
A train transports a wooden coffin bearing the body of Jesse James. Frank James, handcuffed to Rixley, stands at the railcar door, looking out, noting the people beside the tracks, paying their final respects to his brother, as the train passes by. | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | Over the length of his career, he would return to the genre again and again, giving us offerings that ranged from the large-scale excess of Geronimo: an American legend, to the smaller, but just as historically accurate Wild Bill.By far the best of his Western work, The Long Riders tells the tale of the James/Younger legacy, a slice of history that has been adapted for the silver screen on countless occasions.
Perhaps the film's strongest and most alluring attribute is the fact that the cast contains real life acting siblings in the shape of the Carradines, the Keaches, the Guests and the Quaids as the band of outlaws.
As Sam Peckinpah's 'The Getaway,' Walter Hill's 'The Long Riders' almost elevates cinema violence into an art form
Visually, 'The Long Riders' contains much that is stunning, even mesmerizing: the green Missouri scenic landscapes; the train robbery sequence; the stagecoach heist; the crossing of a wild river; but there is no question that it is the scene of the gang's disastrous foray into Northfield, Minnesota - that highlight this film
These specific episodes give 'The Long Riders' its rhythm, power, spectacle, and excitement
With his slow motion 'terror shootout,' Hill seems to impress his viewers by showing them an inventive montage of high-level gory violence
But Hill's most wonderful sequences are those that were the most reserved: the wonderful moment when Frank is cutting the hardest wood with a forest ax and his brother Jesse, walking with his fiancée, attempting to settle down and raise a family
Hill may have a reputation for being a tough guy, but his best screen moments (in "Hard Times", "The Warriors", "Streets of Fire") are the ones in which he allows his romantic tendencies to slip through, when he gives his characters the dignity that means so much to them
Hill tries to debunk the American myth that Western gunfighters were "heroes," and to show these embittered guys for the 'rough men that they really were.'Hill's real intention is to present us with a gang of four families of brothers, and get us to accept them on their own terms, in their own brutal world
The men of 'The Long Riders' are at their most dastardly at the beginning of the film when Ed Miller (Dennis Quaid) indiscriminately shoots an innocent clerk, but for the rest of the film - one by one - Hill reveals their better, more 'human' sides
We further get to appreciate them as we compare them to the awful men around them; next to the Pinkertons killing a simple-minded 15 year old boy, they come out best, the 'good guys.'To Hill, good and bad aren't on opposite sides of the coin; they share the edge.
The idea of casting real life brothers David, Keith and Robert Carradine and Stacy and James Keach (as well as Randy and Dennis Quaid and Christopher and Nicholas Guest) was an inspired one and really helps make this something special.
Walter Hill uses the Carredine, Quaid and Keach brothers in real life to perform the former bandits and it is a great attraction in this film.
Very similar to Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (the best film of all time...Western or otherwise) in the sense that the characters aren't romanticized outlaws that only steal to support the poor and only kill bad people (if you want crap like that see the piece of excrement known as "American Outlaws").
"The Long Riders" is a Western which lacks many of the directors' clichés associated with the genre.The casting is of course impeccable; with four sets of brothers playing the real-life Jameses, Youngers, Millers and Fords.
Historically, several of the leading gang members fought in guerilla bands against the Union armies in their native state of Missouri during the American Civil War and presumably learned their contempt for the law there, but in this film they spring onto the screen already established as outlaws in a staid and sober society.To a non-US audience, this also makes some of the references to music popular with the Union and Confederate causes in the Civil War, and some of the attitudes and insults, rather puzzling.However, the plot does develop through the film, and does show how some of the gang become better characters through marriage, the influence of families and changing fortunes, while others degenerate over time.Overall, this is one of the most likable Westerns I have watched..
Responsibility to your family and fellow outlaws drives the plot.The film itself is remarkable at every turn : the acting, the photography, the soundtrack, the script; all blend into a perfect representation of a different time and place: the poverty of Missouri after the war; the drudgery of every day existence, broken only by the occasional wedding when everyone can get cleaned up to look their Sunday best and dance and eat and drink and forget about getting up the next morning to milk the cows.
Deadwood director Walter Hill knows how to put a western together, and he gives a good band of brothers flick in this story of the James-Younger gang.
It doesn't hurt that the film features the original music of Ry Cooder, who gave us the great Buena Vista Social Club, As to the brothers; the Younger brothers were David, and Robert Carradine; the James Brothers were Stacey and James Keach, who also did some of the script; The Ford brothers were Christopher and Nickolas Guest.It also featured John Wayne favorite Harry Carey Jr.Great adult western showing the impact of the gang's life on the families, the failed efforts of the Pinkertons, and the eventual break-up in the Great Northfield Missesote Raid, and the murder of Jesse James by the Fords..
The Carradines are the Youngers (David Carradine's best film performance; he dominates all the other actors), the Quaids as the Millers, the Keatches as Jesse and Frank James and the Guests as Bob and Charlie Ford.
Brilliant Casting in a Very Underrated Outlaw Western Film That De-mythologizes the James-Younger Gang.
Sometimes guns were in fact the only equalizer available, although many innocent bystanders paid an enormous price."The Long Riders" depicts this very peculiar period of American history that lasted from roughly 1840 until about 1900 through the stranger story of one of the most notorious of outlaw mobs: the James-Younger Gang.
The filmmakers opted for casting each of these family groups with real siblings: the Keach brothers Stacy and James play Frank and Jesse James; David, Keith and Robert Carradine play the Younger's; Randy and Dennis Quaid play the Millers, and newcomers Christopher and Nicholas Guest play the Ford's.
Nice backdrops and occasional dollops of historical authenticity can not distract from what is otherwise a tribute to a band of killers.The horrors of the Civil War and the deprivation of the South afterwards are given as the sole reasons for the violent activities of the James-Younger gang, who rob and kill their way across the Mid West.It's difficult to know where to start with a movie like this, because though there is much to applaud - pleasing cinematography, likable performances (from some of the cast), and Hill's trademark, a climactic, balletic gun-battle - the whole enterprise is morally flawed.
Telling the story of the James-Younger gang, it's writing is matched by some inspired casting of real life acting brothers to put a cherry on the already stylish cake.
this is a movie about the James/Younger Gang of the old west and their exploits.the gang is known for robbing banks and they also rob trains.it's sort of told from a sympathetic view of the gang.the movie doesn't really show them as bad men,but rather men who are a product of their time.David Carradine plays Cole Younger,Keith Carradine plays Jim Younger and Robert Carradine plays Bob Younger.Stacy Keach plays Frank James,while James Keach plays Jesse James.Dennis Quaid plays Ed Miller and Randy Quaid Plays Clell Miller,who also ride with the gang.for me,this western is above average.there's lots of action and some intense and(in my opinion)spectacular gunfights.this movie may have the distinction of being the 1st movie to have real life brothers playing brothers on screen.i thought the acting was pretty convincing,and the filmmakers did a good job in making me feel some empathy for the gang.if you like westerns,you should like this movie.for me,"The Long Riders" is a 7/10.
This western tells the story of a gang of outlaws who became folk heroes in Missouri in the years after the American Civil War. The gang consisted of the James brothers, most famously Jesse, the Younger brothers and the Miller brothers.
The slo-mo shooting sequences are a bit overdone though, and weren't necessary in the first place.Good performances from three sets of brothers in the main roles: David, Keith and Robert Carradine as the Youngers, James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank James respectively and Dennis and Randy Quaid as the Millers.Entertaining enough, but not great..
James Keach is pretty good in it as Jesse, but the Carradines take the film away from the Keachs', in their portrayal of the Younger Brothers.Also Dennis and Randy Quaid are good in it as well.
The same could be said of the casting of Christopher Guest (way before Spinal Tap!) and his brother NicholasIn my opinion, The Northfield Minnesota ambush scene is probably one of the best and most dramatic shootouts ever filmed.There are some awkward moments and some slow points but all in all a really great watch.
Randy Quaid plays gang member Clell Miller as so comfortable in his own skin that you can't imagine him doing anything in life but being an outlaw, which goes a long way toward answering the question that the movie barely asks: why did these men choose lives of robbery and murder?Walter Hill directs at a zippy pace that allows the story we all know to unfold with maximum tension as the characters reveal the traits and interpersonal conflicts that will seal their fates.
That the brothers in the movie were portrayed by real life actor brothers was kind of played up as a gimmick for the promotion of the film at the time of it's release, but it really gives the familial relationships that are central to the motivations and character development added depth.
The casting with real brothers works excellent through the WHOLE movie, giving lots of character to the James/Youngers.
This film notably has the gimmick, and it's a pretty good one, of casting real-life siblings to play the James brother (Stacey and James Keach), the Youngers (David, Keith, and Robert Carradine), the Millers (Dennis and Randy Quaid), and the Fords (Christoper and Nicholas Guest).
Released in 1980, I would include this movie with the likes of Silverado, Pale Rider, Young Guns, Unforgiven, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill, and Open Range as one of the great modern westerns.This is the story of the James/Younger Gang, and contains an all-star cast that delivers.
Released in 1980 and directed by Walter Hill, "The Long Riders" is a Western about the James/Younger Gang, former Confederate bushwhackers in Missouri during the Civil War who kept on fighting after the conflict, although they didn't officially become the notorious gang until 1868, at the earliest.
The James/Younger guys, thankfully, are not painted as a bunch of good-guy Robin Hoods; but rather as outlaws who steal & kill for a living, justifying it by their bitter experiences in the Civil War. Nor are the Pinkertons made out to be the bad guys; they make some stupid mistakes, as is common, but they ultimately catch their quarry.The gimmick with this film is that they used real-life brothers to portray the outlaw brothers: James and Stacy Keach as Jesse and Frank; David, Keith and Robert Carradine as Cole, Jim and Bob Younger; Randy and Dennis Quaid as Clell and Ed Miller; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest as Charlie and Bob Ford.
That film was THE LONG RIDERS.This take on the venerable outlaw legend is notable for having sets of brothers play the outlaws: Stacy and James Keach play the James Brothers'; the Carradines (Keith, Robert, David) are the Youngers; the Quaids (Dennis and Randy) play the Miller Brothers; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest portray the Fords.
Hill and his crew were sticklers for authenticity, and it shows in every frame of the film, with each set of acting brothers doing convincing turns as the outlaws, and with Pamela Reed giving a fine turn as soon-to-be-outlaw cowgirl Belle Starr, a loose associate of the James/Younger gang.
I saw this movie around 1986 and was told by my mother that real life brothers played the James-Younger gang.
Anyway, between those two films he made "The Long Riders" a great and sympathetic portrayal of the James-Younger gang that roamed Reconstruction era Missouri, robbing banks, raiding passer byers and generally causing problems for the local authorities.
It not like the James and Younger boys are the most sympathetic of characters, but it is their story from which the audience is transported through the movie.The Long Riders ends is a very violent and memorable showdown.
"The Long Riders" follows the trail of the infamous James-Younger gang, and the interesting novelty of it all is that there's a group of real-life brothers portraying the outlaws in the shape of the Carradine's (as the Younger's) and Keach's (as the James') and the Quaid's (as the Miller's).
I love how the makers of this movie use sets of 'American brothers in real life' to depict sets of 'American brothers in real-old American history!'David, Keith, and, Robert Carradine portray the Younger Brothers; James and Stacy Keach portray the James Brothers; Dennis and Randy Quaid portray the Miller Brothers; and, Christopher and Nicholas Guest portray the Ford Brothers - great casting!This is an excellent movie from start to finish!
The acting is excellent...as is the direction; the music; the sets; the settings and scenery; the costumes; etc., and, especially the action - the action is exemplary!"The Long Riders" is directed by Walter Hill ("The Warriors"), who is a protégé of the exUS Marine "Master Director" of movie-war, -battle, and, -violence...Sam Peckinpah; and, he obviously learned a lot!This is a great movie if you're into extreme and realistic westerns such as "The Wild Bunch" and, "Tombstone."I highly recommend this movie to those whom are!
The Long Riders (1980) *** 1/2 (out of 4)The story of Jesse (James Keach) and Frank (Stacy Keach) James and their exploits with the Younger brothers (David, Keith and Robert Carradine) and the Miller's (Dennis and Randy Quaid).Walter Hill always wanted to do a Western and many can spot various Western elements in his earlier films like THE WARRIORS and THE DRIVER.
Walter Hill directs this retelling of the real life exploits of the Jesse James gang, and its various bank robberies and conflicts.
A laid-back version of the James gang story and their war with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, this benefits from great characterizations, action sequences, an abundance of wonderful atmosphere, and it's unique emphasis on the Younger brothers, a story that's usually forgotten in the process of glorifying Jesse James alone.The stunt casting of the Carradines, Keachs, Quaids, and Guests, four sets of real-life siblings, really works here thanks to the fact that the brothers involved are all really talented actors.
These are the Younger brothers, Cole, Jim and Bob (David, Keith and Robert Carradine); the James brothers, Jesse and Frank (James and Stacy Keach); the lesser known Miller brothers, Ed and Clell (Dennis and Randy Quaid); and the Fords, Charlie and Bob (Christopher and Nicholas Guest).
Four sets of real life brothers play the four historic families of the Wild West: the Keaches are the James, the Carradines are the Youngers, the Quaids are the Millers, and the Guests are the Fords.
James and Stacy Keach play Jesse and Frank James, respectively; David, Keith and Robert Carradine are Cole, Jim and Bob Younger (and since there are not enough brothers, Kevin Brophy plays 4th brother John Younger, although he is a cousin in the movie) James; Dennis and Randy Quaid are Ed and Clell Miller; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest play the backstabbers Charlie and Bob Ford.
"The Long Riders" is yet another saga of the life and times of legendary outlaw Jesse James and his gang.
James and Stacy Keach play Jesse and Frank James, David, Keith and Robert Carradine play the Younger Brothers (Cole, Jim and Bob respectively), Dennis and Randy Quaid are Ed and Clell Miller and Christopher and Nicholas Guest, Charlie and Bob Ford.The film gives us a sample of the James Gang's repertoire through a bank robbery to a train robbery to a stage coach hold up ( with a delightful bit by Harry Carey Jr.), to their final caper, an attempted bank robbery in Northfield Minnesota complete with bloody Peckinpah-ish slow motion bloody violence.
When Walter Hill's "The Long Riders" hit movie theaters in 1980, his decision to employ real-life brothers to portray the James-Younger gang family members was considered nothing more than novelty casting.
"We done it for Dixie," was their common mantra and "The Long Riders" plays on the boys' Southern sympathies without excusing any of their actions.The Keach Brothers (Stacy and James) are a good match for Frank and Jesse James, but the casting of the Carradine brothers (David, Robert and Keith) is the masterstroke for director Hill.
This film's got a plethora of shootouts, squibs, slow-motion, amoral outlaw "heroes", and bumbling law men who aren't always in the right, but it's presented in a such a way that it lacks the impact of TWB, and fails to be anything other than a decent Western.For those of you who don't know the story: after the Civil War, ex-Confederates and outlaw brothers Jesse and Frank James (Stacy and James Keach, who co-produced), Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger (David, Keith, and Robert Carradine), and Clell Miller (Randy Quaid, with Dennis as his brother who's gone straight) rob trains, banks and stagecoaches in Missouri and Kansas. |
tt0080671 | The Earthling | Patrick Foley (Holden) is dying of cancer and decides to return to the outback where he was born. He has stopped taking his medicine and is at peace with his decision to die alone in the woods. On his journey, he notices a family camping. From a neighbouring peak, Foley watches as Shawn (Schroder), a 10-year-old boy, begins collecting firewood. The father attempts to move the camper away from the edge. Unfortunately, the camper rolls off the cliff and crashes to the bottom of the cliff with Shawn's parents inside. Shawn climbs down from the cliff finding the camper crushed upside down and realizes his parents are dead. Foley has an ethical dilemma: take the stranded ten-year-old back to civilization, and lose his own wish to die where he was born, or continue his personal mission and let the boy die alone in the wilderness. He decides to take the boy with him, and teaches him along the way how to survive in the wilderness. A strong bond grows between the two, and when Foley finally dies, Shawn is equipped to travel out of the outback alone. | tragedy | train | wikipedia | And William Holden, far from being one to "add to" a list of modern man-and-boy bonding stories, in this 1980 film virtually founded the category.I've seen this excellent film three times -- always on late-nite TV.
Why on earth hasn't it received wider public acclaim??!At 62 (this was his next-to-last film), Holden looks like he really is terminally ill.
The cockles of his heart never are warmed to the kid (that we can see, anyway).He's bone-weary, making his painful way to the ruins of his long-deserted family home to die, But this squalling, spoiled, self-centered kid is stranded.
And on the way, he tries to teach the boy how to survive in the wilderness -- for the child will soon be utterly alone -- and reach civilization.How and what he teaches him is fascinating -- both practical and subtle.
Through life is is hard, and we face death at the end, the struggle to survive is also deeply satisfying.Holden's character Patrick Foley passes these concepts onto the boy played by Schroeder.
I like thought-provoking and heart-touching movies, this film aims right at my emotional core and gets me in the breadbasket.It's not a family film in the Disney sense, but it's a true family film in the spiritual sense.
Sometimes the happy ending teaches that life is hard, suffering has a cause and an end, and within us lies the answer to the cessation of suffering: We can endure and find happiness, so long as we remember to find love.Holden's performance was right-on, playing the embittered but compassionate mentor to Shroeder's traumatized child.
I don't know about Family film, but I truly loved this movie.
I was 14 years old when I first saw this movie and I found it to be very telling.
This story tries to shatter that image, and in my opinion, does a wonderful job at it while telling a tale that if focused on correctly can be a great inspiration to a young person today..
While this wasn't William Holden's last film (S.O.B) was, it makes for a terrific and appropriate swan song.
Schroder's performance is great but William Holden's show the skills of a consumate master.
In the tradition of great outdoor films like "Jeremiah Johnson" and "The Edge", this is an emotional film about human survival and love.
Great performances by both actors, wonderful cinematography, and a really tight script make this improbably story believable.
Australia's outback has never looked as beautiful and rugged as in this 1980 film directed by Peter Conlinson.
Little does Shawn know that Foley has observed the accident, but he wants to stay away from the young boy.
The long trek both take makes a man out of Shawn, as we realize he will be all right and will live to a productive life.The surprise of the movie is William Holden, an actor at the end of his career.
Rick Shroder, then a young child actor makes a valuable contribution holding his own against the more experienced Mr. Holden.
"The Earthling" is a film that should be seen by young people, as they can learn how to face the reality that Shawn went through in his quest for survival a beautiful land that presented so many challenges to overcome..
An very good movie for William Holden, one of his last..
Little Ricky Schroder is excellent at a young age and counters William Holden's maturity for an interesting balance of young and old.
I liked this movie for the outdoor scenery and the beautiful backwoods areas of Australia.
Marvelously moving film for acting, scenery, plot line & music..
An excellent film displaying acting talents not previously apparent for Mr. Holden.
Empathy but not sympathy for a boy whose parents are taken from him, as were those of Mr. Holden's character.
Superb acting ability shown by young Ricky Schroeder beyond his years.
A moving story of impending death and of passing the torch of survival to the boy.
We get to watch the whining little boy who doesn't want to be splashed with cold water change into the tough survivor who makes Foley catch his own fish at the point of a knife.
I have seen this film several times and would heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys drama, human interaction, nature at her best and the soaring voice of Maureen McGovern also at her best.
The film shows a boy (Rick), that is over protected by the parents.
Holden sees all the tragedy, but he has a few time (who has enough?)to show him how to survive, live and be good.
A dying man finds love and compassion in his final days as he treks to his birth place accompanied by a spoiled whining child orphaned in a freak accident in the outback.
It is also the penultimate film of the great William Holden, and he's quite enjoyable to watch as a hugely insensitive, selfish and hard-to-please old man.In a story that mirrors the real-life illness of Collinson, an old American returns to his boyhood home in the Australian outback.
En route, he happens upon a young boy whose family have been killed in a horrific camper van accident.
Initially annoyed to be lumbered with the boy (Schroeder), the old man eventually teaches him the art of survival in the wilderness and actually grows to love him.This strange outdoor adventure film feels like it was originally conceived as a family production.
Either way, the cruel attitude evident in Collinson's direction - via Holden's character - lends the film a highly unusual element of grittiness.
This is a lost classic and a great family movie and I hope hope hope that it is released onto DVD soon.
(Studios, are you listening?) I was 9 or 10 when I saw it and would love to share it with the young kids in my family today.
The performances are beautiful (Ricky Schroeder is so underrated, even today)and William Holden does a heartbreaking, amazing job.
Looking at his childhood performances coupled with NYPD Blue and Lonesome Dove--he should be grouped with the young indie actors of current films.
I don't like some of the movies Rick is doing today but even in those films he delivers such alive, powerful performances.
This movie is a beautiful artistic statement, from the scenery of the Australian outback to the wonderful performances from William Holden and young Ricky Schroder.
This really showed what was best about Holden's natural brilliance as an actor, the detail and emotion he conveys in his work was unparalleled in almost any other actor of his time or really, ever since.The story is tragic, yet compelling, about a young boy stranded in the wilderness alone when his parents are killed in a auto accident.
A lot is learned in this film in surviving with your own inner strength of body and mind, a concept that has basically fallen by the wayside in our day and age.Fantastic movie that has unfortunately gone under the radar for too long and hopefully will get a resurgence very soon..
William Holden and Ricky Schroder do a superb job of acting.
Schroder is great for a 10 year old boy.
Holden's perform is really good this is almost his last film before he die in a tragic house accident, and the performance of the boy (Shoedrer) is good too.
The story its tragic but its a life lesson, so i think this is one of my favorites films cause is gentle and humanism with a great sense of what the life is and how the life sometimes is hard but this film teaches you to respect your world and teaches you that we need to be strong to survey cause the weak confuse standing people the wind can blow them away like the tree sheets.
I like to see this movie when I'm spiritually lost and then i just remember one of the teaches of the old man Foley "Remember Go to the north boy".
Cute boy melts heart of dying man.
Cute Ricky Schroder, then 10 years old, stars against super-macho William Holden in this Australian adventure of mind and body.Holden will be dying shortly, and is on his way to the outback to pass over.
Yet he runs into Schroder, who is the only survivor of a crash of his family's motor-home.There's no one to look after the boy, and no one for the man to look after.
See "Little Lord Flauntleroy", "The Champ" and his other movies made while he was a little boy.His charm and good cheer soon turn the grumpy Holden around.
If any boy could warm up an affection with a man with a stone heart, it has to be Schroder.Holden now joins the ranks of those super-macho stars who have played a part as giving care and affection to a needy boy.
It is about an older man who lost his parents years ago, fantastically played by William Holden, who wants to go back to his roots and a "10 year old" boy, fantastically played by Rick Schroder, on vacation with his mom and dad.
The incredibly beautiful scenery is set in Australia, with quality scenes of landscapes, brooks, mountains, forests, insects and animals that resemble National Geographic specials.The movie never gets boring.
I'm a big William Holden fan and this film has had such good reviews I was quite desperate to see it.
My rating is probably too high because I'm such a Holden fan, but he really gives a remarkable performance and the story itself is quite wonderful.
Basically it's the story of a bitter and lonely man coming home to die in the Austrian outback but along his way he finds a young boy lost and alone.
He can't take the boy back to civilization, he doesn't have that long, so he must take the boy deeper into the wild and teach him to survive along the way.
The movie could have been very melodramatic but the cast and director don't go that way, it's played very straight and matter of fact.
Rickie Schroder does a fine job as the boy, not cloying at all.
I sure hope they come up with a DVD of this movie, but until then, check it out on Youtube..
The story of the making of The Earthling might in itself prove to be as interesting a film as The Earthling itself.
The film tries, but doesn't quite make it to the top rung of films that William Holden did.
As it sadly turned out The Earthling was the next to last film that Holden completed before he died the following year.Only in the movies could we have the strange tale about one of the two protagonists dying of cancer, directed by someone who was himself dying of the same.
His own plight might have been what attracted Collinson to the project.According to the Citadel Film series book, The Films Of William Holden, Collinson was especially hard on young Rick Schroder during the making of The Earthling.
So much so that Holden had to intervene and the two bonded.Which may have helped the film because three quarters of it is only dealing with Holden and Schroder on screen.
The two really play well together.Holden has returned to Australia to die where he grew up in a very rugged part of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.
But when their camper goes off a cliff killing the parents and Schroder is left alone in the wilderness, he's lucky to find Holden.But Bill proves to be a stern taskmaster.
He has to teach Schroder and hope he learns well, the tools needed for survival in the wild.
The bulk of the film is concerned with just that.Collinson died and some scenes were shot afterward, the ending you see is not what Collinson had in mind.
The viewers will have to judge for themselves.Rick Schroder never forgot William Holden and when he married, he named his first child Holden Schroder in honor of the movie legend who was also battling some demons of his own, but took time to help and befriend a young child player.I think if Rick Schroder reads this review he'd like me to honor William Holden as well.
It's heartening to know, according to Stefanie Powers, that Holden and Schroder formed such a loving bond that Schroder grew up to name his two boys William and Holden.
No two guys would act the way Holden and the other geezer yell at each other.
That said, Holden looks surprisingly good for a guy who would soon die in real life.
I am putting this review up not to tell you the story of this movie.
If you love this movie and you've longed to see it in high-quality, then please grab yourself a copy of the Blu-ray remastered edition by Kino Lorber.I am a big fan of Kino Lorber, they do a very good job of taking really good VHS movies that have suffered from low-quality and restoring them.
If you're a fan of this movie, and you love everything about this movie, grab yourself a copy of the remastered Blu-ray version.Yes, I know, I am repeating myself.
There is a powerful healing that the man and boy imparted to one another despite their age difference.
I remember, as very young boy, watching this movie at one of our babysitters' houses and it scaring the hell out of me.
Very cool movie, still kinda gives me the creeps, even though I am now older then R.S. parents are in the movieIt is also sparking the thought in me that I should start looking for other films from my earlier childhood that I can recall.
"The Earthling" is a much-maligned story concerning Holden's character, terminally ill with cancer, on a pilgrimage to a remote valley in the Australian bush where he lived as a child.
Together the pair form a mature bond as Holden tries to teach the young apprentice the primitive life skills that will keep him alive in the wilderness, long enough to find his way back to civilisation.Regularly criticised, I watched this movie for myself many years ago and was surprised by its quality; that of the cinematography, acting and Collinson's direction, culminating in a bittersweet and moving tale that's not as cheesy as some of the previews and reviews imply.There's a couple of pathos moments that probably didn't need to happen, but generally, the film's tone is sincere and the plot has enough content and momentum to carry its 100 minutes duration.
Before he starred in "Silver Spoons", Ricky Schroeder was in two worthless movies, "The Champ" (1979) and "The Earthling" (1980).
I mean, these two movies involved the boy's parents getting killed in a gruesome way.
William Holden was a grumpy old loser and Ricky Schroeder was a whiny little orphan twerp in this piece of crap.
It's a wonderful film with a heart-breaking ending.
Fate brings a rough, way-faring loner and a young child lost in the wild outback together and the result is one hell of a story that is sure to touch the viewers emotions.
William Holden's character is aged and wants to trek to his father's remote cabin to live out his final days.
Along the way he stumbles into Schroeder's character who's parents recently had an accident on their family vacation there in Australia, leaving the child abandoned and unable to survive.
Soured by civilization, Holden is reluctant to aid the boy, who's determination to connect with the older man eventually gets through to Holden's compassionate heart of gold..
"The Earthling" is one of William Holden's last films.
So, perhaps it's fitting then that in this film, Holden's character is dying from cancer.
However, his plan goes a bit awry, as he stumbles upon a young kid (Ricky Schroder) whose parents were just killed.
Together, eventually, they form a sort of bond.So why do I say that the film is good but not great?
Well, the film just ends and you really have no idea if the child ever makes it--after all, he's hundreds of miles from civilization!
A Classic Treasure of a Film - for the young and old....
**SPOILER** I was about 11 years old when i saw this film.
As a kid you see this movie through the child's perspective, now as an adult I found my emotion coming from the old man's character (Holden).
I think there's so much to draw off of this film for a young child or an adult who has struggled finding his or her way through life.
The Australian Outback is breathtaking and its great how they captured all the animals and wildlife throughout the film.
This was the first film Ricky Schroder made after The Last Flight Of Noah's Ark (now there is a real classic).
I read a biography of Bill Holden's and it said that he and Ricky had a ball working together and it surely shows in this fine film.
This man teaches the boy how to survive and he teaches the man how to love.
Yes it is dark and depressing, but I feel that makes it a better movie because it is not typical Hollywood schmaltz.
Peter Collinson, the director of the film was dying of cancer as it was being made and less then a year after the film was released, William Holden died in a drunken fall in his home.
A possible spoiler here, Holden's character dies and I always wondered if Ricky made it back to civilization in the end..
Peter was famous as the director of the 1969 movie The Italian Job, and here he gives the Aussie touch to a movie with two famous Americans, William Holden and Rick "NYPD Blue" Schroder in the lead.The two Aussie actors, Jack "Petersen" Thompson and Olivia Hamnett (actually British, but migrated to Australia in 1971) tragically get short shrift in the famous campervan scene which goes off the cliff. |
tt0035417 | The Talk of the Town | Mill worker and political activist Leopold Dilg (Cary Grant) is accused of burning down a mill and causing the death of a foreman in the fire. In the middle of his trial, Dilg escapes from jail and seeks shelter in a house owned by former schoolmate Nora Shelley (Jean Arthur), now a schoolteacher on whom he has had a crush for years. Shelley has the house rented for the summer to distinguished law professor Michael Lightcap (Ronald Colman), who plans to write a book. Both Lightcap and Dilg arrive within minutes of each other.
When Dilg is spotted by Lightcap, Shelley passes him off as her gardener. Lightcap and Dilg enjoy having spirited discussions about the law, Lightcap arguing from an academic viewpoint, while Dilg subscribes to a more practical approach. They become good friends as a result, but meanwhile, they become romantic rivals, as Lightcap also falls in love with Nora.
As a result of prodding by Shelley and Dilg's lawyer, Lightcap becomes suspicious and starts, in spite of his initial reluctance, to investigate the case against Dilg further. He romances the girlfriend of the supposed murder victim and discovers that the former foreman is still alive and hiding in Boston. Shelley, Lightcap and Dilg go to Boston and find him, bring him back to Lochester and force him to admit his guilt and that of the mill owner.
While the three argue about whether to call the police, the foreman catches them unawares and escapes. Dilg is held for trial while the town's anger at him is stoked into a riotous mob. Lightcap takes a gun from the cottage and seeks out the foreman, hiding in Bush's closet, forcing him to go to the courthouse just as the mob breaks in to lynch Dilg.
Firing the revolver to draw attention, Lightcap announces that the supposedly dead foreman is now present. He then gives an impassioned speech to the mob about the importance of the law, both in principle and in practice. In due course, the foreman and owner of the mill are convicted and Dilg is set free.
Soon afterward, Lightcap is appointed to the Supreme Court. Shelley visits him in his chambers and he tells her that his dream of 20 years has been realized. With more happiness than a man could want, he says the only thing left is to see his friends likewise happy, and suggests that Shelley should marry Dilg.
While both Dilg and Shelley are attending court at the first seating of Lightcap as an Associate Justice, Dilg interprets an affectionate look shared between Lightcap and Shelley as a sign that she has chosen to marry Lightcap. Dilg leaves the courtroom abruptly. When Shelley follows after Dilg, he brushes her off with increasing frustration. Shelley finally kisses him passionately whereupon, realizing that she has actually chosen him, Dilg takes Shelley by the hand to return to their home town together. | romantic, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0103116 | Trancers II | Los Angeles, 1991. Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) has gotten used to life with his wife Lena (Helen Hunt) in the six years since they killed Whistler. Hap Ashby (Biff Manard) has made a fortune investing and has moved from the streets to a palatial estate, sharing it with Jack and Lena. But life is about to get difficult for Jack. Whistler's brother, E.D. Wardo (Richard Lynch), has gone back in time and created a "trancer farm" under the guise of an environmental organization. GreenWorld strives to 'clean up the world', but they are kidnapping the homeless and mental patients to enslave in a trancer army. Once again, Hap is under attack, useful to Wardo as the ancestor of future Angel City Council Member Ashe. Jack's ready to singe some trancers in the name of the law, but he isn't expecting his dead wife, Alice (Megan Ward) to show up—and neither is Lena.
Alice has been saved from death by the City Council and send back to 1991 to help Jack stop Wardo. The tension mounts as Lena becomes fearful of losing Jack to his future wife, Hap slips back to the bottle to deal with the stress, and Jack realizes that when Alice returns to the future, she'll die again. Somehow, Jack must find a way to save more than just the future. | cult, humor, neo noir | train | wikipedia | I really enjoyed this movie, it had action, plot and some funny one-liners, what I liked the best was the amazing cast: HELEN HUNT, JEFFREY COMBS, BARBARA CRAMPTON, MEGAN WARD, MARTINE BESWICKE, and TIM THOMERSON.
The original Trancers is not by any means a great movie.
However, it was entertaining, better done than most low-budget B-movies, and could be surprisingly witty.
Not even veteran B-grade actors like Tim Thomerson and Jeffery Combs were able to drag this film out of the muck.A brief plot overview: Jack Deth (Thomerson) is a cop from the future who was sent to 1985 to save the ancestors of members of his government.
Jack Deth is married to Lena (Helen Hunt), the woman he met in the first movie, and both live with Hap Ashby, the man Deth was sent into the past to protect.
It is discovered that the brother of Whistler (the bad guy from the first movie) has traveled back in time to create an army of Trancers, people turned into mindless killing zombies, to kill Ashby.
Complicating Jack's mission is the fact that his first wife, who had died long before Jack traveled to the past, was also sent back to stop Whistler's brother, and now Jack finds himself working with her.I have two real problems with this movie.
What makes it annoying is that, in a rather poor example of Soviet Revisionism, they act like it was always the technique.The other thing that annoys me is that the love triangle between Deth, Lena, and Alice Stilwell (Jack's first wife) is given very little screen time.
Alice's character in particular seems very unconcerned with the fact that she is reunited with her husband only to find he's re-married, making her either very shallow or very poorly written.The only reason I can think of for watching this movie is if you're interested in watching the entire Trancers series (currently totaling six movies).
Otherwise, even if you're a fan of the original Trancers, stay away from this tepid sequel..
Tim Thomerson once again did a great job playing Jack Deth.
Helen Hunt was back for this one as well as Megan Ward who was very talented as Jack's first wife.
Disappointing sequel with one thing going for it - a legendary b-grade cast..
'Trancers 2' (known as 'Future Cop 2' here in Australia) follows this trend - it's a pretty lame follow up to the silly but fun original.
The one thing that saves it from complete dismissal is the outstanding supporting cast which includes Martine Beswick ('One Million Years BC'), b-grade horror legend Jeffrey Combs ('Re-Animator'), Combs' occasional co-star Barbara Crampton ('Space Truckers'), and the hugely underrated Richard Lynch ('Open Season', 'God Told Me To', 'Scanner Cop').
The extremely likable Tim Thomerson returns as Jack Deth and he is always good no matter how weak the material he has to work with.
Thomerson is joined by several faces from the original movie, such as Helen Hunt, and his comedian buddies Biff Manard and Art LeFleur.
The plot this time concerns the brother of Whistler (the baddie from the first movie), played by Lynch, who using the cover of an environmental group tries to take over with his "trancer" army.
Jack Deth must stop his evil plans while trying to rescue his resurrected first wife (cutie Megan Ward - 'Joe's Apartment'), stop his jealous current wife (Hunt) from leaving, and make sure former ball star and future of the world Hap Ashby (Manard) doesn't a)get drunk, and b)get murdered.
Check out the original 'Trancers' though, it's much better than this..
"Trancers II" is pretty good for a sequel but lacks creativity that the low budget "Trancers" did.
Check out the sequel "Trancers III: Deth Lives", it's much better..
Trancers (1985) was one of those rare gems.A Terminator style tale of time-travel and action, Trancers saw Tim Thomerson playing Jack Deth, a future cop given the task of tracking down bad-guy Whistler, who travels into the past by inhabiting the body of an ancestor.
Whistler is capable of controlling other humans with his psychic powers, converting them into obedient zombies (the 'trancers' of the title), and attempts to alter the course of history by killing off the ancestors of the leaders of the future.
Having destroyed Whistler, he has settled down and married Leena (Helen Hunt), the young woman who helped him succeed in the first movie.
But, for Jack, things don't stay calm for long, and trouble appears in the form of Whistler's brother, E.D. Wardo, who is trying to build a trancer army.Trancers II lacks the charm and simplicity of the original and is a huge disappointment considering how good the original was.
The story is difficult to pick up if you haven't seen the first film (or at least not for a long while), and there is loads of unimpressive action and a few poor special effects.
Gone is the inventiveness and wit that made Trancers so much fun; instead we get some cheesy one-liners and a script that feels like it was written on-the-fly.About the only reason I can give for recommending this film to fans of the genre is the cast, which boasts many names that will be familiar to followers of sci-fi and horror movies: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Richard Lynch, Martine Beswicke.
Unfortunately, most of them seemed to be having an 'off day' whilst filming Trancers II, and performances are mediocre at best.The Trancers series obviously has its fans; four further sequels have since been churned out.
Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) returns to this time take on Whistler's brother (Richard Lynch) who is running a mental hospital and is trying to recruit numbers to take over the world, meanwhile Deth is aided by his deceased wife who is back as a 20 something woman who falls for Deth all over again, much to the dismay of Lena (Helen Hunt) Deth's current wife.
The first action sequence in particular with the fork lifts are laughably bad, but again Trancers II is more entertaining than it is good.
The film is literally all over the map, we have no idea what Richard Lynch wants to do, the love triangle is a cheesy sitcom and yet the mix of such somehow makes it work.
Again, the movie is made with a weird vibe that makes the film work better than you would think.
Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) has lived happily with new wife Lena (Helen Hunt) in L.A. for six years after he sent Whistler back up the line without a body.
Jack's future body is too damaged and he must return in the TCL Chamber.
Jack, Lena, Hap, and McNulty in the body of a girl face off against Wardo and his organization Green World which is turning the insane into trancers.
Then Jack's deceased wife Alice (Megan Ward) shows up after he helps her escape from Green World.Trancers is one of my favorite sci-fi B-movies.
Once again, this movie just shows you that Full Moon Studios at one time actually put some effort into their films.
The studio was rather good in the late 80's and early 90's then at a point it just seemed to turn out really bad movies.
I think they are pretty much gone now as I have not seen a movie by them in a long time now.
Still, this one had good action and picked from the first movie and became the more superior flick in my mind..
Nah. You can tell that this sequel even has less money then the original because most of it was shot in and outside of some mansion and "The Future" looks like an empty warehouse.
But anyways, this time around Jack Deth has to stop Whistlers ?brother?
The only redeeming factor in this one is that Jack Deth's long lost dead wife returns (played by a very attractive Megan Ward) and that causes problems with Jack and his current wife (played by Helen Hunt).
The love triangle is funny and Tim Thomerson was a stand up comedian in his early days and you can tell because he has good comedic timing.
It is a low budget B movie straight to video sequel from a low budget b movie film.
For what it is, it is a solid B film with a solid B cast (even though Helen Hunt is about to get huge).
Why review good movies when you can review "Trancers II?"Ooh, this film is soooo lame.
Well, lots of things could be better, but anyway this is still good stuff.My only significant reservation is Megan Ward, who really stinks up the joint.
She's a lousy rival for Helen Hunt's character - they're both young pieces of eye candy, and it would've been more effective if they actually contrasted a bit more.
At least the wonderful plot device of the "long second watch" is back in place, and we've got more of Hap Ashby, the least-convincing athlete in the history of cinema (oh, wait a minute - he's got a rival in the form of David Ogden Steirs in "Creator").I haven't seen this lately, but I do seem to remember that Martine Beswick runs away twice during the final battle.
This sequel isn't nearly as fun as part one, and it instead spends too much time on plot development.
The action is merely routine and the plot is only mildly interesting, so I need lots of silly laughs in order to stay entertained during a "Trancers" movie.
People like this movie?.
The first "Trancers" (1985) was a minor classic when it comes to Charles Band films (still produced under the flag of his short-lived Empire Pictures production company).
With the formation of Full Moon Entertainment, "Trancers" received its first sequel and was turned into a franchise during the '90s.
All principle players from the first film return (Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Biff Manard, Art LaFleur, etc.) and the cast is completed by some cult actors/actresses in supporting roles & cameos (Jeffrey Combs, Martine Beswick, Barbara Crampton).
Regular Full Moon cutie Megan Ward ("Crash and Burn", 1990) is along for the ride too (as Jack Deth's former love-interest) and Richard Lynch plays - surprise, surprise - the main villain.
Needless to say the celebrated B-movie cast alone makes this film a fun watch.
Other than that, "Trancers II" is yet again your typical early Full Moon blend of sci-fi/action/horror & a tad bit more comedy than usual (thanks to Tim Thomerson's character & his spot-on one-liners).
The plot is the usual bag of fun nonsense: While future cop Jack Deth (Thomerson) is now accustomed to the life of 1991 L.A., he'll have to pick up his Trancer-hunting habits again when evil Dr. Wardo (Lynch) & his organisation have come up with a scheme to turn mentally weak humans into Trancers (zombie-like slaves with great physical powers).
"Trancers II" isn't really worse than the first one (and not better either), but the original is just a bit more spirited.
This first sequel just feels a bit less gritty (less '80s and a bit more early '90s, that is) and the chemistry between Thomerson & Hunt is a bit gone now.
Charles Band takes the reins again on this energetic and enjoyable follow-up to his original 1984 cult film.
"Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth" sees our heroic trooper (Tim Thomerson) returning again to save a Los Angeles commodities broker from zombies.
Things get complicated when his wife (Megan Ward) from the future is sent back to help him.
His wife in the present, Lena (Helen Hunt), is none too happy to see her.
Jack is now stuck balancing two women and trying to destroy a sinister plot involving Trancers.It's amazing that Band could bring together most of the cast from the first "Trancers" to reprise their roles.
On top of that, he added impressive newcomers Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Richard Lynch, and Bond girl Martine Beswick to the mix."Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth" is rated R for adult situations, violence and gore, profanity, smoking and drinking, and frightening and intense scenes.
Adult situations are made up of some kissing and talk.Sci-Fi actioner "Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth" makes the most of a low budget through its setting in the past and minimal need for special effects.
Although this sequel doesn't hold quite the same charm as the original, it stands on its own and successfully continues the saga of Jack Deth..
The original "Trancers" had a wit and spark to it which in turn made it one of the most inspired and enjoyable low-budget sci-fi sleepers from the 80s.
Tim Thomerson still has the right cynical stuff as Jack Deth, who this time fights Whistler's brother E.D. Ward (smoothly played by Richard Lynch) who has started his own organization called Green World that's really a sinister front for a trancer farm.
Alas, Charles Band's pedestrian direction and Jackson Barr's needlessly convoluted script both result in a very uneven on and off pace: The story really plods in the first two thirds and the initial action set pieces are blandly staged, but fortunately things pick up to a good degree in the pretty exciting last third.
A worthy cast of familiar B-movie faces keeps it watchable enough: Martine Beswicke as the evil Nurse Trotter, a goateed Jeffrey Combs as Wardo's antsy assistant Dr. Pyle, Art LeFleur as Deth's hard-nosed boss McNulty, and Barbara Crampton as talk show host Sadie Brady.
Helen Hunt is her usual sweet and charming self as the spunky Lena, the adorable Megan Ward adds some much-needed vitality as Jack's feisty first wife Alice Stillwell, Bill Manard is a hoot as reformed drunk Hap Ashby, Sonny Carl Davis contributes an amusing turn as wacky hospital orderly Rabbit, and late, great veteran character actor John Davis Chandler has a nifty bit part as a baseball-playing wino.
This actually started out with a good idea - essentially bringing Jack's wife back from the dead through time travel tricks, and bringing Whistler's protégé (in this case, his brother) to seek revenge and rebuild the Trancer army.
First, while the drugs and the rebuilding the army make for a good sequel, the whole mental asylum/environmental front seem more appropriate for an episode of a TV series than a feature film.
Second, the fact that Leena seemed to ignore the fact that Alice actually was Jack's wife who had died and instead treated her as just some woman he was cheating on her with was really bad writing.
Totally blew the storytelling.Still, it was a good effort, and it's not like the huge nosedive that the series took starting with Trancers IV..
Yes, admittedly it's just not as good as the first, very cool "Trancers" film, but then that's often to be expected of sequels.
The basic ideas are still good, but this is quite plot heavy; the viewer really has to pay attention, and it's advised that they see "Trancers" # 1 before seeing this.
There's still some humour to be found in the characters and the situations, and the gadgets are amusing like they were before.Tim Thomerson is once again a total hoot as cynical Trancer hunter Jack Deth, who's adjusted to life in the 20th century with his wife Lena (Helen Hunt).
However, soon their happy lives will be disrupted when Jacks' first wife Alice is sent back in time to occupy the body of a mental patient (Megan Ward) and Dr. Wardo (Richard Lynch), brother of original villain Whistler, is using an environmental movement as a cover for creating a Trancer army.The real attraction is a wonderful collection of B movie actors; certainly the casting directors knew what they were doing.
Martine Beswicke and Jeffrey Combs play Lynchs' evil associates, Sonny Carl Davis is amiable asylum attendant Rabbit, Barbara Crampton has an all too brief role as a TV talk show host, and John Davis Chandler has a bit as a wino.
Performances are decent but most of the actors have been better utilized in other projects.The dialogue just doesn't have a whole lot of zip to it; although Thomersons' delivery is good, it's doubtful that fans will go around quoting "Trancers II".
This sequel to Trancers is indeed 'ham'my but far from a turkey and (excuse the minute spoiler) never a bomb!
The cast here is excellent with most of the original team repeating their roles and with Jack Deth's future wife played by Megan Ward an exceptional addition as is Richard Lynch as a troublesome environmentalist.
Several cameos from Charles Band's father (Albert), mother (Jackie), mother-in-law (then wife Debra Dion's mother) and Helen Hunt's brother and Richard Lynch's son (Christopher) and Tim Thomerson's father and brother.Re-Animator team Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton also have small roles.Possibly better than the enjoyable first film this is a great sequel to - what at this point - looked like a fantastic film series..
Verbose, mediocre sequel picks up six years after the original film, with Jack Deth (now living happily in present day 1991, with wife, again played by Helen Hunt) pursuing more trancers sent from the future, in a most contrived fashion, by original villain's brother.
This time, his wife in the future is also sent back, and when she meets with Deth's current wife in 1991, it results in on-going arguments between the three.
Also forgotten is the fact that Jack Deth was told she was dead.
This film tries to be cheesy like the original, sometimes it works, but sometimes feels too forced and artificial, with too many explanatory scenes of characters explaining the plot to the audience, while looking directly into the camera.
The villain's death by pitchfork might have been a good touch, had it been filmed and edited better.
Looking like a made-for-cable-TV movie, and nearly fifteen minutes longer than the original, it exemplifies the saying "Brevity is the essence of wit." |
tt0053083 | The Mouse That Jack Built | Somewhere in Beverly Hills, in the house of Jack Benny (a sign out front proclaims, "Star of Stage * Screen * Radio * Television...also cartoons"), a mouse version of Jack is practicing his violin—off-key—and saying to himself, "Who is this guy Isaac Stern?" (In real life Benny and Stern were good friends.) Outside Jack's mouse hole, a cat is lying in wait, wearing ear muffs to filter out the discordant sound of Jack's violin.
Jack calls his servant, Rochester (portrayed as a dark brown mouse) to get his white suit, which Rochester is wearing at the time. Jack tells the valet that his rental period is up (a week for $5.00, equal to $41.08 today) and he needs the suit because he is taking Mary Livingstone out for her birthday, and, true to character, is looking for a good cheap restaurant.
While waiting for Mary, Jack decides to count his cheese in a basement vault. Using a coin on a string, he opens the lock, which appears to be a coin-operated lock from a pay toilet. As soon as he walks through the door, he takes a cane from a nail on the wall and starts humming "We're in the Money". When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he reaches through a hole and trips a razor blade hanging above the passageway like a guillotine. He then comes up to a derringer and uses the cane to trip the trigger on the derringer. Finally, he comes up to another hole, reaches through with the cane and trips a mousetrap. He then reaches the vault door, opens a combination lock, pulls the door open and numerous sound effects including various alarms, a foghorn and machine gun noises are heard. Ed, the vault guard, asks "who goes there?", and then an exchange is heard where Ed, apparently having been in the vault for a long time, asks "We win the war yet?" When Benny assures Ed that the war has been won, thinking that Benny was referring to World War I, Ed says: "That's good. What do you think they'll do with the Kaiser?"
Mary arrives while Jack is inspecting his cheese vault, and he emerges wondering who has been pilfering his gorgonzola. A fat rodent version of Don Wilson attempts to deliver a commercial when Jack advises him that this is a movie and not a television program, Don storming off in a huff when Jack refuses to let him do a scene. When Mary suggests a place, Jack's eyes ring up like an old cash register with a dollar sign ($) and "no sale", they discuss other options (she sarcastically suggests the Monkey House at the Griffith Park Zoo). As they discuss their options, the cat writes a message extolling the "Kit Kat Club" ("entertainers free") and sends it to Jack as a paper airplane. Jack and Mary putter off in his Maxwell with Rochester behind the wheel until they reach the Kit Kat Club by following the arrows pointing to it. While en route, Mary asks for champagne, while Jack says that he prefers a good "mousecatel". Unbeknownst to them, the "club" is actually the maw of the cat, and as Jack and Mary enter, the cat's mouth closes on them.
Jack cries: "Help! Help!" as the camera cuts to the live-action Jack Benny, who wakes up and, breaking the fourth wall, tells the audience: "Gosh, what a crazy dream! Imagine: Mary and me as two little mice trapped inside a cat's mouth! And me playing the violin!" At that point, Jack is interrupted by the sound of a discordant "Rock-a-Bye Baby" played on the violin, coming from within Jack's live-action cat. From there, the rodent versions of Jack and Mary emerge unharmed from the live-action cat. Following one last bit of animation (where the rodent Jack and Mary return to their mousehole), the real Jack Benny does one of his famous "takes" as the cartoon fades out. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0096142 | Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama | Three nerdy frat boys, Calvin, Jimmie, and Keith, follow and spy on the Tri-Delta sorority group, where they are having an initiation. Sorority members Babs, Rhonda, and Frankie prepare for the ritual while newcomers Taffy and Lisa await. Watched by the frat boys outside their house, the two initiates get spanked from a paddle and are sprayed with whip cream during the initiation. While the girls clean themselves, the boys enter the house and are caught by the girls. Due to this, the boys are sent with the pledges on a mission to steal a trophy from a nearby bowling alley. Unbeknownst, Babs' father runs the mall where the bowling alley is at and watches the group through the security cameras.
When the group enters the bowling alley, they encounter and meet Spider, a biker trying to rob the alley with a crowbar. With her help, they break into the trophy room and upon accidentally dropping the bowling trophy, unleash an imp named Uncle Impie who offers three wishes from freeing him. Jimmie gets a wish of gold stacks, Taffy gets a wish of being the Prom Queen, and Keith gets a wish of having sex with Lisa. After this, Uncle Impie soon possess the sorority trio from the camera; Frankie is turned into the Bride of Frankenstein and Rhonda is turned into a demon minion while Babs flees. After Babs is rendered unconscious from touching the mall's electric doors, the group finds out that the wishes were turned rather false, with Jimmie's gold made out of wood and Taffy's dress disappearing.
Jimmie is killed by the minions and his head is used for a bowling ball, and Lisa furiously tries to have sex with Keith. Spider and Calvin hide from Rhonda in a closet, where they find a pistol and shoot Rhonda with it before fleeing. After escaping from Lisa, Keith is killed by Rhonda by shoving his face into a stove, and Taffy is pulled apart by the minions. Babs awakes and fights Rhonda, who shoves her into the alley and is seemingly killed by a bowling ball by Spider. With Rhonda dead, Babs is possessed and turned into a demon minion.
Calvin and Spider find the janitor, who reveals that the Imp was summoned to help a bowler, and the Imp was trapped for 30 years due to the creature killing people. Meanwhile, after Babs kills Lisa with a paddle, she is burned to death with a Molotov cocktail tossed by Calvin. After Spider and Calvin find the janitor dead, they are chased by Jackie with an axe. Spider gains the upper hand and decapitates her, and the severed head knocks the doors open. While Calvin starts up a car and is attacked by Rhonda from the backseat, Spider successfully traps Uncle Impie in a box. Calvin's struggles to control the car, and ends up crashing upside down; Calvin apparently survives this and Rhonda is killed from the crash. In the morning, Spider drives Calvin to her house in her motorcycle while Uncle Impie is seen trapped in the box at the curb, asking someone to let him out. | cult, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0087901 | Perfect Strangers | === Development ===
The series was the brainchild of Dale McRaven (co-creator of Mork & Mindy) and producers Tom Miller and Robert Boyett. Miller claimed that the series' inspiration came in the wake of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when America experienced a wave of renewed patriotic sentiment. Their idea for a comedy about an immigrant in America was initially rejected by all three major commercial television networks operating in the U.S. at the time (ABC, CBS and NBC).
In December 1984, Bronson Pinchot garnered notice for his role in Beverly Hills Cop as Serge, an effeminate art-gallery employee with an unplaceable foreign accent. When Miller and company pitched Pinchot as the star of their immigrant show, ABC signed on to the project, originally entitled The Greenhorn. By this time, however, Pinchot had become unavailable, as he had taken the role of a gay attorney in the NBC series Sara alongside star Geena Davis.
Sara failed to find an audience, and was canceled by May 1985. With Pinchot now available, Miller and Boyett began to develop the show in earnest. By November, comedian Louie Anderson was cast as the immigrant's American cousin. A pilot episode was put into production, but in the end Anderson was not considered right for the role.
Development was placed into overdrive when ABC President Brandon Stoddard offered the producers a prime tryout slot for the spring of 1986 between the hit shows Who's The Boss? and Moonlighting on Tuesday nights. After running through several actors for the part of Balki's cousin, the producers settled on Mark Linn-Baker, whom they had recently seen in a guest appearance on Moonlighting. Linn-Baker displayed immediate chemistry with Pinchot, and the series raced into production under the new title Perfect Strangers. It premiered on ABC on March 25, 1986.
=== Season 1 (1986) ===
The series commences with Larry living alone in an apartment in Chicago. In the pilot episode, Balki unexpectedly shows up at Larry's door claiming to be his distant cousin. Balki joined Larry as a clerk at the Ritz Discount Store, located on the ground level of their apartment building. Their boss is Donald "Twinkie" Twinkacetti (Ernie Sabella), an unscrupulous miser who is also their landlord. Twinkacetti's incessant berating of his two employees (he calls Balki "Turnip" and Larry "Yo-Yo") is occasionally alleviated by his wife Edwina (Belita Moreno). In the first season, upstairs neighbor Susan Campbell (Lise Cutter) is Larry's platonic friend.
Airing in the coveted timeslot between Who's The Boss? and Moonlighting, Perfect Strangers was an instant ratings hit in the spring of 1986, landing in the season's top 10 highest-rated shows.
=== Season 2 (1986–87) ===
For its second season, Perfect Strangers was moved to Wednesday nights at 8:00 p.m. as a lead-in to the new ABC sitcom Head of the Class.
Susan's character was phased out early in this season. Larry began dating Jennifer Lyons (Melanie Wilson) and Balki began dating Mary Anne Spencer (Rebeca Arthur), after meeting them through a local gym. In later episodes, we learn that both women are flight attendants who live in Larry and Balki's building.
=== Season 3 (1987–88) ===
The start of season 3 in fall 1987 found Larry and Balki in a new, larger apartment where Balki had his own room instead of sleeping on a fold-out sofa. External shots clearly depict a new apartment building. According to season 6, episode 13, Larry and Balki's address is 711 Coldwell Street, Apt #209, Chicago, Illinois. The characters never made reference to the move, and Jennifer and Mary Anne were still co-tenants in the new surroundings.
Larry acquires a reporter job working out of the basement of the Chicago Chronicle, a fictional metropolitan newspaper, and helps Balki get a mail room job. They are overseen by demanding city editor Harry Burns (Eugene Roche). Burns is phased out of the show by the end of season 3; by the 5th season, the paper's publisher, Mr. Wainwright (F.J. O'Neill), takes over as Larry and Balki's boss, appearing through season 7. Balki's immediate supervisor is mail room head Sam Gorpley (Sam Anderson who had portrayed a bank clerk in the season one episode "Check This" in which Balki opens his first bank account), who never warms to "the Mypiot" and constantly plots to get Balki fired. Lydia Markham is the Chronicle's thin-skinned, multi-phobic advice columnist; she's played by Belita Moreno, who had previously played Edwina Twinkacetti. Although Larry physically remains at his typewriter in the basement, he joins the investigative team of Marshall & Walpole (loosely-based on the famed Washington Post duo of Woodward and Bernstein) in season 4. Larry's relationship with Jennifer matures as well.
Working as an elevator operator is Harriette Winslow (Jo Marie Payton-France). Her husband Carl (Reginald VelJohnson) is introduced in the 4th-season episode "Crimebusters", in which the couple moves into Larry and Balki's apartment building.
In March 1988, midway through the season, ABC moved Perfect Strangers from its successful Wednesday-night slot to Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. before Full House. This was a key development in the formation of the ABC Friday-night comedy block that would later become known as TGIF. Later moving to the 9/8c slot on Friday nights in the fall of 1989, Perfect Strangers would remain an anchor of ABC's Friday-night programming until it was unsuccessfully moved to Saturday nights in February 1992.
=== Seasons 4–6 (1988–91) ===
In the fall of 1989, after two seasons on Perfect Strangers, Harriette's character was given her own spin-off series, Family Matters. Joining Perfect Strangers in the TGIF lineup, Family Matters would eventually run longer than its parent show. Harriette was not seen again on Perfect Strangers, although an early Family Matters episode explained that she had been fired as the elevator operator, only to be re-hired as chief of security at the Chronicle. Carl became a main character on Family Matters.
Shortly after the sixth season opened, the producers attempted to add a child character to the show. Tess Holland, as played by Alisan Porter (who had starred on ABC's short-lived Chicken Soup the previous fall), was introduced as the troublemaking-but-immensely-cute little girl who lived upstairs from Larry and Balki. Tess appeared in the season's second episode, "New Kid on the Block", when Balki agrees to babysit her, causing an uproar both at home and at the Chronicle. While Porter was supposed to be on full-time, and even credited in the opening title sequence of the episode, she was suddenly dropped, never to be seen again. The experiment of adding a child to the cast was partially influenced by the network as well, since ABC's TGIF lineup was wishing to incorporate the child-and-preteen demographic into its audience. While the content of Perfect Strangers could often appeal to the family as a whole, it had never had children in the regular cast. A similar infusion happened a few months later on sister show Going Places, which had also started with a more adult tone.
While Larry and Jennifer's romance blossomed, Balki and Mary Anne's relationship moved more slowly: the pair would get very close, but then back off after fleeting moments of passion, then drift back into affection. Many viewers' predictions came true in the spring of 1991 when Larry proposed to Jennifer, after feeling competition from her old flame who was trying to woo her back. Jennifer accepted, and they started planning a wedding. As the 1990–91 season closed, it was clear that despite Larry's impending marriage, he and Balki's relationship would somehow remain a focal point of the show.
=== Season 7 (1991–92) ===
At season seven's beginning in September 1991, Larry and Jennifer's marriage meant that Perfect Strangers would move in a different direction. Larry and Jennifer buy a large Victorian house, then discover that they cannot afford it without additional roommates: Balki and Mary Anne. At midseason, Balki receives a promotion at the Chronicle, drawing a weekly comic strip based on his stuffed sheep, Dimitri. Gorpley and Lydia make occasional appearances throughout the season, but are gradually phased out as they have little relevance to Larry and Balki's new career paths.
With Larry and Jennifer happily married, the series turns toward Balki and Mary Anne's relationship. In the season's last several episodes, Mary Anne stops seeing Balki and moves out of the house. In the April 1992 season finale, Balki and Mary Anne resolve their differences and suddenly marry; the episode and season conclude with the two couples on their way to an extended honeymoon in Mypos—and with Jennifer telling Larry that they are expecting.
=== Season 8 (1993) ===
The first episode of season eight picked up several months after the end of season seven, by which time Jennifer is visibly pregnant. Balki and Mary Anne returned from Mypos, revealing that Mary Anne was also well into a pregnancy. For the eighth season, the Chronicle storylines were phased out, with the series shifting its full attention to the home life of the characters. The series ended with a two-part episode "Up In The Air", with each heralding the birth of a baby (first Robespierre, son of Balki and Mary Anne, and then Tucker, son of Larry and Jennifer). The last scene segues in and out of a musical montage of memorable scenes from the series to the tune of "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole. The closing credits showed the cast bowing before the studio audience, with co-stars Pinchot and Linn-Baker doing the "Dance of Joy" one last time. | neo noir, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0078349 | Sekai meisaku dôwa: Hakuchô no mizûmi | Below is a synopsis based on the 1895 libretto. Swan Lake is generally presented in either four Acts, four Scenes (primarily outside Russia and Eastern Europe) or three Acts, four Scenes (primarily in Russia and Eastern Europe). Some productions in the West include a prologue that shows the actual transformation by which Princess Odette is first turned into a swan. The biggest difference of productions all over the world is that the ending varies from romantic to tragic.
=== Act 1 ===
A magnificent park before a palace.
[Scène: Allegro giusto] Prince Siegfried is celebrating his birthday with his tutor, friends and peasants [Waltz]. The revelries are interrupted by Siegfried’s mother, the Queen [Scène: Allegro moderato], who is concerned about her son’s carefree lifestyle. She tells him that he must choose a bride at the royal ball the following evening. Siegfried is upset that he cannot marry for love. His friend Benno and the tutor try to lift his troubled mood. As evening falls [Sujet], Benno sees a flock of swans flying overhead and suggests they go on a hunt [Finale I]. Siegfried and his friends take their crossbows and set off in pursuit of the swans.
=== Act 2 ===
A lakeside clearing in a forest by the ruins of a chapel. A moonlit night.
Siegfried has become separated from his friends. He arrives at the lakeside clearing, just as a flock of swans land nearby [Scène. Moderato]. He aims his crossbow at the swans [Scène. Allegro moderato-], but freezes when one of them transforms into a beautiful maiden, Odette [Scène. -Moderato]. At first, she is terrified of Siegfried. When he promises not to harm her, she tells him that she is the Swan Queen Odette. She and her companions are victims of a terrible spell cast by the evil owl-like sorcerer Von Rothbart. By day they are turned into swans and only at night, by the side of the enchanted lake – created from the tears of Odette's mother – do they return to human form. The spell can only be broken if one who has never loved before swears to love Odette forever. Von Rothbart suddenly appears [Scène. -Allegro vivo]. Siegfried threatens to kill him but Odette intercedes – if Von Rothbart dies before the spell is broken, it can never be undone.
As Von Rothbart disappears, the swan maidens fill the clearing [Scène: Allegro, Moderato assai quasi andante]. Siegfried breaks his crossbow, and sets about winning Odette’s trust as the two fall in love. But as dawn arrives, the evil spell draws Odette and her companions back to the lake and they are turned into swans again.
=== Act 3 ===
An opulent hall in the palace.
Guests arrive at the palace for a costume ball. Six princesses are presented to the prince [Entrance of the Guests and Waltz], one of whom his mother hopes he will choose as his bride. Then Von Rothbart arrives in disguise [Scène: Allegro, Allegro giusto] with his enchantress daughter, Odile, who has also transformed to appear as Odette in all respects. Though the princesses try to attract the prince with their dances [Pas de six], Siegfried, mistaking Odile for Odette, has eyes only for her and dances with Odile. [Scène: Allegro, Tempo di valse, Allegro vivo] Odette appears as a vision and vainly tries to warn Siegfried that he is being deceived. But Siegfried remains oblivious and proclaims to the court that he intends to make Odile his wife. Von Rothbart shows Siegfried a magical vision of Odette and he realises his mistake. Grief-stricken, Siegfried hurries back to the lake.
=== Act 4 ===
By the lakeside.
Odette is distraught at Siegfried’s betrayal. The swan-maidens try to comfort her, but she is resigned to death. Siegfried returns to the lake and finds Odette. He makes a passionate apology. She forgives him and the pair reaffirm their love. Von Rothbart appears and insists that Siegfried fulfill his pledge to marry Odile, after which Odette will be transformed into a swan forever. Siegfried chooses to die alongside Odette and they leap into the lake. This breaks Von Rothbart's spell over the swan maidens, causing him to lose his power over them and he dies. In an apotheosis, the swan maidens watch as Siegfried and Odette ascend into the Heavens together, forever united in love.
=== 1877 libretto synopsis ===
Act 1: Prince Siegfried, his friends, and a group of peasants are celebrating the Prince's coming of age. Siegfried's mother arrives to inform him that she wishes for him to marry soon so that she may make sure that he does not disgrace their family line by his marriage. She has organised a ball where Siegfried is to choose his bride from among the daughters of the nobility. After the celebration Siegfried and his friend Benno spot a flock of flying swans and decide to hunt them.
Act 2: Siegfried and Benno track the swans to a lake, but they vanish. A woman wearing a crown appears and confronts the two men. She tells them that her name is Odette and she was one of the swans they were hunting. She tells them her story: Odette’s mother, a good fairy, had married a knight, but she died and the knight remarried. Odette’s stepmother was a witch who wanted to kill her, but her grandfather saved her. Odette's grandfather had cried so much over the death of Odette’s mother that he created the lake with his tears. Odette and her companions live in the lake with Odette’s grandfather, and can transform themselves into swans whenever they wish. Odette’s stepmother still wants to kill her, and stalks her in the form of an owl, but Odette has a crown which protects her from harm. When Odette gets married the witch will lose the power to harm her. Siegfried falls in love with Odette but Odette fears that the witch will ruin their happiness.
Act 3: Several young noblewomen dance at Siegfried’s ball, but the Prince refuses to marry any of them. Baron von Rothbart and his daughter Odile arrive. Siegfried thinks that Odile looks like Odette, but Benno doesn’t agree. Siegfried dances with Odile, grows more and more enamoured with her, and eventually agrees to marry her. At that moment von Rothbart transforms into a demon, Odile laughs, and a white swan wearing a crown appears in the window. The Prince runs out of the castle.
Act 4: In tears, Odette tells her friends that Siegfried did not keep his vow of love. Seeing that Siegfried is coming, Odette’s friends leave and urge her to go with them, but Odette wants to see Siegfried one last time. A storm begins. Siegfried enters and begs Odette for forgiveness. Odette refuses and attempts to leave. Siegfried snatches the crown from her head and throws it in the lake, saying "Willing or unwilling, you will always remain with me!" The owl flies overhead, carrying away the crown. "What have you done? I am dying!" Odette says, and falls into Siegfried’s arms. The lake rises from the storm and drowns Odette and Siegfried. The storm quiets, and a group of swans appears on the lake.
=== Alternative endings ===
Many different endings exist, ranging from romantic to tragic.
In 1950, Konstantin Sergeyev staged a new Swan Lake for the Mariinsky Ballet (then the Kirov) after Petipa and Ivanov, but included some bits of Vaganova and Gorsky. Under the Soviet regime, the tragic ending was replaced with a happy one, so that in the Mariinsky and Bolshoi versions, Odette and Siegfried lived happily ever after.
In the version danced today by the Mariinsky Ballet, the ending is one of a "happily ever after" in which Siegfried fights von Rothbart and tears off his wing, killing him. Odette is restored to human form and she and Siegfried are happily united. This version has often been used by Russian and Chinese ballet companies. A similar ending was used in The Swan Princess.
In a version which has an ending very close to the 1895 Mariinsky revival, danced by American Ballet Theatre in 2005, Siegfried's mistaken pledge of fidelity to Odile consigns Odette to remain a swan forever. After realizing that her last moment of humanity is at hand, Odette commits suicide by throwing herself into the lake. The Prince does so as well. This act of sacrifice and love breaks Von Rothbart's power, and he is destroyed. In the final tableau, the lovers are seen rising together to heaven in apotheosis.
In a version danced by New York City Ballet in 2006 (with choreography by Peter Martins after Lev Ivanov, Marius Petipa, and George Balanchine), the Prince's declaration that he wishes to marry Odile constitutes a betrayal that condemns Odette to remain a swan forever. Odette is called away into swan form, and Siegfried is left alone in grief as the curtain falls.
In the 2006 version by Stanton Welch for Houston Ballet, also based upon Petipa and Ivanov, the last scene has Prince Siegfried attempting to kill Rothbart with his crossbow, missing and hitting Odette instead. Odette falls, Rothbart's spell now broken, and regains human form. The Prince embraces her as she dies, then carries her lifeless body into the lake, where he also drowns himself.
In a version danced by San Francisco Ballet in 2009, Siegfried and Odette throw themselves into the lake, as in the 1895 Mariinsky revival, and von Rothbart is destroyed. Two swans, implied to be the lovers, are then seen flying past the Moon.
In a version danced by National Ballet of Canada in 2010, Odette forgives Siegfried for his betrayal and the promise of reconciliation shines momentarily before Rothbart summons forth a violent storm. Rothbart and Siegfried struggle. When the storm subsides, Odette is left alone to mourn the dead Siegfried.
In the 1986 version Rudolf Nureyev choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet, Rothbart fights with Siegfried, who is overcome and dies, leaving Rothbart to take Odette triumphantly up to the heavens.
In the 2012 version performed at Blackpool Grand Theatre by the Russian State Ballet of Siberia the Prince drags Rothbart into the lake and both drown. Odette is left as a swan.
In the 2015 English National Ballet version My First Swan Lake, specifically recreated for young children, the power of Siegfried and Odette's love enables the other swans to rise up and defeat Rothbart, who falls to his death. This breaks the curse, and Siegfried and Odette live happily ever after. | psychedelic, romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0047878 | The Big Combo | Police Lt. Leonard Diamond is on a personal crusade to bring down sadistic gangster Mr. Brown. He's also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend, the suicidal Susan Lowell. His main objective as a detective is to uncover what happened to a woman called "Alicia" from the crime boss's past.
Mr. Brown, his second-in-command McClure and thugs Fante and Mingo kidnap and torture the lieutenant, then pour a bottle of alcohol-based hair tonic down his throat before letting him go. Diamond eventually learns through one of Brown's past accomplices that Alicia was actually Brown's wife. The accomplice suspects that Alicia was sent away to Sicily with former mob boss Grazzi, then murdered, tied to the boat's anchor and permanently submerged.
Diamond questions a Swede named Dreyer, who was the skipper of that boat (but now operates an antiques store as a front, bankrolled by Brown). Dreyer denies involvement, but this doesn't prevent him from being murdered by McClure within seconds after he leaves the shop.
Diamond tries to persuade Susan to leave Brown and admits he might be in love with her. He shows her a photo of Brown, Alicia and Grazzi together on the boat. Susan finally confronts Brown about his wife and is told she is still alive in Sicily, Italy, living with Grazzi.
Brown next orders a hit on Diamond. However, when his gunmen Fante and Mingo go to Diamond's apartment, they mistakenly shoot and kill the cop's burlesque dancer girlfriend Rita instead. Diamond sees an up-to-date photo of Alicia but realizes it wasn't taken in Sicily (since there's snow on the ground). This leads Diamond to suspect Brown didn't kill Alicia but his boss Grazzi instead. Diamond is able to track Alicia to a sanitarium, where she is staying under another name. He asks for her help.
Brown's right-hand man, McClure, wants to take over. He plots with Fante and Mingo to ambush Mr. Brown, but ends up getting killed himself because they are loyal to the boss.
At police headquarters, Brown shows up with a writ of habeas corpus, effectively preventing Alicia to testify against her husband. Brown also brings a big stash of "money" to Fante and Mingo while they are hiding out from the police, but the box turns out to contain a bomb that apparently kills both.
Brown shoots the lieutenant's partner Sam and kidnaps Susan, planning to fly away to safety. Diamond finds a witness that could finally nail the elusive gangster—Mingo, who survived the blast and confesses, sobbing over the body of his cohort, that Brown was behind it all. Alicia is able to help Diamond figure out where Brown was likely to take Susan, a private airport where Brown intends to board a getaway plane.
However, the plane doesn't show up and the film climaxes in a foggy airplane hangar shootout. Susan shines a bright light in Brown's eyes and the lieutenant places him under arrest. The last scene shows the silhouetted figures of Diamond and Susan in the fog, considered to be one of the iconic images of film noir. | cult, murder | train | wikipedia | Wilde, meantime, has tracked down elusive Alicia, Conte's supposedly murdered wife (Helen Walker, the duplicitous psychiatrist in Nightmare Alley, in her last screen appearance); only she knows where the bodies are buried and can write her husband's death warrant....The Big Combo counts as one of the more sadistic instalments in the cycle, but the mayhem and executions are played as big set-pieces, as flourishes; Lewis draws on Alton's full fetch of tricks (and in one memorable instance, on the sound editor's) to highlight but at the same time soften their nastiness.
What appears to be a fairly stock story of straight-arrow police detective Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) obsessed with capturing a foreboding gangland chieftain, Mr. Brown, "Combo" is an unusually hardboiled, over the top tale of revenge and murder that will please and perhaps even surprise noir and crime-drama fans.
Fun to see Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman play (probably) gay hit men; Brian Donlevy in an unusual supporting role provides heft; Richard Conte is a great, great villain.
Cornel Wilde plays a police detective obsessed with bringing down crime lord Mr. Brown (Richard Conte), while hoping at the same time to win the affections of Conte's girl, Jean Wallace, in this tremendously atmospheric noir from 1955.
The noir genre wouldn't last much longer (many contend that 1958's "Touch of Evil" is the last true noir), but it went out with a bang, giving us some of its best examples (this, "Kiss Me Deadly," "On Dangerous Ground") in its last years.Wilde plays detective Leonard Diamond like a man coming apart at the seams.
Those who aren't man enough, like Mr. Brown's gay henchmen or right-hand man, McClure (played with just the right amount of vulnerability by Brian Donlevy), are destroyed."The Big Combo" boasts arresting black and white images, and a number of thrillingly memorable set pieces (let's just say that imaginative and recurring use is made of a hearing aid).
The storyline centers about a persistent cop(Cornel Wilde)who tracks down a mobster(Richard Conte) and his henchmen (Brian Donlevy,Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman).
He's helped by the gangster's girlfriend and one deputy(Robert Middleton).The movie has likeness to noir cinema of the 40s and 50s that played Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas and Glenn Ford but here is B series.In the film there are action, raw drama ,suspense, murders and is very interesting.Interpretation by Cornel Wilde and Jean Wallace, marriage in real life, is magnificent, the evil racketeer Richard Conte is top notch and his underlings Donlevy, Van Cleef and Holliman are of first rate.Cinematography by John Alton is extraordinary ,setting of lights and shades depict this type of cinema and Alton and Nicholas Musuraca are the principal photographers.David Raskin music, being recently deceased, is nice and atmospheric.The motion picture is well directed by Joseph H.
A chance discovery of a mysterious woman called Alicia starts a trail of information that offers Diamond the chance to cut off the head and kill the snake if, that is, he can stay alive long enough to do it.Although it has been many years since I first saw this film it has stayed with me ever since, a classic crime thriller with elements of noir and some very memorable moments.
It has all the usual stuff in the tough characters spouting quotable dialogue with the rat-a-tat-tat rhythm of a tommy gun but also has many tough scenes of brutality, my favourite being the unforgettable execution that takes place in total silence the perfect conclusion to a scene that had been built up with such tension.The film adds to this with elements more suited to noir than gangster movies.
Conte gets the headlines because he gets the cool character and the toughest dialogue but for me it is Wilde that makes the film his own with a convincing portrayal of a man who is driven by hate as much as love until, finding neither, he uses a "lesser" woman to satisfy his lust only for it to sink him deeper into apparent self-loathing.
Lee Van Cleef was a surprise find in a minor role but really the film belongs to Wilde and Conte who really go to town with the chance.Overall this is not a normal crime syndicate thriller as the title suggests, but nor is it a traditional noir.
A zealous cop(Cornel Wilde) seeks the aid of a gangster's(Richard Conte) ex-girlfriend(Jean Wallace)in bringing down a crime syndicate.
The cast is so good they cover up a lot of holes in the story.The antagonists in this film are honest police lieutenant Cornel Wilde against ruthless syndicate chief Richard Conte.
There's a club stripper played by Carolyn Jones who's sweet on Wilde and pays for it with her life.The Big Combo has made the list for cinema of gay interest because of the roles of Earl Holliman and Lee Van Cleef as a pair of gay trigger men who work for Conte.
Probably inspired by the prototypical rogue cop in Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat", this film features the crusade of one man - Lieutenant Diamond (Cornel Wilde in a super performance) to pin down Richard Conte's smooth-tongued gangster.
Struggling to keep away the departmental bureaucracy, he battles singlehandedly against organised crime with a devotion to duty bordering on the obsessional ("It's my sworn duty to push too far").Despite the absence of any big name in the cast, this film presents all the elements that we have come to love about American film noir - great lighting and photography, tight script ("First is first, and second is nobody"), a great storyline, and some superb performances (Susan Lowell as a society girl - the gangster's moll - is ravishing).Watch this film.
This welcome effect often gave the story a more menacing feel to it, beyond what was generally conveyed by the actions of the characters.As well as The Big Combo having its fair share of impressive camera-work to its credit, it also contained plenty of unintentional humour in a story that clearly took itself way too seriously for its own good.But, on the other hand - What almost ruined this picture for me was the hideously annoying performance of actress Jean Wallace who played the clueless, blond, gangster's moll, Susan Lowell.
Despite a bland title, this is a top-notch film noir, one of Lewis' best in fact, with a first-rate cast (Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef, Earl Holliman, Ted De Corsia, Robert Middleton, Jay Adler, John Hoyt, etc.), a typically hard-boiled script courtesy of Philip Yordan and some memorably violent scenes for its time (police officer Wilde's torture at the hands of gangster Conte, Donlevy's "silent" demise by Conte's henchmen Van Cleef and Holliman, Conte punching his moll, Jean Wallace, in the face, etc.); cinematographer John Alton and composer David Raksin lend their expert support.
The Police Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) of the 93 Precinct is obsessed to find evidences against the hoodlum Mr. Brown (Richard Conte) and unsuccessfully exceeds the budget after four years of investigation with his partner, Detective Sam Hill (Jay Adler).
But Susan tries to commit suicide and Diamond convinces his chief to follow one last lead, the name Alicia babbled by Susan in the hospital.The powerful Mr. Brown is mad with Diamond's investigation and sends his gangsters Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy), Fante (Lee Van Cleef) and Mingo (Earl Holliman) to try to stop Diamond.
The duel between the characters performed by Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte is amazing, very well supported by Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman.
With Brian Donlevey, Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte and the iconic noir shadings of John Alton "The Big Combo" is widely held as one of the best of the genre's films this late in the noir cycle.
A minor film nor from Allied Artists, this one has CORNEL WILDE out to rid the city of ruthless crime boss RICHARD CONTE, who puts some realistic toughness into a stock criminal role.
Not so fortunate is JEAN WALLACE (married to Wilde at the time) who doesn't offer more than a pretty face and figure in what can only be called a poor performance as Conte's femme fatale girlfriend.BRIAN DONLEVY is not quite up to Conte's standard as a tough guy, but let's face it, his role is a lot less interesting as Conte's henchman who eventually tries to double-cross him.
LEE VAN CLEEF and EARL HOLLIMAN play gangsters who work for Conte, sharing an apartment and some shifty glances which are supposed to make us believe they're not just roommates or partners in crime.It's a passable film noir, not exactly up to some of the gangster dramas that came out in the '40s with guys like Bogart, Mitchum and even Mark Stevens.
It's on the second tier of such crime stories, partly because Conte offers the only really riveting performance and the gals in the cast are below par as performers.TED DeCORSIA does a nice job as man on the lam from Conte and his henchmen and JOHN HOYT does a dandy job as an antique store owner who knows too much.As for CORNEL WILDE, he's much better in swashbuckling roles than he is as a tough detective.
Then again, with a better script and director, he may have been more appropriate for his detective role.Summing up: Good, tough crime drama but not among the best film noirs..
The director of "Gun Crazy" (1949) created an amazing array of mobsters (including the somehow sadistic gay couple personified by Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman, Fante and Mingo) which carried our sympathy better than the nominal hero, the gray Diamond (an stoic Cornel Wilde, he of "No Blade of Grass" and "The Naked Prey").
David Raksin scores the music and it stars Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef & Earl Holliman.
Although, as the police lieutenant, Cornel Wilde delivers one of the best performances of his career, there is no question that the film is stolen by his racketeer nemesis, played to perfection by Richard Conte.
Trying to bring him down is a detective who unfortunately is far less interesting, played without a lot of personality by Cornel Wilde.The best scenes all revolve Conte, and without spoiling the movie, include him kissing his girlfriend (Jean Wallace) on the neck and then down her back until he's provocatively out of the frame as her face registers conflicted ecstasy.
Everyone in the film delivers a first-class performance; including Cornel Wilde as the relentless cop, Lt. Diamond, Richard Conte as the despicable Mr. Brown, Brian Donlevy as Brown's chief lackey, who hates his guts, Jean Wallace as the strawberry shortcake moll, and Lee Van Cleef (spaghetti westerns), as a lower-end lackey.The movie has everything you could want for a gangster classic.
The storyline sees dogged police lieutenant Cornel Wilde going up against gangster kingpin Richard Conte in a battle to the finish, with various innocent parties, femme fatales, and brutal henchmen getting involved along the way.It's well-paced stuff indeed, and has atmosphere to spare especially when the fog comes down for some key moments.
Then there's a meaty supporting role for Professor Quatermass himself, Brian Donlevy, playing Conte's old-time ally, and Jean Wallace is fine as the caught-up love interest.THE BIG COMBO works well by playing with genre tropes and offering a little more originality than the viewer is used to.
Cornel Wilde stars with wife Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Richard Conte, Lee van Cleef, Earl Holliman, and Robert Middleton in "The Big Combo." Wilde, who was one of the producers, had the idea of turning his wife into a serious actress.
Police lieutenant Cornel Wilde (as Leonard Diamond) battles sadistic crime boss Richard Conte (as Mr. Brown) for not only the long arm of the law, but also the pretty hand of slim and shapely blonde Jean Wallace (as Susan Lowell).
Those art imitating life filers should note Ms. Wallace, then Mrs. Cornell Wilde and formerly Mrs. Franchot Tone, had previously tried her character's suicide trick
There are great little roles, scattered throughout, like those played by doomed antique dealer John Hoyt (as Nils Dreyer) and sexy showgirl Helene Stanton (as Rita); she is the mother of the "Dr. Drew" Pinsky, who made a name for himself with sex talk to teenagers listening to KROQ ("Rock of the Eighties!").
1950s crime thriller 'The Big Combo' has some good points: some nice acting in the minor roles (Lee van Cleef's performance among them), an interestingly sympathetic portrayal of some of the lesser villains, and a lively, entertaining pace.
The cast was great, even though it wasn't top stars, background music, pacing, and especially the Alton photography - all came together to produce one of the best.It stars Cornel Wilde, not a big name in Hollywood features, but here he gives perhaps his best performance as an obsessive detective trying to rein in a 'bad guy', played by John Conte, who is perfect in his part.
Any film featuring that great actor Richard Conte has to command audience attention.All in all, Combo remains an interesting slice of noir, but its revived reputation rests largely on a suggestive script and cult director Lewis, and not on its merits as even a pale slice of cinematic art..
Seeing him here, you are reminded of his great performance as Tony Bardem in "I'll Cry Tomorrow." The latter was the same year as "Big Combo."Cornel Wilde is terribly miscast as the police detective trying to get the goods on Conte through the women in the latter's life.
And, like all good noir, the film has no pretty boys--just solid acting and realism.The film begins with a frustrated Lieutenant (Cornel Wilde) lamenting that months of work have failed to come up with anything useful to convict a local mobster (Richard Conte).
Police Lt. Diamond (Cornel Wilde) investigates criminal boss Mr. Brown (Richard Conte).
But stupid."This bare-knuckles, yet decidedly run-of-the-mill, 1955, crime-drama earned itself some extra points from me for these following 3 things -(1) The opening scene where character Susan Lowell (in high heels, no less) is frantically running for her very life away from 2 toughs down a smoky, shadow-drenched corridor.(2) The priceless scene where hottie, burlesque queen, Rita, angrily slaps one of Brown's nelly henchmen across the face with her rhinestone-encrusted handbag.(3) And, last, but not least - Cinematographer, John Alton's first-rate camera-work, which, at times, was about the only thing that actually held my interest in this, otherwise, unintentionally laughable tale about (stud-muffin) Detective Diamond's almost neurotically obsessive crusade to bring down sadistic, self-satisfied gangster, Mr. Brown, to his knees.*Note* - The Big Combo was directed by Joseph Lewis, who, in 1950, had directed Gun Crazy..
Well, The Big Combo is a warm up for that later role, it would seem one that shows just how devious and cold a character he can play as the crime boss, Mr Brown (what's interesting also, is the fact that we never learn Brown's first name).Arguably, he and Cornel Wilde (as the cop, Leonard Diamond) share equal screen time, although I didn't go the trouble of timing it.
And, while on the subject of those two hit men, it's fascinating to see the homosexual innuendo play out between them; it's not usually seen in gangster movies, especially in the fifties.The main characters are further supported by Robert Middleton (always good to see in drama); Brian Donlevy (a consummate actor and well-known face in many crime thrillers); and the ubiquitous Jay Adler (the character actor's actor, I think) as Wilde's side-kick.Overall, however, I regard this film as a curiosity more than a successful mystery/thriller like The Maltese Falcon (1941) or The Big Sleep (1946 and 1978), perhaps.
Though the title doesn't say anything, this film from 1955 is about as stylishly noir as they come, featuring Cornel Wilde as a police lieutenant with an obsession to put away a mob boss with a name as bland as he himself is vicious - Mr. Brown.
Lt. Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is such an honest cop, almost obsessive in his bid to bring down Mr. Brown, though his fanaticism could just as easily be explained by his lust for the crime boss' abused girlfriend, Susan Lowell (Jean Wallace).
We find out soon enough that the two man chasing and finally catching up with the woman are Fante & Mingo, who sound like a song and dance duet, played by Lee Van Cleef & Earl Holliman and the sexy blond is Susan Lowell, Jean Wallace, who's Fante & Mingo boss Mafiso Mr Brown's, Richard Conte, very uncooperative girlfriend.Susan doesn't know it at the time but she caught the eye of police Let. Leonard Diamond, Cornel Wilde, who became so infatuated with her, from afar, that he spends all his off, and vacation, time following her around to keep tabs not only on Susan who's abusive boyfriend Mr. Brown that Let. Diamond wants to free her from.
Its three main characters, with their personal preoccupations and propensities comprise a fascinating axis around which the story is told and with its crisp dialogue, fine performances and exceptional cinematography, "The Big Combo" is an extremely good movie.Police Lieutenant Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is obsessed with trying to bring organised crime boss Mr Brown (Richard Conte) to justice and gets criticised by his superior officer for spending an inordinate amount of taxpayers money on an exercise which, so far, has produced no positive results.
A detective (Cornel Wilde) goes after crime boss Mr. Brown (Richard Conte.
It is in this sense like an episode of many cop series of the 1950's, for example, "The Untouchables." It does have film noir elements, great shadowy lighting, psychotic bad guys, an obsessed good guy, and lots of night scenes. |
tt0096880 | Balance | The film depicts five individuals living on a small platform floating in space. These men are all identical apart from a number at the back of their coats: 23, 35, 51, 75, and 77. Whenever one of them moves, the platform tilts and the others must move as well to ensure that the platform does not tip over. They all move out to the edge of the platform, take out fishing rods, and cast their lines over the edge. The one numbered 51 reels in a large, heavy box while the others scramble to the opposite side of the platform. One by one, the individuals inspect the box: it has a wind-up key that causes the box to play music. As each man in turn moves to inspect the box, the platform becomes unstable, prompting each of the group to converge in the center to keep the platform from tipping over. The man with the number 75 attempts to tip the box over the edge, but number 51 counterbalances the platform to prevent it. These two scuffle briefly, causing the box to slide to number 23, who tap dances to the tune as the others look on. 75 moves away from the center of gravity, tipping the platform and causing the box to slide toward him, but 23 sits on top of the box and moves with it.
The added weight moves the box to the very edge of the platform. The others rearrange themselves to bring the box back to the center. Riding the box as it slides from side to side, 23 pushes 35 off the platform as the former slides to the very edge. The others rearrange themselves again to compensate for the loss of mass. 51 trips and falls over. 75 shoves 77 to the ground as he avoids the careening 23. 77 scrambles to the opposite edge as 23 moves with the box again. 23 kicks 75 off the platform, unbalancing the platform and causing 77 to fall over the edge also. 23 gets off the box, approaches 51 and kicks him over the edge. Now alone, 23 turns around to look at the box, which is perched on the edge farthest from him. Without the others, 23 has to maintain the balance on his own, keeping the box out of reach. One step back and he falls, one step forward and the box falls. He can only watch as the box slowly winds down and plays its music, which 23 is unable to hear. | philosophical, psychedelic, dark, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1028576 | Secretariat | In 1969, Denver housewife and mother Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) agrees to take over her ailing father, Christopher Chenery's Meadow Stables in Doswell, Virginia, despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge. With the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (Malkovich), Chenery navigates the male-dominated business, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and one of the greatest racehorses of all time.
Penny learns of her mother's death and returns to her childhood home. She reunites with Mrs. Ham, her father's secretary, and comforts her confused and elderly father. At her mother's funeral, Penny meets Arthur "Bull" Hancock and his son, Seth Hancock, of Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. The Hancocks offer any help she may need during her efforts to bring Meadow Stables back to profitability. Penny's brother Hollis informs her of a dishonest sale that was about to be made by the trainer until their mother stopped him. Penny fires the trainer and asks Bull Hancock to help her find a new trainer. He recommends Lucien Laurin, an aging French Canadian, who initially turns down Penny's offer.
Penny's father had made a deal with leading owner Ogden Phipps that if Phipps breeds his best stallion (Bold Ruler) to Chenery's two best mares (Somethingroyal and Hasty Matelda), the two owners would flip a coin to see who receives which foal. Bold Ruler, the stallion, was fast but couldn't last over distances. Hasty Matelda is the obvious choice for her young age, but Somethingroyal's bloodline is made up of many horses with good stamina. Penny hopes to choose Somethingroyal's foal for the interesting mix of speed and stamina. Phipps wins Hasty Matelda's foal, and Penny wins Somethingroyal's foal, Secretariat.
When Secretariat enters his first race at Aqueduct race track in Queens, New York City, everyone has high expectations. The jockey, Paul Feliciano, is very young with little experience, which worries Penny, but Lucien reassures her. During the race, Secretariat is repeatedly hit by other horses and comes in fourth. Penny and Lucien fight, and Lucien blames Paul for the loss. Penny realizes the only way Secretariat will ever win is if he has an experienced jockey. Penny's flight back home is canceled on the day of the race, and she misses her daughter Kate's solo in a play. Her son holds up the pay phone so Penny can hear Kate sing.
Penny gets experienced jockey Ron Turcotte to ride Secretariat to many victories. Secretariat is named horse of the year after a successful two-year-old season. Penny's father suffers a stroke and dies, leaving Penny and her brother Hollis to inherit the estate. Although she needs six million dollars to pay estate taxes, Penny refuses to sell Secretariat.
Instead she syndicates the horse, selling 32 shares worth more than six million dollars, as long as he can win a three-year-old distance race. She tries to sell a share to Ogden Phipps, who instead offers to buy the horse for seven million dollars. Penny refuses to sell him. When Phipps demands to know why, she tells him Secretariat's value will triple when he wins the Triple Crown – a feat no horse has accomplished in twenty-five years. During this time, Frank "Pancho" Martin, trainer of rival horse Sham, tries to provoke a match race with Secretariat.
Secretariat is taken to the Wood Memorial three weeks before the first of the Triple Crown races to take on Sham and attempt to earn Penny her syndication money. Turcotte notices that the horse's breathing is heavy, he refuses to eat, and he is reluctant to allow the bit into his mouth. After Secretariat loses the race, an abscess in his mouth is discovered that may have caused the poor performance.
Secretariat recovers and wins both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in record time. Sham comes in second place in both races and Pancho Martin tells Sham's jockey, Laffit Pincay, to stay with Secretariat through the Belmont in an attempt to tire him early and win. However, Secretariat runs an unbelievable race, finishing 31 lengths (over 82 yards (75 m)) ahead of the next horse to secure the Triple Crown. An exhausted Sham ends up in last place, having failed to keep up with Secretariat's record-breaking pace. Penny and her family receive the Triple Crown trophy at the end of the race. | inspiring | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0301199 | Dirty Pretty Things | Okwe is an illegal Nigerian immigrant to the United Kingdom who drives a cab in London during the day and works at the front desk of a hotel at night. The hotel is staffed with many immigrants, both legal and illegal. Okwe keeps himself awake by chewing khat, an herbal stimulant. A doctor in his home country, he was forced to flee after being falsely accused of murdering his wife. In London, he is pressed into giving medical treatment to other poor immigrants, including fellow cab drivers with venereal diseases. Okwe's friend Guo Yi, an employee at a hospital mortuary, provides him with antibiotics under the table.
A prostitute known as Juliette, who plies her trade in the hotel, informs Okwe about a blocked toilet in one of the hotel rooms. He fishes out the blockage and finds a human heart. The manager of the hotel, Juan, runs an illegal operation at the hotel wherein immigrants swap kidneys for forged passports. After learning of Okwe's past as a doctor, Juan pressures him to join his operation as a surgeon, but Okwe refuses.
Senay is a Turkish Muslim seeking asylum, who also works at the hotel, as a cleaner. Her immigration status allows her to stay in the UK providing she does not work; the hotel is a perfect cover because she is not named on its books. She allows Okwe to sleep on her sofa when she is not home, her religion forbidding her from being alone with a man, other than a relative, at any time.
Senay is frightened after a visit from the Immigration service, and convinces Okwe to leave before the authorities find him in her home. The officials find a book of matches from the hotel and decide to inspect it before Senay arrives for her early morning shift. Okwe asks the doorman to intercept Senay; the officials don't catch her, but she can no longer work at the hotel. She begins working in a sweatshop making clothes, but the officials raid that site, too. The entire staff flee to the roof while the manager gets rid of the Immigration agents. The manager will let Senay keep her job and promises not to report her to the authorities only if she will perform oral sex on him. After a couple of such sessions, she refuses to cooperate and bites him, then flees with an expensive coat and some dresses.
Okwe finds her a place to stay at the hospital mortuary, but Senay panics. She asks him to raise money for her to travel to America by selling the stolen clothes and acting as a surgeon in Juan's organ business. Okwe refuses.
In desperation, Senay agrees to exchange a kidney for a passport. As a "deal maker", Juan takes her virginity as well, and later Juliette provides her with the morning-after pill. After learning of Senay's plan, Okwe tells Juan that he will perform the operation to ensure her safety, but only if Juan provides them both with passports under different names. After Juan delivers the passports, Okwe and Senay drug him, surgically remove his kidney, and sell it to Juan's contact.
Okwe plans to use his new identity to return to his young daughter in Nigeria, and Senay plans to start a new life in New York City. Before they part at Stansted Airport, she gives him her cousin's address in New York. They mouth the words, "I love you", to each other. Senay boards her plane, and Okwe calls long-distance to his daughter to tell her he is coming home at last. | suspenseful, neo noir, realism, romantic | train | wikipedia | Much buzz, fortunately all merited, preceded it: an amazing Nigerian actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, already acclaimed for his stage performances, makes his big-screen debut, while Audrey Tatou, the impossibly wide-eyed kook from 2001's `Amelie', tackles her first English-language movie role.Frears' film details the story of those faceless, nameless human beings of a variety of ethnicities, who, for a multitude of reasons--all marked by desperation--sneak into England.
Prostitution and drugs are routine phenomena, but when he finds a human heart clogging a toilet in one of the rooms, Okwe realizes that something far more sinister is afoot.For the illegal immigrants portrayed in the film, it is an ongoing struggle to hold onto some semblance of integrity, humanity, and dignity, as the Society around them exploits and hounds them mercilessly, safe in the knowledge that nothing would be reported to the authorities.
Interestingly, though this film is set in London, none of the main characters is English: there's Juliette, an ironically-named feisty West Indian hooker who plies her trade in the hotel; Ivan, the Russian doorman; Senor Juan or `Sneaky', another hotel employee who makes use of the hotel for his own money-making schemes; Gou Yi, a Chinese night porter in a morgue; a motley collection of Somali, Nigerian, and Kenyan men who work at the cab company, and the South Asian owner of a sweatshop.
Benedict Wong and Sophie Okonedo are first-rate, too, as the philosophical chess-playing morgue-worker buddy of Okwe and Juliette the rebellious prostitute respectively.`Dirty Pretty Things', brilliantly written by Steve Knight, maintains its unpredictability right up to its surprise ending.
"Dirty Pretty Things," a film directed by Stephen Frears is not quite a thriller, romance or a drama, but it does manage to fit all three successfully.An illegal immigrant in London (Chiwetel Ejiofor), working a day job as a cab driver and a hotel clerk in the Baltic Hotel at nights, discovers a human heart stuck in the bottom of a hotel room toilet one night and worries about what goes on behind the closed doors of his hotel.
In London, the Nigerian illegal immigrant and former doctor Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) works as cab driver along the day and in the front desk of a hotel managed by Juan 'Sneaky' (Sergi López) in the graveyard shift.
The great surprise for me was the international cast, leaded by the unknown Chiwetel Ejiofor, followed by the excellent Audrey 'Amélie Poulain' Tautou and Sergi 'Harry' López , and the also unknown Sophie Okonedo, all of them with excellent performances.
First off I want to say that I'm not going to write about neither the plot nor the contents of this film, while it's rather unnecessary.The best way to describe "Dirty pretty things", is in my opinion, that it is like a beautiful poem.
At times you actually forget that you are watching a film.Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sergi López and the rest of the brilliant cast were new to me but I am going to keep following their careers, as I am hopeful that they will rise and get recognized for the great actors that they are.I strongly recommend this film, for it is most certainly like a breath of fresh air in the otherwise monotonous movie jungle...I easily give this film a 9 out of 10..
`Dirty' is leagues away from that fantasy game show, but then again the immigrants of this film are just as much moved by the slim chance of finding a home somewhere in the world.It's the love story between Okwe and Senay that entrances me.
Always a good sign when a movie lasts.What works most is the beautiful filming and pace, and the steady, thoughtful, rather masterful performance by the lead man, Chiwetel Ejiofor.
The plot grows in strangeness, but never leaving the edgy reality of immigrant rich London, all modern and contradictory in the best cinematic ways.Director Stephen Frears has a "checkered" career
some real duds, and some stellar movies.
Here she is quirky and almost strange, but in a likable way, and by the end she is partly why you feel so strongly for Eijofor.The social point of this movie is a good underlying one—to show what life is really like for a large number of decent, hardworking people, many hiding from bureaucracy and immigration rules.
Apart from being shot like a TV drama, the story was ridiculous and all the characters apart from Okwe are flat and 1-dimensional, both in terms of script development and acting.I live in a part of London where if I walk down the street and hear someone speak English I turn my head in surprised.
But on the other, the story is so ridiculous, particularly the final twist, that you can't take it seriously.Typical of British film-making, this movie is caught between being entertaining and delivering some kind of social message.
Okwe has an arrangement with another illegal immigrant, a shy, Turkish woman named Senay (Audrey Tautou), wherein he uses her couch in her small room to catch a few winks during morning time when she reports to work in the same hotel he works in.
Stephen Frears turns Knight's script into an intriguing thriller, that's also a gut-wrenchingly potent drama centered around illegal immigrants in London.The story is told in a crisp fashion with some beautiful cinematography and commendable shot composition, and the preliminary scenario is established rather quickly but doesn't seem hurried or forced in any way.
Some lines of dialog including some oozing racial stereotyping are just too blatantly rude to be taken seriously.And then there are some character clichés like the helpful buddy (Guo, an Asian man who works at the hospital mortuary), the hooker with a heart of gold (Juliette), Senay's fat and horny old immigrant employer (Barber Ali, a sweatshop foreman) who not-surprisingly asks her for sexual favours in return for not revealing her identity or whereabouts to the hot on the trail immigration officials..
It has been said that desperate times call for desperate measures, a concept that director Stephen Frears explores to great success in "Dirty Pretty Things." Frears, whose previous films include "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "The Grifters," has a knack for getting inside his characters' minds and revealing their inner workings to his audience with heartfelt compassion.
Shortly thereafter, we see him sharing his illegal identity with his fellow drivers, for they are all in the same precarious position of trying to earn enough to survive while evading the immigration authorities.Also eluding the authorities is Senay (Audrey Tautou of last year's "Amelie"), a young Turkish woman who reluctantly shares her meager flat with Okwe in order to make ends meet on her equally meager and equally illegal salary as a chambermaid in the seedy Baltic Hotel.
From here, the film's story takes off.Okwe should know what a human heart looks like because, we learn, he was a doctor in Nigeria, a family man who was forced by circumstances to leave his daughter behind.
(It is from a line of this offer's dialogue that the film takes its title.) In what is surely the film's most thrilling and surprising moment, Frears gives the viewer a splendid opportunity to cheer for the long-oppressed underdog, now empowered.It is to the plight of these underdogs, these members of London's working class who are consigned to lives of quiet and anonymous desperation, that the film unglamorously dedicates its purpose, for they are the ones who comprise the city's human infrastructure, the unseen force that keeps its wheels turning.
Here he tells the almost uplifting tale of Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Nigerian doctor who has become an illegal immigrant to Britain, and his chaste relationship with a young virginal Turkish woman Senay (Audrey Tautou) whose aim is to join her sister in New York, where the policemen are on white horses and good jobs can be had for the asking .
At the start of the film Okwe and Senjay are both working in the Baltic, an upmarket London hotel, he as the night desk clerk and she as a maid, sharing (by rotation) a tiny flat and doing their best to avoid the immigration police.
What he has done is to present their plight in a compassionate manner and evoked the atmosphere of fear and despair that surrounds them.A film like this requires good acting and Chiwetel Ejiofor, a Londoner with Nigerian parents, is excellent as Owke the doctor turned night clerk.
Isn't this new Home to some extent just a milder version of the same corrupted world and the bleak poor quality of life they believe to have left behind?Stephan Frears takes a straight, almost dead-pan approach to the styling of the film making it more like a docu-drama, a journalistic approach which seems totally appropriate to the story and its characters.
The acting is also excellent, with sweet "Amelie" Tatou leaving Montmatre well behind and Chiwetel Ejiofor giving a subtle but effective performance although the character is sometimes a bit too good to be true.What I did like best is that there is no final moralising with the exception of the fact that Sergi Lopez, the organ selling ring leader, get what he deserves.
It's worthy and weighty in terms of subject matter, but as a film it lacks invention.Concentrating on the seedy London underworld of illegal immigrants and late night workers, the film tells the story of Night Hotel manager Okwe.
They are surrounded however by various overacting characters, which undermine the film.A worthy subject matter, and some nice twists are undone by unimaginative directing from the experienced Stephen Frear's, whose previous films such as 'My Beautiful laundrette' promised more than the director has been able to deliver.Worth watching for the captivating Tautou and promising Ejiofor, but might be worth waiting for a video release, especially with all the blockbusters flying about at this time of year..
Stephen Frears' latest film is a contemporary and highly original urban story, a thriller with a political edge set amongst London's largely invisible community of illegal immigrants.
The prostitute character was a bit too 'tart with a heart'.80% of the film deals with the horrible, daily grind of being an 'illegal' immigrant in London - and this is very good.
Stephen Frears is the director of High fidelity,one of the greatest comedies of last years.Dirty pretty things is another movie directed by Frears and it's excellent too.Dirty pretty things works a lot on different levels:as a drama about the immigrants is simply great and it tells perfectly how do the immigrants adapt on their new land.The film works greatly as a thriller,too:I wanted to solve the mystery behind the hotel like the main character wanted.The cinematography is great,too.Dirty pretty things is an excellent drama/thriller film that I totally recommend.Rating:9.
The only thing that kept me interested were Audrey's big beautiful eyes and Chiwtel Ejiofor's interesting character "Okwe." It's not a bad film; just not as good as advertised which makes the viewer disappointed.
Also embarrassing to watch at times how incredibly moralistic they made him look, which gives the entire movie as a whole also a moralistic overtone, that is somewhat in contrast perhaps with the serious and realistic approach of the movie.The movie is only still refreshing to watch because it tells the story from the point of view of (illegal) immigrant living in London.
Most of these films, however, deal with those who migrated legally to Britain in the mid twentieth century and their descendants who, while retaining a distinct cultural identity of their own, have integrated into British society."Dirty Pretty Things" ventures into much less familiar territory, the world of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.
Audrey Tautou, however, was something of a disappointment after her excellent role in "Amelie"; like a number of other actors, she seems to find it easier to act in her own language than in a foreign one.What gives this film its power is this combination of documentary-style social realism with a gripping thriller plot.
"Dirty Pretty Things", however, is the best of his films that I have seen, a fine example of the honourable British tradition of casting light on those aspects of our society that Middle England might prefer to keep in the dark.
This is not to say that it is a bad plot but just that the thriller part of it doesn't always convince and at times feels a little contrived; however it does provide a good enough frame for what I found more interesting, which was the look into an unseen world of illegal immigrants, exploited and just trying to survive.
We are the ones that drive your cars, that clean your rooms, that suck your c*cks" and by doing so he sums up what this film does best shows us in a convincing way this unseen world.It works well with the main plot because it is woven into every scene and indeed it is key to the story that the characters are unable to turn to any authority for help and are at the mercy of whatever anyone wants to pay them or take from them.
In this regard then Knight's script is strong and is well delivered by Frears who has a great eye for the hidden places while his cinematography presents a washed out London that feels dark even in the middle of the day a London which lacks glamour and hope but just exists much like the characters we see here.The cast do very well also.
If you suspend disbelief, it's a much better movie.Now as for the film, I feel that the real stand out star is Chiwetel Ejiofor as "Okwe".
The tough life of London's illegal immigrants is examined sympathetically in Stephen Frears' film, 'Dirty Pretty Things'.
A little slow start but really a cool and surely a view on life which this movie provide.I'am quite picky but this Pretty dirty things is good for sure!all the character in this movie are really good actors,specially the 3 main ones (with that girl from Amelie) which seem to be in many others good movie from France .Very natural setting make this enjoyable to watch and easy to understand as the story go deeper to the point...It's too bad we don't hear much about this movie when it came out but i'am glad i had the chance to see it.I think if you give it a chance you should not be disappointed at all,unless of course u expecting big fight and explosion this movie is in it's own special class,the reality one at most which I like.Enjoy.
"Dirty Pretty Things" tells an obviously fictional tale about an illegal immigrant in the UK; an African doctor (Ejiofor) who discovers a human organ black market operation in the hotel where he works as a night clerk, is blackmailed because of his illegal status, falls in love with a Turkish illegal immigrant (Tautou) who also suffers coercion at the hands of her evil employer, and sets about to right all those wrongs in one fell swoop.
But for all that this "dirty" film lacks, it makes up for with a beautifully crafted story and some of the most compelling characters seen on screen in years.Please, don't go waste your money on My Boss's Daughter or whatever other end-of-summer trash Hollywood managed to muster a good commercial for.
A story about immigration in Europe; about two human beings who struggle for a decent life in a First World that won't let them achieve it by regular means,thus leaving them alone in the hands of evil and corruption.It portraits the diverse characters with accuracy and harshness, thanks to efficient acting by Audrey Tatou and Sergi Lopez, in his best role after "Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien".
"Dirty Pretty Things" is a fascinating character study that delves into the intertwining lives of illegal immigrants working in a seedy London hotel who get caught up in an organ harvesting ring.
I Loved this film!, and the originality of it, the acting was superb, and the storyline, I liked the fact that Stephen Frears uses no typical British characters, and that everyone in the film is foreign, it shows a side of London, we never ever hear about, and a controversial subject that not many filmmakers would want to tackle.
I Loved this film!, and the originality of it, the acting was superb, and the storyline, I liked the fact that Stephen Frears uses no typical British characters, and that everyone in the film is foreign, it shows a side of London, we never ever hear about, and a controversial subject that not many filmmakers would want to tackle.
"Dirty Pretty Things" is sometimes sold also as a thriller film, actually it is an impressive drama, well written and directed.The story is about an irregular immigrant doctor from Nigeria who lives in London and leads a double life: during the day he is a driver while by night he works in the front desk of a hotel, managed by a slimy Spanish man.One night he discovers a human heart stuck in the toilet in a room of the hotel.
The film shows what poor people face to live a respectable life, especially in a big city like London, how they agree to a compromise to be happy.Without any doubt, Chiwetel Ejiofor is a great actor, his gaze is pained and plays extraordinarily his role, perfectly identified in the character's suffering.
In the cast there are also Audrey Tautou as a Turkish immigrant who illegally works in the hotel as maid and Sophie Okonedo who is a prostitute..
Nigerian illegal immigrant Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) drives a cab in London during the day and works the hotel reception at night.
And Senay, a Turkish-Muslim immigrant played by Amelie's Audrey Tautou, who's there only to raise enough money to go to New York in search of a new life.Okwe works at the Baltic Hotel as the front receptionist taking care of the residents. |
tt0087451 | The Ice Pirates | The film takes place in a distant future where water is so scarce and rationed that it is considered an immensely valuable substance, both as a commodity and as a currency in ice cubes. The Templars of Mithra control the water and they destroyed worlds that had natural water leaving the galaxy virtually dry. Pirates dedicate their lives to raiding ships and looting the ice from the cargo holds to make a living.
Jason (Robert Urich) is the leader of a band of pirates that raided a Templar cruiser for its ice, and discovered a beautiful princess (Mary Crosby) in a stasis pod. He decided to kidnap her, waking her up, and alarming the Templars. Jason and his pirates fled, but were pursued by Templar ships. Jason let some of his crew, Maida (Anjelica Huston) and Zeno (Ron Perlman), escape while Roscoe (Michael D. Roberts) stayed to help Jason. They were captured.
During their capture, they met Killjoy (John Matuszak) who has been pretending to be a monk to avoid being a slave. Jason and Roscoe are sentenced to become slaves, a process which includes castration. Roscoe and Jason are spared castration by the princess, who has taken an interest in them. Princess Karina purchased them as her slaves, to work as servants during her party. That evening, they were reunited with Killjoy (disguised as a robot). Jason, Karina, Roscoe, Killjoy and Nanny managed to leave the planet before the Supreme Commander (John Carradine) arrived to arrest her.
Princess Karina is spoiled, and she hired Jason so she can find her father, who went missing while searching for a planet with water. It is rumored he discovered one and the Templars would do anything to keep it a secret in order to maintain power. At some point, Jason keeps a secret that a nasty creature is hiding in their spaceship. Later, they are about to eat a turkey when something bursts out of it and runs away. Someone asks, "What was that?" Jason replies, "space herpes". On their next planet, Jason and Roscoe got reunited with their fellow pirates, Maida and Zeno. They proceed to locate the "lost" planet that contains massive amounts of water. The planet must be approached on a specific course or the ship will be suspended in time forever. The course apparently contains some sort of real or illusory time distortion (resulting in both the heroes and the villains reaching old age during the climactic battle).
In the end, the day is saved by the now-adult son of Karina and Jason, the result of a romantic tryst just before entering the time distortion field. As the heroes exit the field, everyones ages regress to what they originally were, leaving Jason and Karina with the knowledge that they will have a child together. | cult, comedy | train | wikipedia | The scene where the captured ice pirates are being prepared for slave duty alone is worth the price of admission!Then there's the robot that was purchased for an inexplicably good price.
This is the movie that killed Mary Crosby's career and nearly derailed Robert Urich's, Angelica Houston's and Ron Perlman's.
and Buckaroo Banzai, and laughed your ass off at Spaced Invaders and Killer Clowns from Outer Space, you'll love Ice Pirates.The time is the distant future, where by far the most precious commodity in the galaxy is water.
The galaxy is ruled by your basic evil emperor (John Carradine) presiding over a trade oligarchy that controls all mining and sale of ice from asteroids and comets.Robert Urich is Jason, leader of a band of ice pirates that includes Ron Perlman, John Matuzak and Michael D Roberts.
In the formulaic plot for outlaw space operas, our heroes attack an ice freighter, are captured, but escape with a princess (Mary Crosby) kidnapped by the evil emperor in tow.
They rescue her, thread the perilous path to the center of the universe and the fabled tenth planet, and destroy the evil empire's stranglehold on the people.Along the way, you are treated to some of film's oddest aliens, god-awful puns and excellent lampoons of space opera icons.
Robert urich is always cool as ever and the rest of his cast looked like they were having a good time with their characters.They first get captured and sent to a factory that turns prisoners into unichs.
its worth it though cuz I always give points to movies that have a good way of not taking themselves seriously and letting the audience in on the laugh..
Ice Pirates is the funniest sci-fi spoof, and one of the best comedies ever made.
Ice Pirates is Spaceballs on Nitrous Oxide.Of course, to appreciate it you'd have to have seen a lot of science fiction movies, as they are what Ice Pirates is poking fun at.
Like "Hudson Hawk," a light-hearted comedy unjustly slagged because moviegoers who'd never seen Moonlighting couldn't hack Bruce Willis not wading through bullet storms (and because judging from the MSTK-driven bottom 50 on IMDb, pack mentality rules), "Ice Pirates" bombed because most SF fans of the generation couldn't stand their genre mixed with humor; witness the prompt implosion just a couple years before of the very witty TV show "Quark" after only a handful of eps.
Ice Pirates is a B-movie, it's campy, trashy and it is most of the time hilariously funny.To me it probably is the funniest sf movie I ever watched.
Sure, Galaxy Quest is funny, but it is also totally selfconcious, the whole humour comes from making fun of Star Trek.Ice Pirates also makes fun of sf tropes, but it never takes itself seriously.
While the story might be less strange than Buckaroo Banzai, the former is as quirky as the latter.On the other hand, some of the visuals still look great to me.This is one of the few films, I loved as a child, that stood up to the test of time and entertained the adult me as well as the young peg..
Three years before Mel Brooks poked fun at the Star Wars trilogy, a cast of fine actors had a go at the cheesy space operas of the 1980's.
The only flaw with this movie, is not enough jokes to keep you laughing until you bust a gut.I was amazed at the casting for this space comedy.
People who compare it to Spaceballs and others of that ilk are misguided- Ice Pirates is NOT a spoof movie or juvenile comedy.
What sets this movie apart from silly comedies like Spaceballs and others is the variety of serious emotional moments, love scenes, death scenes and a generally elevated plot- finding a new source of water in the galaxy.
Unlike most other movies of ANY genre, Ice Pirates has a fast pace, endlessly interesting backdrops, and surprisingly few ridiculous aliens- compared to the numerous silly creatures in Stars Wars/Return of the Jedi.
Stunningly attractive Mary Crosby is a great reason to watch this movie unless you're female and then the recently late Robert Urich is your reason.
This is a perfect sci-fi/comedy movie with great actors and a well working plot.
This is the movie "Galaxy Quest" wanted to be.Absolutely hilarious script, executed with style and wit, double entendre loaded, spiced with loving hommage after hommage, Robert Urich at his most deliciously hunky, Anjelica Huston looking tough-dyke fab, the biggest, bestest, blackest afro-sheen robot, and Bruce Villach as a more fabulous outer space queen then Zsa-Zsa, makes this little film a lost gem.Don't worry about plot and storyline; they're there and well above standard for the genre.
imitation and the gag about the used broken down robots that Urich and Roberts have as a crew is just overdone.The Ice Pirates will never be a classic.
The Ice Pirates is far from one of my favorite sci fi movies from the 80's.
The cast is filled with some notable actors, like Robert Urich (who shows a lot of charisma), Angelica Huston and Ron Perlman in his film debut.
However, The Ice Pirates is pretty bad, with lots of dumb humor, slapstick, ridiculous outfits and plot holes galore.
This was too cheesy for me in the 80's and while The Ice Pirates is not a very good movie, I was amazed by how far the filmmakers went with the stupidity and insanity of this film.
I love the scene at the beginning when Robert Urich and crew (which includes a very young Ron Perlman and also a younger Angelica Huston!) first board the ship and we see a !!maid?
wet bandits?...oh wait, that last one's been used) try to discover the route to a fabled unlimited supply of water with a lovely but spoiled (Druish?) princess en tow and a group of idiots
er
despicable villains in pursuit.This movie has the potential to be a really great comedic parody ("Star Wars," David Lynch's "Dune") but was just not handled correctly.
It doesn't really succeed in being all that funny which is a shame since it has Angelica Houston, Ron Perlman and Robert Urich, (hence the three stars) who aren't exactly slackers in the acting department.Definitely a rental and definitely have a drink straight up..
Robert Urich plays a pirate who hijacks ice shipments that carry water to the desert planets in this water starved galaxy.
For a movie that's supposed to take place in outer space, it feels cramped and closed-in like it's being filmed in the front seat of someone's Mazda.
And the special effects, while appropriately cheesy, look more than anything like foam rubber painted metallic gray.Usually, I don't let things like that bother me, especially if the story and the characters are worthwhile.They ain't.The whole storyline, about these ne'er-do-well space pirates who decide to find a planet loaded with ice they can melt down and sell as water (a hot commodity in the future, I guess) is about as original as the jokes, which is not a compliment.The humor comes in at about crotch-level (like that castrating machine you'll see early on), and everyone seems to have a cranky attitude.
Released in 1984 & set In a world where water is the most valuable commodity this oddball OTT Gross out action Sci-fi comedy has everything a Robot pimp, a half chicken Alien on the toilet, a sexy sword welding female pirate, a castration machine, a time warp that ages you 10 years per minute, Ron 'Hellboy' Perlman, cowardly cyborgs, some of the lamest potty humour ever put to film, decapitated heads, chopped off hands, a horny frog woman, a mental bar fight, bumbling pirates, ferocious Space Possums, a hilariously camp Luke Skywalker impression and best of all the disgusting 'Alien' Chest Burster inspired Space Herpes.
The Ice Pirates looks like it was filmed using George Lucus' rejected Star wars set pieces featuring cheesy but great practical effects topped off with a Synth soundtrack this film feels and looks true 80's to me and I had a great time experiencing it.
Okay, it is a B-Movie but it got lots of fine ideas, a good shot of humor and some good actors like Ron Perlman and Robert Urich.What we get is sword fights, fighting robots, time warps, and the eternal war of man and woman (in love).If you like sci-fi and if you like comedies, this one is definitely a watch for you..
It was certainly a great movie to grow up with in the 80's and even though it's not nearly as bonkers as SPACEBALLS, I remember liking it a lot better because it's certainly a lot darker and contains a lot more tension, thrills, and suspense.8-year-old:Really fun space action movie gets off to a bang but quickly bogs down in some talky bits and lack of action and funny jokes until about halfway through (I still have no idea why that pointless and long Carradine scene was included).
However right at the point when Urich asks a guard for a drink and splashes it in his face, the movie starts getting good and maintains an energy that just gets better as the film goes along.
Good music, fun costumes, lots of fun action and effects mainly hampered by mushy stuff and jokes that flew right over my head.35-year-old:I'll agree on most of those points, only I had no idea at the time how cheap this movie looks.
Unfortunately most of the humor falls flat, mainly being aimed at very young teenagers, featuring a very unwelcome cameo from an irritating Bruce Villanch.However, this film certainly has an idiotic charm to it that I haven't seen a lot of movies manage quite this well.
"The Ice Pirates" is a pretty engaging off kilter comedy spoofing both space adventures and swashbucklers, with enough verbal and visual gags to make it pleasant, and impossible to truly dislike.
Not all of its scenes work that well, but it's sure to have its viewers smiling if not laughing out loud.TV stars Robert Urich ('Vega$') and Mary Crosby ('Dallas') headline a cast also featuring Michael D.
After their latest escapades, they're captured by the baddies - dubbed Templars - and then acquired by princess Karina (Crosby) so they can help in a quest to find her father.Reasonably good visuals and a decent score by Bruce Broughton help in the enjoyment of this little bit of escapism, as well as a fairly clever finale taking place inside a time warp where our heroes steadily age while fighting the bad guys.
The movie is for the most part a giant Star Wars ripoff: they just copied the whole bloody concept, the 'used universe' art style, the bleeping robots, the scoundrels, the princess, the evil wizards/empire...Then they try to combine this with idiotic comedy and believe me you will laugh, not at the jokes but at the over the top nonsensical lunacy they call a film.
Possibly the problem is because The Ice Pirates is trying to be a space-comedy-adventure: an extraordinarily difficult thing to well and this film fails on all three counts.
The story of space pirates who fight Templars and herpes to find ice in a universe where water has become a scarce resource.
With robots and princesses to boot.The connection of this film to "Star Wars" and "Space Balls" is obvious.
Ice Pirates is not a direct parody like Space Balls is, but enough of the same themes are present to see the influence is more than just slight.I enjoyed the racial humor (which I won't go into here) and also the references to things obviously outside the realm of this movie's universe (Tylenol??).
Elton John could have showed up to sing "The Circle of Life" for this scene.The short of it is if you like Star Wars, Space Balls, or other such films you really need to give this one a try.
Anyway, perhaps appropriately given the characters involved, the script rips off many sci-fi titles then of recent vintage – SOYLENT GREEN (1973), ZARDOZ (1974), LOGAN’S RUN (1976; to the extent that it was filmed on some of the self-same sets!), STAR WARS (1977), ALIEN (1979) and MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981)!
Also involved is a beautiful princess (Mary Crosby, daughter of Bing!) in search of her father, the deposed king; by the way, the cast includes another famous offspring: Anjelica Huston (daughter of John) as one of the pirate band – thankfully, the actress’ mistake in accepting such a role would soon be forgotten in the wake of her winning an Oscar (under her father’s guidance, no less) for PRIZZI’S HONOR (1985).
Since STAR WARS had Peter Cushing as the “Supreme Commander”, the film-makers opted to have a screen legend of their own – 78-year old John Carradine (who’s seen strapped to a sort of operating table during his one brief scene!).The most notable bits (for all the wrong reasons) are: the alien using the toilet; the castration machine; the clumsy antics (including karate-style combat!) of the inevitable robot companions; the goofy slave/eunuch make-up worn at one point by the heroes; the recurring attacks by the “space herpies” (whatever that is); the climax in which the characters are made to age when going through a time-warp (Crosby becomes pregnant, gives birth, and sees her son grow up in the space of 30 seconds, while leading man Robert Urich himself is replaced by John Ford stalwart Hank Worden for this scene!) – incidentally, the jump-cuts adopted here (intending to denote the rapid passage of time) are not only unsuccessful but downright irritating..
Jason (Robert Urich) leads a band of pirates in a raid to steal ice from the Templar fleet.
Too bad it wasn't good enough.This is a movie for SF fans, the way Galaxy Quest is, just not as well made.
Favourite game: Try to name the film(s) being parodied at any given point in Ice Pirates.I recommend this film to anyone who likes bad movies or has seen too much Hollywoof Sci-Fi..
It seemed to be me that at first they tried to make a real and serious adventurous science-fiction movie, perhaps even a franchise but soon began to noticed how bad it all was and simply decided to insert some more and deliberately overdone comical sequence, to make the movie seem more like a comedy and prevent it from turning into a complete disastrous mess.The movie is a weird attempt to mix adventurous swashbuckling pirate movies with serious science-fiction action.
The movie isn't even too ashamed to copy entire sequences and even the way the story progresses, sets, characters and robots show similarities.
It also keeps the characters way too shallow and uninteresting to care about.Sad to see that actors like John Carradine, Anjelica Huston and a still young and unknown Ron Perlman were attached to this disastrous movie.OK I admit that I liked some of the moments, especially the ending when they go through the time-warp was original and fun but really, non of this all was enough to save the movie.I didn't even liked the movie in a campy kind of way.2/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
Robert Urich stars as the leader of a group of ice pirates, who steal ice because water is the most valuable substance in the universe now (how all the poor people stay alive is a mystery).
If you like Huston (or Robert Urich, or Mary Crosby, famous for being the woman who shot JR on Dallas), give this movie a look-see.
I love Quantum Leap, and I love this movie- but wow, don't chalk this up to POMO- this is sheer Ed Woodian crapo'la!There are all these different styles popping in and out, from Star Wars to straight up pirates to "fun boy/Dr. Sues outfits" to cheesy TV romance to Bruce Vilanch!
Without much moolah for special effects the writers had to, well, write, and the barrage of one liners/tete a tete/general tomfoolery make the "Ice Pirates" a good movie to watch over and over.
Okay, when I first saw it I probably did not actually get many of the jokes (such as the space herpie or the eunuch machine) but it was a science-fiction film and back then I pretty much liked anything that was science-fiction.
Energetic Campy Fun. A space pirate gets caught up in the affairs of a princess who is set on overthrowing a galactic empire...Yeah this is a little, okay a lot, derivative.
It's a bit ham-handed at times, but gets enough elements right to be entertaining.Robert Urich is likable as the lead and is equally good at the action and comedy.
Mary Crosby makes a decent love interest, but the pirate crew are more interesting: Ron Perlman, Anjelica Houston, John Matusak, and Michael D.
They make for a great ensemble and have some of the best lines and scenes.If you want some good old B-movie goofiness, you can't go wrong here..
Mel Brooks might have created Spaceballs, but it wasn't the first parody on the space opera, that honor will always go to The Ice Pirates!
"Ice Pirates" is one of these movies that has simple special effects but is story and character driven "Ice Pirates" takes place in a time when all of the galaxies water supplies have dried up except for one planet.
But it shouldn't distract you from enjoying the film.This is a classic 80's science fiction adventure movie that is not named Star Wars or Star Trek.
Watch out especially for Ron Perlman in an early role, others of note is Huston, Crosby, Urich, Carradine and Matuszak.If you like pirate-adventures or science fiction, or better, both, you should definitely watch this movie at next opportunity...5/10.
. you'll most likely love THE ICE PIRATES.
After all the new "Star Wars" films of late, we need another space spoof.
Neither were most of the cast, except for Ron Perlman and Robert Urich, who got new chances to crash their careers...The special effects were cheesy looking, which is probably the movie's main problem.. |
tt4394374 | The Roommate | Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) is starting her freshman year of college. She meets Tracy (Aly Michalka), Stephen (Cam Gigandet) – her love interest, and Rebecca (Leighton Meester) – her college roommate. The girls begin to bond and Rebecca learns that Sara had an older sister, Emily, who died when Sara was nine, and an ex-boyfriend, Jason (Matt Lanter), who keeps calling her in attempts to reconcile. As time goes on, Rebecca's obsession with Sara grows, which causes her to drive away anyone who could come between them.
Rebecca attacks Tracy in the shower, pinning her down and ripping out her belly-button ring, and threatens to kill her unless she stays away from Sara. Tracy moves to another dorm, fearful of Rebecca. An old friend of Sara's named Irene (Danneel Harris), who is a lesbian, invites Sara to move in with her when Sara's cat Cuddles is discovered. Rebecca then kills Cuddles by putting her in the dryer. She then lies to Sara that the cat ran away. Rebecca then inflicts injuries upon herself and says she was assaulted by a thug. Sara feels bad for her and decides to spend the Thanksgiving with Rebecca. When Sara's philandering fashion design professor, Roberts (Billy Zane), kisses her, Rebecca plans to get the professor out of the picture by seducing him while recording their dialogue on a tape recorder to make it sound like he was trying to rape her.
During her stay, Sara overhears a conversation between Rebecca and her father (Tomas Arana), hinting Rebecca has had trouble making friends in the past. Rebecca's mother (Frances Fisher) mentions that Rebecca is supposed to be taking medication. She and Stephen later find a bottle of Zyprexa pills, used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. But the bottle is full, implying that Rebecca hasn't been taking the pills. Sara, worried about what would happen, decides to move in with Irene. Irene goes to a club where she sees Rebecca. They make out in the club's bathroom and Irene, not knowing that Rebecca is Sara's roommate, takes Rebecca back to her place. The following morning, Sara goes to Irene's apartment but she's not there.
Rebecca gets Sara's sister's name tattooed in the same place on her breast as Sara, saying that Sara can now think of Rebecca as her sister. A shocked Sara realizes that Rebecca is obsessed with her and packs all her things, except her sister's necklace, which she can't find (being later revealed that the necklace had been stolen from her by Rebecca). Jason arrives at Sara's dorm and slips a note under her door, saying that he wants to see her. Rebecca reads the note, impersonates Sara with her sister's necklace and tattoo, and dyes her hair to look like Sara. She then goes to Jason's hotel room and stabs him to death.
Later, Sara gets a text from Irene, saying she needs her right away. Sara informs Stephen she will be at Irene's place. When she gets there, she finds Irene gagged with her arms spread and each of her wrists handcuffed to each end of her bedpost while being held hostage by Rebecca with a revolver. Rebecca reveals that she was responsible for what happened to Tracy, Cuddles, Professor Roberts, and Jason and that she did it all to win Sara's friendship. Rebecca wants to kill Irene in order to finally have Sara all to herself. Stephen arrives just in time to help stop Rebecca from pulling the trigger on Irene. Sara reaches for the revolver to shoot Rebecca, however, the cartridge is empty. Enraged at this, Rebecca picks up Sara and tries to strangle her to death, but Sara stabs Rebecca in the back with a boxcutter, which kills her.
Sara moves back into her dorm and moves the extra bed out of her room with the help of her boyfriend Stephen, proclaiming that she does not want a roommate for a while. | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
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